Linchpin: Can you tell us what your role is in the anarchist and student movements in Quebec?

Rémi: At the moment, I'm a “supporter’’ of the Union Communiste Libertaire and I have been a member of the UCL for several years in the past. As for my role in the student movement, since I am not taking any courses in the current session, I'm not a member of any student union. But I am a student at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) studying for a Masters degree in Political Science. I am also on the executive committee of my teaching and research assistants union, which is a Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) local.

23 year old filmmaking student Nadim Fateh was born in Cairo,Egypt and moved to Toronto in his early life. After making it onto the Toronto Police's top 40 'wanted' list for his alleged role in the fiery G20 protests, he spent the last spring and summer in Cairo, Athens, and Madrid, participating and documenting the revolutionary movements there before becoming a part of Occupy Toronto.

When did you go back to Egypt?

I went back May of 2011 so everything had pretty much died down there but it wasn't really focused much on the actual revolution but the things that not many people were focusing on which is the post-revolution, that liquid state, that liquid area we don't usually talk about.

Was there much of an occupation when you went to Tahrir?

34 year old architect ALI MIKKAWA was an active participant in the Egyptian uprising. He helped organize demonstrations and to establish the initial sit-in in Tahrir square. In December 2010, Linchpin conducted the following interview with Ali.

What were the first protests or meetings that you got involved with in Egypt?

I got involved with the Kefaya protests that started seven years ago. This movement was the first to take to the streets to protest against the long rule of Mubarak and it stands for “Enough”. The movement started to gain momentum slowly but surely... and I really got engaged later when [former IAEA head] Mohammed El Baradei returned to Egypt. From that point onwards I was more active campaigning for his One Million Signature campaign to change the constitution.

How did you and others build these protests under such intense police repression?

23 year old filmmaking student NADIM FATEH was born in Cairo, Egypt and moved to Toronto in his early life. After making it onto the Toronto Police’s “top 40 wanted list” for his alleged role in the fiery G20 protests, he spent the last spring and summer in Cairo, Athens, and Madrid, participating and documenting the revolutionary movements there before becoming a part of Occupy Toronto.

34 year old architect ALI MIKKAWA was an active participant in the Egyptian uprising. He helped organize demonstrations and to establish the initial sit-in in Tahrir square.

Both Nadim and Ali spoke with Linchpin separately.

Read Nadim's full interview
Read Ali's full interview

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What were the first protests or meetings that got you involved with events in Egypt?

Between October 22 and October 25, Common Cause organized a speaking tour entitled “Class War On The Workfloor” in four Ontario cities (Hamilton, Toronto, Kitchener & London). The speaker was postal worker, anarchist and rank-and-file trouble maker, Rachael Stafford, from Edmonton.

On August 9 2011, Linchpin spoke with Tim Matthews, a member and spokesperson of the anti-austerity group UK Uncut.

Linchpin: For some of our readers in Canada who may not be familiar with your organization, what is UK Uncut? How does your group organize?

An Interview with the organizers of Hamilton Cop-Watch

Copwatch is a network of activist organizations dedicated to the observation and recording of police interactions with the public. Formed in the 90's in Berkely it now has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. Scott, a lead organizer of the new Hamilton branch has offered to answer some questions for us before departing to Israel-Palestine on academic research.

What was the impetus behind forming this group?

The motivation behind the formation of Hamilton CopWatch is, at base
level, the same drive which has given rise to CopWatch groups across this
continent and beyond for over the past 20 years: a deeply felt need
to construct cooperative sources of protection against police abuse. In
the face of a local police force whose daily operations threaten the
safety, well-being and dignity of our communities, we have been compelled

Tom Keefer is a founding member of Upping the Anti (UTA), a semiannual Canadian publication that describes itself as “a journal of theory and action.” He is a well-known organizer and an enthusiastic advocate for indigenous rights who has written extensively on the ongoing land claims in Six Nations and the reactionary anti-native campaigning of Gary McHale in Caledonia. His most recent article, available in UTA # 10, is entitled: Marxism, Indigenous Struggles, and the Tragedy of “Stagism”.

Note: An edited version of this interview appears in the print edition of Linchpin

Could you briefly explain the history of the current land dispute taking place in Caledonia/Six Nations?

By Sara Falconer
4strugglemag

The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison, & Fighting for Those Left Behind. By Safiya Bukhari. Edited by Laura Whitehorn. Preface by Wonda Jones. Foreword by Angela Y. Davis. Afterword by Mumia Abu-Jamal.

In 1968, Safiya Bukhari witnessed an NYPD officer harassing a Black Panther for selling the organization’s newspaper on a Harlem street corner. The young pre-med student felt compelled to intervene in defense of the Panther’s First Amendment right; she ended up handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police car.

Activists speak out against the Israel's branding of itself as an oasis for queer subjects.