{"id":16390,"date":"2015-04-11T23:15:55","date_gmt":"2015-04-12T07:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=16390"},"modified":"2015-04-11T23:15:55","modified_gmt":"2015-04-12T07:15:55","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-draft-the-empire-drains-all-life-unless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-draft-the-empire-drains-all-life-unless\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch Draft: The Empire Drains All LIfe–unless…."},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Montreal<\/a><\/p>\n

75 Thousand Students Protest Austerity in Montreal <\/strong>Over 130,000 students were on strike across Quebec on Apr. 2, and according to the Association pour une solidarit\u00e9 syndicale \u00e9tudiante<\/em>, the crowd in Montreal reached around 75,000 at its peak. Based on my calculations, that\u2019s a reasonable estimate. Other media outlets reported a number of 25,000, attributing it to police scanners, but that may have been prior to the demonstration\u2019s peak.<\/p>\n

Alongside students there was a strong labour presence, with public sector employees joining Montreal\u2019s firefighters, labour federation Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration des syndicats nationaux<\/em> and dozens of other unions in the streets. McGill University\u2019s law department was on strike for the first time in the history of that institution, and their banner was greeted with cheers wherever it went.<\/p>\n

Nine student leaders are currently facing expulsion for strike-related activities at Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al,<\/a> and the teachers\u2019 union there also went on strike for the day, the faculty of that institution sending a strong message by joining their students in the streets.<\/p>\n

Throughout the morning a steady stream of buses rolled in, bringing students and activists alike from places like Rimouski, Quebec City, Saguenay, L\u00e9vis and points beyond. By the time the march departed, the square was packed, and new arrivals continued to replace those departing for at least another half hour.<\/p>\n

\"Montreal<\/a><\/p>\n

Montreal Professors Stare Down Coppers <\/strong>Small in number, confined to a few Montreal campuses and now with renewed violence from a police force that has stooped to new lows of brutality this spring, Quebec\u2019s student strikers needed a win.<\/p>\n

Today, on the campus of the Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al, facing a court order demanding that classes be held and the threat of expulsion issued by their administration, hundreds of students turned up to disrupt classes and enforce their democratically voted strike mandate.<\/p>\n

In response, the university administration called in the Montreal police, who arrived in full riot gear with pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets and batons at the ready. Paradoxically enough, their stated role there was to ensure that classes could occur as scheduled.<\/p>\n

The students were shortly boxed in and it was clearly about to get very, very ugly. There were numerous reports of police violence on social media, and the bulk of the reported 22 arrests happened as riot police swept onto campus. Students then set up barricades, and police formed a line and prepared to move in.<\/p>\n

Then a funny thing happened. A single man, a prof in a paperboy cap, walked out into the no man\u2019s land between the lines and gestured to police that he was staying there. As students thunderously chanted \u201cles profs! avec nous! les profs! avec nous!\u201d a second prof came forward, and then a third, and in moments a line of professors had formed, linking arms and standing between students and police.\u00a0 For those unfamiliar with Quebec,<\/a> it is worth noting that there was precious little guarantee this gambit would work. Police truncheons have been indiscriminate on the streets this spring, and teachers have suffered from police brutality too, including a case where a police dog mauled a teacher in Quebec City.<\/a> But on this day the zeal of the police quickly melted under the withering gaze and moral authority of a line of middle-aged educators. ricochet.media\/en\/390\/montreal-professors-stare-down-riot-cops<\/a><\/p>\n

On the once-liberals-with-bombs, now grant sucking liberals…..add some police agents….
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Days<\/a>On the origin of the most famous underground revolutionaries, the Weather Underground<\/strong><\/p>\n

They were a spin-off of the dominant white protest group the Students for a Democratic Society and in January 1970 the leadership of that group went underground with the intent of triggering this second American Revolution. Unfortunately while they knew a lot about politics they didn’t know much about bomb-making and at about their third or fourth attempt to blow something up they ended up in an infamous explosion in Greenwich Village in New York City in March 1970, killing three of their own.<\/p>\n

On the myth that the Weathermen never intended to kill anyone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Especially when you look at the Weather Underground the myth has arisen, largely propagated by alumni of the Weather Underground, that they never intended to hurt a soul; that they only bombed … symbols of American power. In fact I think I show persuasively through on-the-record interviews with former Weatherman leaders that the first 90 days up until that explosion, it’s very clear now that they had intended to kill \u2014 not just anyone, but their intent was to kill policemen.<\/p>\n

After that townhouse bombing the group then did swear off murderous violence, if you will. So they became kind of conventional protest bombers for the last six years of their existence.\u00a0 www.npr.org\/2015\/04\/05\/396359930\/explosive-protests-u-s-bombings-during-days-of-rage<\/a><\/p>\n