I know this is a sixties list, but thought this piece was one of the best
I've read on the Quebec City uprising. Hopefully, the moderator (bless
their heart) will allow it to be posted.
-ron jacobs
>This was sent as a letter to a number of Canadian media. The author
>obviously wants it as widely circulated as possible cheers, Ken Hanly
>
>Testimonial on the Anti-FTAA Demonstrations, April 18-22, 2001 April 24, 2001
>
>I want to write about what I saw this weekend in Quebec City. I volunteered
>as a Street Medic for the anti-FTAA protests, from Wednesday afternoon
>until Sunday afternoon. In the course of these days I saw so much that I
>hope to never see again. I treated hundreds of injured people, got tear
>gassed, felt the effects of pepper spray, and mostly felt the kind of
>turmoil that a peaceful society ought not to experience. Throughout the
>event medics were targeted by the police: wherever my partner and I would
>be treating people, tear gas canisters would land right beside us. Some
>medics got hit with rubber bullets. On Friday, my friend Sean was on his
>knees treating a patient in a tear gas cloud on the front lines, when a
>canister fell right under his face and exploded. He inhaled so much of it
>right there, then he tried to stumble to his feet only to narrowly miss a
>canister aimed at his head.
>
>Another canister hit the wall behind him, bounced and hit him in the back,
>knocking him flat. A final canister rolled by his face again and exploded.
>He was rescued by another medic team and spent the next two days
>recuperating in the medic clinic on Cote D'Abraham. On the front lines on
>Friday we began treating people as the gassing began. We kept having to
>retreat more and more to avoid the clouds of gas. At one point a canister
>exploded right next to me. I can't begin to explain the agony of being hit
>head on with tear gas first of all it suffocates you. I began to walk very
>quickly, barely restraining the panic, as I coughed and choked. I thought I
>would die, that any minute my asthma would kick in. Everywhere we turned
>there were more riot cops, more gas, and no safe space to calm down and
>decompress. My eyes were fine, being sealed under swim goggles, but my skin
>was burning like fire. Finally we managed to find a corner without gas and
>I got my breath back. I can't explain the fear that set in afterwards I was
>so scared to go anywhere near the cops. But I was in Quebec to do a service
>treat injured people who were in pain.
>
>Now that I knew what that pain was like, I also knew I had to go back into
>the fray. As we walked back into the chaos, we came upon a girl who had
>been hit by a canister of gas, which exploded all over her body. Medics
>were treating her by stripping off her clothing and pouring liquids all
>over her. The poor girl was crying and screaming, in so much pain. Around
>us were clouds and clouds of gas, and cops advancing on all sides. The cops
>began shooting canisters high into the air, into the back of the crowd,
>where we were. In that area were only peaceful protesters; we were not up
>by the perimeter fence, and we were not involved in Black Bloc activities
>up by the front lines. Our space was full of individuals being treated for
>various injuries, and just trying to recuperate. Yet we were getting hit
>with dozens of canisters! We had to watch the sky, hoping the canisters
>wouldn't land on us.
>
>We had to continually stand in the center of the action, yelling at people
>to walk, walk, walk to avoid a mob scene and tramplings. It's so hard to
>stand still or walk slowly when tear gas canisters at a temperature of
>hundreds of degrees Celsius are being shot straight at you or above your
>head. I broke down so many times in the fracas, because the emotion just
>ran so high. I thought I was either going to die or be incapacitated or
>arrested. At one point we were in the middle of a city block when a fire
>truck came through and the protesters attacked it. At the time I couldn't
>understand why, why would they attack firemen, but later on someone helped
>me realize that the truck was going to be used as a water cannon, so people
>wanted to trash it. Finally the truck went through, after having all its
>water emptied and the equipment taken. Later a row of riot cops formed at
>one intersection, and lobbed gas canisters to block off the end of the
>block. There was no escape route for my partner and I and the dozen or so
>protesters still there. Again I began to choke and almost panic, but we
>ducked into a driveway. When I saw the pain the others were in the
>adrenaline kicked in, and I began to treat them. I didn't even think about
>my state, because I didn't feel it once I saw the injured people that
>needed my help.
>
>We managed to escape through backyards onto another block. This weekend was
>a war zone. I felt like I was in the middle of civil war and urban warfare.
>I treated so many burned hands, from people who wore thick gloves to throw
>tear gas canisters back at the cops or away from the crowd, yet got their
>hands burned. I saw third degree burns. I flushed hundreds of eyes with
>water and sometimes with LAW liquid antacid mixed with water in a 1:1
>ratio. When we were safely away from gas, I did MOFIBA skin decontamination
>treatments (mineral oil followed immediately by alcohol) to take away the
>pain. I treated so many injuries from people hit by tear gas canisters and
>also those hit by rubber or plastic bullets. I saw back injuries, head
>injuries, broken fingers, leg wounds, and so much more.
