By Roger Annis, June 19, 2012
Two nights ago in Vancouver, the long-time left political commentator and activist Judy Rebick spoke on the topics of the Occupy movement and the student strike in Quebec. The meeting marked the publication of her 72-page, online book on the Occupy movement. It was hosted by the online news magazine Rabble.ca, of which Rebick was the founding editor some ten years ago.
Her talk was an interesting and often amusing look at the political transformations signalled by the spectacular rise of Occupy and more recently the Quebec student movement. But it was also a disappointment, for too little was said of the difficult challenges faced by these movements, particularly today in Quebec. The student and other social movements in that province are at a critical crossroad requiring a lot of reflection and subsequent action if they are to continue to move forward.
Thousands of activists have been arrested. Despite months of major, sustained mobilizations, the government is unmoved in its determination to impose a 75 percent tuition fee hike. Students will be under under intense pressure when the school year is supposed to resume in mid-August at strike-bound institutions–school administrators have said that students who fail to show up for class will receive a ‘fail’ for the academic year. The government is spending millions of advertising dollars to sway public opinion agaisnt the students and is carefully weighing the most propitious moment to call an election. Despite important financial support and participation in actions from unions, most are largely sitting on the sidelines as the conflict with the students deepens.
None of this came into the evening event with Judy. It was attended by close to 100 people.
Ten days ago, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of CLASSE gave a talk at the annual Festival des solidarités political event in Montreal where he made a strong plea to build a social and political movement in Quebec that could challenge the pro-capitalist policies of the Liberal government under Premier Jean Charest. (The text of his talk is now available online–in French). CLASSE wants the working class movement in Quebec to organize a ‘social strike’ against the government, meaning a sustained movement of the entire working class that would fight for quality education and health care, against privatizations, against the environmentally destructive policies contained in the government’s so-called Northern Plan, and other social rights issues.
In his talk, Nadeau-Dubois drew particular attention to the important role that unions have to play in creating such a movement. He told the event, “The student associations have reached their maximum capacity for mobilization and disruption. The combative sections of the community movement are participating, notably through the Coalition Against Fees and Privatization in Public Services. The community milieu is an important part of the struggle, but it’s not in a position to significantly increase pressure (on the government)…
“Thus, all eyes are on the unions… If it is true that the struggle is long term, it’s nonetheless necessary to recognize when a favorable conjuncture (like today) presents itself.”
“What we need is a common front of progressive forces. To my eyes, this is the only, real perspective for moving forward.
“An eventual victory is not possible except through the consolidation of a genuine common front between organizations that share a solid base of principles and have the will to call the struggle for what it is: opposition to neo-liberalism and to the principle of user-pay.”
It’s clear to everyone serious in Quebec that top union leaders are reluctant to join such a perspective of struggle. Retinence was voiced by Louis Roy of the CSN on the very panel where Nadeau-Dubois spoke at the Festival des solidarités. So critical political discussion and struggle is needed in the weeks ahead. Towards this end, CLASSE announced at a conference it held this past weekend that it would organize a series of regional conferences in Quebec during the summer months to discuss and plan for a social strike. It will soon publish a special brochure as a contribution to the discussion. Much discussion is already taking place in the ranks of the trade unions and community organizations and this will hopefully deepen.
An additional element at play in Quebec is the mounting pressure on the one political party that has stood the most firmly in support of the students–Québec solidaire—to tone down its principles and enter into an electoral alliance in a subordinate role with the Parti québécois. An online statement and petition to this effect has been launched and has received more than ten thousand signatures, including from progressive thinkers and activists in Quebec. The PQ governed Quebec for 18 of the past 35 years and through much of that time imposed anti-social policies similar to those of the current Liberal government.
A great deal of discussion is being reported on the web magazine Presse-toi à gauche. The blog of Marc Bonhomme is an interesting source of opinion, some would say overly critical. The website of Quebec solidaire reports the views of the party’s two co-leaders. (All sources cited here are in French)
Tonight at the Vancouver Public Library, 7 pm, two leaders of the FEUQ student association will speak at a public forum organized by the BC Federation of Labour and the Canadian Federation of Students. Tomorrow night, a forum featuring several leaders of CLASSE is being organized by students at Simon Fraser University, 6 pm at Harbour Center.
