Confessions of a Non-Neutral Observer

By: Andrew Gavin Marshall

For the past month, I have been writing almost exclusively on the Québec student strike and social movement, which erupted in February and has resulted in the provincial government of Québec recently passing a law (Bill 78) which severely limits the rights of students to freedom of assembly and expression, imposing harsh financial penalties for practicing our basic rights and freedoms as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (as if we even need a document to tell us we have these rights!).

I have been writing professionally for roughly four years, and on a wide range of topics, many of them far more controversial than a student strike. However, never before have I experienced such an enormous reaction – both positive and negative – to any issue I have ever written about. My articles are reaching more people – and more varied audiences – than ever before, but they are also inciting more reactions and responses than I have ever been faced with. I always try to respond to comments and emails, but if I were to do so on this issue, I would never get around to writing anything new. So instead, I would like to address the main critique and complaint of my writing on this issue: that I am – and my writing is – extremely “biased” in how I report on this issue.

First off, I would like to thank all who have sent me words of encouragement and support, and who have been sharing and re-posting my articles, it is very important that this information spreads elsewhere, as the English-speaking media in Canada have been almost exclusively terrible in their coverage of the student protests here in Québec. Secondly, I would like to thank all those who have sent me critiques, who have pointed out flaws and problems in various points and arguments I have made, and in doing so, have provided further avenues for research. Without critique, no researcher can make progress. There are a number of issues related to the student movement that I know I will need to do more research on, and it is entirely due to these critiques that I will do so. So keep on keeping me on my toes!

I would, however, like to address the most common ‘critique’ and complaint about my writing and my point of view: that it is “biased.” My simple response to this is: you’re god damned right it is!

We all have bias by the very simple fact that we are all biased to our own opinions, so long as we are capable of developing our own individual opinions and beliefs. We are all biased for the simple fact that we view ourselves and the world from our own individual perspective. When anyone or any information source claims to be “unbiased,” that is when my internal alarm begins to ring. There are, arguably, unbiased ‘facts’ (as Einstein once said, “facts are stubborn things”), but there are not unbiased ‘views.’ Facts can help inform our views, and what facts we gather, how we gather them, from where we gather them, largely determine the ‘view’ we take in constructing them together.

So yes, I have a bias, but let me explain what it is. I am biased in favour of people over power, in favour of the oppressed over the oppressors, and in favour of freedom over domination. I am, however, a researcher. I don’t have many talents: I can barely cook, I don’t speak more than one language, I don’t play sports, I don’t play an instrument, I can’t even whistle; but one thing I am good at, is research. I know where to look, how to look, to draw from a multitude of sources, and to put together a massive array of information into something that is at least a half-coherent composition of information. Like all talents, it’s practice that makes it better, and I am still learning and improving (as I should be). My writing is almost always heavily cited and sourced, so that people may track my research and where I got my information from, instead of just “taking my word” for it. The only reason I progressed as a researcher is because I would try to find the original sources of others, to see the information for myself and to see how and if I would interpret it differently from them. I have even spent hours tracking down original sources in government archives which were cited by Noam Chomsky, not because I think he is lying or misrepresenting the facts, but because it is simply important for me to see the original source for myself. I encourage others to do the same, so I always try to make my writing accessible to this approach. Despite this, I have received many critiques that I have not “supported my arguments” in my recent articles on Quebec. This, I simply cannot understand, save for the possibility that those making the critique do not know what hyperlinks are or how they work (I don’t just highlight the words for fun!).

But back to the bias!

My research in history, on a number of different social, political, economic and cultural issues, has not been defined by my bias, but has rather defined my bias. It is precisely the research and reading and studying I have done that has established, informed, and strengthened my own personal bias. That is not to say it is unchanging: with each new subject studied, with new information gathered, I must adjust, evolve, and alter my views according to the knowledge I come across. And yet still, I find this central bias remains: that of favouring the oppressed over the oppressor. It is this view that shapes my own understanding of history and the present, and for that reason, this has become my own ‘Truth’: how I see and understand the world.

