Canada

Resisting Techno-Tyranny: A Dialogue

Posted on 2022/12/06 by darknights

This conversation between Paul Cudenec and the Italian group Resistenze al nanomondo was first published in the July 2022 issue of the printed journal L’urlo della Terra and has recently also been made available online, again in Italian.

1. Resistenze al nanomondo: Can you can tell us about your story, your path, when you started developing a critique of techno-scientific developments and what thinkers you learned from?

Paul Cudenec: I don’t think I could separate my critique of techno-scientific developments from the rest of my opinions and analysis. I have been an anarchist for 30 years now, but even before then, in my youth, I felt a strong instinctive aversion to high-tech consumer society. On the one hand it was associated with everything that I most disliked – big business, the state, the military, authority and control in general. On the other hand it stood against everything that I most appreciated – nature, freedom, community, a sense of historical and cultural continuity. The arrival of CCTV cameras in England was a wake-up moment for me. I worked at the time as a journalist with a local newspaper in one of the first towns to have cameras installed and, since I knew for a fact that there was very little crime there, it was clear to me that this project was nothing to do with fighting crime, as was claimed, but was the roll-out of something much more sinister. I wrote a punk song about this in the mid-1990s (which I put online last year), warning about “the cameras that steal our liberty” and the techno-tyrants who were going to scan our DNA, put microchips in our brains and turn us into robots. With the local anarchist group, which I subsequently helped to create, we used to hold annual protests against the cameras, marking the anniversary of their installation as “Big Brother’s Birthday”.

As you will gather from the above, George Orwell was, unsurprisingly, an influence on me. The history of the Luddites was another inspiration (via Kirkpatrick Sale among others), along with anarcho-publications like Green Anarchist, SchNEWS, Do or Die, Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed and various EF! publications. I also read David Watson’s Against the Megamachine, Fredy Perlman’s Against His-story, Against Leviathan, the Unabomber Manifesto plus a lot by John Zerzan and Derrick Jensen. I have more recently been influenced by reading the likes of Miguel Amorós, Jacques Ellul, Theodore Roszak, Charlene Spretnak, Renaud Garcia… But intertwined with that thread of my self-education have been other inspirations. The English nature mystic Richard Jefferies has been very important to me, as has René Guénon, who combined his metaphysics with a strong critique of modernity. I have also read elsewhere about sufism, Taoism, comparative mythology, English folklore, Indian philosophy, German idealism, Jewish anti-capitalist romanticism, Jungian psychology… What interests me, above all, are the connections between these accounts and traditions, or rather, perhaps, the new space that is opened up for our reflection when we consider them together, in the same conceptual context. Continue reading “Resisting Techno-Tyranny: A Dialogue” →

Canada: Solidarity Rail Sabotage in Eastern Ontario

Posted on 2022/11/16 by darknights

Anonymous Submission to North Shore Counter-Info

In the early hours of Nov 5, groups of anarchists acted in solidarity with Sleydo’s call for action to support the ongoing Wet’suwet’en battle to protect the yintah and kill the drill. Rail lines were sabotaged at several points in a disruption of business-as-usual along main arteries of the freight system. They will continue to be sabotaged at random far into the future, at every corner of rail line across the turtle’s back.

Others are encouraged to take this route however, wherever, and whenever they can – grab yourself some bolt cutters or copper wire. Grab a friend or go alone. Enjoy the birds, the wind, the silence.

The night sky yawns and the stars and moon stare down at us, working in the night. They cast their gaze upon us near and far, as they do also on the shimmering waters of the Wedzin Kwa. The drilling begins, and while we weep for the water, the salmon, and our beloved dead, our rage begins to burn, a lit fuse.

CGL, RBC, Kkkanada – you are not safe and you have ignited something that will never die.

Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada: RBC – Divest from CGL

Posted on 2022/04/14 by darknights

Anonymous Submission to North Shore Counter-Info

Wet’suwet’en Solidarity
Monday April 11th, 2022
Tiohtià:ke/Montreal

In the early afternoon, a small group of anarchists snuck into the RBC offices at Place Ville-Marie. Armed with flyers, stickers and spray paint cans, they left a message for the bank: DIVEST FROM CGL. Since the Fall of 2021, the Wet’suwet’en have been actively campaigning for RBC to stop funding the destruction of their land, but RBC continues to ignore them.

As long as RBC is funding pipeline projects, they will find us in their way.

– some fucking angry anarchists

Further Reflections On Ongoing Anticolonial Solidarity:

Imminent Threat:
Coastal Gaslink (CGL) is set to drill under the Wedzin Kwa this Spring 2022. The people, land, language and culture of Wet’suwet’en as well as the animals residing on these territories are facing annihilation of their lifeways. For those who have heard the call to action, this upcoming year is crucial to the future of Wet’suwet’en self-determination and sovereignty. Continue reading “Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada: RBC – Divest from CGL” →

Hamilton, Canada: RBC Branches Attacked For Funding Pipeline

Posted on 2022/04/12 by darknights

Anonymous submission to North Shore

This week across southern ontario and quebec, we’ve lost count on how many RBC branches were targeted (we estimate 10+) for disruption and attack. So-called toronto, hamilton, montreal… friends in places as small as orillia and as distant as nanaimo. These actions respond to a need to target investors in the Coastal Gaslink pipeline project – which is currently behind schedule thanks to the direct attack that took place in february as well as the successful campaigns to block the project thus far lead by Gidimt’en Clan – but is still rapidly being constructed on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory.

