Convergence @ Carré St. Louis, Metro Sherbrooke

Please distribute widely

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*** STOP THE WAR MACHINE ***
*** SNAKE MARCH AGAINST THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ ***

SNAKE MARCH in support of a DIRECT ACTION targeting Montreal's corporate and military war mongers who make millions from bloodshed in Iraq and stand to profit more from a threatened attack on Syria.

Wednesday, April 23rd

Departure at 3:30 p.m. sharp
Convergence @ Carré St. Louis, Metro Sherbrooke

THE WAR IS NOT OVER
IMPERIALISTS OUT OF IRAQ!!
END THE OCCUPATION NOW!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Outposts of the US empire, the world's top weaponry manufacturers, Canadian and transnational corporations and army units are just some of the pillars of the military industrial complex scattered through the streets of Montreal. As the corporate and military powers driving the war machine secure their imperialist occupation of Iraq and prepare for the next phase of their so-called "War on Terror" in Syria, we must challenge the local bases of the empire. A massive media campaign has not concealed Canada's active participation in the conquest of Iraq.

On April 23rd, we will take the streets of Montreal and confront the capitalist and imperialist powers who fuel the war and profit from the suffering of the Iraqi people!

NO BLOOD FOR CAPITAL!
NO BLOOD FOR OIL!

* Securing the Empire at home and abroad *

While the death toll in Iraq reaches the thousands, a combined strategy of overseas war and imperialist expansion, crackdowns on dissidents, escalating racism and tightening border controls moves to further secure Fortress North America and strengthen its enshrined elites. The invasion of Iraq is clearly part of a scheme to place a stranglehold on a region of strategic interest under the guise of "global security" and "liberating" the Iraqi people - framed by a massive propaganda campaign. But the facade is only paper-thin: across the globe, millions have gathered to expose, denounce, resist and act against the Empire and its war machine.

The military industrial complex is now in full swing. Weaponry manufacturers and other military corporations - who are enjoying unprecedented profits fuelled by escalating immigration and defence budgets - have seen their shares skyrocket since the conquest of Bagdad. Transnational corporations sit ready to pounce on the oil fields of Iraq, while the US government is preparing to freely distribute positions of political power to its western friends and allies within its newly-conquered regime. The distribution of lucrative reconstruction contracts totalling $1.8 billion to US corporations began as troops pillaged their way through Iraq. Halliburton, a Texas company headed by the infamous Dick Cheney from 1995 to 2000, has already been awarded a Pentagon contract to put-out oil fires and is refining its bids for a stake in the future of Iraq. For the first time in history, the reconstruction of a post-war nation was planned well before military incursions had even begun.

We refuse to sacrifice any more lives for the expansion of the empire, the enrichment of its elites, the ruling classes and the global capitalist hegemony! We stand against an attack on Syria!

The time to take action is now!!

*** STRIKE THE EMPIRE BACK! ***

Organized by Block the Empire Montreal
bloq...@resist.ca / www.resist.ca/~bloquezlempiremontreal

* Background info on BTEM *

Block the Empire Montreal is a campaign of radical resistance and direct action against the war, the invasion of Iraq and the military industrial complex. Our resistance is linked to the underlying processes and structures of capitalism, patriarchy, imperialism, colonialism and racism, all of which create the conditions and impulsions for the current predations of the Bush regime and its allies. Our actions aim to affect and disrupt the interests of those pursuing the invasions, be they the corporations who fuel and profit from the war, the local outposts of the American empire or the complicit Canadian institutions.

While organising with a diversity of tactics in solidarity with the anti-war movement, Block the Empire works to educate through creative resistances and direct actions targeting the war machine. The collective organises on a basis of decentralisation, non-hierarchical and anti-oppressive organising, autonomy (internally and as the basis for alliances), and creating alliances with existing initiatives. Block the Empire organizes under the People's Global Action principles (www.agp.org).