I do not pretend to be unbiased, or balanced, or neutral in my writing, simply because I do not see the value in doing so. I see no value or honour in presenting oneself as ‘balanced’ in reporting on circumstances which are so imbalanced. I see no value in being ‘neutral’ in writing about circumstances of injustice, oppression, and domination. I see no justice in presenting an ‘unbiased’ view of injustice. Why should the oppressor get “equality” in how situations are interpreted and presented when the oppressed never have equality of power with the oppressor? How is this “balanced”? Situations which are inherently imbalanced do not require black and white interpretations, do not require an equal presentation for the oppressed view as well as the oppressor’s view. One does not give “both sides of the argument” on the issue of war and mass murder, on the issue of slavery, on the issue of domination and oppression. The simple reason for this is that it is morally reprehensible to put the perspective of injustice and oppression on the same moral grounding as that of the dominated and oppressed. A more “logical” reason, perhaps, is that because of the simple social position of the oppressor – always in positions of power – is that they already have a larger share of control over the discourse: they speak for the state, providing the “official” line; they control the media, they have a monopoly of interpretation and control over dissemination.

This creates an automatic imbalance in how things are interpreted and presented. Rarely are there cries against this information-Casino system (where the house always wins), proclaiming it to be “biased” or “imbalanced.” Instead, publications like the National Post and the Globe and Mail may say anything they like, any way they like, and they are simply “reporting the facts.” Across Canada, newspapers may refer to the students in Québec as “violent,” “thugs,” “spoiled brats,” wannabe terrorists,” and “idiots,” and yet, where is the outcry against their “bias” and lack of “balance.” The media, almost without fail, make reference to official statements from the police regarding protests and “riots”, without providing any other perspective or statements. You read this in the media as, “a police spokesperson said…”, etc. How often do you read, “participants in the protest stated…” etc.? Is that not a lack of balance?

Gary Lamphier writing for the Edmonton Journal referred to the students, in the span of one article alone, as the following: “gangs of kids, buffoons, wannabe terrorists, idiots, miscreants, sanctimonious jerks, selfish, loutish, moronic,” and lastly, “rock-throwing idiots in Quebec.” This is, of course, compared to the “hard-working students and citizens” whose lives are being disrupted by “a cancer.” Perhaps the most common term used to describe the students in Quebec is “entitled.” Of course, this type of elevated intellectual discourse is perfectly acceptable in the mainstream media. When some protesters entered UQAM school and disrupted classes, with one report of even attempting to pull two students out of the class, the media reaction was swift, furious, and international. These are not tactics I particularly favour or condone; it certainly doesn’t help the image of the student movement and I think there are more effective avenues for engagement and action. However, the reporting on this incident was almost exclusively in a chorus of condemnation. The students who occupied and disrupted the school were called: “protest gangs“, “hard-core protesters,” and “thugs.”

Now, the tactics may not have been good or helpful, but perhaps a little context would be important: for three months of striking, the government spent two months ignoring and dismissing and refusing to talk to the students, then it attempted to divide the students against each other. The state has intervened to provide legal injunctions to even small groups of students in an effort to use them as “strike breakers” by legally enforcing their return to the schools (as the state does not recognize the legal right of students to strike), and it has been enforcing that with the blunt force of the baton, the sting of pepper spray, and the taste of tear gas. The state has repeatedly used violence against protesters: pepper spray, beatings with batons, tear gas, smoke bombs, concussion grenades, driving police trucks and cars into groups of students, shooting them in the face with rubber bullets, and undertaking mass arrests. One student lost his vision in one eye after being shot in the face with a concussion grenade, another lost his eye after being shot in the face with a rubber bullet, and another ended up in the hospital with a skull fracture and brain contusion, also after being shot in the head with a rubber bullet. When a few students threw smoke bombs in the Montreal Metro, they were charged on “anti-terrorism” charges, and the national media loudly condemned them. Again, the tactics were not helpful, but this also followed the Victoriaville violence against students, where several were almost killed (which did not get anywhere near the same national and international media coverage). Violent actions create increasingly violent reactions. While throwing smoke bombs in the metro is a bad tactic, police shoot smoke bombs at students on a regular basis, but the students are “terrorists” and the police are “restoring order.” All this context does not exist in the media discourse.

And now, with the passage of Bill 78, which is “unconstitutional,” as it puts severe limits on the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, and imposes immense financial penalties for exercising our rights as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter and Rights and Freedoms, the situation has become more intense, the risks are greater, and the state is all the more oppressive.

