An Open Letter to the Mainstream English Media:

Thank you; you are a little late to the party, and you are still missing the mark a lot of the time, but in the past few days, you have published some not entirely terrible articles and op-eds about what’s happening in Quebec right now. Welcome to our movement.

Some of you have even started mentioning that when people are rounded up and arrested each night, they aren’t all criminals or rioters. Some of you have admitted that perhaps limiting our freedom of speech and assembly is going a little bit too far. Some of you are no longer publishing lies about the popular support that you seemed to think our government had. Not all of you, mind you, but some of you are waking up.

That said, here is what I have not seen you publish yet: stories about joy; about togetherness; about collaboration; about solidarity. You write about our anger, and yes, we are angry. We are angry at our government, at our police and at you. But none of you are succeeding in conveying what it feels like when you walk down the streets of Montreal right now, which is, for me at least, an overwhelming sense of joy and togetherness.

News coverage of Quebec almost always focuses on division: English vs. French; Quebec-born vs. immigrant; etc. This is the narrative that has shaped how people see us as a province, whether or not it is fair. But this is not what I feel right now when I walk down the street. At 8pm, I rush out of the house with a saucepan and a ladle, and as I walk to meet my fellow protesters, I hear people emerge from their balconies and the music starts. If you do not live here, I wish I could properly convey to you what it feels like; the above video is a start. It is magic. It starts quietly, a suggestion here and there, and it builds. Everybody on the street begins to smile. I get there, and we all—young and old, children and students and couples and retirees and workers and weird misfits and dogs and, well, neighbours—we all grin the widest grins you have ever seen while dancing around and making as much noise as possible. We are almost ecstatic with the joy of letting loose like this, of voicing our resistance to a government that seeks to silence us, and of being together like this.

I have lived in my neighbourhood for five years now, and this is the most I have ever felt a part of the community; the lasting impact that these protests will have on how people relate to each other in the city is deep and incredible. I was born and raised in Montreal, and I have always loved this city, I have always told people that it is the best city in the world, but I have truly never loved it as much as I do right now.

The first night that I went to a casseroles (pots and pans) demonstration, at the centre of the action—little children ecstatically blowing whistles, a young couple handing out extra pots and pans to passers-by, a yoga teacher who paused his class to have everyone join—I saw a bemused couple, banging away, but seemingly confused about something. When we finished, they asked me, “how did you find us?” I replied that I had checked the map that had been posted online of rendez-vous spots, and theirs was the nearest to my house. “Last night we were all alone,” they told me. They had no idea it had been advertized online. This is what our revolution looks like: someone had clearly ridden around our neighbourhood, figured out where people were protesting, and marked them for the rest of us. This is a revolution of collaboration. Of solidarity.

The next night the crowd had doubled. Tonight we will be even more.

I come home from these protests euphoric. The first night I returned, I sat down on my couch and I burst into tears, as the act of resisting, loudly, with my neighbours, so joyfully, had released so much tension that I had been carrying around with me, fearing our government, fearing arrest, fearing for the future. I felt lighter. Every night, I exchange stories with friends online and find out what happened in their neighbourhoods. These are the kinds of things we say to each other: “if I loved my city any more right now, my heart would burst.” We use the word “love” a whole lot. We feel empowered. We feel connected. We feel like we are going to win.

Why don’t you write about this? This incredible feeling? Another example I can give you is this very blog. Myself and a few friends began it as a way of disseminating information in English about what was happening here in Quebec, and within hours, literally hours, volunteers were writing me offering to help. Every day, people submit translations to me anonymously; I have no idea who they are, they just want to do something. They come from everywhere. They translate what they think is important to get out there into the world. People email me corrections, too. They email me advice. They email me encouragement. This blog runs on solidarity and utter human kindness.

This is what Quebec looks like right now. Every night is teargas and riot cops, but it is also joy, laughter, kindness, togetherness, and beautiful music. Our hearts are bursting. We are so proud of each other; of the spirit of Quebec and its people; of our ability to resist, and our ability to collaborate.

Why aren’t you writing about this? Does joy not sell as well as violence? Does collaboration not sell as well as confrontation? You can have your cynicism; our revolution is sincere.

Sincerely,

The Administrator of Translating the printemps érable.

Photo Credit: Monica Eileen Patterson

Addendum:

As a perfect illustration of the incredible collaborative and generous spirit that is emblematic of this movement, within two hours of posting the above letter, I received, unsolicited, the following translation of the song that is features in the video. This is who we are.

Lyrics:

You tell them

You tell them

That it was instinct that

Drove you up to here.

You tell them

You tell them

That your senses were screaming

Deeply driven

By a strange force

Let it be your base camp.

Let it be your base camp.

You tell them

You tell them

That it was intuition that

Drove you up to here

A carelessness

So necessary every now and then

Let it be your base camp.

