#another brutally honest callout by me

[dandeliicns]

51. How do you think the RP/Fandom community has grown or changed since you started?

MUNDAY RP MEME: HOW // ACCEPTING!

When I first started the rpc was very forgiving and brutal at the same time. This was back in like 2013-2015 time frame for me. Back then the trend was really tragic characters, hard to interact with and plotting was more of a thing that was rare and world building was kinda coming into light? I unfortunately made a lot of mistakes trying to follow the trends and trying to popular by making people like my characters.

It seemed at the time the only way you get interactions was if your character was severely traumatized and didn't really have development/overcoming said trauma. If your muse was hurt in the worse way possible then that character was worshipped and you were applauded for it.

My mistake/biggest regret was taking aspects of writers lore that they made for their character specially and applied it to my own. Basically copy and paste and I was rightfully called out for it. Callouts were very big, up to the point of light doxxing, tracking ips and basically warning Fandoms to not interact with you and they didn't give you much more room for apologizes or improvement.

How that's changed? We do our research, we credit the inspirations even if it's something little as locations, traits or other writers that helped you come up with the lore. I love that now, and I've learned from my past mistakes/regrets. I credit everything, from songs, to TV shows, movies and video games. I cover all my basis. As for characters, we no longer torture our characters or make them hard to interact. We establish a real story-telling aspect of beginning, the conflict, the climax and the resolution. We actually want our characters to grow and develop but still acknowledging the shit we put them through.

In addition, we also use our characters to talk about topics that need to be addressed. Writer over at @anomalouss and myself tackle Mental Health and illness. I focus more on the recovery of it, normalizing that it's okay to spiral but you can always crawl your way back up if you have a system that works. While Kat, she focuses on the various mental illness/diagnosed conditions and protrays them in a way that's VERY realistic compared to the water-downed verison that media shows us. She makes it known that certain characters are bad for this,that and the third but also making them intractable that they have their good/amazing days.

Another note is the face claims, proper casting, making sure that the characters background matches the actor/actress to include names. I'll be honest the best example would be @indigodreames . Jem took the time to educate me on an OC/NPC that I had for Victoria's best friend - I gave her a generic Hispanic name, and she educated me that the fc I picked had a different background. She also took up that OC, gave her a cultural accurate name and background that does her justice. In addition to her Asian muses from South Korea, I believe the Philippines and Japan? Jem, please correct me if I'm wrong! The same also applies to you ! @shchvnts reading your lore on the vampires that are native to your characters country was very enlightening ! It actually inspired me to go into my own vampire lore so be on the lookout for that later on today!

Overall, the RPC is constantly evolving, educating and taking accountability for actions. Some like myself learn from young and dumb actions when they first started and others? Well, I hope they catch up with the times and understand you can still have fun, take it seriously but at the end of the day as long as you're not disrespectful, making drama, and ruining the experience for everyone; everything should turn out fine.

#shchvnts #✿ | ❝ mentally i'm like shaq on stilts. ❞ ⤏ out of chara ( m is speaking ) #tw: long post #tw long post #( thank you for sending this ! )

[ladyuzume]

@LADYUZUME’S RULES

I do not own the Mortal Kombat Franchise nor Uzume's faceclaim. Mortal Kombat belongs to Netherrealm Studios and Uzume's faceclaim, Kirio Hikifune, belongs to Tite Kubo's Bleach. Uzume is 100% my OC, however, and is heavily inspired by the Shinto Goddess, Ame-No-Uzume.

I am a bit tired of callouts nowadays. About the only times you'll honestly see me reblog a callout is if/when I genuinely find the person incredibly problematic — especially if I've fallen victim from them firsthand. Otherwise it's going to be a hit or miss. Any callout posts I reblog will be tagged as CALLOUT TW and DRAMA TW for ease of mind. Now if the person makes a public apology and acknowledges their mistakes then I'll be more than happy to talk to them again depending on what all they've done.

