Like the anti-globalization movement it attempts to reflect, this account of the anti-FTAA protests last April in Quebec City is a patchwork of voices crying out through the memories of tear gas, rubber bullets, and the largest police mobilization in Canadian history.

Resist was produced by the protest participants themselves, and is based on a conscious decision not to be weighed down by the pontifications of academic experts and media stars. What results is a raw collection of prose, poetry, and photography that, despite some over-the-top partisanship, is unlike anything casual readers were likely to catch during that tumultuous April weekend.

While this editorial orientation results in much eye-opening reading, the book could have used an outsider’s perspective. Much of the material contains references to events and groups that, unexplained, will leave newcomers to the issues dumbfounded.

Anyone who was in Quebec City or needs to catch up on what went on will find much to think about here. From diary excerpts composed on both sides of the barricades and vivid accounts of police harassment and violence to tales of shockingly arbitrary arrest and incarceration, Resist pulls no punches. One of the book’s strongest sections comprises a half dozen critical essays about racism, sexism, and other oppressions that continue to plague the summit-hopping protest movement.

While most accounts of Quebec 2001 will likely be reduced to cops versus rock throwers, Resist remains of considerable value as a reference full of honest, uncensored, and unabashedly sincere reportage.