[Nettime-bold] fuckin' revolution , man, i.e. Quebec City demo

[JSalloum {AT} aol.com]

>From: "Vrinda Conroy" <vrindi {AT} hotmail.com>
>Subject: fuckin' revolution , man
>Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 18:47:02 -0000
>
>so, i guess i've missed out a bit on all the communications that have been 
>going on.  my brain and body have been in a completly different place and 
>communicating with people on the internet has been one of the last things i 
>have been prepared to deal with.
>   i was a part of the madness in quebec city this last week and just got 
>home a couple days ago.  i'm still attempting to sort out emotions and 
>figure out what exactly went on.
>   i was doing basic medical stuff within an affinity group of some friends 
>and everyone is fine, amazingly none of them, or me, got arrested or 
>seriously hurt.  many others were not so lucky.  Some other friends of mine 
>were working within street medic teams and had to deal with insane shit. an 
>older woman died in her apartment due to the amount of tear gas in the air, 
>and there are also rumers of two protesters dead as well as one officer.  
>this has not yet been confirmed, but apparently it was broadcast on cbc so 
>people are looking into it to find out for sure.
>   there were many serious injuries, a person got hit in the throat by a 
>plastic bullet and was sent to the hospital, near death, and had to get a 
>tracheotomy. there were broken bones, shattered feet and hands, people 
>getting stitched up in the peoples clinic that was set up.  i won't get 
>into describing it all now but people are really shaken up.  there are 
>others who are still being held in jail with no medical attention, no 
>outside contact,  it's horrible and i don't feel words can describe justly 
>the trauma we all are dealing with.  the healing and anger and rage will be 
>with us for a long time, perhaps the rest of our days.
>   there is a group of five kids staying with us who attempted to cross the 
>border by hiking through the mountains only to get picked up by the police 
>and spend three days in jail. a friend was leaving town and found them at 
>the bus station with nowhere to go so he brought them here.
>   police targeted and fired indiscriminantly at people with plastic 
bullets, 
>rubber bullets, tear gas canisters, ambulances would not come into the area 
>until it was considered "secure" by police. people had to be carried out 
>and some were sent to the hospital in taxi's,  some of those were denied 
>medical attention because they didn't have health care.  One woman whose 
>foot was shattered by a tear gas canister landing on it, was denied 
>attention, and sent back to the states on a bus, where upon arrival her 
>foot will have to be rebroken and reset.
>   people acting as medics were targeted and shot at.  guns with laser 
sights 
>were used to target people.  on saturday night the clinic was raided and 
>gassed, the medics and doctors that were working, along with their patients 
>were stripped of anything they had to protect themselves (scarves with 
>vinegar, gas masks, etc...)  and forced to leave the clinic at gun point. 
>the police then fired several canisters down a set of stairs and then the 
>medics along with the patients were forced to leave with no choice but to 
>walk in the clouds of gas that had just been fired.
>   ambulances were used as 'trojan horses', they would drive into crowds of 
>people and out of the back, squads of riot cops would file out.
>       along with all the horrible things that went on there were many 
amazing 
>and inspiring things i saw and became a part off.  people, some with no gas 
>masks and nothing but pieces of cloth to cover their noses and mouths, 
>continued throughout the whole thing to throw canisters back, to attack the 
>fence, as well as other activities that i will not get into over the 
>internet.
>   the sense of community and solidarity among everyone is amazing.  close 
>friends are made extremely fast.
>   seeing this stuff and being gased in an extemely effective way of causing 
>people to examine larger issues and try to figure out why this shit is 
>happening to them and those they love.  as more and more of these clashes 
>occur, more and more people become aware and feel they have no choice but 
>to participate in any way they can.
>   it becomes obvious that we live in a police state.
>this is all i'm going to write for now, if any of you have questions, 
>please ask me and i'll answer them as best i can.
>   i love all of you and hope that you too are not believing what the 
fucking 
>corporate media has to say about this. people are throwing rocks, molotov 
>coctails, taking over the streets for justifiable reasons.
>   we have concrete reasons to be filled with rage, to be hostile, and also 
>to focus on loving eachother and attempting to change this world in our 
>everyday lives and with every choice we make.
>               love always     vrinda


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