I refuse to interact with problematic muns. If you are racist, ableist, sexist, LGBT-phobic, and a Nazi bootlicker then I want nothing to do with you. However, the same is equally true if you refuse to acknowledge how problematic many character (such as The Joker) are then I also want nothing to do with you. The reason for this is because fiction is the only real way for people to learn just how problematic people truly are in the real world.

Please do not follow me if you interact with any of the following people: Ziro. I’m a pretty forgiving person but if problematic people tend to play the victim, refuse to acknowledge they’ve messed up, refuse to apologize, and refuse to learn from their mistakes then I want nothing to do with them. All I want is for those who have messed up to just apologize and learn from their mistakes. That’s all. I’m here to sit down, relax, and have fun. Nothing more, nothing less.

I’m iffy on duplicates right now. I'm going to be brutally honest and say that about the only way I'll follow another Joker RPer is if we speak prior to everything and/or are close friends. This is due to my incredibly low self-esteem and being rather self-conscious about my work. It's nothing against any other Joker RPer, rest assured.

I’m stuck using BETA TEXT EDITOR + XKIT REWRITTEN. I can’t use LEGACY TEXT EDITOR at all because I made this blog after November 26th, 2022. I know this might sound a bit brash but I'd greatly appreciate it if you used BTE with me otherwise I'm probably not going to interact with you until everyone’s forced to use BTE.

I only interact with mutuals who are 18+. Though I am perfectly fine with non-mutuals sending headcanon asks, anonymous asks, and chatting with me OOC. Otherwise, I’m only going to interact with mutuals IC. It just makes my dash cleaner and easier to deal with.

Memes, unprompted asks, open starters, and dash commentaries are the best way to interact with me. I’ve come to learn that I get bored / lose motivation quite easily and rather quickly when doing starter calls. So I prefer sending / receiving unprompted asks, memes, and making open starters as well as replying to them. Now if we plan on doing a specific thread or something then that’s one thing. So I will very seldom if ever be making starter calls and / or like my mutuals’ starter calls because of how easily bored and uninterested I get with them early on.

I do practice mains & exclusives. Though I am extremely picky with whom I become mains or exclusives with due to bad experiences in the past. The number of dupes I will have of one character is up in the air right now so I'll stick with two to three mains per character for the time being.

Call me Shin! My pronouns are she/they. I’m 21+ years of age (30 to be exact) and am demi-bi. I suffer from severe GAD (with frequent paranoia episodes) and mild MDD. Not only that but I'm also in the process of getting tested for BPD. So please be patient with me and my random mood swings and bouts of negativity.

The fact that we have to remind everyone of this is problematic in and of itself. It ought to be common sense that none of us are our muses. Will we share similar traits and have common interests? sure. are there things that fascinate us with our muses? Most definitely. Do we condone everything that our muses do? Absolutely not.

Do not take Uzume lightly. She is an incredibly powerful Goddess and is capable of fending for herself physically and verbally. She is capable of fighting in hand-to-hand combat, weaponry, and many more.

I do not practice reblog karma. I’m perfectly fine with you reblogging musings, fanart, gifs, memes, music, PSAs, promos, and callouts from me. In fact, I encourage it. Just don’t reblog my ooc posts, headcanons, and threads without permission. You can like them all you want, just don’t reblog them.

This blog is strictly singleship for the time being. Now while she is in a relationship with Raiden, I'm willing to explore relationships with her even to the point of her getting in a relationship. But it's really not a requirement all things considered tbh. This is especially true since Uzume is based heavily around my fanfics for Raiden.

I have several verses to choose from. Okay … technically I don't because they're still very much under construction. I will state, however, that my main one will be 〈| verse |〉 keeper of time.

I can and will be updating these rules from time to time. But rest assured that I'll always be letting my followers know when I update them. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns then feel free to message me for I’ll 100% answer them to the best of my ability!

[ragnaofazure]

Reasons Why.

(BGM)

It was time to pay a visit to someone he really wished to see. The man had not felt the excitement to have a rendezvous with another person in quite a while, he was outright... Eager. After all, he rarely met with anyone directly anymore. A smile stretched across his face, it was refreshing, he was picturing the whole event...

