Student strike #9 -- jusqu'à la victoire

live stream here

http://www.livestream.com/newchannel/popoutplayer?channel=cutvmontreal

NYC:  Solidarité avec les étudiants québécois!
http://occupywallst.org/article/solidarity-quebec/  Today in New York City, we will demonstrate in solidarity with Quebec students and in defense of our right to protest. An increase in the powers of the police and the state anywhere is an attack on us everywhere.

Paris: rally in support of Quebec students. Vive la France. Link.

CBC: march has gone past 250,000 people - march takes three hours to pass any single point.

Mark Kelley will have a feature live in Montreal at 8 pm EST tonight on CBC Newsworld's Connect.

ETA: Kelley said what is obvious to everyone: that Bill 78 has energised the student movement.

Just protecting their asses from financial repercussions. It is the normal response of BC trade unions to injunctions and legislation stripping workers of rights and benefits. The "protect the brick and mortar" mentality is what makes a general strike impossible.

If some organizations want to oppose the tuition hikes and Law 78 and feel they have to comply with the law while doing it, big deal.

And as for those "protect the bricks and mortar' unions, some of them, even outside Quebec, are providing financial support for this struggle. Should the students send that back on principle? 

Fuck these purity tests. Keep your eye on the ball.

I guess the big deal is that by voluntarily submitting to what they've previously denounced as an unjust law it could be seen as weakening their own argument against it. Another point is that their decision to share the route with police effectively takes that decison away from every other person and group participating in the march. And yet another point is that it's a failure to recognize their own power at this moment. IMO, if there's ever a moment to assert your political rights and not defer to the authority of the state it's on a day when you are able to mobilize 200-300 400-500 thousand people in the streets.

I wonder what's going through Charest's mind as he watches all this unfold today - but not just in Montreal, but also internationally?

HuffPost: Quebec Protests Go International And Mock Emergency Law On Day 100 Of Student Strikes 

Unfortunately he's not suggesting that they'll threaten Harper's government, but rather, the fallout may eventually threaten his ability to keep Quebec within the federation. Which might not be such a bad thing for Quebec, but I'd rather see Harper go than Quebec.

I suppose that's one way of looking at it. I don't actually think one has to go out and break a law in order to demonstrate against it - unless there's a compelling reason, that is. Specifically, if some people don't feel they are able to meet the possible financial and physical risks, who has any right to tell them that they can't make their voices heard on their own terms? 

Besides, it seems like we have two authorities here to defer to - the government telling me WHERE the real protesters are, and Mr. Singh telling me WHO the real protesters are. 

But anyway, that's just my opinion. I do see the sense in yours , and I think people can take that stand and get into some civil disobedience if they want.

Education Minister Michelle Courchesne reiterated Tuesday that she is willing to negotiate with student leaders to end the tuition dispute.

“I am absolutely prepared for a meeting, totally,” Courchesne told reporters, adding that she has spoken to Léo Bureau-Blouin, president of the Fédération étudiante collègiale du Québec, and Martine Desjardins, president of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, but not to Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for Quebec’s largest and most militant student association, the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante.

“An association that calls for civil disobedience, the non-respect for the law, I have the impression they will not return to the table,” Courchesne said.

“Will they respect the decisions of the courts? Will they respect the law?” she added.

“I presuppose that they do not want to come back to the table.”

The FECQ and the FEUQ maintain they will not talk without the CLASSE at the table.....

Stirring Canada From Its Slumber  - by Benjamin Campbell

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/22/stirring-canada-from-its-slumber/

"...Indeed we haven't heard talk of class struggle in decades, yet Canadians rarely seem to ask why that is. Most Canadians seem not to recognize the rightward shift of their entire political spectrum, yet alone that it has been a global phenomenon. The decline of the New Democratic Party from Tommy Douglas to Thomas Mulcair has paralleled The Third War of the UK's Labour Party, the corporatization of the American Democratic Party , and the sellout of Greece's ostensible Socialists.

This subordination of politics to business interests has been a steadily increasing for decades and proves Nadeau-Dubor's basic point about the iron grip that the global investor class has on our basic institutions of government..."

And still no word on the strike from Charest's former colleague Mulcair?

...but it sounds like the transit union knows which side they're on:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/22/tens-of-thousands-turn-out-in-mo...