Broomsticking it to the Man

>> Montreal Witches brew up a cauldron of radical potion

by CRAIG SEGAL

Things got scary at the launch of the second issue of the Witches' zine at the Jailhouse two weeks ago. After an engaging performance by a group of gyrating French men in dresses that looked like big pillowcases, half a dozen sorcières--as members of the all-female protest group are called--stormed the stage and struggled for a turn at the mic. Looking no different than ordinary college students, they hurled insults and curses on a band that had just wowed the audience. Chaos ensued. The more the Witches screamed into the mic denouncing sexist lyrics, the more the audience yelled at them to get off the stage. What was going on? Wasn't this an audience of Witch supporters who had paid to get in?

For a few minutes that night, the Jailhouse Rock crowd caught a rare glimpse into a mysterious battle that is being waged on the streets of the city. The Witches clash with opponents several times a year. The biggest brawl happens the first Sunday of October and this year was no exception. For the second straight year, a group of 30 middle-aged pro-lifers, children by their side, were bewitched during their yearly one-and-a-half hour silent vigil outside the Morgentaler Clinic on St-Joseph. The group of young mystery-women--almost double in size--were anything but silent as they interrupted the anti-abortionists' prayers.

"It was probably a group of feminists," says Gilles Grondin, the 74-year-old pro-life president of Campagne Québec-Vie. "The protesters are very, very violent verbally. Blasphemous, I have to say. They would have taken our signs and ripped them up again this year if the police hadn't been there. They're crude. It's absolutely inadmissible.

"They are anti-democratic and dangerous. Heinous," he adds. "But I can assure you that the police protect us."

Church vandals

The Witches were also responsible for a controversial protest at Mary Queen of the World Cathedral on René-Lévesque last March, in which 15 of them spray-painted the altar, tore hymn books and littered the church with tampons and condoms. Crosses were burned on the steps outside.

People are still confused about that one. "Maybe they think the Catholic Church of today is still not open enough to women," says Cathy Enright, a World Cathedral secretary. "I've been working here 10 years and the church is egalitarian. The priests allow us to express our opinion."

Minutes after the protesters fled the church, police caught up with them in front of Le Commensal restaurant on McGill-College. Staff and patrons watched policemen beat Witch-supporter Michel Bujold-Leblanc repeatedly on the head with batons. Despite these well-publicized protests, the Montreal Urban Community Police department has little to say about the Witches. "They can't concern us because we don't know who they are," says Nathalie Valois, a police spokesperson.

Activists sure know who they are though. "I attended a workshop they put on about patriarchy in the activist movement," says David Bernans of the Concordia Student Union. "There were way too many people to make it work but they handled it pretty well. They're very good at calling sexism when they see it."

Cauldron of complaints

"I don't want to feel scared walking alone as soon as the sun goes down," says Marianne, a Witch core member who refuses to use her real name.

The Witches are a group of around 20 women and 30-plus supporters. They are students, community workers, artists, some unemployed and a few ex-prostitutes. Aside from their splashy public demos, they put out the black and white zine, hold meetings and work with women's groups and activists.

"Society is still very violent towards women," says "Nathalie," a mother of two who has been in the activist scene for 10 years. "We're conditioned. It's the system that allows it. We haven't experienced sexual liberation. Porno is not freedom of expression, it's disgusting."

"People don't have time to think," says Marianne. "You just plug them into the TV for four hours. It goes fast. The system doesn't want us to think. The system isn't working. So we have to change the system."

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