Ah. To be able to experience this set of emotions put some spring to his step. Given his status in the world, anyone found to have connections with him was as good as getting marked, due to that, he gave up hope to form any sort of lasting connections unless it was possible for the other party to remain safe and unseen with anyone else. It was a true price to pay for everything he has done, an unrestorable status in society, unsurprisingly.

Alas, that was but the price to pay for his path, and he knew it well from the beginning. He continued increasing his pace over the outskirts of the city, getting ever so closer to the big mansion, where he was meant to go to his meeting.

About ten minutes later on top of the half an hour of on foot travel, it finally came into view... And that is when he started to run... And then broke into full sprint, faster than any human should go, aiming for that front gate. That grin on his face becoming wider.

(BGM)

Right over the walls, they were already rushing to give him the warm welcome he was expecting, a hail of bullets that were missing the target by an extremely long shot due to the speed he was moving at. It was literal seconds before he shoulder tackled the robust gate and busted it right open with little effort. As it went flying off the thick hinges, all the way to the big fountain not too long a distance from it right behind, smashing it apart considerably. And before the two thugs that went to welcome him ahead of time could do anything, aside from the couple waiting at the main entrance...

They did not see him leap at their higher elevation on the steps on each opposite sides of the gate. One got skewered by huge weapon before pulling out, the other earned a huge diagonal gash from shoulder to hip, both deep and serious injuries that caused immediate collapses.

After watching them fall to the floor in fatal agony with almost simultaneous thuds, should immediate help not be brought to at least one of them, the other two were witnesses and nothing more to the effortless short and brutal work they made of their fellow cohorts. Shaking hands pointed firearms at him, he was unimpressed as he shook the initial scarlet fluid staining the blade, as soon as he was within arm's reach of the two, he had a simple question as he sighed.

 "Where is he? You all knew I was coming." He looked smug, as if he had just done nothing wrong whatsoever, “And don't even think about lying, no matter if I respect the loyalty that you could have to the piece of garbage, make it easier on yourselves." Giving a chance, it then came.

'He ran away hours ago!' 'The best, most honking office all the way back!'

‘What are you doing?! Traitor!!' 'Screw him! We're all dying anyway!'

"Only one."

Ragna interrupted, kicking the liar down and through the double door with inhuman force before stomping on his chest, cracking noises echoing before impaling his weapon right between his ribcage, finding the heart after small, painful torture. Turning back to face the one that helped and flashed an honest smile again in a full easy mood change.

"Run now. I'm not chasing, better not see your face ever again if you don't turn a new leaf." Allowing escape, he then turned to the mansion standing before him. Echoes and fear of the spared life fading to the distance...

"The Grim Reaper is here! I suggest only the most loyal to the prick step up! The rest? One chance to start escaping!" Making his callout, he waited at the fancy foyer, right in the center after waltzing in.

"..." And sure enough, some devotees sprang up, jumping over the railing of a second story, armed with japanese swords, pipes, chains, more fierarms... The whole classic variety of criminals. "I hope that's not all of you at once..." And right as he was speaking? One of them took the first swing as he was turning around, addressing them, managing a clean cut from the back of his ear down to the carotid artery, causing his blood to begin flowing and making him grin.

...Yet Ragna still stood. And seconds after?

His wounds began closing like nothing. Collective fear took place before he cracked his neck. "...I should have expected one of you assholes was going to try the cheap shot." He slammed the tip of the huge blade on the floor, metal loudly echoing against carpeted tile.

"Come at me then! All of you in whatever manner you want! You're all that brave and loyal?! Willing to die for nothing?! Huh?! Show it to me!" Calling them out, he waited for the next swing, which was a sickle, aimed straight at his chest, which was immediately deflected, he then took it in hand... And crushed it in half. After letting that sink in, "My turn..." He whispered at the shocked thug, raising a fist then smashing it against their face, the rattling sound as he sent the poor bastard packing resounded as he slammed against the wall with decent impact.

