We Won’t Stop: Toronto Solidarity Rail Action

Anonymous communique originally posted to NorthShore Counter-Info.

Moved by the momentum of rail blockades and actions across the country, we set out last night to stop some trains. Toronto has seen a couple of well-attended and inspiring one-day blockades over the past week. Sustaining the numbers and energy for these kinds of blockades can be hard, and we want to experiment with ways to keep pressure on the rail system without expending that energy constantly. Luckily, there are many ways to disrupt the rails – see previous callouts!

We are particularly drawn to rail actions right now. We could not be more excited to read the headlines about the “chaos” caused by rail stoppages, or about the “choking” of the Canadian economy. Anchored by Indigenous-led blockades across the country, these actions are working.

On our way to the tracks, we tried to make sense of the moment we are in. For each of us, it is a new experience in our time as radicals – a moment that feels more big and powerful and full of potential than anything we’ve yet been a part of (though we know many moments like it have come before). Colonialism brought so many horrors to this land: genocide, capitalism, environmental devastation, and more. If the state of Canada is brought to its knees it will be because of these same systems. We believe we have a lot to learn from those who have lost the most as a result of the Canadian state, in our struggle against it. It’s our job as settlers and anarchists to figure out our role, to take part humbly and honestly in this struggle.

We talked about what winning in this moment would look like, and about some of the other ways things could go – heavy repression, vigilante right-wing responses, recuperation, burnout. We talked about how about how a steady stream of small autonomous actions, while insufficient on their own, could go a long way in sustaining this struggle.

So for tonight we added our humble offering to the fire that is spreading across this land, its flames licking a Canadian flag marked with the declaration RECONCILIATION IS DEAD. It came in the form of some copper wire wrapped around two tracks, sending our solidarity east and west along the rail lines that connect this wretched nation. With the clang of the rail signals we knew we had done our job for now, and dispersed into the night.