In short, the situation which exists between the students and the state in Québec is inherently imbalanced. I see no value in presenting a “balanced” argument about a circumstance in which no balance exists. I see no value in presenting oneself as “neutral” in situations of oppression, exploitation, and domination. The perspective of the state is given by the state and its spokespeople, is repeated in the media, and backed up with the economic power of the corporations and banks (who own the media). It’s always easy for power to speak in support of power. Nothing is demanded of them, except for allegiance. They are held up to low standards, require little to no proof, and can even openly call for violence to be used against students, and it all goes unquestioned, their views are “facts” and their “bias” is overlooked.

I may use harsh rhetoric, but I back it up with hard facts. I may write that the National Post knows nothing of democracy, but that is because I have never seen that publication support any grassroots, indigenous, or social movement for democratic progress: I have seen that publication support war, justify empire, encourage violence, condone oppression and demonize progression. Respect must be earned, and I have never read anything worthy of respect out of that publication, worthy of the values and ideals I hold dear. So yes, I do not restrain my rhetoric in describing it. Is it inflammatory? Perhaps. But I believe it to be the truth, at least as I see it.

What we, here in Québec, see and experience in the streets is a world away from what we read in the English media across the country. The disparity is so vast, the misrepresentation is so consistent, the rhetoric is entirely dismissive, insulting, and even hateful, the discourse is vitriolic and ill-informed, the lies are expansive, and the presentation is perverted. So am I biased? Absolutely! I will always stand with the people against the violence of the state, against the lies and misrepresentations of the media, and the abuses of authority. What others call neutrality, I call cowardice. I do not pretend to be or present myself as an unbiased or “dispassionate” observer. I have marched in the streets, I have friends far more involved at every level of the protests than I have been, I know people who have been arrested, attacked, and gassed; I marched in peace with peaceful friends, and we were charged by riot cops. I watched as the police threw students face first into the pavement and ran out of the way as the riot police drove their van through a crowd of students. I listen to more intense and infuriating stories from friends and others. We see the images and hear the stories and watch the videos of those who have been seriously injured. We are pepper sprayed, gassed, beaten and bruised, and then to add… we are insulted and degraded by the national media. We are referred to as “spoiled brats” and “entitled” fools.

Am I biased? You’re damn right I am!

Solidarity, brothers and sisters!

For a “biased” view of the student movement, here is list of my articles on the subject:

The Québec Student Strike: From ‘Maple Spring’ to Summer Rebellion?

What Really Happened at the Montréal May Day Protest? From Peaceful Protest to Police Brutality

Ten Points Everyone Should Know About the Quebec Student Movement

From the Chilean Winter to the Maple Spring: Solidarity and the Student Movements in Chile and Quebec

Quebec Steps Closer to Martial Law to Repress Students: Bill 78 is a “Declaration of War on the Student Movement”

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project. He also hosts a weekly podcast show, “Empire, Power, and People,” on BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Por Andrew Gavin Marshall

The following is a Spanish translation of a recent article, “Quebec Steps Closer to Martial Law to Repress Students,” courtesy of Verdad Ahora.

El viernes 18 de mayo, el parlamento de Quebec aprobó una “ley de emergencia” para “restaurar el orden” en la provincia después de tres meses de protestas estudiantiles en una huelga contra la propuesta gubernamental de aumentar en un 80% el costo de la matricula. El debate legislativo duró toda la noche y resultó en una votación de 68-48 a favor de la legislación. La legislación tiene tres ejes principales: (1) “suspende” el semestre escolar para las escuelas más afectadas por la huelga, (2) establece multas muy altas para cualquier persona que intente organizar piquetes o bloquear las escuelas, y (3) impone restricciones masivas sobre dónde y cómo la gente puede manifestarse y protestar en las calles. La ley expira el 1 de julio de 2013.

