Its history, Combative unionism and anarchist involvement ---- Since the start of the
Quebec student general strike, members of the Prairie Struggle Organization [2] along with
the collaboration of Common Cause, Union Communist Libertaire [3] and the IWW, have been
in the process of putting together a cross-Canada speaking tour on the Quebec student
general strike. This strike, which has demonstrated once more the power of mass, combative
and democratic social movements, is something that does not come often in Canadian history
and expresses politics and strategies that are greatly needed in the rest of Canada. The
struggles, and organizational principles demonstrated in this strike are examples that
anarchists across Canada should aim to share and educate ourselves on, as our comrades in
Quebec have done, due to the fact that its core principles are in fact close to our
principles.
The purpose of the speaking tour is to give an in-depth look at why radical politics in
Quebec have taken the shape of a rank and file, direct action based movement capable of
posing a very real threat to the state and its capitalist proponents. It will Look at
?combative unionism? and the strategies it uses to fight legislation, repression and
general anti-union approaches put forward against the struggle. Also, the tour will
discuss an anarchist analysis of the struggle and why anarchists are involved as a whole.
This speaking tour will also serve the purpose of demystifying fetishisms of Quebec
political culture as inherently combative by showing that the roots of successful struggle
lies in organizing along directly democratic lines, and building combativeness, and
solidarity.
Speaker bio:
Jerome Raza has been a student activist and organizer since 2004. After a year on the
board of his local student union, he joined the executive board of ASS? on the eve of the
2005 general student strike against massive cuts to student financial aid. As the student
strike coalition, CASS??, was formed, he was delegated to sit the its negotiations
committee that was mandated to present the strike movement's demands to the government.
After leaving official capacity in 2006, he joined the Montreal NEFAC collective which
later became part of UCL. Since February he has been active in supporting the student
mobilization through various organizing roles, as well as being involved in his
neighborhood's autonomous popular assembly borne out of the spontaneous pots & pans movement.
-------------------------------------------------------
Tour stops:
Toronto - September 18th 7pm - OISE, 252 Bloor Street West; Room 4414
Facebook Event [4]
Kitchener/Waterloo - September 19th 1:30pm - Queen Street Commons, 43 Queen St
Hamilton - September 19th 6pm - Westdale Branch, Hamilton Public Library, 955 King Street W.
Facebook Event [5]
London - September 20th 2pm - London Central Library, 251 Dundas St.Stevenson & Hunt room
Facebook Event [6]
Thunder Bay - September 21st 7pm - Finnish Labour Temple, 314 Bay Street
Winnipeg - September 22th 5pm - the Urban Forest at 93 Albert St
Regina - September 23th 1pm - Regina Union Center, COPE union hall, 2709 12th Avenue
Saskatoon - September 23h 7PM - Root Down Workers' Cooperative Cafe, 120 Sonnenschein Way
Edmonton - September 24th, 2 stops
1pm - Telus Centre 111 Street & 87 Avenue Room 236/238
7pm - Naked Cybercafe, 10303 108 Street
Calgary - September 25th 7pm - Alberta College of Art and Design, Annex C
Lethbridge - September 25th 1pm - The Cave, Lethbrige College, 3000 College Drive South
Surrey - September 26th 1pm - Kwantlen Surrey (main campus) FIR BLDG. ROOM 204
Vancouver - September 26th 7pm - Maritime Labour Center 1880 Triumph Street
Victoria - September 27th 7pm - University of Victoria, Hickman Building, Room 105
More information coming soon. Stay tuned!
Source URL:
http://linchpin.ca/content/Anarchist-movement/Cross-Canada-speaking-tour-Qu%C3%A9bec-student-strike
Links:
[1] http://linchpin.ca/vocab/1957652636280470903661337588191njpg
[2] http://prairiestruggle.org
[3] http://www.causecommune.net/
[4] http://www.facebook.com/events/263628047090366/
[5] http://www.facebook.com/events/117111295103383/
[6] http://www.facebook.com/events/133683740110533/?ref=ts
Published on Linchpin - website of Ontario anarchist organization Common Cause
(http://linchpin.ca)
Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca