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The Gravel paths to liberation

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A few days ago, the beloved children’s author from Montreal, Élise Gravel, was in the news after a local library removed her books from their public shelves following pro-Palestinian posts on her social media account (for more details, here is the news story on the CBC website). The controversy inadvertently brought the old fear of censorship and banning books, (including, ironically, echoes of public book burnings in Nazi Germany,) and ultimately more attention to the Palestinian struggle itself. This article is a quick observation on how a large cause like this finds local acceptance, and gets amplified.

 

The censorship of Élise Gravel

Gravel has been a well regarded author of children’s books here in Quebec, with several popular titles under her belt, including Le Grand Antonio (The Great Antonio) about a Montreal strongman, and Une Patate a Velo (A Potato on a Bike). She writes in both French and English, and also illustrates her own work.

Ever since the violence escalated in Palestine, she has been consistently vocal about it and has repeatedly used her platform to demand an end to the genocide. Recently, the Center for Israeli and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) took offence to a post, (decided it had had it with her) and labelled her anti-Semitic. Gravel herself has posted about how much hate she had been getting simply for demanding peace.

It is following this declaration that the Montreal Jewish Public Library decided to move her books from their open shelves to closed stacks (although the library director claims this decision was taken even before he took charge in mid January, in another news article). Arguably, it’s not a case of total censorship as Gravel’s books are still available at the library, but the perception quickly formed among locals, both fans of her work and others, that the library was trying to curtail her freedom of expression. This galvanised more people to the cause, and a support gathering was organised to be held on Sunday, 11 February by a group of pro-Palestine Jews and other individuals.

A hundred-odd people, including several families with children, gathered outside the library premises at noon on an atypically warm winter Sunday, in support of Gravel and to denounce this attack on personal freedom. While the gathering was largely peaceful with slogans calling for a ceasefire, there was also some confrontation with a handful of pro-Israel supporters. Gravel posted about the gathering on her page but didn’t attend it herself.

International struggles and local resonance

This mobilisation was interesting because it is one of the many paths that eventually lead to freedom in Palestine. In the excellent essay ‘Sour Oranges and the Sweet Taste of Freedom’ (included in The Case for Sanctions Against Israel, a collection edited by Andrea Lim), the anti-Apartheid activist and later minister Ronnie Kasrils mentions how in the case of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement against South Africa, different strategies worked in different parts of the world. As he points out,

“The AAM (Anti-Apartheid Movement) was able to galvanise this depth and breadth of support because much like the liberation movement it flowed from, it was a broad front, providing a home to those of all colours, creeds and persuasions. All that was required was a commitment to working for apartheid’s demise. It tapped into issues that those on the ground could easily identify with. For example, in Ireland, it drew on the experience of the ravages of British colonialism, while in America it evoked the devastation of slavery and racism. It was also readily able to adapt its campaign methods, ensuring that they were relevant to specific conditions, recognizing that strategies appropriate in one local or national context were not necessarily effective in others.”

Similarly, while many Canadians may be apathetic or yet to take a public stand when it comes to this genocide, an issue like censorship and curtailing of freedoms can generate solidarity and bolster the main cause. Different groups in the country are working on multiple fronts – from blocking truck access to the Port of Vancouver, to protesters dressing up as Santa – in order to get the country to officially call for a ceasefire, and it is imperative to keep up the pressure.

Ask for an immediate ceasefire from your authorities. Speak to a protester rather than basing opinions solely from what you have been exposed to online (including this piece). And as Babasaheb exhorts, “Educate, organise, agitate.”

Sheep grazing grass with trees in the background.

Double tagging French sheep and other causes of the revolution

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A couple of nights ago, my flatmate Em and I were discussing the ongoing farmer protests in France when I heard an anecdote about civil disobedience. Em has been actively following the news about the political climate there, partly because he was planning to travel to the south of the country to escape the winter in Montreal, and partly because of Quebec’s ties to France. There have been a few political movements in the recent past, from the public workers’ strike to the anti-police demonstrations. The latest group to take to the streets is the peasants who are protesting falling produce prices, European free trade laws and environmental regulations.