El lunes 14 de mayo renunció la ministra de educación de Quebec, Line Beauchamp, y fue reemplazada con el presidente de la Junta del Tesoro de Quebec, Michelle Courchesne, ex ministro de educación entre 2007-2010, que también había participado en las fallidas negociaciones del fin de semana del 4 de mayo. Jean Charest, comentó sobre el cambio de ministros y la continuidad de la posición del Gobierno sobre los aumentos de matrícula, declarando que, “Creemos que en esta política… Esta política va a seguir adelante.” El martes 15 de mayo, las protestas continuaron en Quebec, con cerca de 100 policías antimotines pidieron terminar un bloqueo de los estudiantes en huelga de un colegio de la comunidad en Montreal. A los estudiantes se les dijo que “toda la fuerza necesaria” sería utiliza para asegurar que las clases se reanudaran, en línea con una orden judicial obtenida por 53 de estudiantes de la escuela para regresar a clases. Órdenes judiciales han sido regularmente utilizados para socavar la huelga estudiantil, ya que el Estado se niega a reconocer el derecho de los estudiantes a la huelga. Como resultado, una docena – o incluso uno o dos – estudiantes pueden obtener órdenes judiciales para obligar a las escuelas a reabrir e ir a clases. Las medidas cautelares están respaldadas por el poder del Estado, por lo que la policía antidisturbios está obligada a rociar con gas pimienta, gas lacrimógeno y golpear con lumas porras a los estudiantes que formaban los piquetes que bloqueaban el acceso a las escuelas. El 15 de mayo, padres y maestros de los estudiantes en huelga se involucraron para ayudar a organizar el piquete lo que terminó cuando el escuadrón antidisturbios lanzó gases lacrimógenos y arrestó a varias personas.

Esa noche, los líderes estudiantiles se reunieron con la nueva ministra de educación, Michelle Courchesne, en una reunión que duró poco más de una hora, donde los estudiantes instaron al gobierno a “abandonar cualquier estrategia de línea dura e imponer una moratoria.” Los estudiantes presionaron a favor de una “tregua” con el gobierno y señalaron, tras la reunión, que el nuevo ministro fue “receptivo”, pero que “se negó a comprometerse con una postura.” A los estudiantes, sin embargo, el nuevo ministro les aseguró que no debían adoptarse leyes especiales que para forzar un acuerdo. El portavoz de la asociación de estudiantes más grande – CLASSE – Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, declaró que, “No podemos decir que el impasse ha sido superado. El ministro nos dijo que la decisión será tomada por el gabinete (el miércoles).” Martine Desjardins, otro dirigente estudiantil se mostró optimista al pensar que una solución podría estar a mano, “Esta es una crisis y tenemos que resolverla de manera rápida y todo el mundo está trabajando duro para hacer eso.” Leo Bureau-Blouin, jefe de la federación de estudiantes universitarios, declaró: “Por cierto, esperamos que el gabinete estará abierto a los compromisos.” Los líderes estudiantiles se manifestaron contra el uso de legislación para poner fin al conflicto, con Nadeau-Dubois diciendo: “Sería un gran paso atrás… No se puede poner fin a una huelga como ésta, con la fuerza de la policía.” Gabriel Nadeau señaló que CLASSE estaba discutiendo la posibilidad de perder el semestre, y Martine Desjardins de la Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios de Quebec (FEUQ) indicaron que estaban dispuestos a hacer concesiones en las negociaciones, pero expresó su preocupación por la línea dura del gobierno con órdenes judiciales e intervenciones de la policía, que sólo la reforzarán la rabia y llevaran a reacciones más duras. Leo Bureau-Blouin de la asociación de la universidad declaró que, “estoy seguro de que si nos dan nuevas propuestas nos ayudarían a avanzar”, pero condenó la idea de una ley especial: “Aquello no haría nada para ayudar a la crisis, para ayudar a resolver el conflicto. Con la batería de medidas cautelares, la tensión ha crecido. Una ley especial sólo empeoraría las cosas.”

Los estudiantes salieron de la reunión con la nueva ministra de educación afirmando estar “relativamente satisfechos” y que “esperamos que el Consejo de Ministros esté abierto a nuestros compromisos”, refiriéndose a la reunión de gabinete que se celebraría al día siguiente. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois describió la reunión como “cordial” y afirmó que “también ha desbloqueado algunos canales de comunicación que habían sido tal vez bloqueados por algunos malentendidos con la señora Beauchamp.” Jeanne Reynolds, otra portavoz de CLASSE, afirmó que el ministro Courchesne “había asegurado a los estudiantes que no tenía ninguna intención cancelar el semestre”, y que ello era “muy tranquilizador”, agregó: “Al igual que nosotros, el ministro parece estar de acuerdo en que las órdenes judiciales no son la solución para resolver la presente crisis… Obviamente nos quedamos muy contentos de oír eso.” Los líderes estudiantiles se sorprendieron al oír al día siguiente que el ministro Courchesne comentó la reunión, diciendo: “Por su parte sentí un endurecimiento de su posición… Eso fue muy claro.” Y añadió: “Voy a informar al gabinete pronto. El gobierno verá qué hacer a continuación.”

