60, 000 Students strike

[AGITprop]

Last week, 60 ,000 students, including myself, went on strike in Quebec to protest the Charest Goverment's decision to increase University tuition by 30% over the next 5 years. Picket lines, marches and economic disturbances spear-headed by students sent out the message that we will not stand for this because we solidly believe education is a right. On November 15th, ASSE organized a large scale protest in downtown Montreal where thousands of students occupied the streets, blocking off traffic, occupying shopping centers, banks and army recruitment offices. The demo lasted over 4 hours in the cold and rain but stuents marched in solidarity with each other the entire time. Aso, last week, 105 students were arrested at College du vieux Montreal, when their peaceful demo was raided by RiotPolice. Students were beaten with night sticks and tazed. The students used the schools own fire hoses against the police! ( This proved to be a bad choice, although they did deserve it) Students are being charged with asault wth a deadly weapon. Teachers unions are showing solid support and are scheduled to meet with their school's student unions and action commitees in the following days. Much of the action (especially at Dawson College and Concordia) is being orchestrated by CommonFront action commitees and IMT (International Marxist Tendency, which I have proudly joined recently).

FYI- The demaNDS of the strike were as follows and will continue to stand throughout the new year until the govenment begins to comply.
-Massive reinvestment in the education system.(Free education for all Qebec Unversity students would cost only 950 million dollars, less than 1.5% of the total budget.
-Abolition of law C-43 which bans all teachers and 500,000 public sector workers from striking.
-Investment in Daycares for student-parents.
-Free, Quality, Accessible post-secondary education for all.
-Increase of current minimum wage to $10/hour.

PS...some other facts, in 2005 the government attempted to increase tuition and because of student action, discontinued their action

For anyone interested in more info please look up CommonFront.

Its been areally hectic month. I've been busting my ass mobilizing students at Dawson to come and vote yes for our strike at our General Assembly. Our efforts paid off though, 867 people showed which is 6 times our quorum. This week, on the 22nd another student union Federation, (FEUQ) is holding protests against the increase but not with our same demands. We are planning on hi-jacking that protest with the few thousand people from last week's protest and switching the image of the demo as we see fit. I'll try to keep you all updated in the coming weeks of whats going on. I smell revolution!

[AGITprop]

The revolution will begin at the academic level.

[which doctor]

You said the students went on strike, but what exactly were they striking from? Classes?

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

This isn't a worker action. Moved to politics.

[Ander]

I have a friend who studies at Concordia. I haven't spoken to him lately though so I haven't heard about this.

I believe I will be visiting Montreal sometime in January 2008 so if there are any comrades who want to meet a contact from Toronto, let me know. It would be nice to meet some Montreal lefties.

[Cheung Mo]

So what are these nits going to do. Whine about how Charest is screwing them over and suck the PQ teet, only to get equally fucked over by neo-liberal extremists like Bouchard and Boisclair. Seems an idle threat to me.

[AGITprop]

you bunch of fucking pessimists...yes we are striking from class...charest is fucking us over and we are aking action. What the fuck are you doing? Striking is our only tool and one that has proven itself to be effective . in 2005 the government wanted to make cuts to our boursary program and hundreds of thousands of students went on strike. Guess what? IT WORKED. We are having another demonstration tomorow and are guessing to have a turnout in the thousands once again.

[Lenin II]

Originally posted by Cheung [email protected] 19, 2007 11:01 pm
So what are these nits going to do. Whine about how Charest is screwing them over and suck the PQ teet, only to get equally fucked over by neo-liberal extremists like Bouchard and Boisclair. Seems an idle threat to me.
Progress of the people is progress of the people. So they are not "workers." So what? They will be one day, and the glowing ember of revolutionary spirit shall become a flame soon enough as the injustices mount.

[AGITprop]

Originally posted by Lenin II+November 21, 2007 09:14 pm--> (Lenin II @ November 21, 2007 09:14 pm)
Cheung [email protected] 19, 2007 11:01 pm
So what are these nits going to do. Whine about how Charest is screwing them over and suck the PQ teet, only to get equally fucked over by neo-liberal extremists like Bouchard and Boisclair. Seems an idle threat to me.
Progress of the people is progress of the people. So they are not "workers." So what? They will be one day, and the glowing ember of revolutionary spirit shall become a flame soon enough as the injustices mount. [/b]
Ofcourse this is true. And I think that this post is relevant in workers acion because, the majority of these students are workers. We are currently working on gainging support in workers union across the city. Th transport union passed a maNDATE to go on strike in the nea future and we are hoping to work closely with them.

[AGITprop]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19, 2007 10:22 pm
I have a friend who studies at Concordia. I haven't spoken to him lately though so I haven't heard about this.

I believe I will be visiting Montreal sometime in January 2008 so if there are any comrades who want to meet a contact from Toronto, let me know. It would be nice to meet some Montreal lefties.

We should definitely meet. If you can email me some info, ill discuss with my fellow comrades in montreal and we can set up a meeting. It would be great if we could share our progress here with you. id aslo be intereted in knowing who your contact is here in Montreal, we may know eah other.

