Translating the printemps érable
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CUTV - broadcasting live from the protests nightly
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Rabble.ca's Maple Spring Coverage
Savignac June 7th 2012
Original French Text: http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/savignac/amir-khadir-arrestation_b_1576297.html
Other than Magnotta’s macabre puzzle, and the envelopes of revolutionary flour that have been found throughout the city, Amir Khadir was really the news item of the week. Arrested and handcuffed in Québec City during a peaceful but illegal demonstration, given an absurd charge, Amir spent several hours in a bus-prison of the SPVQ (Service de police du Ville de Québec), and many more hours on the front pages of our media. What’s more, his daughter was featured in the news just a little later!
Political opponents first. Members of the government have not passed up a chance to attack him, pointing out his civil disobedience, an unacceptable tactic for a deputy in their eyes. “This is fair,” they say, “this is the healthy game of democracy – and then there goes Amir, going over the top, comparing himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He must be kidding!”, they cry, “He always has to go that one extra step. And then, to top it off, he doesn’t even back down. After the fracas about the portrait of W.Bush, there he goes with a new casserole (sauce-pan). He’ll be banging it for a long time.”
June 11, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/hpq5u1
This Sunday, June 10, 2012, I attempted to take part in a protest-action: over the course of a few hours, I would take the metro back and forth from Berri to Jean-Drapeau station to peacefully protest my disagreement with the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which in my opinion promotes sexism.
Dressed in a flowered dress and with a bag full of dangerous objects such as an apple, a bottle of water and three books, I wanted to draw attention to the heightened police presence and the actions of the SPVM [Montreal police] who have themselves been like terrorists from the start of this conflict. I would read George Orwell’s 1984, a novel describing a society overtaken by a police state.
Vincent Larouche June 11, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/justice-et-faits-divers/201206/11/01-4533810-un-militant-etudiant-arrete-en-route-pour-les-funerailles-de-sa-soeur.php
Taking advantage of the fact that his sister had passed away and that he had to go to her funeral in Chicoutimi, the police have just stopped a student protester that they have had their sights on for quite some time.
Mathieu B. Girard, age 19, an activist from the student union of Maisonneuve College, was driving with his mother and his brother on Highway 20, earlier today, when a Sûreté du Québec patrol car intercepted them near Saint-Hyacinthe.
The policemen had arrested the young activist for mischief, at the request of the Montreal police. The rest of the family had continued on to Chicoutimi for the funeral, but not him. He should appear in court, tomorrow, at the Montreal courthouse.
“We can confirm that a person was stopped in link with the student movement. The person was wanted and will be transferred to the operational centre concerned with mischief committed in the public transport network”, explained Sergeant Laurent Gingras, spokesperson for the SPVM, who refuses to share any personal information about the young man’s situation.
Mathieu B. Girard’s sister had killed herself last Saturday. It was he who had discovered the body, and he had had to meet with the police concerning this case.
Mr. Amir Khadir’s Press Conference, MNA for Mercier
Wednesday 6 June 2012, 9:46 am
Bernard-Lalonde Room (1.131), Hotel du Parlement
Original French video: http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/video-audio/AudioVideo-42353.html?support=video
Original French transcript: http://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/actualites-salle-presse/conferences-points-presse/ConferencePointPresse-9235.html
Mr. Khadir: Hello, everyone, good morning. Thank you for coming. First, I must say I rather regret that there was so much noise created around my arrest. I remember that we were 65 people, last night, including a retired couple, retired workers who had accompanied their daughter, and another lady who accompanied her 17-year-old girl who was in high school. I remind you that in Quebec, in recent months, there have been over 500 arrests. So, what is regrettable is that in fact all these arrests, in Quebec, as in most cities in Quebec where it has happened, over 2000 events, in the vast, vast, vast majority of cases, these mass arrests are quite abusive and spring from similar circumstances, that is to say, we arrest people through kettling, because they protest, for exercising their democratic rights.
Simon Jodoin June 6, 2012
Original French Text: http://voir.ca/cyberboom/2012/06/06/amir-khadir-luther-king-et-gandhi-comparaison-et-divertissement/
What a time, eh.
I hear talk of representative democracy through my window.
At least that’s been gained… But anyway…
It has changed me a bit. Today, it’s Amir Khadir’s words - following his arrest in Quebec last night - that people won’t stop talking to me about. Oh geez! He compared himself to Luther King!
That’s the title the Canadian Press put out after the principal press conference on the subject: “Amir Khadir compared himself to Martin Luther King and Gandhi.”
Is that all? Frankly, I’m disappointed. I find this rather modest. For my part, when I tell the story of my experiences during night marches to the sound of shields and batons, I compare myself to Jesus and Moses.