>
>On Friday night we ended up under siege in our medical clinic as the cops
>advanced down Cote D'Abraham, firing rounds and rounds of tear gas. The air
>was so contaminated that we had to breathe through our vinegar-soaked
>bandannas INSIDE the clinic. We had all the lights out and were speaking in
>whispers. It was so scary. I thought we were for sure going to be arrested.
>Finally we managed to evacuate down the stairs outside, and get away. On
>Saturday night it was a different story. I wasn't there, I was at Ilot
>Fleurie under the highway, in the middle of the big party. But I heard from
>many medics who were there, and here's the story: The cops advanced down
>Cote D'Abraham, shooting tear gas like crazy and shooting rubber bullets
>down alleys and driveways. When they reached the clinic they marched
>everyone who was in the alley (the decontamination space) out at gunpoint.
>This included many medics and their patients, even seriously injured ones.
>The cops forcibly removed all the protective gear from everyone, including
>gas masks, vinegar bandannas and any goggles, saying "No more protection
>for you guys!".
>
>They also took all the medical supplies and equipment that was in the alley
>or being carried by the medics. They then marched them, hands in the air
>and at gunpoint, out into the gas. They made them walk one way, then
>changed their minds and marched them another direction. My friend Sean said
>that one guy next to him was hit in the head with a rubber bullet, and the
>cops wouldn't allow him to stop and treat the person. Finally they let the
>group go, without any arrests. Needless to say, the clinic was evacuated
>and set up in a different location. Other injuries I heard about from
>medics were: Derek and his partner treated a guy who was severely beaten by
>police. He had a skull fracture, was in serious shock and had a compound
>leg fracture that made it almost severed. They waited in clouds of tear
>gas, with more and more canisters being hurled at them, for the ambulance.
>
>Another medic treated a guy whose finger was cut off as he tried to scale
>the wall. One girl's shoulder was dislocated. I treated a guy who got hit
>in the back with a tear gas canister. One guy got hit in the Adam's Apple
>with a rubber bullet and underwent an emergency tracheotomy. My teammate
>Leigh had a serious asthma attack in the clouds. There were many victims of
>beatings at the hands of police serious injuries from police batons. One
>guy had his earring ripped straight out of his ear by a riot cop. There
>were so many more, I just can' t remember them all. And the funniest thing
>is, the mainstream media (i.e. the Montreal Gazette) reported only 300
>injuries total hahaha that's laughable, since I must have treated that many
>MYSELF!!! And there were probably 50 medics treating that many injuries
>each! In the midst of all this chaos and fear and pain there were bright
>moments. On Thursday I was present at the start of the Women's March, which
>was colourful, beautiful, peaceful, magical. There were huge puppets and
>decorated artwork that the women wove into the Wall of Shame.
>
>That night I walked with the Torchlight Parade all the way from Universite
>de Laval to Ilot Fleurie. Along the entire route, for many countless hours,
>the group sang songs, chanted, drummed and danced. Slogans such as "This is
>what Democracy looks like", "Whose streets? Our streets?", "Ain't no power
>like the power of the people and the power of the people won't stop" and
>"So So So, Solidarite!" were repeated over and over. There was a festive
>atmosphere, with many residents waving from their homes and calling out
>their support to the crowd. On Friday things went bad as soon as the next
>march from Laval reached the perimeter, but I saw some beautiful things
>through the clouds of gas. A group of women joined hands and danced in a
>slow circle, singing beautiful songs about peace and nonviolence. They were
>angelic, young and old, a space of quiet in the midst of a thunderstorm of
>pain. Starhawk led her Pagan group with blue banners and an aura of calm,
>straight into the tear gas. I saw them go by and felt safe for just a moment.
>
>I heard later that they went straight through the gas and the bullets, and
>sang and danced right by the row of riot cops. Apparently some were later
>treated for injuries. Their courage and faith was inspirational to many,
>including me. On Saturday down at Ilot Fleurie a party was going on all day
>long. In this space, supposedly the "Green Zone" (safe,
>non-confrontational, nowhere near the perimeter) had a booth set up for
>Food Not Bombs, a group that fed us all weekend long. Everyone was welcome
>to come and eat for free any time of day, and there were containers to eat
>out of with a washstation nearby that everyone was expected to wash their
>dish out in after eating. There was also an art space set up where artists
>would fashion their work to use in the protests. By late afternoon there
>was a huge fire going in the street, with people dancing around it. Many
>people ripped down street signs and used them as musical instruments a
>steady beat went on for hours and hours, late into the night. There was a
>group dancing to the beat, and everyone felt so free and beautiful. It felt
>like the kind of society I want to live in at least until the cops arrived
>and the fear set in. A whole phalanx of riot cops stood their ground at the
>top of the stairs looking down on Ilot Fleurie, and were an intimidating
>presence for hours on end (from approximately 5 pm until they gassed us at
>2:30 a.m.). Six choppers circled overhead as well. Getting back to good
>moments: while we medics were holed up inside a shack that was being used
>as a "Free Space" in Ilot Fleurie (they let us use it as a makeshift
>clinic), a guy was brought in with a serious asthma attack. He had been
>having the attack for about a half hour, and his breathing was extremely
>laboured. I sat him down and attempted to calm him down, but it only got
>worse. I could hear the wheezing and feel his body shaking with every
>effort, and I knew the pain he was in because of my own experiences with
>asthma. I recognized his panic.