Resentidos por el hecho de que una minoría de estudiantes han utilizado recursos de amparo para violar la huelga declarada, el miércoles 16 de mayo, cerca de cien estudiantes pasearon por los pasillos para interrumpir las clases en la Universidad de Quebec en Montreal (UQAM). Las emociones se calentaron en los enfrentamientos con algunos de los otros estudiantes y profesores. Esto sucedía mientras Jean Charest, y su gabinete se reunían en la ciudad de Quebec para discutir una “solución” a la crisis pasando “legislación de emergencia“.

El 17 de mayo, la líder del opositor Partido Quebequense, Pauline Marois, pidió al primer ministro Charest a sentarse con los estudiantes en lugar de legislar en contra de ellos, “¿Por qué el primer ministro ataca a los jóvenes quebequenses?“. Mientras el gobierno de Quebec presentaba legislación para acabar con las protestas estudiantiles, estudiantes de todos los lados del debate -rojos (a favor de la huelga), verde (a favor del alza), o blancos (que proponían una moratoria de las alzas de matrícula), se unieron para instar al gobierno a negociar en vez de pasar esa legislación “represiva”. El líder estudiantil Leo Bureau-Blouin, comentó: “Claramente se puede ver hoy aquí. Sin importar el color que tengamos, independiente de los partidos políticos, hoy no es momento de jugar a la política partidista… Los parlamentarios fueron elegidos para garantizar la paz social… estamos abiertos a compromisos, estamos abiertos a discusiones.” La líder estudiantil Martine Desjardins, comentó: “Todos los colores están aquí para decir que sería mejor negociar un acuerdo en vez de imponer una solución unilateral a esta crisis.” Incluso el principal representante principal de los estudiantes que quieren regresar a clases y poner fin a la huelga, Laurent Proulx, pidió al gobierno de no recurrir a la legislación, “Queremos asegurarnos de que ambas partes lleguen a un acuerdo que no requiera que uno de ellos tenga que rendirse.” Los líderes estudiantiles anunciaron que impugnarán la legislación en los tribunales, ya que viola su derecho a protestar legítimamente.

Mientras el gobierno de Quebec iniciaba un debate durante toda la noche del jueves en torno a la legislación propuesta, se llevaron a cabo protestas en las cinco ciudades más grandes de Quebec. Antes del debate del jueves por la noche, los líderes estudiantiles fueron citados a nuevas negociaciones, con Martine Desjardins oponiéndose a la legislación de Jean Charest, “Que venga a sentarse con nosotros, y negociar una solución a esta crisis… Que venga a demostrar que él es un jefe de Estado, no sólo un líder de partido.” Bureau-Blouin declaró: “Estamos más preparados que nunca para comprometernos.” Las protestas en Montreal la noche anterior – cuando la legislación fue anunciada por primera vez – atrajeron a miles a las calles y llevó a que la policía antidisturbios detuviese a 122 personas.

“Abandonando toda esperanza de negociar un acuerdo con los estudiantes en huelga”, Jean Charest anunció que, “Tenemos que reducir la presión donde todavía hay huelga. Tenemos que traer de vuelta la paz social.” Con los líderes estudiantiles diciendo que estaban dispuestos a negociar, Jean Charest, anunció que no dará marcha atrás a los aumentos de matrícula, y “prometió un enfoque más duro para asegurar que las clases se reanuden en agosto, con una intervención policial más fuerte para garantizar el acceso.” Y añadió: “Ningún estudiante se verá obligado a asistir a clases. Pero los otros tienen el derecho de asistir a clases en un entorno seguro.” Charest declaró que “No podemos aceptar que el acceso sea bloqueado… no vamos a ceder ante la violencia y la intimidación. Nuestras leyes deben ser obedecidas.” Al parecer, esto significa aprobar nuevas leyes para violar la Carta Canadiense de Derechos y Libertades. Después de todo, “nuestras leyes deben ser obedecidas.” Los líderes estudiantiles advirtieron de los peligros de pasar una ley de ese tipo, ya que la reacción de seguro sería intensa. Leo Bureau-Blouin comentó: “Si hay violencia, si hay tensión, el señor Charest será el único culpable”. Martine Desjardins, comentó: “Ahora sabemos que el señor Charest nunca tuvo intenciones reales de resolver este conflicto.” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois de CLASSE respondió a la legislación propuesta, “El proyecto de ley que el gobierno propone a la mesa es una ley antisindical, es autoritario, represivo y vulnera el derecho de los estudiantes a la huelga… Este es un gobierno que prefiere golpear a sus jóvenes, ridiculizar a sus jóvenes, en lugar de escucharlos.” Los líderes estudiantiles siguieron pidiendo a los estudiantes organizar manifestaciones pacíficas y apoyar los planes para una manifestación masiva el martes 22 de mayo para conmemorar el 100º día de huelga.