Or Socrates even… Believe in the gods of the city!? Are you kidding? Go, bring the hemlock! Quick!
So, the big question of the day: Did Amir Khadir compare himself to Luther King and Ghandi? With a larger question as subtext: Is the current crisis in Quebec comparable to these historic struggles, at once violent, colonialist, racist, and led by practically legendary figures that we’ve referred to in symbolic terms ever since.
Paul Journet June 6, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-quebecoise/201206/06/01-4532255-amir-khadir-dit-avoir-fait-ce-que-martin-luther-king-aurait-fait.php
Before being arrested last night, Amir Khadir knew that the protests in which he was participating had been declared illegal by virtue of law 78. He was later arrested by virtue of article 500.1 of the Code de la sécurité routière.
Mr. Khadir should receive a ticket for 495 dollars soon. He promises to contest it.
Yesterday he chose to do an act of “civil disobedience”. And he would do it again, he said this morning in a press conference.
“I did what Martin Luther King would’ve done,” he maintained. “I’m not comparing myself at all but he’s a role model,” he responded when pressed with questions on the subject.
Jean-François Racine June 5, 2012
Original French Text: http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/societe/archives/2012/06/20120605-222518.html
QUEBEC - Mercier MNA Amir Khadir was arrested and handcuffed during a demonstration in Quebec City, Tuesday night.
The politician, who will turn 51 in a few days, was among a group of protesters that left the National Assembly around 8:45 p.m. Within minutes, police declared the demonstration illegal. “They went in a different direction than originally planned,” explained Marie-Ève Painchaud, spokesperson for the police. The demonstrators were informed that they risked arrest.
The co-leader of Québec Solidaire walked with the group along Saint-Jean Street, near the City Hall and the Château Frontenac. The situation turned heavy on the Côte de la Montagne, where the crowd control team moved in to hold back the group. Riot police formed an impenetrable wall near a stairway in Old Quebec. Heated exchanges took place and several demonstrators were violently shoved. The canine unit and dog master were also present.
![Original Image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=368980126495810&set=a.157863577607467.34901.150189145041577&type=1&theater
Tony Tommassi. Defrauds the government. Gets a golden handshake.
Amir Khadir. Protests peacefully. Gets arrested.
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Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.
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*Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective attempting to balance the English media’s extremely poor coverage of the student conflict in Québec by translating media that has been published in French into English. These are amateur translations; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may still leave something to be desired. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us at translatingtheprintempsderable@gmail.com. Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m578pmHpjy1rwxaaio1_500.jpg)
Original Image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=368980126495810&set=a.157863577607467.34901.150189145041577&type=1&theater
Tony Tommassi. Defrauds the government. Gets a golden handshake.
Amir Khadir. Protests peacefully. Gets arrested.
***
Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.
by Annie-Pierre Bélanger on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 ·
Original French Text: https://www.facebook.com/notes/annie-pierre-b%C3%A9langer/arrestation-%C3%A0-qu%C3%A9bec-le-28-mai-t%C3%A9moignage/10150813649841396
Quebec, May 29th 2012, 2am – This is my testimony. It will be used to contest my fine when I will receive it in the mail. Monday night, I participated in a demonstration in Quebec City. We decided democratically to not give a trajectory route even considering the consequences imposed by the law 78. We were well aware that the police in Quebec would intervene not only according to the guidelines set out by law 78 but also article 500.1 of the Highway Safety Code: “No person may, during a concerted action intended to obstruct in any way vehicular traffic on a public highway, occupy the roadway, shoulder or any other part of the right of way of or approaches to the highway or place a vehicle or obstacle thereon so as to obstruct vehicular traffic on the highway or access to such a highway”. By the time we had completed our vote, the police used a megaphone to announce that our demonstration was illegal and that we needed to disperse.
Original French Text: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.222730284510317.47960.100003200414014&type=3
End of evening indignation… indignation of night and day! Approximately 500 arbitrary arrests following the requisition of 20 to 22 SPVM buses to transport police officers, protesters, a few indigents, some non-protesters who happened to find themselves in the mousetrap that was the four-block radius surrounding the corner of Sherbrooke and Saint-Denis in Montreal. Ours is a festive city, protesting, and most often pacific. Only one person was spared (thanks to the indignation of a protesting nurse): an individual with multiple disabilities in a wheelchair. Otherwise, all of these people were fined $500 + $134 in fees for a grand total of $634. What a great way to gum up the judicial system most abusively. Many reported that at the time of their arrest, the protest was pacific and that they heard no warning advising them that it had been deemed illegal.