Stretching his hand and wrist, he turned to the baffled rest once more, "Next. All at once. Again, if you don't value your life, keep tossing it. You had your chance to be spared." Throwing out the confident taunt and warning, he then waited for the swarm to congregate around him... Which came out swinging. A hail of bullets, many sharp and blunt weapons swung at him, he obviously could not block all of them, yet... No matter the cut or where, it closed almost instantly, even one landed in his eye. And while that was annoying? It was restoring.

A pipe smashed his head? Cracking the skull? Shook it off, everything within rearranging. It was a small massacre of about twenty men or more surrounding him as they were dropping dead, or being blown away... A loud, violent ranbat of one man being surrounded to the very end.

(BGM)

Soon enough, it all was calm as he momentarily caught his breath, lifeless or gravely injured men sprawled at his feet, few more decided to try and attack, so he could only assume everyone in the back came forth. Those were all of them. A bloodbath. There was no other way to call that.

"I ultimately respect your devotion... But it could have been much better placed." He slowly returned his sword to it’s resting place behind him. After a couple of minutes with his head lowered... It was time to find who he came to see. A tour of what was now a ghost house.

Making it through many a kind of hallways, rooms, all the regal household until he was kicking one last door that stood out. Velvet red, gold around the frame, egotistical initial... This was it. And sure enough, there he was. Sitting like it was nothing.

(BGM)

“You didn't run? Facing this like a man?" Immediately, he asked as he slowly waltzed in. The man he was after was the head of a real bad mafia, adhered to no standards. No exception to colaterals, no real grace periods... No mercy even to children, the little ones were outright trafficked or used as bargaining chips. All of this? It was a recipe to absolutely piss off the big bad considered as Ragna, and it was why he was excited all along. To kill him as deserved in his book.

‘You would have tracked me down easily, no matter how far I ran.'

"Heh, I see any big wig has the head right on he shoulders enough." Fake compliment, but still, outrun him? Very few get away. But he was grinning, this bastard was... grinning? To what he narrowed his eyes in immediate reaction, there was literally no reason to be happy about this.

"...What's funny? Proud of the little dirty legacy you're leaving behind? A goddamn pile of unnecessary corpses, and that's due to innocents and those who were never involved, you lack any standards unlike most other leaders, a bad kind of iron fist."

Fist balled in anger as he retold everything, a quiet, clear anger that could burn so much...

'And where do you get off talking to me about morals? Grim Reaper? Your body count is above the goddamn four digits... And that's an estimate.'

‘You figured: “Oh, I'm no longer bad but I don't want to get jailed! I'll just pluck every other bad that will only keep appearing in this world!” ...Give the act a break. Even you know you would make a much better life committing to the underworld all over again.'

"..." No words, which caused the fellow criminal to laugh, it was true... But there were reasons why he didn't. He reaffirmed his gaze, a piercing glare, unbreakable... "There's a difference." He responded, "I know how this whole world works... And you are true evil."

"Your kind normally has standards. They know who is supposed to get what they deserve under any circumstance, you? You don't care. You are greedy, you tossed all your men at me as if they were disposeable, most likely forced because they don't know better." Scoffing, he continued on.

"The only reason you grew was due you having no limits, no matter what, and that... That's exactly why I hate." And what circled back to his reasons. "Evil is unremoveable, after all... I am here. But you? That goes beyond it."

The comment caused the fat cat in suit to grimace, 'That still doesn't make you or anything around you better, you are still the most hated man in the world, the chain of command that comes clean up takes your credit. They outright know your MO.'

“And?" He immedaitely interrupted, “To what he was surprised, "I don't care." Then confused, "I don't give a shit how many times your particular kind reappears either... I'll root you out, our grime and stain will always exist, but you? You have no place in this world..."

“You are not remotely human. And that is what makes us different... You threw that away and became a real monster, and you know what? I GODDAMN exactly knows what it is like!!" It was then he was tightly gripping him by that white, fancy suit, rage coursing his body...

"Evil is necessary, but not you, and if I can cull it to make the right one remain? That's all I need. I don't need thanks, glory, forgiveness... None of that. I only want to do what's right." 

