Saleh steps down but doesn't get it!!!!

One of the last things Saleh did as he FINALLY stepped down in Yemen was to give amnesty to all the people who fought for him and his government.  This is angering many Yemeni's who feel that since he signed off to leave he does not have the power to take this decision. In fact Tawakol Karmin wants an inquiry and she wants those responsible for the deaths of civilians brought to justice.

There's been historic elections in Egypt, here's hoping this newly elected government is closer to democracy then anything Egypt has ever seen.

Turkey has finally made good on it's threats to impose sanctions on Syria.  Turkey has also said it won't deal with Assad's government anymore. It's waiting to deal with a new leader of Syria.

Closer to home, several Canadian firms have been hacked over this PotashCorp bid. Sadly it doesn't seem to be the work of Anonymous to destroy the sale all together, but from a competitor who's trying to get insider information.

My biggest beef in the past 2 days though has been the fact that a Native community called Attawapiskat has been asking for help for over a month. Our officials had time to play kick out the occupiers in various cities but has not found any time to address the human crisis going on in this native community.  A bunch of protesters with tents really must be removed. Never mind that the living conditions in this native reserve are probably worse then any condition at any of the Occupy sites in Canada! Something to think about while you drink your morning coffee.

Interview on CBC in regards to the police UV tagging

 For those interested here is an interview on CBC radio here  with two of the protesters that got UV tagged. 

UAE releases 5 jailed Activists

This is great news for the activists in the United Arab Emirates. Five of the activists detained and jailed for more then 8 months have been pardoned and released today.

The UAE is so afraid of having an uprising Arab Spring type that it squashes any form of dissent almost instantly.  You cannot criticize those in power in the UAE, doing so can land you in jail as it did for these 5 men.

Occupons Montreal/Occupy Montreal - Photo's after the eviction

Sadly I could not be there on the Friday morning when Occupy Montreal got evicted, but I was there Saturday morning, in support. It was such a shock to see the square denuded. 

I've been so busy sharing the police UV tagging story that I haven't even finished uploading my photos. They go up to the show. Will have to upload my photo's of the live entertainment later. 

In regards to the UV tag, after 4 days she said it had faded a lot but could still be seen. Also from the research she's done, the only other case she heard about was people who got arrested at the G8/G20 in Toronto last year, also got UV tagged, but I guess it didn't make the news. You would think a journalist would find this a really interesting story. 

Police UV tag those they detained from Occupy Montreal.

I'm posting Nina Haigh's post from Facebook for those who don't go on Facebook to see the photos and what she wrote:

****** IMPORTANT for all those who were arrested at occupy Montreal to read ********

When I was arrested at Occupy Montreal on the 25th of November 2011 They were taking my information. They wrote on my hand with a permanent marker and then after I felt something pointy and metallic scraping across my skin. I immediately asked "What are you doing" and they simply said we wrote on you with a pen and showed me a bunch of various pens in her hand.

I didn't argue about it and I was unable to look at my hands as they were tied behind my back with zipties. As soon as I was released I looked at my hands and there was no ink on them from a pen.

I began to worry and wonder what exactly did they do to me that prompted them to lie to me... it really was not a fun feeling. when I spoke about what happened a few hours later to a friend and my partner, the idea came about that perhaps it was something they used as a way to identify me.

This morning we tested my hands under a black light and sure enough there was a number 2! The freaky thing is this is IN my skin, washing my hands and scrubbing with abrasives will not get this off.... perhaps in several months of my skin cells renewing themselves if will eventually fade.

What ever ink that is in there is irritating my skin slightly and its a very terrible feeling that they put a substance in my body with out my consent and then later lied about it. This is a semi permanent alteration they did to me, if I go anywhere now with a black light this will show!

 

 

 

 

Under normal lighting

Hands seen under black light.

 Important pour tous les arrêté-es d’Occupons Montréal ***

Lors que je me suis fait arrêter à Occupons Montréal le 25 novembre 2011, on a pris mes informations. Ils ont écrit sur ma main avec un marqueur permanent et puis j’ai senti quelque chose de pointu et de métallique qui grattait ma peau. J’ai demandé tout de suite : « Qu’est-ce que vous faites? » et ils m’ont dit simplement qu’ils ont écrit sur ma peau avec un stylo en me montrant une poignée de stylos.

Je n’ai pas argumenté et je ne pouvais voir mes mains, qui étaient attachées avec des Zipties derrière mon dos. Dès que j’ai été relâchée j’ai regardé et il n’y avait pas de marque d’encre de stylo sur mes mains.

Je me suis inquiétée et je me suis demandé qu’est-ce qu’ils avaient pu faire pour avoir besoin de me mentir… pas un sentiment agréable. Quand j’en ai parlé un peu plus tard à un ami et mon partenaire, l’idée nous est venu que peut-être c’était une marque d’identification.

Ce matin j’ai testé mes mains sous une lumière noire (black light) et il y avait écrit le numéro « 2 »! Ce qui est effrayant, c’est que c’est DANS ma peau, laver mes mains et frotter avec de l’abrasif ne le fait pas partir… peut-être que ça palira dans quelques mois, quand mes cellules se seront régénérées.

Peu importe l’encre qu’ils ont utilisée elle irrite ma peau et c’est une horrible sensation que de savoir qu’ils m’ont "injecté" une substance dans la peau sans mon consentement et qu’ils m’ont menti à ce propos. C’est une modification semi permanente qu’ils m’ont faite, si je vais quelque part où il y a un black light, ça se voit!

After 24 hours  you can still see it.

Arab league finally sees the light on Syria!

Finally the Arab league has put their foot down and the UN has come out with a report detailing human right violations.

Here's hoping that it makes a change for the people on the ground in Syria, because up until now no sanctions have had much effect on Bashar Al Assad and his cronies. 

