The Popular Roots of the Quebec Student Strike by Peter Marin

Early on the student strike in Quebec adopted the slogan ?it is a student strike, and a
popular struggle? (in French, ?la gr?ve est ?tudiante, la lutte est populaire"). Over the
course of this unprecedented strike, the slogan has become a reality, as people from all
sectors of society have joined the students in opposition to the neoliberal government of
Jean Charest and his Liberal party. ---- As this is written, neighbourhood committees are
forming in Montreal and daily protests, including the now famous casseroles (pots and
pans) protests, are occurring across Quebec ? including in small towns and regions not
known for their militancy. The legitimacy of the government and its police force is being
called into question as tens of thousands defy its ?special law 78?, which criminalizes
spontaneous protests among other measures.

The student strike has indeed become a popular struggle. While no one could have predicted
that the student strike would spill across society, this development is not entirely
without a foundation in recent struggles. And this foundation is best exemplified by the
Coalition Oppos?e a la Tarification et Privatisation des Services Publics (in English, the
Coalition Against User Fees and the Privatization of Public Services).

Founded in the spring of 2010 in response to the austerity budget of the Charest
government, the Coalition consists of 137 member-groups, including community organizations
(e.g. anti-poverty, health, housing), student unions, feminist groups and various union
locals and district labour councils. The community groups are one of the two driving
forces of the Coalition. These groups, whose members are most sharply affected by
austerity, have a history of militancy unlike anywhere else in Canada. Nicolas Phebus, who
works for the Front d?action populaire en r?am?nagement urbain (FRAPRU), a housing group
and member of the Coalition, described it as ?Quebec having dozens of OCAPs?.

The student unions, led by the syndicalist Association pour une solidarit? syndicale
?tudiante or ASS? (the leading student federation of the strike movement), has been the
second main driving force of the Coalition. With the major Quebec union federations opting
not to join the Coalition ? because of their inability to effectively lead it ? and the
member union locals playing largely a secondary role, it has fallen on ASS? and the
student movement to mobilize large numbers behind the Coalition?s actions. And according
to Phebus, ASS? ?has done the heavy lifting of the Coalition?, bringing thousands of
students into the streets and adding a force to the Coalition's actions that the community
groups alone could not muster.

After the Coalition realized that the union movement was not serious about organizing for
a social strike modeled on the Ontario Days of Action - ?it became clear this was a pipe
dream? says Phebus - the Coalition decided on a strategy of escalating disruptive direct
actions, including numerous aggressive occupations of MPPs offices. The painted red
handprint emerged as the symbol of the Coalition after members began dipping their hands
in red paint and leaving hand prints on the walls of MPPs offices.

The Coalition has also turned to blockading government offices, such as the Hydro Quebec
headquarters, and most recently they shut down the Montreal Stock Exchange (as the student
strike was underway). The now infamous Victoriaville protests outside the Liberal party's
convention, where police nearly killed protesters using plastic bullets, was also
organized by the Coalition. This strategy of escalating economic disruption was later
adopted by ASS?, and has been effectively employed during the current strike.

According to Phebus, the Coalition's members ? especially the community and feminist
groups and some rank-and-file public sector workers ? have undergone a real radicalization
over the past two years in the course of these actions, and this has continued during the
course of the student strike. ?We are seeing in Quebec a reinvention of social action''
says Phebus. ?Direct action has gone from a catchphrase to a mass practice of economic
disruption. It is on the agenda in a real way and there is a feeling that it can be done.
We have moved from having social organizations or institutions to where we now have a true
social movement.?

This new-found militancy can also be seen in the demands raised by the Coalition, which
has moved from making defensive demands (e.g. stop the cuts) to discussing bold ideas such
as free education, new social housing, and the abolition of welfare ? and its replacement
with a guaranteed income. ?What were once seen as radical demands now appear as a matter
of political choice'' says Phebus.

Having never been corporatist (focused only on the interests of its own members), ASS? and
by extension the student movement as a whole, is now on the receiving end of solidarity
from other social sectors. That the Quebec government ?has not been able to isolate ASS?,
is in good part because of its work [in the Coalition]?. And, according to Phebus, it is
likely that even after the student strike, the social uprising sparked by the student
movement will continue ? with the Coalition on the frontlines. ?The government's next
attack will come in the form of a raise in hydro rates directly targeting the Coalition's
community base.?
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* Anarchist organization

Bron : a-infos-en@ainfos.ca