ANARCHISM/CANADA:

A MEDLEY OF CANADIAN ANARCHIST NEWS:

Lots of things are always happening across Canada anarchy-wise. Here's a medley of some of the latest announcements. events and appeals:

MONTREAL:

As previously reported here at Molly's Blog No One is Illegal-Montreal held a picket at Les Plais de Congres in Montreal yesterday. Just as the demonstration was breaking up the police attacked. NOII-Montreal is calling for even more people to join them for tomorrow night's picket to demonstrate that the police cannot intimidate dissent. This is their statement:

"Police attacked at the end of the anti-racist picket and speak-out against the Bouchard-Taylor Commission on Tuesday night, organized by No One Is Illegal-Montreal. Four people were arrested; three were released but one person still faces charges. We call on all friends and allies to attend the second scheduled picket and speak-out against the Commission this Thursday, November 29, at 6:30 pm (please note the new time) at the Palais des Congres (corner of Viger and de Bleury, near Metro Place D'Armes). We encourage you to attend in large numbers, to show that we will not be intimidated by police violence, and to continue to denounce the racist, xenophobic and sexist basis of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission."

MONTREAL(2):

TADAMON APPEAL:

Call for Financial Solidarity: Annual Appeal for Supporters of Tadmon:

"Throughout the past year Tadamon ! , a volunteer-run collective of social justice organizers based in Montreal, has maintained an unique and important presence on the forefront of political organizing in North America in solidarity with struggles for social and economic justice in Lebanon and the Middle East. Today, Tadamon ! is calling for your financial solidarity in order to sustain our important work by becoming an annual supporter. Concretely we are asking for individuals, groups and organizations to commit an annual donation of between $20-$100 dollars which will be directed towards our ongoing work. Tadamon!'s current fund raising goal is to confirm $2,000 in donations by January 1st, 2008. Please help us reach this goal by contacting us to become a financial supporter and passing the word on to others.

Tadamon! calls for your financial support in order to cover the growing overhead costs related to our political campaigns, events and actions. Your financial support will be directly funneled into our organizational expenses which include printing costs, office materials. website, telephone messaging service, event advertising,etc..

Tadamon! has organized multiple ground-breaking events including politically-charged lectures, dynamic cultural nights, front-line political actions and grassroots popular education efforts in the Montreal area. Tadamon!'s work has successfully pushed the boundaries of political debate in Canada concerning the Middle East while fueling grassroots organizing in Montreal and throughout Canada in support of social justice and human rights in the region.

In response to the 2006 Israeli attack on Lebanon, Tadamon! played a central role in organizing multiple demonstrations, political actions and events in direct collaboration with multiple Lebanese community organizations and social justice groups in Montreal, with the aim to build popular opposition to the Conservative government of Canada's implicit support for the deadly Israeli attack on Lebanon.

Your donation will benefit Tadamon! Montreal's ongoing work and campaign directed at building solidarity between movements for social and economic justice from Montreal to the Middle East. Tadamon!'s ongoing political campaigns operating in Canada, including the campaign for boycott, sanctions and divestment of the apartheid Israeli state and the campaign to challenge the listing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.

In order to become a supporter of Tadamon! please fill out the details requested below. In becoming a supporter of Tadamon! you will automatically receive postal updates concerning our ongoing work, while ensuring that our important work continues in a sustainable and long-term fashion. Please send us the following details: *full name,*telephone contact. *email contact, *mailing address, *committed amount for annual donation to Tadamon!...

You can send written checks to the following address. Be certain to include the important contact information above in the mailing:

Tadamon! Montreal

c/o QPIRG McGill

3647 University St.

Montreal, Quebec

H3A 2B3

Canada

http://tadamon.resist.ca

KINGSTON, ONTARIO:

CALLING ALL KINGSTON-AREA ANARCHISTS, ANTI-AUTHORITARIANS:

The following is an announcement of a new anarchist website servicing the area of Kingston, Ontario:

"A new website (http://kingston.roadnetwork.org ) focusing on anarchist and anti-authoritarian relevant groups, campaigns, projects, institutions and media in the Kingston area has been created. there are also regional links. if we haven't included something that ought to be on that site (ie are in harmony with the points of unity) please send an email to kingston@roadnetwork.org .

This is an initiative of the Revolutionary Ontario Anarchist Development (ROAD) Network collective in Kingston. The points of unity of the ROAD Network are posted on the website. The purpose of ROAD Kingston is to help facilitate anarchist communications and networking through the website and coordinating encounters between anarchists in the area. More on this in the future. Check out the page and feel free to register as a subscriber and/or contributor. once approved you can add content to the blog as well.

