-----Original Message----- From: Sid Shniad Subject: The Quebec student strike renews itself
You may be interested in my two cents on this still mass strike movement I sent to others. Over the last few weeks, it has surpassed all our expectations, and has truly entered into the category of "mass popular" revolt. While we can't predict the short term effects, there seems no doubt this will lead to further breaks with the ruling elite. We are riding on a global wave of detachment from the ruling consensus, and discovering our own power. It cannot be underestimated that this student strike stands on the shoulders of previous historical events: 1. We have a history in Quebec of province-wide popular organizations such as unions and student associations. 2. There have have student strikes regularly going back to the early 1970's based on tuition and loans & bursaries. The last student stike in 2005 ended with two federations stabbing the more radical (CLASSE's predecessor ASSE) in the back. This year, they vowed and have maintained solidarity with each other. It has worked. 3. All major political parties in the 60's and early 70's promised accessible and free higher education, but have since moved into a neo-liberal economic model. 4. The anti-globalization movement re-ignited the politics of class, environment and power. 5. The Arab Spring inspired people that we can collectively resist both injustice and the fear of state violence. 6. Occupy Wall Street gave us a critical class and power analysis that makes sense to many people. Lastly, there is the unpredictable dynamic of what happens when masses of people resist, and the government misjudges their capacity. Bill 78 outlawing our demonstrations dramatically changed our movement from a semi-marginal student fight, to a popular mass resistance. The "Casseroles" (pots and pans) protests dramatically changed the composition, numbers and tone (pun intended) of our protests literally overnight from Wednesday when there were a few casseroles in our 5,000 person demo, to Thursday where most of the 15,000 were banging casseroles! These are conservative numbers, as many people jump in and out of the march as it passes by their neighborhood. The casseroles are neighborhood based too, with previous quiet neighborhoods and cities outside Montreal having their own unique balcony, street corner, or community marches casserole protests. Now, students are a minority in the illegal demonstrations which are truly family-friendly and have lots of elderly committing mass non-violent direct-action / civil disobedience. That alone is probably one of the major positive factors in this conflict. We can only thank Premier Jean Charest for deepening the movement. As one sign read the other night: "Merci Loi 78" The French and the English milieu see this differently. If you read a typical commentary section after an article in even the right wing Journal de Montreal, you will find a much more robust debate between readers than you will find in the liberal The Gazette or CBC which seems to be hijacked by bitter right-wingers. It is apparent to me, that the English culture is more technocratic - looking at the strike in technical terms of simple dollars and cents, and police strategies, and the French culture is more philosophical and cultural looking at the strike in terms of "our social promises and future". They seem to really see the world differently. I think repeating a mass movement cannot be easily imitated elsewhere. But banging pots and pans is fun, festive and could be catchy. Imagine a New Orleans Second Line parade without the jazz. On one hand, it would help for students and labor in the R.O.C. (rest of Canada) or the U..S to build mass organizations that cross institutional and geographic boundaries. On the other hand, the Arab street did their mass revolts without such organizations, sustaining themselves with a deep collective sense of shared purpose. Best wishes, Scott Weinstein _____________________________________________________ Click here for PHOTOGRAPHS <http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottmontreal/>: Support: Independent Jewish Voices <http://ijvcanada.org>; SOPUDEP School<http://www.sopudep.org>(Haiti) ----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2177 / Virus Database: 2425/5044 - Release Date: 06/04/12 ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
