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Demo against repression
In solidarity with those arrested during the
strike.
Friday, October 26, 6:30 pm
Carré St-Louis
Sherbrooke metro
The strike is over. The PQ is now saying that
we all fought together to overcome the tuition hikes
and special law. The politicians are using the
initiatives of people who actually lived that
struggle to gain power and further their own
careers.
Meanwhile many of those who participated in the
strike, beyond drinking champagne and talking to the
media in government offices, are still facing
charges, conditions, and potential prison time.
There have been over 2000 arrests; over 500 people
are facing criminal charges. Some people have lost
their eyesight forever to police sound grenades;
many others have tasted pepper spray and fought off
batons. Some have had their houses raided early in
the morning and spent time in jail before being
released with suffocating court conditions.
One example is ‘non-association’ – ie. being
forbidden from associating with anyone who has a
criminal record or pending charges. In a context of
so many arrests, this means just about everyone.
Others have the condition to be a certain distance
away from any school, to live with their parents, to
follow a 9 pm curfew, and to not be in the metro. At
least three people’s lives have been completely
uprooted by the condition of not being allowed on
the island of Montreal; they have been forced to
leave their apartments, their friends, and their
entire lives. They were and still are our comrades.
Today it was them, tomorrow it could be us.
Repression – whether through conditions, Law 78/12,
or the legal system more broadly – seeks to break up
social struggles that threaten capital by trying to
silence, scare, or isolate those who successfully
challenge it, such as what happened during the
student strike. The state, either through coercion
(à la Liberals) or coaxing (à la PQ) has forced many
back to school, trying to make them forget about the
moments of freedom so dearly won during the spring.
While talking about victory, it tries to erase those
who fought the hardest from collective memory.
But they are not forgotten. We’re sick and tired of
pompous judges deciding where we sleep, where we
live, what streets we can take. We’re sick of the
raids, the police harassment, and the legal system.
Staying passive and doing nothing only legitimizes
this repression.
What we need now is a fierce and active solidarity.
Refusing to condemn or dissociate from those facing
charges, denouncing thecriminalization of
demonstrations, opposing targeted arrests and snitch
culture, defending the legitimacy of anonymous
participation in demonstrations by wearing masks,
providing legal, financial, political and personal
support to the arrested and forcing the state to
drop their charges, taking care of those injured,
supporting each other, as well as continuing,
expanding, and intensifying the struggle of our
arrested comrades – these are the foundations of a
culture of struggle that we need to build and
develop.
A struggle is nothing
if it forgets it’s prisoners.
Lets come
together in the streets, express solidarity with
all those who have
faced repression in the strike or elsewhere, and
show our comrades that we are with them.
Halloween costumes and masks encouraged!