Students on strike:

193 000
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March 22 : 200 000 took the streets! March 2012: the biggest student strike IN Quebecs history!

www.stopthehike.ca nd

March 22nd was only the begining!

March 22nd was often perceived as the climax of our strike. With more than 30 000 strikers and more than 200 000 students in the streets, it is indeed a crucial day. But this day does not mark the end of our battle. Much to the contrary, March 22 is the beginning of a tug of war with the government, and the catalyst of a much longer battle. As the government maintains a hard line after this historic day, when it is faced with the largest student strike in the history of Quebec, we will have no choice but to significantly increase pressure. The Coalition large de lAssociation pour une solidarit syndiale tudiante (CLASSE) is therefore calling for a week of erratic economic disruption from the 26th to the 30th. The March 22nd protest is evidence of the considerable and general support for our cause. The government will have hell to pay for every day it refuses to hear our demands. Across the province, we will block government administrative offices, we will paralyze economic hot spots, we will disrupt, wherever we go, the interests of the economic and political elite. By blocking departments, large firms, Crown corporations and goods transport networks, we will pressure the Charest government into giving in. Already, by upholding the unlimited strike, we are exerting incredible economic pressure. Each day, the strike incurs greater administrative costs for the government. The longer the strike lasts, the more every additional strike day is worth. As of the 22nd, we are at a juncture: the government hopes that the movement will lose steam on its own, but it fears votes in favour of strike renewal like the plague. The strike is beginning to be unmanageable for the government and this is exactly what the student movement needs. In 2005, the government took a hard line in much the same way that its doing now. In the fifth week of the strike, when economic and state-wide paralysis was a daily reality, there was no other choice than to give in. Note that even the chambers of commerce had started to exert pressure on the government to put an end to the student movement. The leaders and lobbies were completely exasperated with the disruptions caused by the student movement. Despite the governments official refusal to negotiate, we must realize that our striking force is intimidating. The intense police repression that we are subjected to is proof of this. Our force majeure throughout Quebec is superior to that of any other social movement. The government cannot continue to ignore us and we need to call their bluff by refusing to lose steam. We are at a turning point. Now is the time to keep going, and now is the time to keep spoking the wheel of the economic and political elite.

Economic disruption week: More informations on: March 26 th to 30 st www.stopthehike.ca

Translation by the Tactical Tanslation Team/www.rougesquad.org

InternatIonal demonstratIon of march 13

A demonstration for an emancipatory education for the people

Last March 13th in Montreal, more than 3 000 people took part in a demonstration organized by CLASSE in order to show their solidarity with all student struggles in the world as well as to protest against the commercialization of education. Considering the international scope of this demonstration, student organizations from everywhere in the world were contacted. Established groups in Argentina, Brazil, Chili, Colombia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, the United States, Venezuela and Ontario answered the call by confirming that they support the strike movement underway in Quebec and that they would organize symbolic actions on that day. Why a demonstration in solidarity with all student struggles in the world and against the commercialization of education? All over the globe, students are confronted with increases in tuition fees, with the interference of private enterprise in scholarly institutions and the revision of the material being taught with a view to adapting it to the demands of the market. In this sense, what the Quebec population is fighting against is more than a mere increase in tuition fees; it is the global neoliberal agenda in which it is embedded. Neoliberalism, In this context, of the rise of the knowledge economy, the demonstration last March 13th aimed to develop awareness that the students of the entire world, whether they hail from England, Chili or Quebec, are united in the same fight. The privatisations and austerity measures being argued by neoliberalism affect not only education, but also health, social programs and, consequently, people in precarious situations (women, LGBTQ, racial minorities, immigrants, refugees, the non-status, etc.) In light of this, the demonstration, to which several social groups were invited, was a call to a greater degree of solidarity between the student movement and those groups also struggling against regressive measures by the state. more than advancing the logic of the paying user whereby education is above all a personal investment, reduces higher education to an innovation-producing machine, a competitive positioning tool for the big economic powerhouses of the world. The implementation of neoliberal policies in education therefore accentuates the international division of labour in favour of the more fortunate countries and aggravates the disconnection between teaching establishments and the needs of populations.

Government compromise is drawing near: Will we know how to react?