 'You are out of your mind...' Shaking his head, laughed in disbelief, unable to comprehend how could someone just do and accept that... Such selfless, thankless life while treated like scum of the world beyond even his kind...

"...And you lost yours. Just like any heart." It was the moment weapon was raised, pressed against his chest... "...Yet you still can bleed. But not enough to make up for it all." Those being his words, the fear became apparent in his face at long last.

A solid, swift impalement, right in the chest, squeals filling the air. And this time? He could not resist the desire to twist the blade for good measure this time too. Until he stopped moving for good, he never pulled the weapon out...

After the deed was done, he sprawled the corpse on his fancy wood desk, perfect to be discovered by said authorities that would be sure to arrive within hours. Taking deep breaths, he would begin relaxing as the last spill of fresh blood dripped off the weapon.

(BGM)

Looking out the big window to his side, the day was beautiful outside in contrast to the fatality fest that was this whole development. And this was far from the first time as implied.

"...I can't ever go back, but this is all the good I can do. I am the big evil. And I erase what I think should not exist." Repeating that, he finally returned his blade to the resting position behind him. As he looked at the vast sky, opening the window,  gentle breeze blowing from the ocean nearby despite his still messy state from the massacre...

"The monster who kills monsters, one said that one time... I don't care what they call me. I don't care if it's thankless." Determined voice spoke out loud to no one but himself.

"If you want to do what you believe is right, stick to it, don't expect happiness, gratitude, nothing... It is why I will continue calming the raging waves of the vast ocean known as evil... For I am the pushing force from it to begin with."

"Until then... That is also what I can do to counterweight not only what I've done, but what I am." The hint of sadness was heavy, but one of acceptance, he was not truly lost... But determined. Unbroken. The evil itself to keep it's balance.

That was who he was. That is why he chose to destroy other evils he deemed too much worse than himself in terms of morals and threats to life.

All evil began and ended with him, he was the one to judge the evil...

Until his last day.

#ic #ic musings #drabble #drabbles #ic drabble #ic drabbles #tw blood #tw murder

[rawliverandcigarettes]

Hey!

I’m in Sweden now! Given my old job is done with (!!!!) and I’m finally ready to start my new life, everything will be way quieter in my personal life and I will be able to get back to a Mass Effectish online presence.

A few things:

1) I haven’t participated a lot in Pillowfort (or at all, just been lurking from the distance), and it kinda feels empty a bit? I would be interested in your experience if you are in a more active corner.

2) I haven’t reached my 2018 goals for Halfway Home at all. Like it’s a disaster. I haven’t even finished the final outline. But I’ve been making huge progress lately, so I have good hopes. My 2019 goal is to finish Halfway Home. I don’t know if I will start posting it in 2019, even though I will try, but draft 2 needs to be good to go by 2019. Given how much I’ve been cutting from the old outline (it’s some horrifying butchery, but I’ve uncluttered a lot of stuff), the drafting process should not be super long, so if I am serious with it, it should go smoothly-kind-of. At least I hope it will.

Beware: below is a brutally honest me regarding my platform and what to do with it, and also Halfway Home and Mass Effect and Discourse (TM).

3) I’ve been really thinking about this platform and how I’m not really sure how I feel about the one I currently have. I’m not sure I marketed Halfway Home well enough, out of, well, fear. To be completely honest, I think I tamed the picture a little bit in hope of fitting better in the community, and the more time goes by, the more apprehensive I am of potential pointless discourse around the things I will eventually put out there. And to be fair, I don’t feel like dealing with most of it, especially in the way some of tumblr’s moral discourse is handled. My secret hope is that 99,999% of the fandom won’t read it, so I won’t get shit. I’m at the point where I want to post it in near-secrecy because I’m so tired in advance of the Discourse Potential this story have (I do think it will go under the radar and not enough people will read it long enough to be bothered really, but I’ve been thinking about that a lot still).

