Students in Quebec resist oppressive law

Vanguard June 2012 p. 11
Bill F.

On May 22, over 100,000 students and supporters marched through the streets of Montreal and other cities in Quebec, Canada, protesting about the fascist repression of the provincial government.

Ever since the start of the year, students had been meeting and demonstrating against savage increases in college and university fees. The new fees, which progressively increase 80% over a period of time, will mean annual payments almost double, from $2,200 up to $4,000 on average.

 

 

Over several months outraged students went on strike and organised a series of protests and demonstrations, many in the city of Montreal. Often they were met with violent repression by the police, with thousands arrested and dozens injured. Not deterred by the violence and intimidation meted out by the reactionary Charest government, students bravely persisted in their struggle, winning support from the wider community. Teachers, academics, trade unionists, ethnic communities joined in support.

 

 

Bill 78

Alarmed by the growing fightback, the government of Jean Charest rammed through Bill 78, a new law which is described by the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) in the following terms...

 

 

“Bill 78 is a Special Law that the Charest government adopted on May 18, which deprives students of their basic civil liberties and negates the right of all Quebeckers to organize against government policy. Among other things, it shuts down affected post-secondary institutions, forces employees back to work, bans public assemblies of 50 or more people, and permits the government to arbitrarily defund student associations. It also imposes heavy fines (ranging from $1,000 to $135,000) on individuals and organizations who exercise their right to demonstrate. Also, the law empowers the Ministers of Education, Justice and Public Security to violate the very laws of Quebec in dealing with the student unions and their supporters.

 

 

“Quebeckers from all walks of life have denounced this attack on civil liberties of not just the students but the entire society. The law negates the rights of all to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and the right to conscience, as well as their right to oppose and resist government policies which are not in their interest. Once governments refuse to negotiate and instead resort to draconian law and order measures and launch brutal police attacks against students, workers and others fighting for their rights, what is left? It must not pass!”

 

 

Patterns are emerging

All over the developed world, a pattern is emerging of governments subservient to the interests of monopoly capitalism and the globalisation agenda of the IMF.

 

 

Alongside of grabbing resources and markets and ‘restructuring’ economies in the undeveloped countries, modern imperialism is forced by its crisis of overproduction to implement policies of austerity and further shifting of the burden of crisis onto the backs of the people in the developed countries. Rising unemployment means less need for the skills and education of the masses, and also less taxes available to distribute to the rich and powerful. Fees and costs are jacked up.

 

 

The other pattern is resistance. All across Europe protests against austerity measures have broken out, uniting workers, students, professionals and small producers and traders in what is objectively a great anti-imperialist struggle.

 

 

Laws such as Bill 78 are invoked, not just to clear students from the streets, but to head off even more threatening actions by the organised working class. It just raises consciousness of the need for revolutionary change in society.