Thousands protest special new law
Thousands were out in the streets Wednesday night protesting the new law that suspends classes. Some windows were broken and 122 arrests ensued.
Student organizations are pressing for continued resistance.
Interesting look at some of the older people joining in the protests.
Raoul 08:51 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
I love how the judicial response to anything is issue fines… nevermind the fact that most people earning minimum cant even pay a 200$ fine. But thats where old hospital cards come in handy.
Adam 09:06 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
What else do you want the courts to do in order to enforce their rulings? Authorize live fire?
It’s bizarre how some people hold sacrosanct a non-existent rule (“if your student association votes for a ‘strike’ you have no right to go to class”) while heaping contempt upon an actual rule (“court injunctions must be complied with”). The are some incredible mental gymnastics going on here.
Adam 09:11 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
More noble self-expression from our intrepid activists.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/05/17/ottawa-gatineau-cegep-bomb-threat-protest.html?cmp=rss
Raoul 09:25 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
I dont see what giving fines people cant/wont pay accomplishes. You end up having to process people into the penal systems which costs a helluva lot more than the fine was worth.
Kate 09:38 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Adam, we hear a lot of bluster from you, posting from the email address “no@spam.com”. Please back off until you have something new to say.
Adam 09:50 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
It’s your blog, Kate, so if you want me to stop commenting, I will. Given the general thrust of discourse I don’t believe that I’m being any more repetitive than anyone else, but this is your soapbox so you get to make the rules. Incidentally, yeah, I don’t like to give out my actual email address because, well, it avoids spam.
alanah 10:23 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
“special” is such a creepy way to describe a law, don’t you think?
Steve Quilliam 10:39 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
The student strikes seems to be eating out the energy on most of the press main pages, TV news headlines, radio talk shows and bloggers comments. And that has been going on for a long while now. It’s also a debate that is turning ugly. A real mess, as some say.
Whatever happened to the language debate ? Nobody is talking about it anymore. Nobody is paying attention to Don Mcpherson’s and the Mouvement Montreal français’s paranoia. I thought that the debate was a bad thing for our city but it looks like it was easily surpassed by the students need. Some say that the new generation isn’t concerned about the language debate, they have different preoccuppation !!!
Is it a good or bad thing ?
Maybe…. ”The times they are a changin”’ as one famous person said !!!
Bill Binns 10:49 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
What is it about this law that has the students antagonized anew? Classes that were not being held anyway have been suspended and there is some language about guaranteeing access to students who wish to attend. This doesn’t seem to be the big anti-protest “round em up and throw em in jail” law everyone was expecting.
Kate 10:50 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Steve, that’s why I’ve been trying hard to include non-student-struggle links here, even when it’s really the big story at the moment. Gets so you’re really happy to hear about something like the Zampino arrest because it’s a change of focus.
The new generation will shape things as they need. Nobody in their 50s or 60s ever wants to believe that.
Bill Binns: Charest and his new education minister made moves like they were going to talk to the students in good faith then, bam, they pulled the plug. Ever hear of the Gordian Knot? Instead of untangling the knot, Charest cut through it, and has simply refused to listen to student criticism about university mismanagement and political corruption at all, shutting the door to any possibility of, you know, actually trying to improve aspects of Quebec society, which is what this is about, fundamentally.
paul 11:09 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Sorry to see your voice silenced Adam, I enjoyed your perspective
I guess anonymity is only supported when it involves physical masks…
Kate 11:15 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
::rolls eyes::
I didn’t “silence” Adam. I politely asked him to put a sock in it for awhile.
But if someone condemns physical masks, they should be prepared to post under their real identity too, I think.
Adam 11:31 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Paul: thanks, but Kate is correct, she’s not silencing me. She’s the proprietor here and I’m just trying to be a good guest.
Kate: you are confusing me with someone else. I got into a lengthy exchange with “Ephraim” the other day in which I strongly defended the right of masked protesters to demonstrate anonymously.
Kate 17:02 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
OK Adam, sorry I confused you with the anti-mask people.
Kate 18:08 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
alanah: excellently satirical piece on the special law.
AC 18:27 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Yea I don’t know… the language debate just makes me angry, and then depressed. There’s retards on both sides. Couldn’t we normal, open-minded, bilingual people just claim the Island and throw everyone else out? … Yeah, that sounds pretty bad when you say it out loud…
Kate 18:48 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Let’s not use “retard” in that way, OK? You’re new, but it applies to everyone here.
Spock 20:14 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Hiding behind masks is the mark of a wimp. If you have beliefs and want to stand for those beleifs then you needn’t hide… If you know what you are doing is wrong and don’t want to get in shit for it, then I can see why you would hide your face.
Explains why these “students” hide their faces!
ant6n 21:41 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
Okey dokey, “Spock” “no@spam.com”.
Chris 22:46 on 2012/05/17 Permalink
ant6n, beat me to it! :) (I post pseudo-anonymously here too, but I think masks should be legal at protests.)
Raoul 05:34 on 2012/05/18 Permalink
TBH i dont give my real email to every little website that asks for it either. The day i need to get in touch with someone they’ll have it, otherwise there’s a little thing called privacy. now gtfu and try arguing the points.
qatzelok 08:02 on 2012/05/18 Permalink
@ Spock: “Hiding behind masks is the mark of a wimp.”
Yes, now that we know organized crime runs everything, it’s a good idea to let them know who you are. This way, your cement shoes can be carefully fitted to the contours of your protest-weary feet.
Spock 09:34 on 2012/05/18 Permalink
ant6n, I use my real email address and Kate knows it.
qatzelok, ummm… huh? What does that have to do with anything. The cops are not going to drop you in a lake. This isn’t Syria.
ant6n 10:23 on 2012/05/18 Permalink
;-)