For our freedoms and the right to free expression to be more than just empty slogans, for human dignity to have real meaning, it is imperative that human beings be freed from want and fear, as Mark Fortier reminds us in his essay *Becoming Fascist: My Conversion Therapy*. Yet, the freedom brandished by conservative, authoritarian, and reactionary movements aims only to undermine our social gains. This offensive, omnipresent in public debate, wages a veritable ideological and cultural war whose objective is clear: to neutralize or render powerless collective counter-powers in order to better "impose everywhere the power of the private individual, placed in competition in the markets" (Fortier, 2025, p. 96). It is a project of social atomization where the law of the strongest becomes the only rule.
The CAQ's Authoritarian Offensive
This market-driven vision of society is embodied today in brutal tools of legislative control:
Under the guise of "the national interest" or "constitutional autonomy," Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette's proposed constitution attacks the very foundations of our democracy. By seeking to prohibit any organization receiving public funds from challenging the legality of a law, the government aims to paralyze checks and balances. This is a blatant attempt to shield the executive and legislative branches from respecting our fundamental rights.
At the same time, by interfering in the organization, voting methods, and financial management of unions, the government undermines the very foundations of worker solidarity. This takeover aims to neutralize freedom of association and collective strength, seeking to reduce labor organizations to mere administrative conduits, stripped of their power to challenge the interests of capital.
Autonomy and Association: The Bulwark Against Contempt
True autonomy is not exercised alone in the face of the market; it is forged in association, in social life, and through collective forms of freedom. It is the only lever capable of restoring, even if only minimally, the balance between the wealthy and the working and popular classes. It is one of the weapons that empowers the dominated to oppose their own conception of a just order to the accounting logic of power.
History teaches us that freedom is not won through charity, but through collective struggles and the recognition of power dynamics. "Such was the meaning and purpose of recognizing unions, the right to housing with arbitration tribunals between tenants and landlords, legal aid, citizens' committees, the allocation of grants to artists by peer committees, the recognition of community associations, and active public support for the self-management of society." (Fortier, 2025, p. 96)
We applaud the determination of the workers and members of Autonomous Community Action (ACA) who, driven by a spirit of resistance, are launching their strike today (March 23). Under the slogan "Community Action at its End!", these women-who make up more than 80% of the sector-are mobilizing to demand mission-based funding that meets their needs, respect for their autonomy, and decent working conditions.
Conceiving of our freedom through collective action is the only bulwark against a state that seeks to break solidarity in order to better rule over isolated individuals. Support The ACA today means categorically refusing to let the CAQ and its conservative, authoritarian, and reactionary drift redefine our dignity according to the fluctuations of the stock market.
By Collectif Emma Goldman
http://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2026/03/la-caq-larchitecte-dun-pouvoir-sans.html
_________________________________________
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten