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180 000 Quebecois students on strike, others beginning to join
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Nar Gilah
May 2, 2012, 11:15:47 PM5/2/12
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Quebec students ignite the popular imagination
By [51]Stefan Christoff
| April 30, 2012
Vibrant nightly protests over the past week in downtown Montréal, in
solidarity with the Quebec student strike, are sparking global
attention. As the Quebec-wide strike continues - it has now been going
for over 11 weeks - a new energy is apparent in the city.
All across the city spotting the [57]symbolic red square patches is
easy; on any city bus or métro car patches are proudly pinned on
jackets or backpacks.
Despite repeated incidents of police brutality, strikingly hostile
mainstream media coverage and a sustained [58]refusal by the Quebec
Liberal government to negotiate in good faith, popular support and
energy toward the strike is growing. Beyond surveys, or poll numbers,
the Quebec student strike is historic in nature, a sustained mass
protest movement creating political space to debate not only rising
tuition fees but also fundamental questions of social justice.
A clear shift is occurring on the streets, as protests are now
expanding to highlight environmental justice and the growing economic
inequities in Quebec at a time of austerity-driven economics.
Today in Quebec the earning gap between the wealthy and the rest sits
at a 30-year high, according to a recent study by [59]Institut de
recherche et d'informations socio-economiques. Economic injustice in
Quebec is increasingly a focus of student protests and the upcoming
[60]May Day protests will illuminate points of unity between striking
students and larger social movements on the streets.
Last week Aveos airline maintenance workers in Montréal, fired last
month without due process, joined with striking students in [61]a
morning protest outside a shareholders meeting of Air Canada in
downtown Montreal. On the streets, la Confédération des syndicats
nationaux (CSN), a major union federation in Québec with a history of
strong links to grassroots activism, has consistently joined striking
students on the street.
In Québec the student strike is igniting the popular imagination.
Recent night protests have been starting at Émilie-Gamelin square,
close to Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), taking to the streets
for hours on end, as many join the protests spontaneously as the
protest weaves throughout downtown Montreal districts. As the night
protest moves the size grows, [62]tens of thousands marching in the
cool spring air, waving red flags in the rain. The student strike is
crossing many political barriers at a rapid speed and turning into a
social movement.
Despite the growing protests, the movement does face incredible
challenges, beyond just the usual cynical commentators across the
mainstream media in Quebec and Canada.
Police repression has at times been extreme, with hundreds of students
arrested and disturbing physical violence by police toward the protest
movement. On the streets police often launch flash bang grenades. To
take just one example, last week in Montreal one of these grenades
exploded [63]over a night demonstration, unleashing toxic CS gas on the
protest.
Montreal police use the flash bang weapon, made by [64]Defense
Technologies, a subsidiary of the world's second largest arms
manufacturer, BAE Systems, despite the obvious danger to student
protesters. Striking student Francis Grenier [65]suffered a serious eye
injury in early March due to an explosion close to the eye while
playing harmonica and is still recovering.
Unity within the student movement is another major challenge, the more
institutional Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) and
Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) are consistently
facing divide and conquer offers by the Québec government pushing to
exclude the protest-driven Coalition large de l'association pour une
solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE) from any negotiations. Despite
a history of division in previous student mobilizations, the major
student unions today are remaining strongly united in this mobilization
to halt tuition hikes in Quebec.
Calls for a broader social strike, an effort to transfer the energy of
student protests into larger struggles for social justice is strongly
backed by CLASSE, a network of student unions that supports direct
action and [66]openly rejects the capitalist economic system.
Over recent years CLASSE has actively supported anti-poverty struggles
in Quebec and international solidarity campaigns like [67]the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in solidarity with Palestine.
Protests will continue in Quebec over the next days, from May Day to
the upcoming Liberal Party general council meeting, scheduled to take
place later this week. The Liberals have in fact announced they are
[68]moving their meeting from Montreal to Victoriaville, due to fears
of mass protest.
As the momentum of the Quebec student strike continues to grow, with
nearly 180 000 students remaining on strike, many open questions ring
out beyond Québec.