Our discussion followed a similar (and recurring) theme: When and how the anti-capitalist revolution will come about (I admit thinking about such grand schemes is a failing that needs addressing). We had picked up the topic after watching HyperNormalisation, a BBC documentary by Adam Curtis, that refers to the state where people know they are in a corrupt system but do not see an alternative outside of it. Perhaps more on that some other time. First, the anecdote.

Em’s sheep

A lot of Em’s stories involve sheep. This is not surprising for someone who was a shepherd for a decade. Em worked in market research in Montreal until one fine day in the early 2000s when he decided to drop everything and move to Provence, the south of France, to raise sheep. With no background in animal husbandry or agriculture, he apprenticed, learnt the ropes and became a shepherd. If the whole story sounds cinematic, that is because it is. Em wrote a novel based on his life as a shepherd which became a local bestseller and is now in the final stages of becoming a movie. Anyway, I digress.

In France, if you raise animals, you need to ear tag them. Besides allowing shepherds and ranchers to resolve any ownership issues, these RFID tags allow the state to identify and track animals. My guess is that should a disease outbreak happen, the authorities will be able to get to the source quicker. The general rule is to tag one ear, however at some point, it was decided that this wouldn’t suffice anymore. Owners now needed to double tag. While whether this was a random progression of bureaucratic processes or a more concerted lobbying effort is up for debate, what is true was that there was only one company manufacturing these tags in France and it saw a massive increase in orders, according to Em.

A close-up of a sheep's face showing the ear tag.

At the time, a tag reportedly cost two euros apiece but if you have a thousand sheep, that can be quite a cost, especially for small farmers. To them, this was another straw on the back of an already straining camel. The effect was that farmers simply stopped adhering to the law en masse. According to Em, the fiercely independent Gaulois spirit of the French and the solidarity from the authorities meant enforcing such a law became difficult.

Our discussion brought us to the issue of small farmers being strong-armed by laws designed for industrial food production and animal rearing, both in Canada and now slowly in France. For instance, if a farmer decides to raise cattle or sheep in Canada, they usually do not have the right to slaughter the animal themselves. Food safety laws require you to transport your animals to a slaughterhouse which can often be far from the farm. This not only increases the cost involved but also stresses the animal due to being taken away from their homes (that then affects the taste of the meat, which is in itself a question of the ethics of consuming animals).

Story idea: Accelerationist lobbying

Our theory was that the tag-making corporation wanted to make more profits, and thus lobbied the government to change its laws. Perhaps it had been indulging in such lobbying for years before things went sideways. We postulated that if such an act of civil disobedience could come about as a result of greedy corporate lobbying, perhaps similar results could be catalysed by a group of leftist lobbyists. Imagine a lobbying firm run by accelerationists: outwardly, the double agents work for corporate interests but deep down are only doing it to bring about the eventual downfall of capitalism. Their objective is to create dubious case studies to convince governments to change rules, and in the process wear out the people enough to revolt.

I could probably turn it into a script.

Other pockets of civil disobedience

In recent years, there have been several instances of civil disobedience in our societies. The COVID-19 pandemic saw a range of disobedience movements, from the occasional flouting of curfews and breaking of bubbles, to the total rejection of vaccines. In less extreme cases, it takes on onerous bureaucratic ordinances. For instance, several North American city municipalities have laws preventing you from replacing a water-guzzling front yard lawn with vegetable plants. Diaspora Indians in Canada and elsewhere would know of tiffin services that deliver a full meal to your place every day, coming to the rescue of young men who have never learnt to cook (because, patriarchy). Such services are home-based enterprises which would almost certainly never be able to abide by health and safety regulations that restaurants and other food production facilities are subjected to. However, they persist because people trust each other, and that’s all it takes to function at that scale. The question really is how much momentum these movements will generate, and whether that will be enough to bring about major changes.

I know, I had promised a quick read and it really is shorter than the last one. Anyway, more on the revolution and other pertinent matters soon. Tata!