The thing I find the most despicable is that Syrian spokesperson referred to as Wally the Mule or liar depending on who you ask, says that the US is interfering with Syria's affairs, because the Arab League is now imposing sanctions. We all know the Arab league is a puppet of the US [?!?!?!?!]. 

Well he certainly shouldn't be calling the kettle black, as he invited some Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese [Hezbollah] forces, along with the army and various levels of security in Syria to kill the Syrian people.  Who invited foreigners into Syria? Bashar!

Here's hoping the Syrian people finally get rid of their dictator really soon. Wouldn't that be a wonderful Christmas present for them?

Occupy Montreal/Occupons Montreal - and the police.

Yes the police in Montreal were nicer then anywhere else in the world when they removed the Occupiers in Montreal. However it did not mean that some of the 16 detainees were not brutalized. Apparently they used techniques such as ear pinching, and wrist twisting on some protesters. Some of the guys that were physically removed found the police brutalized them.

This is a far cry from the pepper spray and the beating with batons seen in other locations, where many people landed in Hospitals. However it is not any less traumatic for the people who were brutalized by the Montreal police. 

Let us keep this in mind and all join in March 2012 for the protest against Police Brutality in Montreal!!!!

How to skew everything and make it sound bad - Let's thank the media!

Headline "Condoms and needles found in tents at Occupy Montreal!".  Sensationalism, everyone thinks there's drugged induced orgies!

Well how about diabetics? What are they supposed to do while they Occupy Montreal. Go home at meal time so that the needles they use to preserve their health isn't  misconstrued as someone with a drug problem?  I remember when travelling that the Canadian National Parks have needle disposals in their campground bathrooms. And not because they have a junkie problem on the campsites.

As for the condoms, anywhere people are going to sleep - like tents, is places they will have sex. I'd be more worried if NO condoms were found. Condoms mean safe sex. That's a big positive for everyone involved.

I don't discount that there have been drug addicts, homeless people, and people with mental health issues. I've run into some of them myself at the People's place. However as the population of the Occupation is a microcosm of society at large, you will see the  problems of society at large. IT is not the occupation that has created the problems that lead to drug addicts, homelessness and mental health issues. 

The media is making the 99% sound like they are all undesirables and nothing could be further from the truth. If people think that by removing occupation camps that we will go away they are in for a big surprise, this is far from being over.

Also I'd like to clarify what I said yesterday about "The Arrests"

Only one person was arrested and landed in jail. I had heard it was because he got physical with the cops. Not the physical I was expecting. This guy, dressed in a batman costume no less, came from behind and gave a police office a huge bear hug.  His problem - was he probably took the cop by surprise so got arrested for getting 'physical'.

Let's recap. Montreal has the NICEST and BEST police officers in North America. My buddy  Guy would say in the whole world. 

The police who showed up to remove the protesters and take apart the camp were NORMAL police officers, they were not in riot gear. They had 2 buses full of officers in riot gear ready in case they were needed, but they were not so they were not used!

The only 'fishy' thing that happened, and which the protesters were NOT told is that they were tagged with some form of invisible tattoo, that shows up under a black light. When the friend who got arrested felt something metallic being dragged on her cuffed hands, she asked and she was told it was a pen to put a number. Sure she has a number on her right hand in ink, but on her left hand, there's a number that can only seen by black light. Something else - this  number will take several months to go away because it is under the skin currently. 

The other reason I'm saying the police in Montreal was nice is that they kept their word. 

This tweet that was received Thursday evening was clearly intended to let the camp know that they would not wake them up at 4 or 5 am to tear the camp down.  The best part is THEY KEPT THEIR WORD.

Please let people know that Montreal's police was exceptional in it's work with the people of Occupy Montreal.  Thank-you! 

Edit 27-11-11: Final tally of detainees 16, all released. Including the guy in the batman suit. He was also released unconditionally. 

Standing in Solidarity with the Syrian People - November 25th in Montreal

Montreal - November 25th, 2011

It was cool last night. Other then Syrians there was a Tunisian, a Moroccan, and several French Quebecois all in support of the Syrian people!

So-so-so- solidarité avec avec le peuple Syrien!

Occupons Montreal/Occupy Montreal - Arrests?

Yesterday there was one arrest because the person got physical with the police.  The others were not arrested, they were detained for 40 minutes and released far away from the square and told to stay away 24 hours, otherwise they would be arrested charged and fined.  Some policemen suggested that it wasn't their doing, that it was someone much much higher up the chain who wanted the protesters out. The fact that the tent city was removed from Square Victoria is certainly NOT the end of the movement. It is just the beginning :)

There's a HUGE occupy Montreal support day at People's Place today. Come one come all!

These are the activities for the day 

Samedi, 26 novembre à la Place du Peuple

11:00 Manifestation à Ottawa contre le C-10
11:00 Méditation à la statue
12:00 Grand rassemblement de soutien à Occupons Montreal
12:00 Préparation de l'AG: Groupe de travail de Facilitation
13:00 Assemblée Générale / General Assembly
15:00 GRAND SPECTACLE avec : Les Zapartistes + Bran Van 3000
16:00 Réunion: Des choses à Saveurs Féministes et Anti-Oppression
16:00 Réunion du comité de philosophie politique
17:30 Chorale
18:00 Réunion comité Environnement et salubrité de la place du peuple
19:30 PROJECTION DOCUMENTAIRE

Occupons Montreal/Occupy Montreal - The fifth of November

Remember, Remember the fifth of November

Occupy Montreal - People arrested as police clear Square Victoria

From the little bit of information I've gotten, about 15 people were arrested so far today at Square Victoria. The people who were arrested were those who refused to move. For instance one of the people who started the Kitchen stood her ground in the Kitchen. She was arrested but since she has a clean record and was peaceful, she was released upon promise not to return to the square. She was not fined. 