Can the Quebec student movement, clearly a collective struggle against
austerity-driven economics, spark or inspire broader mass struggles for
social justice in Canada?
Stefan Christoff is a Montreal-based writer, musician and community
activist who contributes to rabble.ca. You can find Stefan
at [69]http://www.twitter.com/spirodon/
References
Visible links
51. http://rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/5771
52. http://rabble.ca/print/news/2012/04/quebec-students-ignite-popular-
imagination
53. http://rabble.ca/contact/editor/[letter%20to%20editor%20for%
20rabble.ca-node-92511]
54. http://rabble.ca/supportrabble
55. http://rabble.ca/contact/corrections/[correction%20for%20article%
20rabble.ca-node-92511]
56. http://rabble.ca/sites/rabble/files/node-images/
rabbledarrenellnightprotest.jpg
57. http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/03/squarely-in-the-red/
58. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/04/28/quebec-
tuitin-protest.html
59. http://www.iris-recherche.qc.ca/
60. http://www.clac-montreal.net/
61. http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/news/6515711/story.html
62. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggS4m6ypDwI
63. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLh0IoGcyOA
64. http://www.defense-technology.com/
65. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/03/08/montreal-
student-protest-eye.html
66. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74JQQf4zfg4
67. http://www.bdsmovement.net/2008/support-l%E2%80%99association-pour-
une-solidarite-syndicale-etudiante-asse-decision-to-join-the-bds-
movement-141#.T55EudnYCSo
68. http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Liberals+move+meeting+wake
+protests/6537611/story.html
69. http://www.twitter.com/spirodon/
By [51]Stefan Christoff
| April 30, 2012
Vibrant nightly protests over the past week in downtown Montréal, in
solidarity with the Quebec student strike, are sparking global
attention. As the Quebec-wide strike continues - it has now been going
for over 11 weeks - a new energy is apparent in the city.
All across the city spotting the [57]symbolic red square patches is
easy; on any city bus or métro car patches are proudly pinned on
jackets or backpacks.
Despite repeated incidents of police brutality, strikingly hostile
mainstream media coverage and a sustained [58]refusal by the Quebec
Liberal government to negotiate in good faith, popular support and
energy toward the strike is growing. Beyond surveys, or poll numbers,
the Quebec student strike is historic in nature, a sustained mass
protest movement creating political space to debate not only rising
tuition fees but also fundamental questions of social justice.
A clear shift is occurring on the streets, as protests are now
expanding to highlight environmental justice and the growing economic
inequities in Quebec at a time of austerity-driven economics.
Today in Quebec the earning gap between the wealthy and the rest sits
at a 30-year high, according to a recent study by [59]Institut de
recherche et d'informations socio-economiques. Economic injustice in
Quebec is increasingly a focus of student protests and the upcoming
[60]May Day protests will illuminate points of unity between striking
students and larger social movements on the streets.
Last week Aveos airline maintenance workers in Montréal, fired last
month without due process, joined with striking students in [61]a
morning protest outside a shareholders meeting of Air Canada in
downtown Montreal. On the streets, la Confédération des syndicats
nationaux (CSN), a major union federation in Québec with a history of
strong links to grassroots activism, has consistently joined striking
students on the street.
In Québec the student strike is igniting the popular imagination.
Recent night protests have been starting at Émilie-Gamelin square,
close to Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), taking to the streets
for hours on end, as many join the protests spontaneously as the
protest weaves throughout downtown Montreal districts. As the night
protest moves the size grows, [62]tens of thousands marching in the
cool spring air, waving red flags in the rain. The student strike is
crossing many political barriers at a rapid speed and turning into a
social movement.
Despite the growing protests, the movement does face incredible
challenges, beyond just the usual cynical commentators across the
mainstream media in Quebec and Canada.
Police repression has at times been extreme, with hundreds of students
arrested and disturbing physical violence by police toward the protest
movement. On the streets police often launch flash bang grenades. To
take just one example, last week in Montreal one of these grenades
exploded [63]over a night demonstration, unleashing toxic CS gas on the
protest.
