babble is rabble.ca's discussion board but it's much more than that: it's an online community for folks who just won't shut up. It's a place to tell each other — and the world — what's up with our work and campaigns.
Support rabble | Advertise with us | Contact our staff | About rabble | Log-in or Register for a new account | Corrections | Privacy policy | Newsfeeds | Mailing lists
rabble: Features | Columnists | In Cahoots | Blogs | Books | Photos | What's Up | Polls
babble: Forum Topics | Active Topics
The rpn: About the RPN | Become a podcaster
rabbleTV: Program Guide | Features | Indie Inside | Best of the net
Copyright © 2001-2013 the authors
Syndicate
Invite your friends, colleagues and families:
your family and friends…. this is the launch of our very own “Quebecois Spring”! See you there!!
People’s Assembly
Organised by la Coalition large de L’ASSÉ
Monday, April 9th, 2012
Émilie-Gamelin Square, Montréal (metro Berri-UQAM)
noon-10 p.m (groups below will speak as of 3:45)
Translated from facebook page: Info: http://www.facebook.com/events/380435101978793/
For over 6 weeks, hundreds of thousands of students are on an unlimited general strike against tuition fee hikes. We recognise that this decision has been made in a broader context of privatisation and commodification of public services and attacks on women’s well-being.
On March 22nd, about 200, 000 people marched in the streets of Montreal. This mobilisation has proven to be unique in Quebec’s – and possibly – Canada’s history. In light of this massive mobilisation, during a congress held on March 24th and 25th , CLASSE student associations resolved to broaden and go beyond the student movement, calling for a “A quebecois spring”. We recognise that this call occurs in the context of unprecedented cases of corruption, furthering the agenda to exploit shale gas, imposing a health tax, and increasing tuition fees by Jean Charest’s liberal government.
In light of the Liberal government’s attempts to divide the population and social movements, CLASSE decided to organise a large public assembly on April 9th, so as to bring together civil society organisations that are opposed to Jean Charest’s neoliberal projects. This will be an opportunity for students, unions, community and environmental organisations, feminists, and citizens to unite their voices and discuss common action plans in the following weeks and months to follow.....
Concordia Sacrifices Quality of Teaching, Dismisses Provincial Strike Culture
No course extensions despite significantly reduced class time and historical and cultural tradition of student strikes
7 April 2012 — On Thursday 4 April Concordia’s Dean of Arts and Science Brian Lewis sent a message to department chairs outlining this Faculty’s response to student strikes at Concordia. In a word, that response is: Denial. Denial that students in some departments collectively decided not to attend up to 38.5% of their semester, denial of the standard practices of other Quebec universities, and denial that classes are an integral part of learning. The solutions presented to professors are unacceptable, limited to changing course requirements thus omitting class material, awarding Incomplete or In Progress marks, and submitting marks at a slightly later date.
The Strike Committee of the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) of Concordia, the Geography Undergraduate Student Society, the Urban Planning Association and the School of Community and Public Affairs Student Association demand that the Concordia administration recognize students’ collective decision to strike and make accommodations to make up for reduced class time for the affected departments once the strike is over, which would entail:
Many students have missed significant amounts of class time due to the strike. By refusing to arrange to reschedule class time or extend deadlines once the strikes end at Concordia, the Dean and the senior administrators are devaluing the quality of education at this university. Real learning cannot happen in isolation, without significant engagement and guidance from an instructor. To expect work to be handed in without this instruction is to say that these elements of education are dispensable, which is a disparagement to the profession of teaching.
In addition to the tuition hikes, the student movement in Quebec stands in opposition to the privatization of universities and the increasingly shallow, standardized and impersonal approach to university teaching. Therefore, we cannot condone a situation in which the semester will be declared complete when some students have not engaged in anything close to a semester of learning. This includes cases in which classes were held in spite of strike mandates, often with only a minority of students (in some instances as few as four students out of 75 in attendance)....
http://concordiastudents.ca/studentsdemands/
MONTREAL — There are ominous changes underway in governmental policy internationally which have resulted in tax cuts for corporations at the expense of essential public services. In Quebec, one of the focal points of the discussion surrounding the implication of austerity is the future of higher education, which has historically been protected and supported by popular movements.
There is a strong social movement in Quebec opposing the government’s 2011 university funding plan, which includes increases in tuition of 75% and intensifies the shift in funding reliance to private sources through donations. The plan also promotes further marketing of research and increased partnerships with private entities to reach the funding goals listed.
As is the case with most grassroots movements, information about this struggle does not seem to be travelling too far. This struggle has been making news for months in Quebec. In recent weeks the headlines have been multiplying as student groups have organized autonomous blockages and other economic disruptions. In the last week buildings housing the offices of Hydro-Quebec and the Liquor Board of Quebec, as well as multiple highways, the offices of the premier, and both the ministries of finance and education were all blockaded.
The escalation of economically disruptive activities on the part of the activists has been in reaction to the stubborn refusal of the government to negotiate, or even consult, with student associations on the future of our education system. On March 22nd, close to 200,000 people took to the streets of Montreal. That march was a manifestation of the support for this movement across this province and around the world.
Despite the very systematic attempts to oppress, and ignore, the social movement opposing the shift towards privatisation underway in Quebec, the movement shows no sign of dissipating. There are currently 191,000 students in colleges and universities on an unlimited strike, some of which have been on strike since mid-February. The majority of the student association who have voted to go on strike are re-grouped under the large coalition for student union solidarity (CLASSE) who would be one of the groups to enter into negotiations with the provincial government, should they respond to the demands of students....
http://www.portlandoccupier.org/2012/04/03/canadas-students-in-action/
video
Quebec students aren't just fighting to hold the line on their tuitions, they are fighting austerity on behalf of the whole nation.
