Montreal is home to a plethora of street demonstrators who aren't afraid to express their opinions in a loud and disruptive manner. Who are these people? What do they stand for? Why are the blocking traffic downtown at 5 p.m. on a Friday afternoon?

According to them, you'd better shake yourself out of an apathetic torpor before it's all too late. Love 'em or hate 'em, it's getting harder to ignore them. So we might as well know who they are. Below is a profile of most--but not all--of the main local groups.

STUDENT

Canadian Federation of Students of Quebec (CFS): Probably the most active protest group in Montreal. A federation of student unions with 30,000 Quebec members at three Montreal locals: Concordia undergrads (CSU) and grads (GSA), plus McGill grads (PGSS). They want more government spending for education, and are opposed to privitization and corporatization of universities. Two organizers from the CFS national office were arrested at the Seattle anti-WTO demo last December. The CFS organized buses for activists to go down to the anti-IMF/World Bank demo in Washington, D.C. on April 16-17.

Concordia Student Union (CSU): The largest and most militant CFS local in Quebec. Held a massive rally of 3,000 on November 3 1999, to kick off a three-day strike protesting the Quebec government's education policies. Some police were shoved around, and the next day, at a small demo of 150 people, police baton-smashed CSU VP Finance Sheryll Navidad, injuring her knee severely.

Mouvement pour le Droit à l'éducation (MDE):

Movement for the Right to Education: Slogan: "Education is a right and not a privilege." A student federation representing the anthropology department at the Université de Montréal, and CEGEPs St-Laurent and de Maisonneuve. Also has an action committee at UQÀM known as the Norman Bethune Brigade. MDE, which officially represents 12,000 Montreal students, wants educational funding restored to 1994 levels. Organized the 1996 student strike of Quebec CEGEPs involving 250,000 students. Provided students for the demos in Quebec City against the provincial government's youth summit (Sommet de la jeunesse) on February 22-24, which they viewed as non-representational of real youth concerns. Also organized a February 25 demo of 600 outside the offices of the PQ's youth wing.

Association Géneral étudiant secteurs sciences humains, arts, lettres, communication a l'Université de Québec a Montréal (AGEsshalcUQÀM): The student society at UQÀM, representing 13,500 students. Similar to CFS and MDE in views and methods, they voted last November to resist an exclusivity agreement between UQÀM and Coke, and held a demo involving 150 students, 68 of whom were arrested. Sent 500 of the 2000 demonstrators to the main Quebec City rally against the youth summit, on February 22, which ended in property damage and clashes with police. They also had numerous demos during their student strike from February 17 to March 1, 2000.

The Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG or GRIP-Québec): QPIRG-McGill, QPIRG-Concordia, GRIP-UQÀM:

Inspired by Ralph Nader, QPIRG was formed in 1988 and aims to facilitate social change for a wide variety of causes, ranging from homelessness to biotechnology. QPIRG has numerous issue-focused working groups which march with other activist outfits such as Biotech Action Montreal, Greenpeace and the CFS.

ENVIRONMENTAL

Greenpeace: Founded in 1971 in Vancouver, Greenpeace is famous for its campaigns against whaling and clear-cut logging, using tactics which have caused critics to brand its members "eco-terrorists." Currently most active on biotechnology and climate change issues. Approximately 12,000 members in Montreal, where there are about 20 employees and 50 volunteers. Recent Montreal actions have included a touring info-bus to draw attention to a passing plutonium shipment in May 1999. They also put on a big show outside the January 2000 UN Biosafety Protocol conference, which included a giant mock cob of mutant corn.

Biotech Action Montreal (BAM): A group of about 40 members which shares office space with GRIP-UQÀM. Its focus is opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the patenting of DNA. Co-operated with Greenpeace in protests against the Biosafety Protocol conference, including a march of 4000 people on January 22, 2000. Also involved with Greenpeace in an action on April 1 outside of 40 Montreal supermarkets, handing out pamphlets about genetically engineered foods.

ANIMAL RIGHTS

Global Action Network (GAN): Slogan: "Animal rights, human rights, and the environment are all interconnected." This group is best known for its protests against the Féria de Montréal--or Portuguese style bullfight--held on August 21 last year. The first protest of 150 people was in mid-August outside the offices of municipal affairs minister Louise Harel, responsible for the Olympic Stadium, which was the bullfight's venue. The second demo of 200 people was outside the Big O on bullfight day, and large mock bullheads were deployed.

ANTI-GLOBALIZATION

Opération SalAMI: This group of die-hard civil disobedience tacticians became famous for the May 1998 disruption of the Conférence de Montréal, which saw 99 out of 100 protesters arrested. The theme of the annual economic conference was the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) whose French acronym--AMI--gives the group its name. One well known member is Philippe Duhamel, involved with the shut-down of the Seattle WTO conference in December 1999. The group--which claims hundreds of members--also had a large teach-in on the first anniversary of the May 1998 event. At least two SalAMI members went to this week's A16 protest against the IMF and World Bank in Washington, D.C. The next action will be a musical protest outside the Stock Exchange in Square-Victoria at midnight on April 30. The next really big event will be the attempted shut-down of the April 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.