I mean; I haven’t hidden anything, the bad stuff is all listed below my fic presentation entry right there (https://rawliverandcigarettes.tumblr.com/post/173667899969/well-well-ive-been-pestering-you-with-this-for). But I have still hidden a lot, and the disagreement I had with another user in 2018 kind of made me fully realize people can be really protective of the game as it is. It’s an authorial intent VS death of the author kind of thing, and also, at the heart of it all, a disagreement of how much canonical intent matters or needs to shape the player’s views. And Halfway Home is a critical piece of fiction. It just is. A lot is put under scrutiny (I’m talking turian culture, I’m talking military, I’m talking economy, basically nobody is safe (not even Mordin)), and I’ve taken liberties with one particular character that I know would absolutely enrage some people in here, which made me extremely nervous for the longest time (still does). I don’t want to enrage anyone. My goal is not to push some dark and cynical agenda down people’s throat; I do not even, myself, play Mass Effect with this vision in mind 100% of the time, I just make both coexist in my head -the cheery/cheesy epic dramatic scifi game, and the darker social commentary using said game to talk about politics and powerplay and flawed people and stuff. So yeah. Halfway Home is my take on what this game inspires me, how I feel about the way it handles things, but that’s more of an adaptation than a literal callout (ugh, please no). I’m not out there to ruin your day or your relationship with the game, and it would be pretty stupid of me to do so (I really despise the “if you like x you are trash” hot takes in here, they’re dumb, you don’t know every person and why they like controversial things, go uplift stuff you like instead of tearing people down). I don’t exactly want to dismiss my hard work either; it’s taking me a damn lot of time and reflexion to create this piece, and I still made as sure as possible it remains consistent with canon (canon = games in this specific case, I don’t like most of the comics and books I tried from the OT, they focus on military and people with weapons too much for my taste and it bores me). It’s a proposal of a different vision, of a new point of view which does not invalidate anything else because stuff can coexist; that’s what fandom is all about, and it’s absolutely great.

So yeah. I don’t know. Related to the porn ban and stuff, I’m kind of considering opening a blog somewhere, in a less social platform, and post my uncensored thought process and more of the stuff you just read in there, where it can’t make people feel bad.

(as in: I don’t think it’s bad that you feel bad by reading some stuff or point of view, but I also want to feel good. That’s the complicated process of social shared space. I’m not sure how to handle the boundaries, thus my thoughts about leaving).

I don’t know. I’m just rambling at this point. If you’ve read that, what are your thoughts? Do you think those thoughts are an overreaction, or did you have such thoughts in the past as well?

#personal #halfway home #I just don't know #even posting these thoughts kind of makes me nervous #maybe I'm making this fandom into A Thing that it's not #it's a lot of Small Things actually #I think #but yeah #I'm not entirely sure these impressions come from nowhere either #sorry about the slight sour tone

[leftpress]

Montreal: “Cops Protect Fascists” Report Back

submedia.tv | IT'S GOING DOWN | March 7th 2017

The post Montreal: “Cops Protect Fascists” Report Back appeared first on IT'S GOING DOWN.

As the far-right attempted to mobilize demonstrations all over North America on Saturday, anti-fascists came out in force to oppose them. In Montreal, the far-right organized under the banner of La Meute (The Wolf Pack), an anti-Muslim group which was founded by a former soldier in the Canadian army.

Anti-fascists attempted to shut the far-right down, but faced down with an extremely determined police force who were intent on allowing the fascists to march. This was the first time that a far-right organization has been able to hold the streets in Montreal in years.

Video Ninja: Jon Milton Music: SOLE

Assessment & Report-Back from Anti-Racist Count...

er-Demonstration (Montreal)

Jaggi Singh·Saturday, March 4, 2017

This is a quick personal assessment and report-back of today’s anti-racist counter-demonstration in Montreal to an attempted mobilization by racist, anti-immigrant Islamophobes. This is a public report-back (I know that anyone can read it). I can share other info privately with comrades.

This is simply one anti-racist activist’s take on what happened earlier today in Montreal, influenced by discussions with comrades, many of whom have shared much of what is written below already. (Mes excuses mais pour le moment mon bilan est uniquement en anglais; si vous pouvez m’aider avec une traduction vers le français, contacte-moi en privé.)

