Thousands of students in Québec are protesting tuition fee hikes by the Québec Liberal government.
tuition
May 23, 2012 |
We cannot stand by while governments continue to violate our basic rights in the name of austerity and funding cuts that only fuel the growing gap between rich and poor.
Meet the editor! What do you think of rabble.ca's coverage of the Quebec student protests?
| May 18, 2012'Rêve général illimité' in Quebec
Across Quebec reaction has been swift to a proposal aiming to silence a historic student strike now in the 14th week.
Student assemblies are voting en masse to reject a Quebec Liberal government offer that fails to seriously address key issues driving the strike, including the $1,778 hike in tuition fees, a stinging increase even worse than the original planned $1,625 hike.
A settlement scripted to fail at Quebec City negotiations speaks to a profound disconnect between popular sentiment on the streets and the halls of political power today in Quebec, a division rooted in fundamental questions on austerity-driven economics.
Charest dehors! On va te trouver une job dans le Nord
On April 30 striking students did a snake march in downtown Gatineau so as to keep up the pressure on the liberal governement. The main slogan of the march was addressed at Jean Charest who was told to leave and work would be found for him up in the north, a reference to his joking with the business leaders at a promotional event for his 'Plan for the north'. He ridiculed striking students demonstrating outside, saying that perhaps they could find a job up north. Riot police beat up students during this demonstration. During the snake march, some of the participants stayed behind when it proceeded to the provincial court because of the conditions they received following a mass arrest on April 19.
Is the Québec student strike a spark?
Tens of thousands of students are on the streets protesting moves by the Québec Liberal government to inflate post-secondary tuition fees by $1,625 in the next five years. A serious grassroots battle is underway as students hold major street protests, sit-ins, and direct actions.
Currently, over 65,000 students in Québec are on an unlimited general strike under the banner Ensemble, bloquons la hausse/Stop the Hike. Over a dozen additional student associations and unions are voting in the coming days whether to join the quickly expanding protest movement, now at the centre of political debate across the province.
