350,000 back student strike

Quebec

Quebec’s university students have been waging a determined battle in the past four months to stop the provincial government from carrying through a 75 percent tuition hike.

This struggle is exemplary for all North America, because Quebec students would still be paying the lowest tuition in the U.S. and Canada — even if the tuition hike takes place. Their average debt is also among the lowest in Canada at $13,300 per student. Thus their victory could light the way for all youth on the continent if it were widely publicized.

The student’s demands go beyond stopping the increase. One of the largest student federations, CLASSE — the Broad Coalition of the Association for Labor-Student Solidarity — has clearly stated that its ultimate aim is free tuition. (bloquonslahausse.com)

The demonstration held in Montreal on May 25 is a good example of how determined the students are. Students faced torrential rain, hail, high winds, lightning and a tornado watch. Still hundreds of students and supporters gathered in Emelie-Gamelin Park at 9 p.m. and marched for three hours through downtown Montreal — a march police had forbidden. This was the 32nd consecutive nighttime demonstration in Montreal. (La Presse, May 25) CLASSE’s slogan is “Every night, in the streets, until victory!”

‘Partial strike’ May 22; unions join fight against Law 78

But it is not just a few hardy militants in the streets. On May 22, the 100th day of the student strike, more than 300,000 came out at 2 p.m. in Montreal for another march challenging Special Law 78 and supporting the students' strike. Law 78 imposes heavy, onerous restrictions on student groups and unions.

Since it was during working hours on a weekday, the demonstration could be considered a partial strike. It was one of the largest demonstrations in Canadian history, which is notable since Quebec’s population is slightly more than 8 million people.

Special Law 78 demands that organizers inform the cops where and when they want to march, stay away from colleges and universities, and accept responsibility and liability for any acts committed by anybody in an action they call. There are heavy fines for both leaders and members of the groups calling demonstrations that Law 78 makes “illegal.”

The city of Montreal has also passed a law forbidding wearing masks or even ski goggles or big sun glasses during a demonstration.

Unions throughout Canada have responded vigorously to challenge Law 78. Labor unions based outside Quebec have sent more than $36,000 to Quebec's student federations, and some unions sent delegations to the May 22 march.

James Turk, the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents 66,000 teachers and other academic professionals across Canada, said his union is considering a contribution to the legal suit against Law 78.

“We don’t want the main issue obscured, and that is the desire to have accessible postsecondary education,” Turk told the Globe & Mail. “We’ve been really strong on that, and now we’re looking at concrete ways we can be of assistance to the students financially.” (May 22)

Two locals from the Canadian Union of Public Employees gave a total of $30,000 to the Quebec student movement — an unusually large contribution for a union.

Students have wider, anti-austerity agenda

May 22 in Montreal was well covered in the Canadian press and got extensive coverage in the worldwide French media, with coverage on French TV channels. A special edition of Libération, one of the largest newspapers in France, was devoted to the issues raised by the Quebec students, which obviously go beyond the issue of tuition and are connected to opposition to the worldwide capitalist drive to impose austerity — an issue raised sharply during France's recent presidential race.

But in the United States there has been no coverage of events in Quebec from the end of April to May 26 in any major newspaper, according to a search of the Lexis-Nexus database, with the exception of an op-ed May 24 in the New York Times focusing on Law 78 as a major violation of civil rights.

Student debt in the United States is over $1 trillion, more than the total credit card debt. In New York, both the state university and the city university systems plan major hikes in tuition and fees levied against students.

An article published May 26 in Quebec’s major English language newspaper, the Montreal Gazette, quotes Bruce Hicks, political science professor at the English-language Concordia University, on the student struggle: "It's about ideology, and a youthful desire to change the world.

"Quebec students aren't looking at the American model of education, which can be had on borrowed money. They're looking at the European model, like Scandinavia, where not only is tuition free, but you get money for books and ancillary costs." Hicks also emphasized Quebec’s history of militant unionism that is very much part of the social fabric.

Student federations intend to keep their protests against the tuition hike going until classes start in August — when they can restart the strike.