[Bloquez l'empire!] For immediate release: Canada out of Afghanistan! The BLOCK THE EMPIRE Anti-Imperialist Contingent takes the streets next Saturday ...

[bloquezlempiremontreal at resist.ca]

Attention News Editors
For Immediate Release

--> Canada out of Afghanistan! The BLOCK THE EMPIRE Anti-Imperialist
Contingent takes the streets next Saturday ...

Media Contacts: Louise-Caroline Bergeron (514-378-2511) or Sophie
Schoen (514-998-7243)

MONTREAL, October 23, 2006 - As part of a pan-Canadian day of protest
against the continued occupation of Afghanistan, the Block the Empire
collective of Montreal is organizing an anti-imperialist contingent in
conjunction with local protests.

The Block the Empire anti-imperialist contingent will meet on
SATURDAY, October 28 at NOON at Norman Bethune Park (corner of Guy and
de Maisonneuve). The child-friendly contingent will begin marching at
12:30pm thru the streets of downtown Montreal.

"The so-called responsibility to protect doctrine is Canada's own
contribution to American-led imperialism, used to justify Canada's
presence in Afghanistan and elsewhere," stated Block the Empire member
Sophie Schoen. "This racist responsibility to protect is nothing more
than the 21st century version of the white man's burden," she added.

"Canada's presence in Afghanistan can't be isolated from US-led
domination and control of the Middle East," stated Louise-Caroline
Bergeron, also a member of Block the Empire. "Canadian troops in
Afghanistan mean more American troops available in Iraq."

According to no less a source than Major-General Andrew Leslie,
Canada's military commander in Afghanistan, "Afghanistan is a 20-year
venture ... There are things worth dying for." In the same speech, he
added: "Every time you kill an angry young man overseas, you're
creating 15 more who will come after you."

"The general's "logic" is a plan for disaster, mainly for the people
of Afghanistan," remarks Sophie Schoen.

The anti-imperialist contingent on October 28 will march to denounce
war and repression, and support grassroots self-determination
movements in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Colombia, Oaxaca, Chiapas, the
Philippines, Haiti and everywhere where American-led imperialism is
resisted. We also march to underline the more than 500 years of
colonialism here on Turtle Island. We march in support of
anti-colonial resistance efforts at Six Nations, Grassy Narrows,
Kanehsatake, Kahnawake and elsewhere.

The anti-imperialist contingent on October 28 is endorsed by the
following groups: L'Association étudiante du cégep de Saint-Laurent
(AÉCSL), L'Association facultaire des étudiants en sciences humaines
de l'UQÀM (AFESH-UQÀM), L'Association des Jeunes Libanais
Musulman-Montréal, Center for Philippine Concerns (CPC), Coalition
Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees (CADPR), Comité
d'action politique-UQÀM, Le Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière
(COBP), Le Comité des sans-emploi (Montréal-Centre), Documentation
Information Ressources Alternatives (DIRA), GrassRoots Association for
Student Power (GRASPÉ-McGill), Haiti Action Montreal, Immigrant
Workers Center (IWC), International Solidarity Movement
(ISM)-Montreal, L'Observatoire de l'Asie Centrale et du Moyen-Orient,
La Otra Campaña de Montréal, Libertad (Cégep du Vieux-Montréal),
Liberterre, No One Is Illegal-Montreal, La Pointe Libertaire, Projet
Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC), La RueBrique, Quebec Public
Interest Research Group (Concordia and McGill), Réseau anarchiste en
milieu étudiant (RAME), Résistance haïtienne au Québec, Solidarity
Across Borders, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR),
Students Taking Action in Chiapas (STAC), South Asia Center (CERAS),
Tadamon! Montréal and others.

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BLOCK THE EMPIRE MONTREAL: 514-848-7583, bloquezlempiremontreal at resist.ca