She said the majority of the police were very nice and didn't want to be doing what they were doing. There were a few douchebags but that overall they were nice. 

That has been the story in Montreal that our Police is some of the nicest for a large city. 

More later when I have more news.

Standing in Solidarity with the Syrian People - November 25th

Tonight I'll be standing on the corner of Bishop and Ste Catherine between 6-7pm like I do quite often.

This video is Homsi's singing a song that I've been hearing more and more in the protests coming out of Syria. It is a sad song. I liken it to collective mourning. Hubby called it a lament.  This version has English subtitles so you know what they are singing.  I've listened to this video and another where Homsis were singing and have cried before knowing what the words meant. Very powerful and emotional.  God bless the Homsis today and all the Syrian people. May they be free soon!

Walmart: The high price of Low Cost

I've always been somewhat anti-Walmart and I rarely shop there. I'll shop Canadian Tire or other Canadian stores before I'll go to Walmart.

Is three really a crowd?

Life's good for my cats, as can clearly be seen here. They were three sharing the couch.

In order from the left, Jethro, Ziva, Spock.

Occupy Montreal/Occupons Montreal: Days 39/40 - First snow

Photos from the first snowfall at La place des peuples.

Resto-Pub a l'Aventure

On Saturday after standing at the Russian Consulate, we were looking for a place to eat. I remembered having particularly good mussels at Place Jacques Cartier in Old Montreal. So we walked from the Consulate on du Musee to Place Jacques Cartier.  I'm not sure if it's the same place as three years ago where I had the mussels but they were divine.

My mom would make "moules marinieres" at home and it was awesome. I always loved the dish. It's rare that I find some that I love elsewhere, but I love them at l'Aventure. Even though it was low season for this restaurant, the service and atmosphere was great. It wasn't crowded but there was constant coming and goings.

I loved the mussels, the fries were good too, I'd go back well in about 2 years, which is how often I have mussels. Most of the time I'm just a vegetarian

Really they rolled out a tank against Occupy Protesters?

I've probably spent more time in Tampa Bay and it's surrounding areas of Pinellas Park and St Petersburg, then anywhere else in the US.

Imagine how unimpressed I am with the fact that the Tampa Bay police took out their TANK against a couple dozen peaceful protesters?

We were poking fun at the Syrian Army for painting it's tanks blue and I was thinking what kind of civilized country has TANKS to use against it's citizens. Well I have my answer don't I? 

It's reassuring that when I search for Montreal tank on Google, all I can find is our police force selling woman's tank tops on their police brotherhood support website :)

Photos: Occupons Montreal - Occupy Montreal - Day 35

I took photos around La Place du Peuple and at the weekly March this week again.

The big difference at Place du Peuple this week was the fact there were no more wooden structures or Tempo tents.  Photos found here. 

The march started at 4pm instead of at 3pm, because the General Assembly was longer then expected, and since night was already falling since it was a cloudy day, most of my photo's were blurry. I have to improve my evening picture taking technique.  Photos here.

Syrians standing in front of the Russian Consulate in Montreal.

Yesterday morning, the ten of us who didn't go to Ottawa for the March, stood in front of the Russian Consulate for an hour.

There was a large march in Ottawa, with people bused in from Montreal and Toronto.  The march finished at the parliament buildings in Ottawa.

There wasn't many of us in Montreal but for what we lacked in numbers we did not lack in spirit. 

Since it was just a small group, I ended up talking to people more then I usually do. It's normal for people to talk in Arabic among themselves at these events as it is their mother tongue, so given my almost non-existant Arabic I cannot  normally follow conversations, except for the odd word I can pick up, that sometimes gives me a sense of the conversation.

I was thanked for showing up at many events since July. While I'm touched, I'm not standing with the Syrians to get recognition, I'm standing with them because I strongly believe that the Assad regime has done enough harm to Syria and should leave.  My short travel there in September 2010, along with my husbands fears, and the fact it's my mother-in-law's birth country got me attached to this country in a way I cannot explain. I suffer with them.  I could not live with myself if I did not at least support the Syrian People in one way or another.  Standing with them most week-ends seem like very little.

I also feel the same way for the Lebanese. Each time any violence erupts in Lebanon, I  suffer with them as well, and this has been since I met my husband back in 1996 though we were just friends for the following 10 years.

I was told that some of the Syrian group wants to somehow thank me for my support. My thanks will be when I can travel to Syria and not worry about Assad's crazy regime - where I will not be afraid that because my husband is Lebanese that he can be arrested and tossed in jail for no reason or for being a mouthy Lebanese. :) Where I can talk freely to Syrians and not worry about what comes out of my mouth. Not worry about my own safety or the safety of the people I'm talking to.

I want through travel across Syria and I want to see every region. From the coastal areas of Latakia and Banyas, to the province of Idlib that borders Turkey, to Homs, the heart of the revolution. I especially want to see every district of Homs. I know where our friends live, and I know what I've seen in Homs. Now I want to see every little part including Palmyria and spending time with the Bedouins there. I want to walk up to random Homsis and hug them just because they are Homsis. [Yes I'll have to stick to women for that, but you get my point!].

I want to see Abu Kamal, near the Jordan border. I even want to go close to the Jolan Heights and see the people there. Of course I'll want to go to Daraa, the birth of the current revolution and Hama, where they massacred so many in 1982 and now as well.  Of course no visit to Syria is complete without seeing Allepo and Damascus. Though I've seen  a bit of Damascus, I would still spend 2 hours easily in the Umayed mosque and days walking around old Damascus.   As for Allepo, even before the revolution I had told hubby we had to go back Syria, because I wanted to go to Allepo and Palmyria.  Now I want to see every nook and cranny. I want to visit every ruin, every large mosque and every museum. 

My dreams include a FREE SYRIA for the Syrian People. I dream that they have the same rights as I have as a Canadian.  

