In Quebec, Canada, an impressive student struggle, connected to protests against attacks
on civil liberties has ended in a partial, but nevertheless important, victory. There is
reason to learn lessons, but also to celebrate and to be inspired. Let's shout it from the
rooftops, as a sign of more to come. ---- For months, students in Quebec fought against a
Draconian college fee rise that the Chares government tried to impose. They struck in
great numbers, organized themselves through a system of assemblies where they decided
about the strike, what forms the actions woud take and so on. And they demonstrated, in
actions that led to militant confrontations with the police. The goverment answer:
repression, with in total 3.000 arrests. In May, the government introduced Bill 78,
quickly turned into the hated Law 12.
That law prohibited, among other things, demonstrations that were not announced to the
authorities beforehand, and imposed stiff penalties on ?llegal'demostrators and especially
organizers. Within days, a massive demonstration in Montreal ? illegal accoording to the
new law ? showed the anger. Organizers talked about "the single biggest act of civil
disobedience in Canadian history". The number of demonstrators was estimated as somewhere
between 75.000 and 225.000 people.
Not only students , but all kinds of people, opposed the attack on freedom the law
represented, mostly by demonstrating repeatedly, insistently, militantly. Pots and pans
protests in the evening became a common feature in many Quebec cities. The movement spread
to places in Canada outside Quebec. What started as a fight against college fees has
turned in a much broader struggle, against neoliberalism and repressive government. The
story can be followed on an article on Libcom with a long thread of updates; an article by
Cindy Milstein on ZCommunications helps to get the feel of the struggle; the inner
dynamics of the struggle, and of CLASSE, the coalition coordinating especially the more
militant wing of the movement, becomes much more clear by reading "Snapshots of the
student movement in Montreal" , also on Libcom.
What has got much less attention in revolutionary / anarchist circles is, astonishingly
enough, the result. The movement ended in victory! Not an unlimited victory, not a victory
without problems, but victory nevertheless. First, the protests went on and on, with
another big demonstration on August 22, and still 43.000 students on strike according to
CLASSE. Yes, where were signs that the strike was crumbling in september. But the
demonstrations went on. It was clear that support in society, both for the college fees
and for law 12, was severely challenged and undermined by the wave of resistance that just
would not go away.
In september, there were elections, and the ruling government lost. One of the first acts
of the new government: skipping the college fees, and skipping at least the most offensive
parts of law 12 as well. This is how two CLASSE spokespeople:
Quote:
If the PQ yelded to some of our demands, it is because we organized a strike movement
whose support was popular and broad, which allowed people of all ages and walks of life to
exopress their grievances about our political and economic struggle, and which helped
defeat the Charest government.
In other words: broad based, yet militant struggle did the trick. Direct action, connected
to broad mobilisations, expressing anger against fee rise but connecting to a much deeper
discontent, was victorious.
Yes, it was through elections that the shift in the balance became visible ? a shift just
enough, so that politicians withdrew the fee rise and Law 12. That may not always be easy
to handle by us, anarchists and suchlike : ) But elections just registered ? distortedly ?
what happened in society. Law 12 had proved unenforcable. Elections did not make it
happen. The college fees had provoked a revolt that threatened to become chronic and
uncontrollable (ask the Greek government how something like that feels). The struggle no
doubt contributed to the government's electoral defeat. Above all, the struggle put
pressure upon whatever government to make serious concessions, or else. The victory was
expressed through electoral channels. But it was not a victory reached by means of
elections. It was a victory reached on the streets, and in the faculties.
Yes, the victory is limited. The new govermnent will come with other ways to impose costs
on students, by sneakily rising fees through other mechanisms. The battle is not over. But
their frontal government attack has failed, for now, and that is encouraging. It is a
victory rightly celebrated by the CLASSE spokespersons I already quoted. Anti
authoritarian revolutionaries should celebrate with them ? be inspired, and learn the
relevant lessons.
Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca