Support Quebec's striking students!

Submitted by Matthew on 6 June, 2012 - 10:41

In Canada, talks between the right-wing Quebec Liberal Party government and student groups resisting tuition fee rises have broken down.

The government representative said after four days of talks that the gap between the two sides was too wide. The students are continuing their protests.

Partly as a legacy of past struggles, particularly around the issue of Francophone Quebec’s status within Canada, tuition fees in Quebec have been much lower than in the rest of the country. Fees are currently $2,168 per year and the government wants to increase them by $1,625 over five years, taking them closer to the Canadian average of $4,000 per year.

As a result of the Quebec students’ protest, opinion polls show that a majority of students throughout Canada now support lower tuition fees for all.

Earlier talks between the two sides had resulted in government offering to bring in the increase more slowly, but democratic assemblies of students rejected this proposal.

The government has suspended classes in response to the now 14-week strike by up to 300,000 students; classes are now due to restart in the autumn.

But since the government brought in its emergency “Bill 78” in May, to restrict protests, the students have kept up their campaign. They have demonstrated every evening in Quebec’s largest city, Montreal, and there are protests in other cities. In Montreal the students have been joined by lawyers protesting against the possibly unconstitutional nature of Bill 78.

The police have violently broken up student demonstrations throughout the three-month strike, including blinding two protesters. They have made more than 2,000 arrests. While opinion polls show most people back the tuition fee rises, the tide could be turning against the Quebec government as they react with more brutality and restrictions on protest.

Quebec’s unpopular premier Jean Charest has also said the students are damaging the economy.

The students plan to target cultural events over the summer including a protest at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Sunday 10 June. Fearing disruption, the organisers have cancelled a planned open day at the racetrack on Thursday.

On Wednesday 30 May there were solidarity demonstrations with Quebec’s students across Canada and internationally. In London around 150 people marched to the Canadian Embassy.

The students are organised by a number of different student associations who currently agree on holding out till the fee hike proposal is withdrawn. The most militant of these associations, Classe (Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante – broad coalition for student union solidarity), is setting the pace of the struggle.

It campaigns for free education.

• Classe urgently needs funds. Send donations, payable to ASSÉ, to:

Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, 2065, rue Parthenais, local 383, Montréal, Québec, Canada H2K 3T1

• Solidarity meeting, with film showings and more. Organised by Plan C. 22 June 2012, from 7pm. 21 Gloucester Place, Marble Arch, London W1U 8HR

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