EDIT: I forgot to mention the Deir Ezzor region of Syria. I want to go there too! 

Montreal not just tolerant - doesn't want a legal battle

Occupy Montreal was happy there were no issues with the police and overall it seems that City hall cooperates. Well apparently according to Julius Grey the law is on the Occupiers side.

So long as the Occupiers follow the laws, there is little risk of eviction in Montreal. This is good. This means the city isn't using it's tax payers money to go against a segment of it's population!

For all of those interested, weekly march starts at 3pm at Square Victoria in front of the Statue. Join us!

My cats Occupy the Hallway to protest the food.

Occupons Montreal, Occupy Montreal

AOC US has a website that doesn't work.

I spend a fair amount of my time shopping for equipment needed for testing. Today I'm researching touchscreens. I'm looking for 1080p touchscreens that will also work with Wind8ws when it gets released. So far we have purchased models from Viewsonic, Planar and Acer. I just found a HP and a Dell model as well, all cost under $400.

I was asked to find one more model. AOC seems to have 1 touchscreen, but it's older so I'm expecting that it's end of life and won't be able to purchase so I went to their website. First I was using Firefox and I can't get anything to load. First I tried clicking to see 22" LCD's nothing loads. Then I went through their monitor finding wizard input all my details and it finds no monitors. Then I tried looking for TOUCHSCREEN on the search on their site. NOTHING FOUND.  I got pissed off and loaded IE and the flash isn't even loading at all.

In the past I had found AOC CRTs to be very low end. The pair I had bought didn't survive through the first year with the abuse we put monitors through.  AOC certainly did nothing to impress me today. Can't even use their site to figure out the products they have. So it's obvious I won't be getting AOC touchscreens to test with.

Mohawk children mass grave uncovered

More disturbing news uncovered regarding the residential schools. As a like minded individual on the Occupy Canada site said "It can NEVER be denied that a genocide of the Canada's indigenous peoples took place. Canada is a country that was built at the expense of an entire civilization; the whole Western hemisphere was built the same way. When will the common public begin to realize this? "

This is the article in question. The Catholic church was again involved in crimes against children and covered it up.  It's sad that it's a newspaper from the US reporting it.

Arab league extends Syria's deadline AGAIN!

I'm not sure why they keep doing that. This is the 2nd time they give Bashar Al Assad's government an ultimatum and the second time they don't apply their threat. They are giving them three more days to stop the bloodshed.

It won't stop a thing. If anything more time passes, more Syrian blood and Syrian bodies everywhere.  I mean it's sad when the Homsis post tips on how to stay safe when leaving your house.  I can't find it anymore I wish I had bookmarked it.  But when I read the tips to hubby it reminded him of the civil war. Which sadly is what Syria is slowly slipping into.

There's a huge march planned in Ottawa on November 19th, which is this Saturday. If you're in Montreal and would like to go, there is a bus planned from Montreal to Ottawa.

For those who would rather not go to Ottawa on Saturday there is a event to go stand in front of the Russian consulate, to protest the Russian sale of arms to the Assadi army.

A letter from Occupy McGill

This morning I found an article on the Occupiers of McGill last week, the one that brought Riot police to the McGill Campus.  There is no reason for the riot police to have been there at all, but I'll let the article speak for itself.

Here is another article about McGill from a different point of view.  


There was a March on Monday called "We are all McGill". I haven't heard too much about what happened there.

What's up with the bogus or spammy hits?

The past two days I've been getting spammed on my blog. Or at least I get randomly enormous amounts of blog hits and it makes little sense to me. What would be the reason to hit the blog 70 times in a row in the space of 1 minute?

Variants of websites with the following text are the ones that have given me over 200 hits in the past 2 days. I don't know what to make of it.

googlecorrection

777seo.com/seo.php?username=martyxmas

justforlaughsgags

I check statistics because I'm OCD. I want to know what demographics reads me. I mean other then one daughter, hubby, his mother and a few friends. :) I don't even have ads. So I'm not sure why I'm being spammed by them?!?

Lots of Action the past couple of days.

In Syria, over 70 dead, just yesterday alone. But they are following the recommendations of the Arab league can you not see? But the Assadi army keeps killing any form of dissent.

Al Jazeera has a good article today called Militarizing the Police from Oakland to NYC . Last night they hit the camp in New York, the night before it was St Louis, A couple of days earlier it was Portland, Oregon.

On this side of the border, first there was Occupy London that was taken down on the 9th,  there was Occupy Halifax that was dismantled on 11-11-11.  Here is a crappy summary of the Occupy Movement in Canada. It tends to imply that Montreal is on it's way to packing it up. Nothing could be further form the truth.  There was a fire at the Occupy St Johns in New Brunswick but that hasn't dampened people's spirits.

Across the big pond, the French were being arrested at "La Defense" as well, but I can't find anything about it this morning.

One theme is common among everything I wrote - Lots of brutality by the people who are supposed to PROTECT us!

Human Rights Violations in Syria between March 15 and October 15th

The Local Coordinating committee has been diligently cataloguing the abuse of human rights in Syria since the beginning of the people's peaceful uprising. This document is a seventy page long Adobe acrobat document that details much of the human rights violations in Syria between March 15 and October 15th 2011, with links to video's to back .

In the words of one of the admins in one of the Syrian groups I'm in on Facebook:

"It's impossible to fully appreciate how massive a task the LCCSy has completed in maintaining, verifying and cataloguing the crimes of the Syrian Regime. It's truth is that not one name be forgotten, not one crime unpunished in the Criminal Courts, with the wish of the Syrian people that it be their own courts, even if the process begins with the International Criminal Court."

The sad part is since October 15th, the violence has escalated in Syria and there have been even more human rights violations.  Here's hoping there's a new document with details about this as well. 

Please share the document and make people aware of the humans rights violations.

Come March with us on Saturday at 3pm!