[blackstone]

Originally posted by [email protected] 21, 2007 04:02 pm
you bunch of fucking pessimists...yes we are striking from class...charest is fucking us over and we are aking action. What the fuck are you doing? Striking is our only tool and one that has proven itself to be effective . in 2005 the government wanted to make cuts to our boursary program and hundreds of thousands of students went on strike. Guess what? IT WORKED. We are having another demonstration tomorow and are guessing to have a turnout in the thousands once again.
I don't understand how is striking a tool? You already paid your tuition, so do they really care if you goto class or not? It's not like striking from work, where the result is no productivity and therefore cuts into the profits of the bourgeoisie. Maybe it's bad publicity?

Now, if 60, 000 students refuse to pay their tuition and still went to class. That would be something else.

[AGITprop]

Originally posted by blackstone+November 21, 2007 09:46 pm--> (blackstone @ November 21, 2007 09:46 pm)
[email protected] 21, 2007 04:02 pm
you bunch of fucking pessimists...yes we are striking from class...charest is fucking us over and we are aking action. What the fuck are you doing? Striking is our only tool and one that has proven itself to be effective . in 2005 the government wanted to make cuts to our boursary program and hundreds of thousands of students went on strike. Guess what? IT WORKED. We are having another demonstration tomorow and are guessing to have a turnout in the thousands once again.
I don't understand how is striking a tool? You already paid your tuition, so do they really care if you goto class or not? It's not like striking from work, where the result is no productivity and therefore cuts into the profits of the bourgeoisie. Maybe it's bad publicity?

Now, if 60, 000 students refuse to pay their tuition and still went to class. That would be something else. [/b]
Ofcourse this question has been asked countless times by disbelievers, and the answer is this. Yes, University students pay their tuition (CEGEP students actualy have no real tuition fee because students in the 70's fought, as we are, for free post secondary education, thus the creation of the CEGEP system) but striking is a power. It is symbolc first of all because the government will see that we will no accept this. Secondly, we do not intend to fight this alone. Teachers unions actually solidly support us. nfortunately the governemnt has passed aw C-43 which illegally bans teachers from striking. Throughout history, the workers unions have suported the student movement because most people understand that education is the basis for a healthy society. Again, our strike is not the ONLY action we are taking. We went on strikefor a few days, we have protests and economical disturbances planned ot. 200 studets ccupied the Montreal stck-exchange the other day and jammed all the elevators for over an hour.We are planning more of these disturbances and this is one of the other tools we plan to use

[rebelworker]

If studen strikes wasnt effective, the city wouldnt have sent the riot police in to several campuses over the week...

Also remember the CEGEPS here are like very cheap city collages, lots of working class people go their and its there where the strike was strongest in 2005. Tonnes of people get radicalised there, and they also gain valuable organising skills to carry on into the worforce.

[AGITprop]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22, 2007 02:30 am
If studen strikes wasnt effective, the city wouldnt have sent the riot police in to several campuses over the week...

Also remember the CEGEPS here are like very cheap city collages, lots of working class people go their and its there where the strike was strongest in 2005. Tonnes of people get radicalised there, and they also gain valuable organising skills to carry on into the worforce.
we had another protest today. not as large as last weeks but sill pretty big with over 1500 people. We came with our people and put out the image for free education while everyone else had signs asking the government to keep to the freeze on tuition fees. Alot of red lag waving (especially by me) and alot of media coverage. Pretty good start this season. Hopefully more action in the spring and we got one more protest coming up December 2nd about free education and ts about Venezuela. We have some people in who have contacts in the Venezuelan gov't. We possibly would try to get Chavez up here to hold a seminar for students!
I smell more action though. The students are really solid. We were out in the frezing weather while we got hailed and snowed on but still we marched for 4 and a half hours.

[BobKKKindle$]

Shame on those that pour scorn on this action because it is not directly connected to the working class! :angry:

It should be remembered that the events of May in Paris, 1968 were triggered by strikes at the Sorbonne and Nanterre due to (among other factors) structural changes in the education system which, if implemented, would have undermined the popular conception of learning as something to be enjoyed, and the detainment of militant anti-fascist students. In addition to this famous student rebellion, which eventually caused a large proportion of the workforce to strike and, in some cases, occupy their workplaces, there are numerous other radical historical changes which were only possible through the radical struggles of the student population. Students can be revolutionary – we have an interest in the elimination of capitalism, as the oppressive power structures of the workplace also exist in the education system, which denies us the ability to learn according to our own interests and desires.

Keep it up Comrades! Solidarity!

[dty06]

I'm glad this is happening. The current cost per year for my school is roughly $40,000 (including housing), of which $11,000 is covered by scholarships. By the time I graduate in 5 years, it will be $50,000 a year, I can guarantee it.

[AGITprop]

Update:
December 2nd, Downtown Montreal.
A protest wil take place for free education. The product of coperation of different leftist groups in Montreal.

Title is " Free education, like in Venezuala!

Any montrealers who wanna participate, you can find info at ComonFront.org

Im pretty sure the turnout is going to be huge. We had over 5000 people at our last free education demo so its looking good.