La legislación – el proyecto de ley 78 – incluye fuertes multas para quienes participan en manifestaciones de huelga estudiantil: “multas de entre 1.000 y 5.000 dólares para cualquier persona que evite que alguien entre en una institución educativa”, y estas cifras suben a “entre 7.000 y 35.000 dólares para un líder estudiante y entre 25.000 y 125.000 para los sindicatos o federaciones de estudiantes.” El proyecto de ley tendría como objetivo esencial llevar a la bancarrota y destruir a las asociaciones de estudiantes. Además, incluye nuevas regulaciones estrictas en lo que respecta a la celebración de manifestaciones que incluyen la que ordena a los organizadores de una manifestación dar a la policía (por escrito) al menos ocho horas antes de la manifestación prevista, los detalles del itinerario, la duración, la hora y la ruta de una marcha. La policía entonces tendrá el “derecho” a realizar cambios, “a fin de preservar la paz y mantener el orden y la seguridad pública”. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, comentó: “Esto es abuso de poder… Es totalmente inaceptable en una democracia presentar dicha legislación.” Leo Bureau-Blouin, el líder estudiantil que ha estado más dispuesto a negociar, comentó: “Esta legislación es un golpe a la libertad de expresión.” Martine Desjardins afirmó que el proyecto de ley es una “declaración de guerra contra el movimiento estudiantil.” El proyecto de ley, han explicado los dirigentes estudiantiles, no hará sino aumentar la tensión y hacer que la crisis empeore. Jean Charest, comentó: “Tenemos la convicción de que esta decisión es importante. No sólo para nuestros jóvenes, sino para el futuro del pueblo de Quebec.”

La legislación ha llevado a llamados importantes a la desobediencia civil. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois declaró: “Cuando las leyes se hacen injustas, a veces hay que desobedecer y ahora estamos pensando seriamente en esa posibilidad… La represión policial no nos asusta. Las manifestaciones continuarán esta noche, creo yo, todas las noches si es necesario.” Un miembro de la Asamblea Nacional, Amir Khadir, el líder del partido político Quebec Solidario, declaró que, “La desobediencia civil es una cosa noble… Desde mi punto de vista democrático y el de mi partido, la desobediencia civil, cuando está justificada y es moralmente correcto y loable, es políticamente correcta.” El viernes 18 de mayo el Colegio de Abogados de Quebec declaró que tenía “serias preocupaciones” respecto a la legislación, calificándola de “excesiva”. Estudiantes y grupos sindicales se unieron el viernes para oponerse a la ley, y acusando que Quebec se está transformando en un “estado totalitario”, y diciendo: “Esta ley está guiada por la agresividad, la rabia y la venganza del Partido Liberal.” Pero no todo el mundo estaba molesto por ello. Puesto que la ley exige a los organizadores a informar a la policía sobre reuniones de 10 o más personas, la Cámara de Comercio de Gatineau, Quebec, dio a conocer una declaración “beso en la mejilla” con sus planes de celebrar una “asamblea de más de 10 personas”, y preguntó cuántos policías estarían presentes “para que puedan preparar una cantidad apropiada de aperitivos.”

