During Pride celebrations, the city of Montreal and the police brutally attacked queers of conscience who fought for human lives and a better future.
Some of the statements that follow have already been spread by numerous groups on different platforms (notably, @helemtl, @mubaadarat et @voixjuivesmtl; @brulances; @palactmtl; @traps_mtl; @iwwmontreal;mubaadarat et @voixjuivesmtl; @brulances; @palactmtl; @traps_mtl; @iwwmontreal; @la.fags @desinvestir4palestine; @lefrontrose; @flip_montreal; @pink_bloc_mtl; @nous_pas_sages; @ora.rao.rev; @_eviction; @premierelignecollectif). We are dismayed at the lack of research and true information that is present in the so-called journalism published following Rad Pride. We will once again repeat ourselves and give our own report on what happened at Rad Pride.
Propulsed by the intensification of the genocide in Palestine aswell as the rampant spread of fascist attacks on the trans and queer community, in addition to the further erosion of it’s economic stability, our communities have grown a strengthened political conscience: embracing the values and ideals of anti-colonialist and anti-capitalist thought. It is within this context that we talk about the rebellious members of the queer community as «queers of conscience». Whilst last year’s Rad Pride was organised by P!nk Bloc, this year’s Rad pride functionned differently. However, it is not the fruit of the work of a pro-palestinian «groupuscule». It is the cristallisation of the current of radicalisation that has washed over our queer communities. The war that we wage against colonialism and capital is not centralised nor is it uniform : it is based on solidarity and it is necessary. We all come from different communities, different walks of life and we are (almost) everywhere!
On the 10th of August, the Rad Pride parade took a space which is truly ours – without shameful displays of complicity with genocide nor displays of capitalist-consumerist sympathies. We were prepared to fill that void with chats, a choir, a minute of silence for the fallen aswell as theatrical displays concernant the so-called «comité des sages». These symbolic actions were planned to clearly display our thesis : We refuse to march in a parade side-by-side with zionist banks, the ruling class and the police. We will not stay silent in front of the atrocities that are committed in our name. We will not submit ourselves to state transphobia, which we recognize as the first step towards fascist totalitarianism. We will continue to stand side-by-side with our palestinian and arab siblings, aswell as with all oppressed peoples. This is the position that queers of conscience take. This is what Stonewall was about : Real Libération means Libération for All.
Sadly, we did not have time to make our message clear through symbolic and peaceful means. The riot police waited for us and pressed up within inches of our bodies, armed to the teeth : clearly itching for a fight and wishing to intimidate us. We marched and chanted, boxed in by the police and riot squads. Without any provocation, a banner was ripped out of a protestor’s hands and the police charged into the crowd of people whilst they destroyed a bar’s terrace in order to attempt to seize protestor’s fleeing the charge. Swiftly, our movements were increasingly restricted. Some hecklers from the terraces yelled out heinous words such as «Liberate Palestine from Muslims!» whilst other upper-class gays went to support «Israel» through contributions to Starbucks coffee. This illustrates the widening gap between the priviledge-blinded gays who bathe themselves in pinkwashed capitalism, and the queers of conscience who seek the build solidarity with others in a common struggle.
The damages not created by the police were limited to some glass panes of an RBC and a Starbucks (who are both financial contributors to the genocide in Palestine), as well as the front of a real estate agent (who gentrifies the Village and pushes away our communities from affordable housing). Boxed in by the police, we ping-ponged across Sainte-Catherine unfazed. In the end, the night in a festive and celebratory manner : dancing until the pigs went home.
Certain articles mention the arrest of some comrades. Have it be said that one of the people arrested is non-binary : contrary to what the police and journalists would have you think. Comrades present at the protest noted the way that police interactions changed depending on the perceived gender. Ranging from transphobic profiling to misogynistic harassment. We witness these acts as the manifestation of the gender binary as a system to be imposed and policed, the criminalisation of dissident identities aswell as the punitive system’s pathologization of our realities.
Our queerness was brightly on display through the presence of pride flags, pink balaclavas and smoke : all united under the symbol of the pink triangle, a symbol of queer resilience and resistance when faced with their extermination.
The tools of oppression that were put into place and deployed by the city of montreal are symbolic of their involvement with the Palestinian genocide which has been going on for almost a year (and the occupation since 1948). It’s within the context of Israeli colonialism that constant suppression of dissidence is required, and that repressive techniques are deployed. Under the guise of responding to «security threats», the police permits itself to attack regular citizens as well as perceived threats to social order : creating an atmosphere of fear within society. The police’s role is to protect the State and not civil society. These attacks on civil society are often caracterised by the media as «police acting to ensure public security and security of the officers.» This turn of phrase forces a separation between citizens and protestors, both members of the same civil society. Again : we fight for the rights and libération for all! Why not you?
We hold Rad Pride not only to send a message, but also for our own community to rally together to be strong, resilient, proud and organised. To seize a space and make it our own is a blessing on the hearts of our community who work tirelessly to find a place in a violent and brutal society. We are of the resistance and we will fight for a world which is better for all. We will increase the moral, material and political cost of complicity and complacency.
No one is free until we are all free!
Picture by André Querry