POLICE BRUTALITY

Citizens Opposed to Police Brutality (COPB): Slogan: "No justice, no peace. Fuck the police!" This group has an annual protest on March 15, and is known to be unafraid of confrontation. The latest event was inflamed by recent news that the police who beat Paul Barnabé to death would be allowed to retain their jobs, and that there would be no formal investigation into the beating death by police of homeless man Jean-Paul Lizotte. Protesters smashed windows at a police station in the McGill ghetto, and trashed two McDonald's, resulting in 130 arrests. The group gathers information on police incidents, and gives support to arrestees. One prominent member is Alexandre Popovic, who was recently arrested after picketing outside the MUC Police's southern operational centre on Guy and detained for a week. Another is Bernard Cooper, former member of the municipal political party Ecology Montreal, one-time editor of Place Publique, and member of the Parti Vert du Québec which dissolved itself in the Summer of 1998.

Mouvement Action Justice (MAJ): Founded in 1998 by a group including former COPB member Yves Manseau, MAJ is similar to COPB in its denunciation of police excesses, but has radically different methods. MAJ has held very few events, as they have yet to determine a method of protest which does not put them in danger of confrontations with police. The latest event saw a dozen people participate in a candlelight vigil on March 15 outside the Shed Café on the Main, site of the beating of Lizotte.

UNIONS

All has been relatively quiet on the labour front in recent months, barring the winter protests from truckers against the rise in fuel prices. But last summer and fall the streets were filled with angry workers from, among others, the Conféderation des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), the Canadian Union Of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Quebec Nurses' Federation (QNF). This latter group went on an illegal strike on June 28 demanding an immediate 10 per cent raise plus another six per cent over the next two years. They were legislated back to work, but kept striking anyway. One notable demo was a July 8 march of hundreds outside Notre-Dame Hospital on Sherbrooke E. in which they were supported by doctors and other health care workers. Another protest involved two hundred nurses blockading the Montreal Casino in August 1999. They had to be physically carried away by police.

HOUSING

Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU): (Rough translation: Popular Front for Action on Urban Housing.) One of the oldest and most protest-oriented groups in Montreal. Formed in 1978, the group has long been led by Francois Saillant, and is a coalition of 70 housing, women's and labour groups across Quebec. FRAPRU has organized dozens of protests in the last year alone. Some of these involved protesters showing up with empty frying pans at events where finance minister Paul Martin was speaking to fellow Liberals, the message being that without more social housing, poor tenants spend so much on rent they don't have money to buy food. Other protests, involving hundreds of marchers, have been held outside the Montreal office of Revenue Canada. The group decries the decline in the construction of low-cost housing in Montreal.

ANTI-RACISM

Anti Racist Action Montreal (ARA): Slogan: "To expose, oppose and confront fascism," defined as including racist, sexist and homophobic discrimination. ARA is a loosely organized, ethnically mixed group of about 50 young people, more than half of which are women. Their most significant demo--of about 75 people--was outside the Palais de Justice in October 1999, at the trial of eight Nazi skinheads arrested after a wave of violent attacks on bar patrons on the Main in the Summer of 1998. ARA also postered the neighbourhoods of two of the skins with their photos and addresses.

Free Mumia Coalition: Part of an international network claiming that black American journalist and taxi-driver Mumia Abu-Jamal, sentenced to death in July 1982 for the murder of white police officer Daniel Faulkner, is innocent--or at least has not been given a fair trial. There were two demos in Montreal last fall in support of Mumia, the largest being of about 200 on September 25. Next rally April 24, 2000.

IMMIGRANT GROUPS

Réseau d'action, défense et d'appuie aux réfugie(e)s (RADAR): A Montreal group which protests against the Immigration and Refugee Board, the federal tribunal which decides who's a legitimate refugee and who isn't. RADAR was formed in the summer of 1998 after a number of cases involving the rejection of Mexican, Salvadoran, and Bangladeshi refugee claimants outraged many members of these communities. One prominent member is immigration lawyer Stewart Istvanffy. The group claims that IRB decisions are often based on commissioners' prejudices and Canada's foreign policy tilt of the moment. The group has held several demos of 50-100 people outside IRB headquarters at Complexe Guy Favreau. Of the many other immigrant activist groups, one is the Union pour le démocracie et progrès social (UDPS), a Congolese (Kinshasa) opposition party, whose Montreal wing protests IRB policies towards Congolese refugee claimants, as well as having street demos whenever Congolese President Laurent Kabila's ministers show up in the province.

STONERS, SOCIALISTS, ANARCHISTS, AND WITCHES

Le Bloc Pot: This small but cheerful political party is dedicated to the decriminalization of marijuana. Led by Marc St-Maurice, it received 10,000 votes for its 24 candidates in the last provincial election. They held a Million Marijuana March last May, and plan a similar event--a Millennium Marijuana March--this coming May 6.

Socialists and Anarchists: The International Socialists are a familiar sight, glumly pamphleting on the streets downtown in small drab groups. On May 1, however, the traditonal socialist occasion of Mayday, they and their fellow lefties will create a throng of hundreds, marching for a better world in a tradition that dates from the 19th century. They will be joined by many anarchists, who oppose any imposition of state authority over the individual. Some anarchists are amongst the most aggressive at local demos--where they are often masked--and the anarchist "men in black" became an icon of the Seattle riots.

Les Sorcières: aka le Collectif autonome féministe : (The autonomous feminist collective, aka the Witches): This intriguingly named group of about a dozen members made its shocking debut on the activist scene by burning crosses on the steps of Mary Queen of the World Cathedral on René-Lévesque on March 7. In addition to dissing the Pope, the Witches aim to de-machoize the activist movement, although one member told the Mirror, "We are not castraters." The desecration of a church and the group's name suggest a strong identification with Wicca. :