RBC is one of its largest financial backers, and in the past week and preceding months, has been the subject of pressure tactics ranging from direct action interfering with bank branches, to pushing elites/clients to pull their money out of RBC accounts, to organizing to disrupt RBC’s Annual General Meeting in Toronto. The message is clear: the Royal Bank of Canada needs to divest from CGL immediately.

In hamilton, where we’re writing from, bank branches were vandalized, had their locks glued, and ATMs damaged. We chose these methods to directly interfere with the operations of the bank, hurt them financially and in their public image, and to contribute to the spread of easily-replicable, anonymous actions.

RBC was the central target this week, but they are not alone in complicity. We can also set our sights on other big banks, TC Energy, many related contractors and developers, the RCMP, and the State of so-called Canada.

This is only going to escalate. CGL, and their financial allies like RBC, perpetuate the situation by continuing their exploitative projects and violent attacks on Wet’suwet’en territory. The Wedzin Kwa remains under the looming threat of being destroyed via drill. Elders, matriarchs, supporters, comrades, and land defenders face daily assault. We all need to prepare for more, to respond with more boldness, to do more damage. If they push, then we then will push back, but harder. With only a bit of planning and courage, we can act in ways that feed our spirits and keep the fight alive. Stay safe, and we look forward to seeing your work out there in the days to come.

CGL Pipeline work site attacked

Posted on 2022/02/25 - 2022/02/25 by darknights

Via: Act for freedom now!

Masked mob swarms Northern, B.C. pipeline work site, causes millions in damage

From Warrior Publications

British Columbia’s minister of public safety Mike Farnworth has issued a statement condemning the attack on the Coastal GasLink site.

“The RCMP is conducting a full investigation into this egregious criminal activity that could have led to serious injury or loss of life,” Farnworth said.

“The police report indicates that the workers’ camp was attacked in the middle of the night by unknown assailants wielding axes. There is no excuse for such violence and intimidation. All workers deserve to be protected from harassment and harm.”

Continue reading “CGL Pipeline work site attacked” →

Montreal (Tio’Tia:Ke): New Disruptive Action in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Targeting Royal Bank of Canada Branches (Again)

Posted on 2022/02/12 by darknights

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the night of February 6th, 2022 in Montreal (Tio’Tia:Ke), non-Indigenous allies demonstrated their solidarity with the Gidimt’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. The instigators of this action are responding to a call by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs to #ShutdownCanada in response to the invasion of their territory, the Yintah, by the RCMP for the third consecutive year.

We used many different tactics : smashed windows, glued locks and card readers, and spray-painting #FuckRBC on the interior, so all RBC clients were aware of why their bank has been consistently targeted for the past 5 months.

The Wet’suwet’en people are currently resisting the construction of an oil pipeline by Coastal GasLink, a TransCanada Energy company – which is known in Canada for attempting to build the Energy East pipeline – on their traditional territory. Among other things, the construction of the pipeline puts the Wedzin Kwa River at risk, since the pipeline is planned to pass under it. This river serves as a source of water and fish, and is central to the traditional practices of the Wet’suwet’en people.

These were small and easy actions, and we encourage everyone to get together with their trusted friends and test out all the different ways we can fuck with RBC. Several solidarity actions have indeed taken place in different places across so-called Canada, in the last weeks. The call for solidarity actions is ongoing: “The Gidimt’en Clan invites you to organize demonstrations and actions in your region. It also calls to put pressure on governments, banks and investors […] to make a donation […] and to come to the camp.

Solidarity with all peoples who resist! No to Coastal GasLink!

Ottawa, Canada: RBC Branch Redecorated in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

Posted on 2022/01/08 by darknights

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Fire extinguisher full of white paint was used on the facade of a RBC branch located in Ottawa during the holiday week.

The action was meant as an answer to the calls to action from the Gidimt’en clan who retook possession of “Coyote Camp” with their allies. We stand in solidarity with the Wetʼsuwetʼen nation and against KKKanada’s genocidal project.

Fuck CGL, Fuck the RCMP, fuck RBC, Shut down KKKanada and get the fuck out of the Yintah!

Hamilton, Canada: Attack on Encampment Eviction Collaborators

Posted on 2021/12/20 by darknights

Anonymous Submission to North Shore Counter-Info

Earlier this week a branch of Quantum Murray Environmental in Stoney Creek, Ontario had several of its windows smashed in the middle of the night. Quantum Murray is a construction company that specialized in dealing with industrial-scale environmental problems and infrastructure, but that has more recently gotten into the business of encampment evictions in Hamilton.