Starting point is always the base of the Queen Victoria Statue at Square Victoria metro, also known as "La place du peuple".  You do not have to live in a tent to come march on Saturdays with Occupy Montreal. 

You can see some of the Egyptian group here.

Last Saturday wasn't a very big march, but we were joined by a group of Egyptians, who are protesting the military rule in Egypt. The Egyptians didn't get rid of Mubarak to put up with a totalitarian military regime.  Some of the chants included "al-shaab youreed esqat al nizam" in arabic, but also chants of solidarity between Quebec and Egypt. 

So I'm calling out to ALL Montrealers, be they Quebecois "de souche", or from Montreal's diverse English speaking community and have had it with the government or with the taxes, or with the way things are run, or you're an immigrant to Montreal and support the Arab spring back home, join us.  We'd like to see some Bahrainis, Syrians, Yemenis, Iranians, Iraqis, Lebanese [especially those who want a secular Lebanon!], Saudis, Jordanians, Palestinians, Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians, Libyans and anyone else I might have missed in this list. 

Carrying the Six Nations flag.

I'll invite the people from the first nations to join us but as one aptly said to me, they have been occupying these lands for 10,000 years.  Very good point. Here's the thing though, the movement is inclusive which means you're always welcome to join if you feel you would like to. Things have to change when it comes to native rights. 

We'd like to see everyone fed up with the status quo and wants change.  Everyone who feels that the system isn't working. It isn't working for elderly, it's not working for the workers, and it's not working for the youth.  Come and take the streets with us. Bring your own sign, voice your opinion of what's wrong with our society!

We are all the 99%. Some might be thinking, why bother, a few of us out in the street aren't going to make a difference, well you'd be surprised. A lot of people didn't think their vote were going to make a difference and didn't vote, and well we got stuck with Harper, and "his" government.  

So you have a standing invitation to come March on Saturday's at 3PM. Bring your kids, bring your mother, bring your grandpa, bring your 'cousins',  bring your friends, bring your neighbours, heck, bring your dog, it's an all inclusive movement.

Occupy Halifax Evicted on November 11th, 2011

Here's a video of the Police

Here's another one

One last one about the removal of the peaceful Occupy Halifax.

Location Location Location

It's a real estate term but we all know what it means. Occupy Montreal probably has one of most significant location as Occupy movements go.  The location chosen is Square Victoria, renamed "Place du Peuple". 

Around this Square, which has a statue of Queen Victoria, you can also find a lot of the evils that the movement is denouncing. First of all, you have the Montreal Stock Exchange Tower that is in front of Square Victoria. Power Corp is located on Square Victoria, so is Quebecor. There's also the TD bank, the bank of Nova Scotia and the ScotiaBank that have their buildings around the Square. 

It's a great location to Occupy!

Photo's from Occupy Montreal Day 28 - November 12th, 2011

Montreal's Exchange Tower seen from inside the Yourte at Occupy Montreal

Here are the photo's I took at "Place du Peuple" from about 2:30 to about 5:30pm.  I also took photo's at the March in the streets of Montreal.

Standing in Solidarity with Homs, Syria - November 12th, 2011

These are the photo's I took today at Square Philips in Montreal. About 100-150 of us stood in solidarity with the people of Homs.

Yemen - Saleh still clings to power - don't they all?

Despite the fact that Yemen's Saleh promised to sign the GCC proposal months ago, he still defiantly has not signed the document. Protests have not stopped in Yemen, and more and more the Yemeni women take to the streets along with the men to show that they too, want change. 

More people die in Yemen in clashes between the republican guard and the tribesmen meanwhile as the world watches and does nothing. The only country that really wants stability in Yemen in Saudi Arabia. The rest of the world could care less about Yemen, they don't have oil and are a poor Arab country.

Arab League suspends Syria's Membership

The Arab league was to meet today in an emergency meeting to discuss Syria. The end result is that they suspended the Membership of Syria and also threatens to recognize the SNC as the government unless things change rapidly. It also recommends that the UN protects the Syrian people.

Its nice to know that even though Bashar's army went to a lot of trouble to paint their tanks blue, it did not fool anyone :)

The down side is that the crackdown in Syria will be even more intense because Bashar's thugs know they have lost. I mean earlier in the week there  were lots of departures from Syria. Since many of the travellers were women and girls, they suspect that the Shabeha was sending their families away to safety.

This afternoon there is an event downtown Montreal to stand in Solidarity with the Homsi's.

EDIT: Right after I posted this blog, the news was changed to add that the Arab League will suspend their membership in 4 days.  Unfortunately that means the worst bloodiest days ever for the Syrian People at the hands of the Butcher's army. 

Riot Police at McGill University yesterday after march against rise of School fees

Here's an article written by the McGill student newspaper about what happened following a huge march by Quebec students against the rise of school fees. Estimates between 20000 and 30000 students participated. The march ended at Jean Charest's office which is near McGill.

The first video is events that lead to having McGill swarmed by 100 Riot police

This one covers from the beginning to near the end of what happens at McGill. 

45 seconds into this video, you see police swarm the students in attack formation

This video is labelled "This is our campus, shame on you"

Occupy Montreal - Gets harassed

Other then the media that writes absolutely everything and nothing about the movement, mostly to make the people look like a bunch of homeless drunks or druggies that are trying to destroy the world there are other forms of subtle harrassment.

I had to see it for myself to believe it. I was told last week that this was happening and I wondered if the person telling me was paranoid.  You see while the Montreal police and fire departments are reasonably supportive of Occupy Montreal, we haven't figured out if it's from above or a couple of guys who took it upon themselves but it's pretty sad. 

Since I have ADHD I get distracted by all noises. So I can hear an ambulance, police car or firetruck with sirens a mile away. Here's what surprised me. I was taking photo's a People's Place last Saturday and  I jumped out of my skin when the firetruck sirens suddenly turned on just as it reached Square Victoria and stopped once it got past the square.  If it hadn't just turned on I would not have gotten startled, I would have been following it with my ears to see what direction it was coming from.