ROAD Kingston

http://kingston.roadnetwork.org

Molly Note: Molly really has to interject here. The ROAD has certainly developed considerably since it was the "Rural" Ontario Anarchist Development Network. A couple of years back it allowed itself to be used as a cat's paw by one of the Maoist sects/cults who wanted to draw people here to Winnipeg to oppose some urban military training exercises being held here. Molly went ballistic on that one, trying to discourage any and all from following such a "call". Not that it isn't worthwhile to oppose militarism, but a simple rule of thumb should apply. NEVER be seen in association with any Leninist organization that isn't willing to cover its presence with enough bullshit to leave it undetectable. That eliminates EVERY Maoist organization on Earth. It lets a few Trots and the "real commies" past the screen. THESE people don't try and cover an essentially religious impulse with political window-dressing. To put it plainly, allying with commies is EQUAL in the public eye to allying with Nazis. The only real difference is that the general public assumes that the death toll was the same while, in fact, communist governments have murdered close to ten times as many victims in the last century as fascist ones have. Being seen with as being buddy-buddy with Leninist cultists should be seen as being the equivalent of soiling your pants in public, and the only thing that you should be thankful for is that the general public doesn't realize that your friends are worse than Nazis. They merely think they-and you- are the same. As it was a few members of the travelling rent-a-riot did show up, totally oblivious to how silly they looked "in costume" on streets that they would risk their lives in walking about in the dark. Nothing much happened. They got herded by the commies(mooooo!), and some actually participated in real anarchist events here. In any case ROAD has matured considerably since that time, and I doubt that they'd be so naive today. Anyways, back to more pleasant matters.

BRITISH COLUMBIA:

What follows is a report of an event held out in the "dreaming west" last weekend. this certainly was a much happier event than drawing naive young people to a political tourist event in Winnipeg, and it will probably have much more long term benefit.

"This weekend 14 people gathered at Ron and Sheila's on Denman Island for the first meeting of the BC Anarchist Writers; Group. This is not the "official name"-Black Ink has also been suggested. We ranged in age from mid-twenties to mid-sixties. We hailed from various places on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands as well as Vancouver and the Kootenays. As well as BC, our backgrounds and experiences ranged from Illinois, Alberta, Newfoundland, Toronto and Montreal. We were poets, essayists, journalists, historians, song-writers, playwrights, performance artists, zinesters, film-makers, Surrealists, chapbook publishers and radio pirates.

Most of us had never met before, so much of our time was spent in getting acquainted, sharing ideas, zines, and other publications. There was a lot of preliminary discussion about interests, directions and ideas. People wanted to stay in touch and share projects, not just by email, but to mail out our writings for comment and support. We had a really enjoyable time together, much laughter, sharing of fine food and wine. We planned our first public event- an evening of reading, film, music and performance in the Denman Island Community Centre. About 35 people showed up-usual for such a small place- and it went on for four hours. Afterwards, we all agreed that the evening had been a great success and plan to have more of these in other parts of the province.

After a leisurely Sunday breakfast we headed over to Tree Frog radio, and a number of us went on air. Hugging everyone goodbye we headed back to our respective homes in anticipation of the next gathering.

In Solidarity,

Larry.

Molly's usual last word: The other day I was reading an exchange on the LibCom site about "deghettoizing anarchism". A lot of the posts were really and truly "despairing", but I think that the posters approached the whole matter from a rather limited historical perspective. I am almost certain that the really pessimistic posts originated from people who came out of "subcultural anarchism" and are reacting, like a reformed alcoholic, to same. Not that anarchism shouldn't aim to be "popular" and escape all identification with "purchasable identity". Both Larry and I, however, come from a different generation. Over 35 years ago we became anarchists, and we have seen the movement expand and diversify in way that younger people may not appreciate. Today it is possible to form a "writers' group" in a tiny segment of one province. Thirty five years ago this might have been a project for the whole bloody country. What I don't think younger people appreciate is just how much anarchism has grown over the last few decades and how diversified it is now. One wag on LibCom stated that there "is no anarchist movement". He was wrong. There is ! It is not restricted to a travelling freak-show that responds mindlessly to Maoist manipulation. As Molly has emphasized over and over on this blog, younger anarchists are becoming increasingly practical and are creating real institutions that go far beyond a juvenile,empty and fruitless "post-leftist temper tantrum". The anarchist movement today exists ! , and it is far more diverse than some pessimists might think. There will be no "revolution" in the little time left to Molly on this Earth, but I think that it is entirely possible that I may live to see the situation in Spain today replicated across most of the developed world (and some of the developing countries), where up to 5% of the population is influenced by anarchist ideas. This may seem "tiny", but it is actually real political power to advance the cause of freedom. It all depends upon the skill of anarchists and how they approach their work.