Let it be your base camp.

*Translated by Ian Truman, submitted by Mary Lee Maynard.

(Source: translatingtheprintempserable)

g-funky

Today’s post is for those of you that like to chill out. So if that’s you, just sit back and relax to some Warren G and Nate Dogg G-funk. The last few years have seen a resurgence of G-Funk on mainstream hip-hop albums, but I’m here to remind you that it’s not new. It’s old. It’s Dr. Dre old and true to their own words, Nobody Does It Better than Nate Dogg and Warren G. These two had highly refined the G-Funk sound in the early 90’s until it became pure, simple, and true. It’s hard to imagine anyone else doing it better, and likely nobody ever will.

G-Funk: slow, hypnotic grooves, deep bass notes, background female vocals, and multi-layered synths. Let the melancholic lyrics about sex, booze, ladies, and drugs soothe over your ears and just chill.

R.I.P. Nate Dogg

[Buy one of the best hip-hop albums from the 90’s, right here]

Warren G - Do You See (click to download the mp3)

bia da

THIS TERM, “responsibility to protect,” is applied quite selectively. Obviously, some citizens of the world are more privileged than other citizens. Clearly, Kashmiris, who are living in Indian-administered Kashmir, who have died in the many, many thousands—the actual figure is 70,000 since an uprising there in 1989—do not fall under this category of “responsibility to protect.” Britain, France, and the United States are not very exercised about what’s happening to that particular population.

THE WEST basically doesn’t care a damn about Kashmir. It’s been a brutal intervention by the Indians, much, much worse, let me add, in terms of numbers killed than anything the Chinese have done in Tibet. That’s the comparison. The minute there’s trouble in Tibet, the whole Western media is up in arms and all the Buddhists in Hollywood start making movies. When the Indians carry out repression on a huge scale in Kashmir, much worse than Tibet—silence. So the logic, I think, of this, is that if a country is formally democratic, it can do whatever it wants. But if it’s not democratic, then we can use the fact that it’s not democratic as a weapon against it. Otherwise there’s nothing.

People are people. The US and its allies have occupied Iraq. They say they’re about to leave. Good. Good riddance. But they’ve occupied Iraq and over a million people have died. Who is going to be charged with those war crimes? Bush, Cheney, Blair, Aznar? They should be before some court as war criminals. No one will charge them. So double standards are part of the world we live in.

And the reason for that is that in the thinking of the majority of countries of the world, the only truly sovereign country is the United States of America. American sovereignty is determined by the US, but certainly Europe and the Middle East countries’ sovereignty is also determined by the US. That’s the big difference. So they all fall into line whenever the United States says this has to be done, that has to be done. The Germans sometimes don’t. They don’t send troops, but then they fall into line later. The Germans refused to fight in Iraq, they refused to fight in Libya. They sent troops to Afghanistan, which created a huge debate within the German elite. They don’t do it, but they don’t oppose it either. So the only real sovereign nation today in the world is the imperial nation.

The Chinese are sovereign, but that’s in their own region, and economically. They never challenge the US militarily either. The first time they did it recently was to oppose sanctions against Syria in the UN Security Council. And the reason for that is that both the Russians and the Chinese feel they were tricked into supporting the UNSC resolution on Libya because they said this would be a limited exercise, just utilized to prevent Qaddafi from bombing Benghazi. That’s why we supported it. These people are misusing it, so we’re not supporting it. But that’s the first sign of some rift, and I don’t think that’s too serious either.

Interview with Tariq Ali, 2012. Full interview can be read here.

[Yelawolf’s album is available here]

Yelawolf - Wanna Party (Feat. Gucci Mane)

pauvre guitare

A beautiful love song.

Je pense à toi, mon amour, ma bien aimée
(I think of you my love, my beloved)
Ne m’abandonne pas, mon amour, ma chérie
(Don’t leave me, my love, my dear)

Quand je suis dans mon lit, je ne rêve qu’à toi
(When I’m in my bed I dream only of you)
Et quand je me réveille, je ne pense qu’à toi
(And when I wake, I think only of you)

Si je ne te vois pas, je ne peux rien dire
(If I don’t see you, I can say nothing)
Je ne peux rien faire, je ne peux rien voir
(I can do nothing, I can see nothing)
Je ne veux rien savoir
(I don’t want to know anything)
Mon amour, ma chérie
(My love, my dearest)

Certains t’ont promis la terre
(Some have promised you the earth)
D’autres promettent le ciel
(Others promise heaven)
Il y en a qui t’ont promis la lune
(Some have promised you the moon)
Et moi, je n’ai rien que ma pauvre guitare
(And me, I’ve nothing but my poor guitar)

[get their 2006 album, Sou Ni Tile, here]

Amadou & Miriam - Je Pense à Toi