Call for a Week of Action from the Committees for Territorial Defence and Decolonisation

This following call for action and solidarity against extractive fossil fuel industries comes from so-called Canada and was originally posted on Montreal Counter-Info. 

Block the extractive economy, Support the river camp

November 24-26 upcoming, the Liberal Party will meet up for Québec City. These ferocious partisans of the extractivist economy are going to authorize a new reglementary regime for the hydrocarbon extraction that is already a bigger threat than ever before vis-à-vis the water, the planet, and everything that lives upon it. Their determination to privilege the oil capitalists and the mining magnates, despite increasingly loud opposition, demonstrates that only a social force of real consequence can interrupt their activities. It is in this sense that we in the Comités de défense et de décolonisation des territoires (“committees for territorial defence and decolonisation”) call for a week of actions from November 24 to December 2 so as to find each other in the struggle, maintain pressure, attack the infrastructure of the death economy.

Since the River Camp was set up, in Gaspésie, at the foot of the road leading to the wells of the Junex oil company, it’s been clear where the line is: on the one hand, those who want to protect territory; on the other, those who land subjugated by a logic of exploitation. Despite the threats of injunction, a renewal in the resistance movement has emerged from discussions, meetings, and the call for the formation of support committees. The proposal of linking Earth liberation and decolonization is making the rounds and engendering new possibilities. And just as much, it deals with some burning questions. What’s happening in Gaspésie is an inspiration for resistance everywhere, on top of teaching us hatred for colonial institutions.

We need to remember that, under pressure from the traditional Mi’kmaq council, the regions’s band councils and the oil companies reached a temporary agreement about the the stoppage of works last August. Petrolia, however, has gotten a pass from these same councils to start seismic tests close to protected areas. All colonial institutions stand together in pursuit of their destructive oeuvre.

Thus the announcement of the Energy East project was only a short respite for those who wish to protect land. More than ever we must build upon our strength, forge a network of solidarity, and move on to action. This is why we are calling for folks to step out once again before the snow comes to cover up the ravages of the oil companies. Step out, and by all means necessary, reinhabit all worlds.

Download the french version here