At night often between 3-4 am, a police car will go around the square a couple of times with it's siren on and then just leave.  Just like that. Just to make sure everyone got woken up and to possibly incite discord at Place du people after people get too little sleep.

I guess those city employees feel that since the city or their bosses aren't doing anything to get rid of the Occupiers, they will take it into their own hands to make so much noise as to discourage the people to stay.  Well boys and girls, it's nice that you have big sirens you can play with, but it won't change the fact that there's over 200 cities world wide with an Occupy Movement and we aren't going anywhere. If anything the movement is getting bigger.

Lets also not forget that while the "occupy" movement may have started in Europe before it hit Wallstreet, this is the same movement that people called the Arab Spring that saw Tunesia and Egypt bring down their governments and also happening still in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain!  People want to live in freedom and dignity everywhere!

Global day of Solidarity with Homs

This Saturday, world wide is a day to show solidarity with Homs, the city  that stays defiant in front of Bashar Al Assad corrupt regime in Syria. Bless them all the Homsis for their bravery and endurance.

Please join us this Saturday November 12th at Philips Square [Metro McGill] from 1 to 2 pm and stand in solidarity with them. 

The City of Montreal is against the Occupation's wooden structures.

Yesterday several members of the Occupy Montreal movement went to City Hall to show proposed long house plans that would offer lodging for a total of 80 people. The city decided that any wooden structure was too much of a fire hazard and that all wooden constructions had to be dismantled. 

Here's the thing, do our provincial and federal governments give two hoots about the structures in which indigenous people live? No one ever asks them to dismantle their not to code homes.  Yet these are just as dangerous according to Montreal City hall. 

Furthermore, yesterday in the French media was an article that said that 45% of buildings on St Catherine street don't meet building codes. What's the difference between them and the Occupation. They won't ask all those buildings to clear out!

New Occupy Montreal Wishlist - Please check the Ad - You can help too!

Updated wish list of Occupy Montreal. If you cannot help with the wish list consider this:

Occupy Montreal is asking people who support the movement to donate their Canadian Tire money. Occupy Montreal also has to get the chemical toilets serviced so money donations are also welcomed. You can either stop at the donation tent at "La Place du Peuple" [ Square Victoria ] - corner St-Jacques & McGill near the People's Kitchen or you can send it by mail to:

Occupons Montreal/Occupy Montreal
1221 rue Fleury St Est CP 35005
MONTRÉAL, QC,
H2C 1P0

Occupons Montréal demandes a ceux qui supporte le mouvement des dons d'argent Canadian Tire. Occupons Montreal doit faire vider les toilettes chimiques et on besoin d'agent pour le faire. Vous pouvez l'envoyer par la poste a l'adresse ci haut ou bien l'apporter en personne a la tente pour les dons, situe a la place du Peuple [ au Square Victoria ] sur le coin St-Jacques et McGill a cote de La Cuisine du Peuple.

Merci de votre support - Thank-you for your support

Shit happens in Dubai

I couldn't help the title. As it goes how can a country build the worlds tallest building and not take it into account the sewage needs of such a building?

Dubai Dubai, land of mirages. Sure you have the world's tallest building -  but no central sewage? Must dispose of sewage by trucking it out?  I guess these are the growing pains of building a city out of the desert. No one thinks about how cities need sewage and water systems. I suppose being in a desert makes such systems difficult?

Occupation Montreal

Today Gabriel spoke on the live stream of Occupy Montreal, he did a podcast titled "Nov 8 2011 réponce au média". He showed an article in a newspaper  how 45% of buildings are not meeting standards. 

He said today there was plenty of inspectors and reporters on site at Occupy Montreal.  They were being told that the various types of sheds and mini houses, tipies and youtres being built on the site are dangerous because they don't meet standards. Gabriel points out neither does 45% of the buildings in Montreal. He also points out that there are no bed bugs at the occupation but there are bedbugs in a lot of other locations in the city.

He suggests that all the finger pointing from society is pointing out the problems of society. That the Occupation is a mini society and the problems being found there are also found in society at large. That it's interesting that society can see the problems at the Occupation and point a finger but not see it in society at large.

Bab Amr - Homs - Syria - They are being massacred!

Today Bashar Al Assad is telling the world that the US is inside his country helping the armed gangs. Because the US somehow has managed to come into the country and man the tanks with which they shell the living daylights out of residential areas.  Right.  This guy is delusional. But what to expect from a dictator aligned with Iran, and other dictators.  There may be a few people deluded enough to believe this, but seriously they couldn't come up with a better lie?  

One thing the Assad regime has been doing for months now is attacking Homs, some areas worse then others. The Bab Amr area is one of areas that has been taking shelling for months, but this time it's like the regime is determined not to stop until they have flattened the area into nothing but rubble, with the people left buried as they died.  Here is a statement from Bab Amr from today:

Important statement From Bab Amr Coordination in Homs 7.11

 

We, the working team of Bab Amr Coordination, condemn and declare to the public what the Assad regime did today. We condemn that Assad regime brought buses full of shabiha and they marched in support of the regime in the neighborhood of Bab Amr and Dunia Tv filmed this process as if the residents of the neighborhood are the ones who are cheering for the regime.

They also filmed the Consumer Institution working normally as a sign of normal life. Yet the Consumer Institution is just a center for security forces and shabiha for months and is also used as a detention centre.

We reiterate that Bab Amr neighborhood is being bombed for the sixth day in a row and the people of the neighborhood are suffering from lack of water, electricity and all types of communication. lack of medicines and all means of life. What are the normal aspects of life that the regime is talking about?