For anyone not paying attention, the past two years of covid pandemic have exacerbated problems of homelessness, addiction, and poverty in cities across the world, leading to a growth of encampments in urban parks and green spaces where people live in tents and makeshift structures. Though not an ideal solution, these encampments offer an alternative to the bloated, dangerous, and often dehumanizing shelter system, one that allows some autonomy over movement and safety. Many of us have welcomed these new neighbors, forming bonds of friendship and solidarity, sharing meals and resources. Others have sought to make their lives even more precarious, cold, and impossible. Most prominent among these are the Hamilton Police who have been parading from park to park evicting people with brute force. In some recent downtown evictions, as friends and neighbours stood up to the police and tried to stop this inhumane spectacle, we couldn’t help but notice the presence of a company called Quantum Murray that was helping to destroy and dispose of people’s possessions. And while our rage has been mainly focused on the politicians who create these brutal conditions, the police who enforce them, and the cold-hearted neighbours who can only think about property values, we left these altercations feeling a particular anger towards the QM workers who for some unspeakable reason have decided to ally themselves with this cause. While they should be out fixing cooling towers and dealing with industrial waste sites, instead they are here in these parks ripping apart tents and licking cop boots. There is no reason why Quantum Murray, a nation-wide company with no shortage of work, should spend its time attacking poor and working class people. Because that’s what an eviction is. It’s an attack. And so we attack back. We destroy your property, and send you a message that once you saddle up with shitheads of the world you get treated like one.

Just stop.

Go back to the cooling towers.

And next time your boss asks you to work overtime kicking poor people out of their homes on freezing cold nights, just go home. Call in sick. Call your union and tell them you’ve been asked to perform unsafe work. Do anything except spend your time evicting homeless people and destroying their tents.

More park evictions are planned for the coming days in Hamilton. Let this be a warning to eviction collaborators and a call to our friends to find our own ways to attack.

Quebec, Canada: Railway sabotage at the Port of Matane

Posted on 2021/12/06 by darknights

During the night of November 22 to 23, the rail line of the industrial port of Matane was sabotaged. After the blockades of the last few days, this action reveals another form of action, the disabling of infrastructures.

A communiqué was transferred in which “friends of the lower river” explained their approach and their precautions:

We have sabotaged the railroad line of the industrial port of Matane. The port of Matane is one of the largest in Eastern Quebec. We melted a section of the rails with thermite*. To make sure that no train would derail we tied the two rails together with copper wire so that the alarm signal would go to CN. We took care to block the rails a few hundred meters further on each side to add a layer of security. Fluorescent ropes were even added. This action is in response to the call from the Wet’suwet’en. We will no longer tolerate the colonial violence of expropriation. Hands off Yintah and all sovereign indigenous territories right now.

If this continues, we will increase the pressure. With this statement, we invite everyone to gather, discuss and develop plans for struggle. Whether it’s banners hanging everywhere, demonstrations, blockades, public discussions, sabotage; conspire.

From Yintah to Appalachia, shutdown Canada!

For those of you who would like to answer the Wet’suwet’en call while diversifying the means of action, you can find here: 16 easy ways to block a railroad – From the anti-nuclear movement to decolonial struggles. (in French)

Source: contrepoints.media

Canada: Glorious Rage – Rail Sabotage in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en

Posted on 2021/12/06 by darknights

Anonymous submission to North Shore

There is nothing left unsaid.

RCMP Out.
CGL off the Yintah.
Defend the Wedzin Kwa.

This is an act of genocide. An active genocide.
An armed invasion by the colonial state.

There is nothing left to say: they do not listen to words.
So just do; that is what we have done.

One recent evening, allies/accomplices went out into the night to pick up where others may have left off in the spring of 2020: targeting rail infrastructure.

Using various methods (detailed below for your reference, education and delight!) we disrupted rail all over so-called southern Ontario throughout the night, hitting nearly a dozen different spots on both CN and CP rail lines. We did this in heartfelt solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en defending their Yintah from destruction, and fuelled our actions with the justified rage we feel towards the RCMP and state for once against invading their territory on behalf of a private corporation.

Rail was a harbinger of colonized settlements and the genocide of Indigenous peoples across so-called Canada, and also an indefensible way to target the kkkanadian economy, so we find it an ideal target as people unable to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the Wet’suwet’en land defenders.

While some crews opted for the copper wire method, others found inspiration in other means of targeting railway circuits – including severing low voltage track circuits and the arson of railway signal bungalows.

Each method used will have tripped the automatic block signalling system into its failsafe setting of “occupied track” – meaning all rail traffic on the impacted track comes to a stop until checked out and in some cases repaired. This also means interferences were safer than any of the militarized RCMP’s three unjustified raids on Wet’suwet’en people.

We encourage others to join us in action. Use your words to inspire others to action – not to beg for change from government bodies complicit in an active genocide.

Shut it down. That’s all there is left to do.
Never Cede
Never Surrender.
Burn it to the ground if that’s what it takes.
Continue reading “Canada: Glorious Rage – Rail Sabotage in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en” →