Groups supporting Qubecs strike movement

Fdration syndicale tudiante (France) Fdration des syndicats sud tudiant (France) camilo cienFuegos (argentina) national student union (Brazil anti-imperialists Brigades (colomBia) asociacin nacional de estudiantes de secundaria (colomBia) university student associations (guatemala) universidad experimental simn rodriguez (venezuela) conFederacin de estudiantes de chile (chile) otsuma university(Japan) nihon university(Japan) Free education (germany) class struggle education Workers and internationalists cluBs oF city university oF neW york (united-states) university oF kings college students union (nova scotia) graduate students union oF university oF toronto (ontario) toronto general assemBly (ontario)

With already several weeks of strike action under our belts, see our demands bartered against more regressive policies in other we are continuing to step up symbolic actions, protests and areas. In short, we must to be able show the government that we blockages we have reached a point where strike actions are will not budge on our demands, that we will not be satisfied with taking place every single day! Teachers, community groups, solutions that undermine the struggle for social justice and the just families, unions and several world organizations have already redistribution of wealth for which we are, as we speak, fighting. rallied in support of students in the struggle for educational For this reason, we will not accept a lesser hike. justice. The right to education movement has gone beyond the simple issue of tuition hikes it has made it possible to As of now, let it be repeated in every public forum so that it clearly express that we are fed up of sitting back while our resonates in every General Assembly in Quebec: On march 22nd, collective future is defined by the demands of the political the student movement will take second wind and Charest is and economic elite. not prepared for this where our demands are so clear and our exasperation so flagrant that no half-measures will be accepted. The Liberal government is stubbornly silent, apart from We are done with these so-called social compromises that the sporadic declarations supporting SPVM violence, or a few empty government imposes on us, budget after budget, in favour of a sentences on the students responsibility to pay their fair share... small minority. Today, let us roll up our sleeves to tackle the next But we know better. The government is refusing to negotiate in crucial phase in our battle for educational justice. Let March 22nd the hope that their silence will lead be a new start, so that our us to despair, that our movement struggle becomes the first will lose steam and fizzle out. The We are done with these so-called social victorious step towards a government cant hold up much more global transformation compromises that the government imposes on us, of society. longer. When, in a La Presse article budget after budget, in favour of a small minority. dated March 10th, a Montreal Public Safety spokesperson publicly Let us demonstrate that demands that the government promptly resolve the conflict social backwardness is no longer acceptable and that, from now because striker action is disrupting public order to such an extent on, by hook or by crook, it is Charests turn to back down. that it is becoming problematic, it means that, together, we have succeeded in causing a constant and undeniable disturbance. Let it be heard that we will accept no less than a full withdrawal Under these conditions, it is a safe bet that Charest is getting ready of the government in its plan to hike tuition fees. to make an offer. We should, hover, be prepared this offer will likely be a far cry from meeting student demands.

Resist the urge to accept a cut-rate agreement.

The 2005 Strike: A Sour Ending

Families Support the Strike

On Sunday, March 18th, thousands of families united to support students in their fight against tuition hikes. In response to CLASSEs initiative, citizens from many cities in Quebec took advantage of the sunny Sunday afternoon to voice their point of view. In Montreal, close to 30 000 people of all ages came together, while Quebec and Sherbrooke hosted marches 1500 strong in support of the right to education.

Despite the strength and scope of the movement we have created, many will see this first offer as one we cant refuse, and will encourage us to water down our demands; in other words, to be more reasonable. Some student associations may jump at the offer, generating headlines like The Strike is Over and encouraging us to follow suit. Some people may even go so far as to assert their authority to try to persuade other associations to accept the offer. In short, once negotiations are underway, it wont take much to give the impression that the movement has reached its end, pressuring associations that have fought with so much resolve to accept an offer that falls well below our demands. These scenarios are not mere speculation: this is precisely what happened in 2005 when the student federations (FECQ and FEUQ) signed an agreement in the absence of representation from several student associations at the negotiating table.

On April 1st 2005, after a 5 week unlimited general strike which had principally been organized by member associations of the CASSE (todays CLASSE), the FECQ and FEUQ accepted to negotiate with the government while excluding the CASSE from the discussion.

These federations negotiated a cut-rate agreement with the government, which their associations found out about through the media. As a result, some associations decided to go back to class, and this first assent was sufficient pull the rest of the movement down with it.

However, 110 000 out of a grand total of 185 000 striking students who rejected the agreement in their general assemblies had to unwillingly put an end to the strike.

In Sherbrooke,
proteSterS had

InStead the followIng an alpaga!

of chance

a Sound SyStem openIng the march, of

In response to these organizations, to newspapers, to the government that expects to bait us with half-measures, we must make clear our demands: we havent been striking for weeks only to return to our classrooms under any old condition. The right to education cannot be reduced to a debate over numbers in which $1,625 is too, too much, but $700 is fine. We will not stand to

Lets save ourselves the rage and despair of our predecessors, who had to go back to class empty-handed. As of now, let us cement our position: our demands are clear, our forces sufficient!