ASSESSMENT

It’s essential to be brutally honest: Today’s mobilization was a tactical failure by anti-racists and anti-fascists in Montreal. It wasn’t enough for us to be on the streets or to be more numerous than racists; we needed to minimally prevent the Islamophobic racists from marching and attempt to shut them down. However, more than 100 racist demonstrators, surrounded by cops, succeeded in marching from near City Hall to Berri Square, and we were unable to stop them. This is simply unacceptable, and a huge failure.

For the past two years, despite the recent rise of anti-immigrant, racist groups, we have prevented the far-right from marching or demonstrating publicly, or confronted them with some success (eg: failed Pégida demonstrations in St-Michel and Villeray; failed JDL mobilizations and events in Montreal; preventing the anti-immigrant, racist Marche du Silence; actively confronting Marine LePen’s visit to Montreal). Today, the racist far-right succeeded in marching on Montreal’s streets, and there’s no way to sugar-coat that reality.

Speaking with comrades afterwards, and reflecting personally, there were several immediate reasons for our collective failure, in my opinion:

i) When our 400 strong contingent was separated from the racist demonstration and there was essentially a 45-minute period where we were on one side and their 100+ demo was on the other, a critical mass of our main demo (perhaps at least 50 to 100 people) should have moved on side streets to the other side, to box-in the racists. It would have been harder for the cops to push through us to allow a racist march than for us to get through riot cops (which we weren’t able to do). To be fair, people were talking about this, some individuals did move, but it never happened in an effective, decisive way.

ii) Our anti-racist demonstration should have been much larger. We were no more than 400 people at the high point, and we should have been at least 1000 people. Please, take calls to confront fascists and racists seriously, change plans if necessary, and show up (if you have the ability to do so), or play just-as-necessary support roles to allow other people to show up.

iii) Show up on time when confronting racists; we were 400 people at the high point, but likely only 200 at 11:30am. There were already racists present, and we could have perhaps coordinated a break into two anti-racist demos, to box-in the racists, if more people were present earlier.

iv) The racist, anti-immigrant, Islamophobes were mobilized and organized. They managed to gather together at least 100 people. The “Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens”, the nebulous Islamophobic group that called the protest across Canada, was essentially taken over in Quebec by the racist La Meute group, who organize on quasi-military lines. We are way beyond the days when activist cynics would de-prioritize anti-fascist efforts as not central to organizing because only a handful of fascists would show up to the racist demos they tried to organize (our mobilizations had something to do with keeping those fascists to a handful). The racist, anti-immigrant far-right is organized and mobilized in Quebec, including in Montreal. From reports I’ve read and videos I’ve seen, these racists marched openly (albeit in small numbers) in Quebec City and Chicoutimi today, in addition to Montreal.

v) Not only did the racist demo manage to march, surrounded by cops, from near City Hall to Berri Square, but La Meute arrived at the demo by marching from Berri Square to City Hall (coordinating their efforts with the cops). It was a tactical failure not to know about this march in advance and to do something about it.

vi) Our collective communications today was a failure. Next time, there needs to be organized, not improvised, runners and scouts, and some level of coordinated, reliable communications, part of a collective plan to surround the racists, box them-in, and then try to shut them down.

One possible positive outcome of today’s failure to shut-down racists is that we can be less complacent in our anti-fascist organizing, and get better organized, meaning also to not rely on “antifa” being a subculture, but rather a central organizing priority of all groups that oppose racism and fascism. Another outcome is that we need to take the growing anti-immigrant, far-right in Quebec and Canada seriously (in case some people weren’t). Another outcome is to challenge our existing organizing models, especially the reliance (by some) on total improvisation over some basic, reliable, necessary organization.

