by Cindy Milstein

A week ago last Sunday night, I was sitting around a table at a friend’s house with two other friends in the Plateau East neighborhood of Montreal, having a quiet & delicious dinner after the Anarchist Bookfair weekend, when at 8 pm, we heard the singular noise of someone banging on a pot in the nearby distance, then two, and maybe three or four. My friend got up to peak around the corner, to see which of his neighbors was making the noise, telling us that there was a Facebook call to bang pots & pans in solidarity with the student strike (as it turns out, it was a professor’s idea, and he did indeed post a FB page for it).

Last night, May 27, that same friend and I met up with other friends at the “usual” corner on Mont-Royal near St-Denis on the Plateau West side of this Montreal neighborhood. At first a handful came, right at 8 pm, like us, and then dozens, growing quickly to hundreds. It was my second night at this intersection, near to the home of another friend, and already I recognized most of the faces, and people nodded at each other, and more of them talked to each other (and my two friends and others are busily organizing toward their first neighborhood popular assembly this coming Saturday).

As we moved from crossing with the light, to crossing at the traffic light, to finally taking the intersection, a group of young children–barely teens–among the many young children on the streets with us, decided to lead a breakaway march, skirting past the police car that had now arrived to “help” us manage the traffic. We adults quickly ran after them, laughing, as our children at the front lead us for some 15 minutes away from that cop car again and again, turning a corner at the last minute to allude the police, and when we got to a big road, the kids took over the other side too, at one point nearly encircling a second police car to ensure we could all get ahead of the police! And soon we turned a corner and that, voile, was another band of casserolers, and soon we ran across another, and then our big casserole met another huge casserole at a main intersection, and everyone raised their pots & pans in unison to joyfully greet each other. The police couldn’t keep up with us, neither children or adults, or bikes or dogs, wheelchairs or skateboards.

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Tonight, in dozens of cities across North America and the world, the people are making themselves heard - not with their voices, but by banging pots and pans. At 8pm, thousands will take to their streets, parks, and neighborhoods to bang pots in solidarity with the ongoing fight for the right to education going on in Québec and all over. This simple, creative form of protest takes example from the Chilean cazerolazos and presents an easy, fun way to show solidarity with our shared struggle. From Vancouver to Halifax, from New York to Paris, from London to LA, our voices will ring out in a united clamor for justice.

At 8:00pm, grab a pot & a spoon, and bang away. Wherever you are, it doesn't matter if you're at home in the kitchen, or in flashmobs in the streets - our pots will send the unmistakable message amidst this crumbling economy, eroding access to education, repression of our rights, emergency laws, and ignorant politicians. We will be joined by thousands pouring out of their homes - students, parents, children, and grandparents. The noise we make is not to be seen as a nuisance - but an alarm to signal that something is deeply wrong here and across the land, and the people will not be silent about it.

Solidarity Actions are taking place TONIGHT at 8:00pm local time in over 50 cities - find yours in the list below. If you don't see your home town, then look no further than your kitchen!

• New York City
• Washington, DC
• Philadelphia, PA
• Austin, Texas - bring pots to Austin City Hall, 8pm!
• Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
• Brussels, Belgium
• Calgary
• Courtenay, BC
• Cumberland, BC
• Edmonton
• Gaspésie, Chandler, marche à 19h, rue commerciale, départ de l'église et casseroles à 20h :)
• Guelph, ON
• Halfmoon Bay, BC, corner of Cooper and Connor Roads
• Halifax
• Hamilton
• Kamloops, BC
• Kelowna, BC
• Kingston, ON
• Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
• Lethbridge, Alberta
• Little Rock, Arkansas
• London, ON
• London, UK:
• Madison, Wisconsin
• Matane, Gaspésie, QC
• Moncton, NB
• Montreal + Quebec
• Nelson, BC
• Niagara/St Catherines
• Oshawa, ON
• Ottawa: Four locations
• Paris, France
• Peterborough, ON
• Providence Bay, ON: On the boardwalk 8pm
• Regina
• Roberts Creek, BC: Meet at the Roberts Creek Hall 8pm May 30
• Salt Spring Island, BC
• Saskatoon
• Sudbury
• St John's, Newfoundland
• Tatamagouche, NS
• Toronto: Dufferin Grove Park
• Toronto #2: Leslieville
• Toronto #3: Winchester Park
• Toronto #4 Seaton Village
• Toronto #5: Toronto Poets and Friends, meet at the NW corner of Grace and Harbord.
• Toronto #6: Harbord & Huron
• Toronto #8 Parkdale Feeder
• Trois-Rivières, Québec
• Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery
• Vancouver 2: Commercial Street
• Victoria
• Whitehorse
• Winnipeg, MB
• Wolfville, NS