We ask the Syrian regime to stop its lies and to film the demolished streets and homes, the graves of the martyrs in the gardens, the wounded concealed in homes and the displaced families. We ask the Syrian regime to film at this moment how the Syrian army is invading the neighborhood and how they are arresting innocent people, stealing from homes and destroying property inside. 

We are telling the Arab, international community and human rights organizations and humanitarian organizations that Bab Amr neighborhood is in a crisis situation not back to normal life as the Syrian regime is portraying.

Bab Amr Coordinate
Homs, Syria
Monday November, 7th, 2011

Trying to send Occupy Vancouver packing.

Tragedy struck at Occupy Vancouver. For the 2nd time in about a week a person was found unconscious. Unlike the first time where first responders managed to save the man's life, this time they were not so lucky. A young woman in her early 20's, known by others at the Occupy Vancouver camp as "Ashley", stopped breathing and never regained consciousness. She was determined dead at the hospital. Authorities say that she died of natural causes, and not suspiciously.

However the Vancouver authorities are going to use this as an argument to kick out the Occupation. Never mind that people die in Vancouver of drug overdoses regularly, and they don't shut down entire parts of the city. In fact usually when someone dies of a drug overdose, no one really cares because it's just another druggie. But have one die in an Occupy - obviously, the Occupation isn't safe.  I have not been able to ascertain if Ashley was a week-end partyer or more heavily involved, but it doesn't matter. She lost her life tragically. May she rest in peace.

I wonder if the authorities hear themselves and how stupid it sounds! The problems of the city mar  the Occupy so it must be the Occupiers fault. No it's the authorities fault for not better educating people against the dangers of drugs. Has it occurred to them that many find drugs because the situation they are living is unbearable? 

I've also read comments coming from various parts of Canada where they suggest that Occupy's police themselves and kick out everyone who uses drugs or Alcohol! Fine idea in principle, but in a free society you don't choose for others what they can put inside their bodies. You don't force parents to drug their kids to allow them in school either. [A different problem but worth noting]  I personally don't have issues with those who smoke pot. Generally they aren't the ones who get violent or who overdose or cause the problems.  

The reason Montreal and Vancouver have issues with drugs and alcohol on the site, is the same reason Vancouver and Montreal have their fair share of drug addicts and homeless who live on the street. At Occupy Montreal they are trying to recruit more social workers to help with the homeless, the drug addicts and the mentally challenged so they get services and get treated with the care and dignity they deserve and also don't give our site a bad name.

Letter from the youth of Homs

On the 29th of October 2011 the Syrian solidarity movement of Montreal staged a march from Norman Bethune Square to Philips Square on the same day that the Occupy Montreal called for the 99% to march.

We all marched together to protest injustice at home and across the world.

A letter from the youth of Homs, the Syrian city that still stands defiant against the brutality of the regime, was read. "we are fighting with the only weapon we have; our voices... we do not want bullets, we just want your support and your voices.. we can be silent no longer"

Occupy Wallstreet: The renaissance of the people

Photo's from Occupy Montreal: Day 21 - November 5th, 2011

Yesterday I took many photos from around La place du peuple. The tents, the placards, but not so much the people.  For the 2nd day, I was verbally assaulted by a woman who didn't want her photo taken. Here's the thing, I had decided I wasn't taking pictures of people without asking at Place du peuple, unless it was group shots, or of the March.

I was taking a photo of a sign when I heard mumbling behind me. I ignored it and kept taking photo's of signs and tents. Some woman comes up to me and says "I don't like having my picture taken without being asked". I looked at her and said "Ok but I didn't take your photo". She says "I saw you take a photo". I answered "I'm presuming you were the person next to the sign I took a picture of". She re-iterated she didn't want her photo taken. I said again, I was taking photos of the site, not of her. Then she left me alone.

Like seriously girls, if you don't want your photo taken, don't live in a PUBLIC PLACE called "La place du peuple".  Or you see a camera, walk in the other direction. Do you really need to verbally abuse anyone you see with a camera? Are you looking for a fight, for the sake of a fight? How about stopping and thinking about others? The movement isn't about just about YOU! If people are going to document the movement as is, then they need real pictures of real people. The movement needs exposure to expand.

Imagine if I was someone from say CBC or the Gazette or some other media? How does it reflect on the movement. I would think it makes the group look like a bunch of crazies who have no clue why they are there other then to be verbally aggressive. Here's the other thing, I'm NOT the enemy, so why not save all that bitterness and aggression for a worthy cause, or to help out around the camp. It's not like I saw either of these young women at the marches or working to do anything useful! I'm mostly really disappointed that this happened.

I was chatting with someone from Trois-Rivieres on the live stream chat and he said he had the same experience taking photo's in the same area of the Place du Peuple. He also pointed out he's travelled to 4 different occupations, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto and took photo's. Only in Montreal did he get verbally abused.

Sadly at most Occupy locations both homeless and mentally challenged people do end up causing trouble, and this is because society is not taking care of them properly. Unfortunately I'm sure the media will be using it against the Occupy movement.

As for the photos, here are the photo's I took around "La place du peuple". Here are the photo's I took of November 5th, march going through old Montreal and China town, before stopping at Place des Arts and then finally walking back to La Place du Peuple. The Montreal police did a great job of escorting us through our march. Thank-you to the officers involved, they were friendly and supportive :)

A few photos from Occupy Montreal - Day 20

I didn't take many pictures last night at "La Place du Peuple". It didn't help that I was aggressively chewed out by some young chick who thinks the world owes her something. Some guy was in a lawn chair and she was sitting on top of him, they were all bundled in blankets and I thought it was cute - I was going to take a photo with the comment "Some find ways to stay warm at Occupy Montreal". So I walked back towards this couple and before I could open my mouth to ask if I can take their photo, this girl just tore me a new one. I just walked away, not worth my time of day, and besides I sensed she was looking for a fight and if I had argued back she would have gotten violent with me. 