Nadeau-Dubois declaró: “Creo que mi cólera es bastante representativa de la manera en cómo los estudiantes se sienten, y estoy convencido de que se expresará en las calles… a lo largo de los próximos días y semanas” y agregó: “Es una declaración de guerra, no sólo contra los estudiantes, sino también contra todo aquel que se aferra de algún modo a la democracia, contra cualquier persona que se aferra a lo que Quebec era antes de presentarse esta legislación.” Predijo que los quebequenses se “levantarán contra un documento tan inaceptable.” Los jefes de los tres principales sindicatos de Quebec se mostraron en oposición a la ley, con un líder declarando: “El gobierno de Quebec optó por utilizar el garrote en lugar del diálogo y las negociaciones… Quebec no debe convertirse en un estado policial y eso es lo que significa esta ley.” Louis Masson, presidente de la Asociación de Abogados de Quebec, afirmó que, “Este proyecto de ley, de aprobarse, es una violación a los derechos fundamentales y constitucionales de los ciudadanos.” Un sindicato de profesores universitarios declaró: “Si ya no somos capaces de protestar en nuestra sociedad, ésta se convierte en una sociedad totalitaria… Le estamos pidiendo a nuestros miembros defender su derecho fundamental, el derecho a manifestarse.”

La legislación también prohíbe a los estudiantes manifestarse en el interior o incluso a 50 metros de edificios universitarios. En esencia, esto equivale a hacer ilegal de la libertad de reunión y expresión en los campus universitarios. Bureau-Blouin declaró: “Este proyecto de ley transforma todas las protestas civiles en un delito y transforma un estado que tiene una tradición de apertura en un estado policial… Se trata de un límite no razonable a nuestro derecho a manifestarnos y su objetivo es matar a nuestras asociaciones.” La legislación apunta directamente a las asociaciones de estudiantes. Si una asociación de estudiantes intenta interrumpir o impedir que los estudiantes lleguen a las clases, “perderán su financiación.” Además, “por cada día de clases que se vea afectados por las medidas adoptadas por un grupo de estudiantes, la pena se elevará hasta el cese de la financiación a largo plazo.” Este proyecto de ley podría “dejar a las asociaciones de estudiantes prácticamente en bancarrota” por apoyar la huelga. También restringe severamente la capacidad de otros sindicatos y de profesores y maestros de apoyar a los estudiantes en huelga.

Expertos legales comenzaron a manifestarse en contra de la legislación, diciendo que “va demasiado lejos y viola los derechos fundamentales.” Para añadir insulto a la injuria, el mismo día que la legislación fue votada a favor, la ciudad de Montreal en voz baja aprobó una ordenanza que prohíbe el uso de máscaras en las protestas. El Colegio de Abogados de Quebec, explicó que sus “serias preocupaciones” respecto al proyecto de ley 78 incluyen el hecho de que, “La escala de sus restricciones a las libertades fundamentales no está justificada por los objetivos perseguidos por el gobierno.” El presidente del Colegio de Abogados de Quebec añadió, “El gobierno está haciendo más difícil para las personas organizar manifestaciones espontáneas. Se trata de limitar la libertad de expresión.” Un profesor de derecho de la Universidad de Laval, Louis-Philippe Lampron, experto en derechos humanos, comentó: “Léalo. Estoy aturdido. No puedo creer que un gobierno democrático pueda adoptar una ley así.”

Otro profesor de derecho de la Universidad de Laval, Fannie Lafontaine, expresó su preocupación por las disposiciones de la ley “que tienen por objeto impedir que los manifestantes impidan que otros estudiantes asistan a la escuela”, ya que las secciones 13 y 14 establecen que nadie puede “contribuir directa o indirectamente” a retrasarlas clases o prevenir que otros puedan tener acceso a ellas. El artículo 15 dice que las asociaciones de estudiantes deben tener los “medios apropiados” para asegurarse que sus miembros “directa o indirectamente” no contribuyan a retrasar o negar el acceso a las clases. La sección 25 amenaza con multas que van hasta los 125.000 dólares para las asociaciones de estudiantes que violen estas disposiciones. El profesor de derecho Lafontaine advirtió que “esas secciones tienen definiciones demasiado amplias, mientras que al mismo tiempo están hermanadas con penas severas”, y agregó: “A los alumnos se les dice pide tener los “medios apropiados” y no sabemos lo que esto implica, a “inducir” a los miembros a cumplir, así que existe la obligación de obtener resultados… eso no funciona en el derecho. No se puede tener delitos que están escritos de forma tan vaga que son imposibles de respetar.” También dijo: “En tiempos de crisis, todos los gobiernos tienden a restringir los derechos fundamentales y la historia demuestra que las restricciones excesivas no ayudan a restablecer el orden.” Louis Roy, quien representa a la mayoría de los docentes de la provincia, dijo que sus miembros están “asqueados”, y que, “no va a colaborar en cualquier tipo de acción policial. Ellos no van a convertirse en una especie de escuadrón de policía para el gobierno provincial. Estamos muy cerca de tener un gobierno dispuesto a pisotear los derechos fundamentales.” Otro dirigente sindical declaró: “Esta ley es digna de una república bananera.“

