The March 22nd Manifestation nationale was not the culmination but the midpoint of a 10-week-long student uprising that has seen, at its height, over 300,000 college and university students join an unlimited and superbly coordinated general strike. As of today, almost 180,000 students remain on picket lines in departments and faculties that have been shuttered since February
This is not a historical look back at a pivotal student strike that shaped student- school relations in the US. It's not a look at actions during the days of the Paris Commune or even the Spanish Revolution. This is a strike that is going on as we speak, in a country directly to the east* of us.
* well, east if you live in Alaska as I do. Country to the north for those of you unfortunate enough to be stuck in the Lower 48 on a spring day as beautiful as today is.
The title comes from Marc Bousquet's blog Brainstorm on The Chronicle of Higher Education's website and can be found here He writes that the genesis of the strike is that the Liberal government, led by Premier Jean Charest, phasing in 75% increases in tuition costs over the next 5 years. Bouset goes on to say
Although generally peaceful, these actions have met with increasingly brutal acts of police violence: Student protesters are routinely beaten, pepper-sprayed, and tear-gassed by riot police, and one, Francis Grenier, lost an eye after being hit by a flashbang grenade at close range
However, this strike has moved beyond a student movement and is being embraced by the communities of Quebec. As Hans Rollman says in a piece entitled
A not-so-public battle for a very public good that the strikes have
galvanized the entire population of Quebec to assert their democratic rights and demand the Quebec government stop hiding in a corner making decisions and accounting to no one (like their federal government counterparts). Young and old, and even rich and poor, are all wearing the red cloth squares that have become the symbol of support for the student strike.
The government had steadfastly refused to negotiate with the protestors who have been following what us Americans would recognize as the Occupy model of protesting, along with picketing campus buildings. In the last few days, the major student groups (they're called groups in the press reports I read, but seem suspiciously like unions to me...)have met with representatives of Charest's government, including Education Minister Line Beauchamp under the condition that a 48 hour truce be agreed to. No results have been announced, with both groups keeping what was discussed pretty close to their respective chests.
If you want to learn more, scroll down to the end of Bousquet's article where he has an extensive bibliography of strike-related resources. You can go directly to the main student group, Coalition large de l’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (CLASSE)
website (conveniently provided in English) Their thesis is that they are fighting the change of their education system from a social benefit model to research-driven corporate model.
But... its Canada afterall. And the French part of Canada more specifically. Plus, a Romney said something stupid (RSSS)!! Alright, if you made it this far, that probably isn't you (except being fascinated by RSSS- I admit, I'm as fascinated as anyone else by this phenomena). Seriously though, as multiple diaries have said over the past couple days, there is more student loan debt in the US than credit card debit. And, unlike credit card debt student loan debt can't be touched by bankruptcy (but interest is still charged on it; even though interest is used to entice entities to give loans by offering something to offset the risk of unrecoverable debt. If no debt is unrecoverable, why is an enticement needed? But I digress). Personally, I am amazingly lucky to have gotten out with a masters degree in education with only $22,000 in outstanding debt, due in large part to my parents being able to help me out financially at every turn, even when I was less-than-focused about it. At some point, we are going to need to take a good hard look at our system of higher education. Hopefully we decide to fight to preserve our tradition of access for all like our neighbors to the east have. Once again, head to the CLASSE website and show some solidarity. Hell, ask for some advice to. They seem to have this protest thing on lock.