REPORT-BACK

For those who weren’t there, here’s a bare-bones report-back of what happened: The callout for an anti-fascist/anti-racist counter-demo was timed for 11:30am, at least 30 minutes before the racist demo was going to start in front of Montreal City Hall. Before 11:30am, about a dozen people who were intending to protest at the racist march were present, with about 100 anti-racists present, with more arriving slowly over the next 30 minutes. There were verbal confrontations, and at least one physical confrontation, between the racists and anti-racists. The cops ended up dividing up the two groups, with the racists moved by the cops to the east of City Hall, and our larger group of anti-racists to the west. A line of cops separated us and created a buffer zone of about half a block between the racists and anti-racists.

For about 45 minutes, or more, there was chanting from our end to the other end. During that time, the La Meute people arrived and joined the small group of racists. Their numbers increased from a few dozen to about 100 or more, waving their clearly visible wolf claw flags. A small group held up “Pégida Quebec” signs (a reference to the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant group that began in Germany, and failed at previous attempts in Montreal to demonstrate publicly).

It became clear that the racist demo began marching east on Notre-Dame towards Berri. The police line was moving back and we followed it (although in retrospect we should have just doubled back to try to block the racist demo). During this move, there were skirmishes with the riot cops. The cops deployed pepper spray and some comrades received baton blows (one individual had his teeth cracked by a baton blow; we got the badge number of the cop and will follow-up with support).

Eventually, there was seemingly a collective strategy, and that was to try to catch the racist march by running up (at one point, literally running) St-Denis street, and trying to go across a side street to Berri to confront the racists. However, both times this was attempted (that I observed) a line of riot police (and bike cops) prevented us from getting to the racist demo. By the time we reached De Maisonneuve and St-Denis, La Meute had already arrived at Berri Square and was dispersing. The main group of anti-racists went north to try to find a way to double-back to Berri Square. I was part of a small group that stayed, and seeing that the cops were demobilizing, walked to Berri Square. There were about 50-75 La Meute people left, dispersing, so we heckled from a distance. Riot cops were present, and eventually set up a line against our small (20 people) group.

Much later (about 10 minutes later), the larger anti-racist group arrived, but everything was over. Some folks took solace in burning the signs that the racists left, and singing the Internationale, but that definitely wasn’t my mindset after such a huge tactical failure.

FOR THE LIBERALS …

Here’s a reminder about why the demo today was racist, Islamophobic and anti-immigrant (and not simply about M103 and free speech): The individual(s) behind the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens have publicly expressed anti-immigrant views, deliberately exaggerated the effects of motion M103 and other policies in an Islamophobic way, expressed openly their admiration for Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump, posted videos from extreme far-right groups in Eastern Europe with slogans like “Islam out” and “no more mosques,” and expressed quasi-anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about George Soros and the world order. Their Quebec-based marches have been openly supported, and organized, by far-right, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim groups like La Meute. These groups claim to be concerned about Islam and Islamization, and not against Muslims, but when you deliberately exaggerate and repeat toxic falsehoods about Muslims and Islam, not to mention immigrants, then you’re being Islamophobic and racist. Individuals associated with these groups have both committed violence and express violence against identifiable groups (those groups – Muslims, migrants, people of colour, antifa activists – do not include white liberals).

The position of the groups who mobilized for today’s anti-racist counter-demonstration is that we don’t provide public space in our streets and neighborhoods for racists. Today wasn’t the day to “dialogue” with racists, but rather to shut them down. Some of us do dialogue with racists (many of us people of colour don’t really have a choice, the “dialogue” is imposed on us) but today was about an attempted shut down. Liberal second-guessing of effective anti-fascist tactics the moment when we’re trying to implement those tactics in the face of riot police, pepper spray and violent racists who have threatened us, at a demo based on clear callout to shut down fascists and racists, is incredibly counter-productive to an effective anti-racist movement. So are your condescending lessons about “diversity.” Fuck you.

Hoping this assessment and report-back is useful to people who were both present and not present at Montreal’s demo. More discussions, in our organizing spaces and elsewhere, are certainly going to happen, and this is one quick day-of contribution.

– Jaggi Singh member of le Collectif de résistance antiraciste de Montréal (CRAM) and Solidarité sans frontières

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