In general last night the mood at "La place du peuple" was tense. The folks at the kitchen were upset, both because of the media representation and because of the way they are being treated by some others. When the kitchen needs volunteers people should volunteer. The kitchen does not provide meat. This makes sense, without a fridge with constant temperature they cannot ensure the meat will keep. So it's a vegetarian kitchen. Apparently some have issues with that.  The kitchen volunteers basically said that if things do not improve they will only serve white rice! I support them 100%

There was also people annoyed at the various bickering between the subgroups. It's like everything else, why can't we all get along :)  But these are just growing pains and these problems will get resolved. It's normal to have these kind of problems when you put large number of unknown people together and should not me misconstrued that the Occupation is failing. It is not failing, the awareness is growing.

The photo's are here  that I took last night at Square Victoria. Going back today for the March at 3pm, which is highly symbolic, Remember, Remember, the 5th of November. 

The Occupy Movement - The Media reports what it wants.

Most Occupiers have realized that their local media isn't reporting accurately. In many ways they have tried to put the Occupiers in the worst light imaginable. Whether it be in New York City, Oakland, Quebec City or Montreal. 

In New York City, they have encouraged the homeless to go to the Occupy camp. Then they complain about the violence that goes on in the camps. Well the violence isn't a problem of the occupy camps but a problem with the fact that large cities, like NYC and Montreal have way too many homeless. How do our cities deal with it?

They impose stupid laws like no one is allowed in parks between 11pm and 6am. This way they can arrest people for loitering. Actually giving them services and helping them off the street doesn't seem to be a priority. In Montreal we also have issues with the homeless which have also been encouraged to join the Occupation. Some of the workers of Occupy Montreal are coordinating with social workers to help deal with the homeless who cause problems at the Occupy camp.

In Oakland, despite having HUGE numbers that joined the protest, in the 30,000 to 50,000 range, the media reported a measly 3000!!!

In Montreal, it's the newspapers saying the Occupiers are taking away vital resources from the cities poorest. Not only has the media done a huge disservice to the Occupy Montreal movement, BUT also to the food banks around Montreal. At this time of year they need to collect food for Christmas and by the Gazette and other media suggesting that the Occupiers are taking away from the needy is going to cause a backlash where people won't give to the food banks if they fear the cities neediest are not benefiting from it.

I find it sad too that many of the 99% have not realized they are the 99%. I went to lunch with my co-workers the other day and they were discussing many of the points that are behind the Occupy movement, but when I brought up the fact that they were aligned with the Occupy Montreal movement, the co-workers said "Well the Occupy Montreal is too disorganized and they have no platform". 

I also have friends who feel that they rush enough going from work, to home to taking care of kids that they are willing to help only from their couch. For them I have this article called "11 ways to support the occupy movement without sleeping in a park".

This also includes helping out with the letter writing campaign to Montreal and Canadian Media. This link is to a Facebook group with form letters and emails of all main Canadian media, so you can send them your views and experiences with the Occupy Movement and get them to report the truth instead of making up stories that make the Occupiers look bad.

The most positive news I heard about the Occupy Movement was that of the Occupy London [UK] movement linked up with the Syrian protesters in Damascus and Homs via live stream and marched together.  This had me in tears.

If you want to get up to date news about the occupy movement, one blogger writes a daily resume of what went on the previous day.

Media tries to portray Occupy Montreal's People Kitchen in a negative light.

From Nina at "La cuisine du peuple"of Occupy Montreal/Occupons Montreal. She is a friend of a friend and has been involved with the kitchen from the beginning. This is what she has to say:

There have been several articles circulating involving La Cuisine du Peuple that are incorrect, unfounded and nearing slanderous. Tailored by certain reporters to make Occupy Montreal look bad!

CTV: http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111027/mtl_occupy_111027/20111027?hub=MontrealHome

Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Food+bank+donate+protest/5626070/story.html

www.montrealgazette.com/news/Your+Views+Food+Occupy+troops/5612035/story.html

The things in question:

1. It was stated that we are receiving and requesting food banks for food.

This is 100% untrue! We have never received food from a food bank or shelter, nor do we intend to ask them for help; we know they themselves are having a hard time meeting their own demands and needs.

Where this rumour was started from: During an interview with Remy a kitchen organizer from pre oct 15th meetings he stated that we are receiving a very small percentage of donations (5%-10%) from various food organizations and the rest of the food was donated by individuals

The gazette and CTV took it upon themselves to say that those food organizations mentioned were food banks or shelters, and then took it upon themselves to interview a food bank at random to interview them and print negative and irrelevant tings about our kitchen.

2. There are rumours spreading about spoilage of food from our kitchen.

This is partially true, however the reason (which are reasonable and outside our control) were neglected to be mentioned. This is also not acceptable and is in poor taste to the profession of journalism.

The facts:

1. We receive many kinds of food donations from thousands of different sources... often we receive perishables like fruits and vegetables that are past their prime, they spoil very quickly. I have also personally witnessed a donation of a box of green peppers that were so badly mouldy that we had to compost the entire contents of the box.

We would love to get in contact with a food bank or shelter where we can share our surplus, however we are currently understaffed and don't have the man power to go out seeking some to collaborate with, however if you are a food bank or shelter in need of our surplus food stuff feel free to contact myself Nina at 514-883-1969 or the Occupy Kitchen phone at 514-619-8107

2. We did have spoilage as  due to bad weather, we lost some bread that got wet because we are lacking a better structure that a tarp hung in some trees. I am currently trying to find Tempo tents or event tents (chapiteau) to use as a permanent kitchen structure, if you have one for sale for a decent price please contact me.

Its disgusting to see how quickly these two rumours and inaccuracies are spreading like wild fire to other media outlets, they all seem to piggy back off other article.

Thanks for your help, together we can all stand strong we are the 99% the media works for the 1%