I wrote earlier in the week about the Quebec-Ontario Student Solidarity Tour, which will see representatives of CLASSE, Quebec's largest student federation, and other grassroots activists touring ten cities in nine days across the province.
Well tonight that tour kicks off with a bang in Ottawa, a city which has seen large solidarity demonstrations with the Quebec student movement all summer long.
Tonight's panel will feature Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the movement's charismatic hearthrob and co-spokesperson for CLASSE. He will be joined by Jérémie Bédard-Wien, a CLASSE executive and financial secretary, Audrey Deveault, Chairperson of the Dawson Student Union, and Marianne Breton Fontaine, a grassroots student activist and independent journalist.
They'll be speaking at the Agora at the University of Ottawa at 7PM tonight. All are welcome and admission is free.
If I could make it to Ottawa, I'd be there. If you're in the vicinity, don't miss this opportunity to hear first hand reports of the student strike come social movement which has gripped Quebec, and engage in a dialogue about how the success in Quebec can be spread throughout the country.
You can get more information, and confirm your attendance, on the Facebook page. It has this to say about tonight's event:
"With a quarter of a million people marching in the streets of Montreal for three months in a row, a broad and powerful united resistance has developed and is shaking Quebec. Despite over a thousand arrests, police violence, and disturbing anti-democratic laws brought in by the Charest Liberal government, the students have held strong.
As federal and provincial austerity budgets have had severe impacts in Ontario, how can we build solidarity as well as a broad, united and growing movement here?
Come listen to first-hand accounts and analysis explaining how the strike grew from a campaign calling for access to education into a people’s struggle for democracy and a better Québec."
Please spread the word far and wide about tonight's event and the whole tour. Building strong bonds of solidarity, and a united national movement, has neer been more important.
Follow me on twitter for the latest on the strike, and progressive politics in Quebec: @EthanCoxMTL
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Last night I went to listen to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and others speak at Ottawa U. regarding their student's strike in Quebec and the importance of accessible affordable higher education. I think this is a worthy cause. La CLASSE, of which Gabriel is a spokesperson, also believes in advocating for direct democracy which is important for a functioning democracy.
Accessible, affordable higher education is a corner stone of democracy. The more education costs the more students care only about learning that which will make them marketable. Few will be able to afford an education that makes them a better citizen if it does not also get them a good job. For a democracy to function we need students to know about Civics, about history, about reasoning and critical thinking, who know how to analyze, who have studied literature, fine arts, philosophy and so on. Many of these areas of study do not make one marketable in today's world but they do make one better able to contribute well in a democratic society. As such I think this is a cause we should all take up.