Montreal police use the flash bang weapon, made by [64]Defense
Technologies, a subsidiary of the world's second largest arms
manufacturer, BAE Systems, despite the obvious danger to student
protesters. Striking student Francis Grenier [65]suffered a serious eye
injury in early March due to an explosion close to the eye while
playing harmonica and is still recovering.
Unity within the student movement is another major challenge, the more
institutional Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) and
Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) are consistently
facing divide and conquer offers by the Québec government pushing to
exclude the protest-driven Coalition large de l'association pour une
solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE) from any negotiations. Despite
a history of division in previous student mobilizations, the major
student unions today are remaining strongly united in this mobilization
to halt tuition hikes in Quebec.
Calls for a broader social strike, an effort to transfer the energy of
student protests into larger struggles for social justice is strongly
backed by CLASSE, a network of student unions that supports direct
action and [66]openly rejects the capitalist economic system.
Over recent years CLASSE has actively supported anti-poverty struggles
in Quebec and international solidarity campaigns like [67]the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in solidarity with Palestine.
Protests will continue in Quebec over the next days, from May Day to
the upcoming Liberal Party general council meeting, scheduled to take
place later this week. The Liberals have in fact announced they are
[68]moving their meeting from Montreal to Victoriaville, due to fears
of mass protest.
As the momentum of the Quebec student strike continues to grow, with
nearly 180 000 students remaining on strike, many open questions ring
out beyond Québec.
Can the Quebec student movement, clearly a collective struggle against
austerity-driven economics, spark or inspire broader mass struggles for
social justice in Canada?
Stefan Christoff is a Montreal-based writer, musician and community
activist who contributes to rabble.ca. You can find Stefan
at [69]http://www.twitter.com/spirodon/
References
Visible links
51. http://rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/5771
52. http://rabble.ca/print/news/2012/04/quebec-students-ignite-popular-
imagination
53. http://rabble.ca/contact/editor/[letter%20to%20editor%20for%
20rabble.ca-node-92511]
54. http://rabble.ca/supportrabble
55. http://rabble.ca/contact/corrections/[correction%20for%20article%
20rabble.ca-node-92511]
56. http://rabble.ca/sites/rabble/files/node-images/
rabbledarrenellnightprotest.jpg
57. http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/03/squarely-in-the-red/
58. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/04/28/quebec-
tuitin-protest.html
59. http://www.iris-recherche.qc.ca/
60. http://www.clac-montreal.net/
61. http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/news/6515711/story.html
62. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggS4m6ypDwI
63. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLh0IoGcyOA
64. http://www.defense-technology.com/
65. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/03/08/montreal-
student-protest-eye.html
66. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74JQQf4zfg4
67. http://www.bdsmovement.net/2008/support-l%E2%80%99association-pour-
une-solidarite-syndicale-etudiante-asse-decision-to-join-the-bds-
movement-141#.T55EudnYCSo
68. http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Liberals+move+meeting+wake
+protests/6537611/story.html
69. http://www.twitter.com/spirodon/
Dänk 42Ø
May 5, 2012, 1:43:52 PM5/5/12
to
On 05/02/2012 09:15 PM, Nar Gilah wrote:
> Quebec students ignite the popular imagination
>
> By [51]Stefan Christoff
> | April 30, 2012
>
> Vibrant nightly protests over the past week in downtown Montréal, in
> solidarity with the Quebec student strike, are sparking global
> attention. As the Quebec-wide strike continues - it has now been going
> for over 11 weeks - a new energy is apparent in the city.
South Park covered the Canada strike several years ago:
> Quebec students ignite the popular imagination
>
> By [51]Stefan Christoff
> | April 30, 2012
>
> Vibrant nightly protests over the past week in downtown Montréal, in
> solidarity with the Quebec student strike, are sparking global
> attention. As the Quebec-wide strike continues - it has now been going
> for over 11 weeks - a new energy is apparent in the city.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/165194/the-canadians-of-europe
2966 Dead
May 5, 2012, 2:22:46 PM5/5/12
to
no understanding of freedom and democracy.
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