BY JOE YOUNG

MONTREAL - Around midnight on August 20 one or more persons attacked the Pathfinder bookstore here breaking the main window in two places and damaging the glass on the front door. The damages exceed CAN$600 (US$440).

At the time of the attack the window display included the following titles: The Right of Nations to Self-Determination by V.I. Lenin; Negres blancs d'Amérique (White negroes of America) by Pierre Vallieres; Les grands textes indépendantistes, écrits, discours et manifestes québécois 1774-1992 (The major independentista documents; Quebecois writings, speeches and manifestos 1774-1992) by Andrée Ferretti and Gaston Miron; Marxism and Terrorism by Leon Trotsky; writings by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels on Ireland in Spanish; and the second issue of Nouvelle Internationale, the French language sister publication of the Marxist magazine New International, with an article on "Land, Labor and the Canadian Revolution."

The vandals left no clear indication of the motives for the attack. Michel Prairie, a bookstore representative, said in a press release, "The character of the books in the window, the past attacks against the bookstore linked to its defense of the rights of the Quebecois, and the fact the bookstore was the only establishment in the neighborhood that was vandalized last night, lead us to believe this is an attack on freedom of expression." The Quebecois are an oppressed nationality in Canada who are discriminated against on the basis of their language, French.

This is the third attack on the bookstore this year. In January a warning in French was stuck on the bookstore saying, "Remove the word "bookstore" (in English) from your sign or we will do it, Law 101." Law 101 is an affirmative action measure in Quebec that promotes use of the French language. The bookstore sign has the word bookstore in French, English and Spanish. The store carries books that defend law 101 and Quebec independence.

On July 1, a sticker was stuck on the bookstore window, which said, in French, "Yes, I love Quebec, but Canada is my country." At the time the bookstore window displayed several books on the right of nations to self-determination as well as a poster announcing a concert for Quebec independence.

Bookstore volunteers responded rapidly to the attack. "Yesterday's attack occurred in the context of a chauvinist campaign to defend the privileges of the anglophone community in Quebec by demanding more English on signs, which is already permitted by the law," said Prairie in a press release.

An article appeared in La Presse, a major French-language daily in Montreal, with the headline "Vandalism at a bookstore with a sign in three languages." Prairie was also interviewed by Daybreak, a CBC Radio program; McGill University Radio, CKUT; and The Mirror, a community newspaper.

The bookstore received messages of support from the Prisoners' Rights Bureau and the Abya-Yala bookstore. The Abya- Yala bookstore's statement read in part, "We deplore the senseless attack against your bookstore this week and the threat to freedom of speech it represents."

After reading the article in La Presse, two young people came to the Pathfinder bookstore to express solidarity in face of the attack and to inquire about joining the Young Socialists.  
 
 
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