>
>He also didn't have his ventolin inhaler. As I sat there by his side I went
>over my options in my head and realized I had none. An ambulance wouldn't
>come into such a "hot" area, our clinic had just been busted by the cops,
>and I had no ventolin or adrenaline for him. So in a moment of clarity I
>realized I should try my only other option an acupressure point I had
>learned the week before, that supposedly stops asthma attacks immediately.
>I admit that before Saturday night I was very skeptical of these
>techniques, but when I was confronted with this guy' s obvious need, faith
>just kicked in. I knew it would work, I just knew it. Maybe because I
>believed it so much, maybe because of something else, it worked. Within
>seconds of my pressing that point on his hand, his breathing began to slow
>down. Within a minute he was calm, and walked out of the clinic!!! That
>moment for me was magic without any Western medical techniques or
>medication of any sort, I managed to take away this man's pain.
>Unbelievable. I began to cry as soon as he walked out I was so shocked and
>so relieved.
>
>What I saw this weekend, what I went through, what I saw people going
>through it made me realize how much stronger I am than I previously
>thought. I kept saying to myself if you can get through this moment, you
>can get through the next, and the next, and then whatever life drops on
>you. And I got through it all. Without serious injury, without arrest. But
>I have to say, I didn't get away scott-free. My heart hurts. My mind hurts.
>Most of all, my soul is aching with pain and disbelief.
>
>I can't believe how people hurt each other. I am shocked at the violence I
>saw in the span of two days, Friday and Saturday. I can't believe the
>ferocity of chemical weapons, and that a government would allow its police
>force to use such arms against its own people. I am angered that a) the
>Black Bloc, formed of a handful of protesters at any one point, attacks the
>police and that b) the police react by gassing the thousands of peaceful
>protesters!!! I fully appreciate the cops need to defend themselves against
>the concrete and plywood wielding Black Bloc-ers, but each of these cops is
>heavily armed and protected, and a handful of them could have easily
>surrounded the Black Bloc and dealt with them instead of affecting the
>peaceful demonstrators. Tear gas was being shot deliberately at the
>peaceful demonstrators at the back of the crowd!
>
>I know all this because I was there. I am not spreading misinformation or
>propaganda of any sort, because I saw the majority of this with my own two
>eyes. The information that I heard from other medics is 100% reliable
>because I worked with these people all weekend, and much of this was talked
>about in our debriefings at the end of every night. No one in those
>debriefings was lying, and none of these stories are without two or more
>witnesses.
>
>I am sending all of you my story because I believe that the mainstream
>media is very biased. I want you all to know what really went down. I
>haven't even told you the half of it in this letter, but I've tried to give
>at least a taste of the pain I saw all weekend. I am having a very hard
>time processing and dealing with this the feelings I am experiencing are
>similar to those I had when I came back from the death camps in Poland. I
>cannot function adequately right now, and this letter is part of my healing
>process. If you have any questions, please ask me. ASK ME! I want to spread
>this message to as many people as possible. I want the world to know what
>went on in Quebec, how undemocratic and unfair and immoral and oppressive
>the situation was.
>
>Yet I also want people to know that a better world is possible - through
>the gas and the pain and the fear I also glimpsed the possibility, the
>hope, of that new space. People from all walks of life, backgrounds, ages,
>races, and more came together in Quebec to fight against corporate rule,
>and to fight for basic human rights, environmentalism and fair trade. We
>have a vision of a future where things will be better. I don't stand with
>the anarchists who want to break this society in order to form a new one,
>and I don't stand with the protesters shouting "Revolution" in the armed
>sense. But I do stand with the ordinary individuals, grandmothers, kids,
>labourers, environmentalists, humans, who want to change things.
>
>So I went to Quebec City as myself, and I came back as myself but with eyes
>washed clear by tear gas and pepper spray. As the song says, "I can see
>clearly now the rain has gone I can see all obstacles in my way". I can
>see, but at what price to my psyche? I still don't know. I find myself
>asking, would it have been better to have stayed home and watched it all on
>TV??? It would have saved me the pain and heartache, but it would also have
>left me in my little bubble of idealism. Not to say I am not still an
>idealistic, romantic, optimistic woman I am but I am also just a little bit
>more realistic.
>
>I hope that you have read this far, and if so I congratulate you on being
>an open-minded and intelligent individual. Please send this letter on to
>whomever you may choose and send my email address along with it so I can
>field any questions.
>
>As we said in Quebec City, Be Safe.
>
>Love, Sara Ahronheim
>
>Biology 2001, Queen's University
>
>
>Louis Proyect
>Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>
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