Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

27 Years After The Montreal Massacre, We Keep Fighting to End Violence Against Women

Tuesday, December 6th 2016 marks the 27th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, where 14 female students of the École Polytechnique in Montreal were killed and another 10 women were injured by gunshot wounds. They were victims of a misogynistic attack by a student named Marc Lépine.

Facebook Twitter Share

Tuesday, December 6th 2016 marks the 27th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, where 14 female students of the École Polytechnique in Montreal were killed and another 10 women were injured by gunshot wounds. They were victims of a misogynistic attack by a student named Marc Lépine. Four male students were also injured.

Marc Lépine broke into the classes at the university, demanded that the male students leave the room and opened fire against the female students while spouting anti-woman propaganda. He later committed suicide. This tragedy shocked the country and gained notoriety around the world not only due to the brutal nature of the attack or the number of victims, but also due to the clearly sexist basis of the brutal massacre. Despite the media and the conservative sectors attempt to deny it, this was a clear anti-woman attack.

In 1991, the Canadian parliament proclaimed the day of the massacre the “ National Day of Remembrance and Action Against Violence Against Women.” Since then, on this date the women’s movements in Canada organize demonstrations to honor the memory of the victims and to fight violence against women.

Born in Montreal, the shooter Marc Lépine (originally named Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi) was born to a family in which gender-based violence was common practice. In a letter written on the day of the attack, Lépine left no doubt about his motivation for the massacre, which was to “put an end” to the feminists, to whom he refers as “virago” ( “j’ai décidé de mettre des bâtons dans les roues à ces viragos.”). “Virago” is a pejorative term used to call women “aggressive” and “masculine”. In the letter, he details his frustrated attempt to join the Canadian military and how the application made him delay the execution of his plan, demonstrating that the attack was premeditated.

At the time of the massacre, there were many attempts to blame the shooting on the killer’s mental health, his familial environment and professional failure. All of this analysis ignored all possible feminist interpretation of systemic sexism, making the shooting sound like an isolated, exceptional case. According to Melissa Blais in her study about sexism and the massacre many considered Lépine a mentally ill, poor, sick man. This made it possible to neutralize the political debate, preventing the shooting from being seen as one more case of violence against women.

Recently there have been many notable cases of violence and hatred against women, like the emblematic case of Jyoti Pandey, the Indian student who was murdered after being gang-raped and beaten by 6 men, the case of the Brazilian teenage girl who was gang-raped by 30 men or even the most recent case an Argentine girl was raped and then brutally tortured and killed. These cases and so many others happen everyday around the world. Women suffer and die due to the sexism and misogyny that is so deeply ingrained in our society. At the same time, we have had some very important examples of women who stood up against oppression. In Brazil, thousands took the streets against rape culture; in Argentina, thousands took the streets and even organized work stoppages under the banner #NiUnaMenos. Without a doubt, the only way to fight sexist violence is the organization of the women’s movements together with all the oppressed and exploited sectors of society. Only a movement with thousands of women who organize at each school, university and workplace to take the streets can fight the sexist oppression intrinsic to capitalism.

In memory of the victims of the “Montreal Massacre”, in solidarity with the friends and family that suffered and in solidarity with all the victims of gender-based violence, we will keep fighting to end violence against women in Canada, the United States, India, Brazil, Argentina and around the world.

Facebook Twitter Share

Gender & Sexuality

Berlin Police Attack an Anti-Imperialist Feminist Demonstration on March 8

On International Women's Day, there were numerous demonstrations in Berlin, including: a union demonstration, an anti-imperialist demonstration, and a supposedly "leftist" demonstration in solidarity with Israel. As you would expect, police only attacked one of the three.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 14, 2024
Mobilization for trans rights at Brooklyn, June 2020.

The Working Class Must Fight for Trans Rights

As new anti-trans bills are introduced in the United States, it is imperative to take up the fight for trans rights using working-class strategy and methods.

K.S. Mehta

March 11, 2024

Rise in Forced Pregnancies Shows the Need for an Independent Movement for Abortion Rights

Post-Dobbs, research shows that many people in states where abortions are banned have been unable to get them. We need a movement to fight for free, safe, legal abortion on demand.

Molly Rosenzweig

December 19, 2023

Women’s Liberation in Revolutionary Russia

The historian Wendy Z. Goldman gave this talk in Madrid and Barcelona on September 12 and 15, presenting her book Women, the State, and Revolution.

Wendy Z. Goldman

October 1, 2023

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024