The least we can all do is wear a scarlet square in solidarity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy1DpYbW2oY
...........
Quebec Tuition: We Have A Choicevideo
We hear a lot from Charest and conservative lobbyists about how tuition hikes are the only way to finance the Quebec University system, but they never seem to present any actual facts. Why? Because, as you can see, the facts speak for themselves! For sources and more information, visit gsaconcordia.ca.
The Graduate Students' Association of Concordia University represents 6000 master's, doctoral, and diploma students. With research from Free Education Montreal (freeeducationmontreal.org), script and video work by AJ Korkidakis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=d9bajWHi1FI#!
Category:There will be another "family" (all-ages) demo on the 14th, then a week later is Earth Day, with a mass demo planned.
There will be another "family" (all-ages) demo on the 14th, then a week later is Earth Day, with a mass demo planned.
quote
A variety of fleet-footed groups of protesters moved quickly through such diverse locations as the main campus of McGill University near Mount Royal and the World Trade Centre in Old Montreal.
Other targets included the head office of the National Bank of Canada, where protesters blockaded all entrances for about an hour before Montreal police deployed what they termed "chemical irritants" to disperse them, allowing bank employees and others to get into work about 9 a.m.
The protesters were ramping up pressure in what has already become the longest student strike in Quebec history. Their goal is to turn back university-level tuition increases planned by the Quebec government.
Other groups of students proved active on the north end of Montreal Island. Among their actions was a rush-hour blockade of the Viau Bridge, linking the island with Laval. That protest, during the morning inbound commuter rush, triggered traffic chaos.
The all-day plan for the protest marathon — which organizers said would last from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — includes hourly march departures from Victoria Square.
Protesters also ran through The Bay department store downtown, then converged shortly before noon in front of the Loto Quebec offices near McGill University. That building was the site of an earlier protest where one student sustained an eye injury, apparently caused by a stun grenade used by police.
In one incident shortly after 11 a.m., security staff outside the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Tower near Place du Canada, were jostled. One guard was reportedly pushed over by a student as the protesters were trying to enter the lobby of the office building. Police have conceded it is difficult for them to follow all the protests as they are numerous and their itineraries have not been made available to them
www.montrealgazette.com/news/Roving+student+protesters+tackle+multiple+Montreal+targets/6442031/story.html#ixzz1rmyWbamS
MONTREAL, April 11, 2012 — After weeks of being stonewalled by Concordia administration, students are publicly denouncing the University’s lack of academic integrity and its denial of Quebec’s tradition of student strikes.
Today, with support from CLASSE spokespeople, students on strike at Concordia are outlining their demands.
Concordia University has provided no suitable solution for making up lost classes, despite the success of various strategies employed by other Quebec universities in response to the current strike. An April 4 statement released by Dean of Arts and Sciences Brian Lewis restates the administration’s position of denial and proposes inconsiderate and inadequate measures to address lost class time and to salvage Concordia’s academic integrity.
The Graduate Student Association’s Strike Committee, along with various undergraduate student associations involved in the strike, condemn the administration’s irresponsible position. They demand that Concordia University administration recognize the collective decision of students with a strike mandate, and that it propose immediate solutions allowing students and faculty to make up for lost time once the strike is over.
“By refusing to recognize the strike and the importance of class time, Concordia’s administration is dismissing this province’s historical, cultural and academic strike traditions,” says Tom McGurk, president of the Geography Graduate Students’ Association. “Striking students at Concordia are being threatened with failing grades for their political beliefs, hired private security has been intimidating strikers, and students may see the semester end despite missing more than a third of their class time.”
“Just because it is an anglophone institution, the University cannot claim to exist in a bubble isolated from the culture and history surrounding it,” says Gabrielle Bouchard, an undergraduate student at Concordia’s Simone de Beauvoir Institute. “Anglophone students are trying to join the dominantly francophone student movement. We don’t think it’s fair to just ride off the work of Francophone students’ struggles for accessible education in this province.”
Since the beginning of the student protest, the university has had its head in the sand, denying the strike mandates — dating as early as March 5 — adopted by numerous departments, many of which are members of the CLASSE (Coalition large de l’association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante).
“CLASSE is proud to count the departmental student associations at Concordia as members,” says Jeanne Reynolds, spokesperson for the province-wide student coalition for the strike.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, another spokesperson, adds, “CLASSE gives its full support to students on strike at Concordia, and we stand behind their approach and their actions.”
Concordia students and CLASSE spokespeople will be available to the media on Wednesday, April 11, at 10:30AM on the 7th floor of the Hall Building, 1455 de Maisonneuve West.
For the full text of the students’ demands:
http://concordiastudents.ca/studentsdemands/
La manifestation passe devant une garderie près de McGill College. Photo André Pichette, La Presse #manifencours #ggi http://twitpic.com/98jr93Manif étudiante rentrée chez La Baie #ggi #non1625 #manifencours http://pic.twitter.com/8fUzS62f
Student protesters just ran thigh the Montreal world trade center plaza #manifencours #ggi http://pic.twitter.com/L6yieekBValleyfield CÉGEP administration had decreed a return to class today, notwithstanding another majority vote to extend the strike mandate. Hundreds of students picketed and blocked entry, supported by delegations of teachers and parents. The administration has now cancelled classes for the day - although they say they'll try again tomorrow, or Monday, etc.
One day at a time until final victory!
I love these students.
Time for a new thread - please continue here.
CFL