And the student protests in Québec continue...

[wisdomsawoman]

Comments

OP

[lickety_split]

Thanks for the fix :)

[wisdomsawoman]

I think so too! And this is such an important issue. For sure, I'm biased since I'm a Quebecer AND a student, but I think it's so refreshing to see a group a people stand up for what they believe in and not let the government do whatever the hell it wants!

[lonely_hour]

go you guys!!!

[sitakhet]

Moar Quebec on my internet?
What school do you go to, OP? U de M here. Giiiiant clusterfuck.

This was on my FB this morning WARNING, BLOOD.

I can't talk to my friend about the grève because she's so against it, she thinks it's dumb and that people should be going to class but without paying for it, and I'm like, "I can't even begin to explain to you the thousand ways that does not work."

I honestly have the feeling that this is all going to end very, very badly.

[sitakhet]

No, thank goodness, a friend "shared" the page, he's following this much more closely than pretty much everyone I know (and he's expatted to Boston!)

[wisdomsawoman]

Yeah I saw that picture too and another one of I think the same guy being looked after by other students, because of course there'll be no ambulance for him. Right? I mean if you're a protester and you get hurt, good luck buddy! The police certainly won't help you. I'm enraged since the guy who almost lost his eye asked help from the police while he was freaking bleeding everywhere, and the police acted as if he wasn't there.

And I go to Concordia :) We're not on strike anymore, so I'm up to everywhere in finals. So mad that I can't go and support my friends who are fighting for all of us.

I've had conversations with people who were for the hike/against the strike or against the hike/against the strike (seriously, what does that even mean??) and I seriously got super mad. So I try not to talk about these things with them !

[phililen3]

I would love to know what students, with all these hikes as well as the ridic tuition that varsities foreign to me, are paying for. And why such are large hike over such a short period of time? It just does not make sense. Why should the students suffer.This is not their problem yet they are the ones to pay for it. These are not prosperous times. The government needs to be sensitive to that. If hikes are really needed, at least be reasonable about it.

[wisdomsawoman]

The thing is that fees have been "freezed" in Quebec for a long period of time, after our "Quiet Revolution" in 1968. HOWEVER, they have been "unfrozen" for a significant period of time now, but the hike has been reaaaally small. Now, our government is in deep shit. For the last two years, there has been reports after reports of corruption within the government, when these reports come out our marvelous PM ignores them until the public pressure is too big. So you see the kind of guy he is. It's been announced for at least a year that they would up the tuition. The tuition increase is gonna be 325 each year for 5 years. I pay approx 3000 of tuition per year (without books, etc.). So next year it'll be 3325$, the next 3650, etc. Until the total hike is 1625$ more of what we pay now. I don't know where you're from, but if you're from the state, I know this sounds ridiculous. However it's not so much about the money than about what we want our education to mean to us. You know what I mean? Universities shouldn't be run as

[emofordino]

hey, tuition hikes are awful regardless of where you are or how much you're paying! university may be much more expensive here than it is in canada, but it's still an outrageous price and your thoughts/feelings on the issue are completely legitimate. you're totally right, universities shouldn't be treated as businesses! it's about the student and the education that they're working for, not about the people running it.

[tei_0]

I saw people being sprayed in the face with something (pepper spray? Tear gas? If it were tear gas I probably would have noticed it from where I was) from across the street as I walked to school yesterday. The amount of violence that th police are using to deal with these protests is revolting and makes citizens on every side of the strike issue feel unsafe around the police force (not that the SPVM ever had a reputation for being particularly cuddly.) The vast majority of these protests only get violent when the riot police show up, and that's not a coincidence.

However, I don't really agree with what OP wrote at the end: The student associations that voted for the strike were always recognized by the government. Now PM Charest and his Minister of "Education" Beauchamp act as if the decisions made by these associations don't matter. Student associations exist, and they matter, but a student association is not the same thing as a labour union and a student strike isn't a strike under the Quebec labour code. So, the government can--

[sitakhet]

Yeah, it was pepper spray.

[wisdomsawoman]

I understand what you mean. What I meant is that historically speaking they have always been recognized and I don't see why this should change now. It's my personal opinion, but I do think in the historical context of the Quebec society students association can be compared to unions. However, it's not in the law or anything, that's just my point of view.

[soleiltropiques]

I think they should be recognized. There is probably no LEGAL precedent for this, but it seems to me that the principle underlying the notion of formally recognizing unions is simply the democratic principle of recognizing an opinion which represents the majority view. Therefore I have a strong objection to NOT recognizing student unions -the principle is the same, after all. Not recognizing them seems to me to be a quibble over semantics, IMHO.