La Asociación Canadiense de Profesores Universitarios se pronunció el 18 de mayo condenando el proyecto de ley 78, “por violación de las libertades fundamentales de asociación, reunión y expresión.” James L. Turk, director ejecutivo de la Asociación Canadiense de Profesores Universitarios, declaró: “Esta ley especial es un terrible acto de represión masiva… El gobierno de Quebec ha optado por ejercer la mano dura de la ley como un arma para reprimir la disidencia.” El proyecto de ley no sólo impone fuertes multas y límites a la libertad de reunión, sino que también estipula que las asociaciones de estudiantes (y otras asociaciones de apoyo, incluidos los sindicatos) se hacen responsables de cualquier acto de violencia de terceros que suceda en las manifestaciones. Turk dijo: “Ahora, más que nunca, el resto de Canadá debe colocarse un cuadro de género rojo que muestra su apoyo a los estudiantes de Quebec y a las libertades civiles… El proyecto de ley 78 debe ser derrotado en nombre de la democracia o el resto de Canadá deberá unirse a los estudiantes en las calles.”

Lucie Lemonde, profesora de derecho de la Universidad de Quebec en Montreal, declaró: “Es la peor ley que he visto nunca, a excepción de la Ley de Medidas de Guerra, “que fue la invocación de ley marcial en Quebec en 1970 durante la crisis de Octubre. Y añadió: “Sabíamos que algo iba a venir, pero yo no creía que lo utilizarían para cambiar las reglas del juego en términos de los derechos de manifestación.” Al mismo tiempo, el Presidente de la Cámara de Comercio del Área Metropolitana de Montreal, Michel Leblanc, “acogió con satisfacción el proyecto de ley como una manera de proteger los negocios del centro, que dicen que están sufriendo a causa de las frecuentes manifestaciones.” Al final, durante el viernes 18 de mayo:

Los grupos de estudiantes, sindicatos, políticos de oposición, una gran cantidad de estudiosos del derecho, la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Quebec, comentaristas de derecha e izquierda, y el habitualmente discreto Colegio de Abogados de Quebec criticó la ley provincial como un asalto al el derecho a expresarse y reunirse libremente.

“Este proyecto de ley viola muchos de los derechos fundamentales de nuestros ciudadanos. La base de una democracia es el estado de derecho. Debemos respetar la ley. También hay que respetar las libertades fundamentales, como la libertad de protestar pacíficamente, la libertad de expresión y la libertad de asociación”, dijo en una entrevista el presidente del Colegio de Abogados, Louis Masson.

El líder del partido Quebec Solidario, Amir Khadir, declaró: “esta es una ley aporreadora impuesta por un gobierno ilegítimo y corrupto… Hago un llamamiento a todos los ciudadanos a respetar las leyes. Pero tenemos que hacernos la siguiente pregunta: ¿Hay que obedecer a una ley que nos quita los derechos fundamentales garantizados por la Constitución? ¿Podemos justificar la desobediencia?”

Así que aquí es donde hemos llegado hasta ahora: el gobierno de Quebec ha decidido que en lugar de comprometer sus alzas de matrícula – algo que desde el principio ha dicho no estar dispuesto a considerar siquiera – y en lugar de negociar de buena fe con los estudiantes, ya que todas las negociaciones han sido farsas hasta ahora, “castigará severamente” a los estudiantes de Quebec, implementando la “peor ley” desde Ley de Medidas de Guerra de 1970, que fue una declaración de ley marcial. El proyecto de ley 78 equivale a una pseudo-declaración de ley marcial contra los estudiantes de Quebec. La Carta Canadiense de Derechos y Libertades garantiza los derechos a la libertad de expresión, reunión y manifestación. El proyecto de ley 78 es la ley más peligrosa en todo Canadá, y una de las leyes más peligrosas de nuestra historia como país. Debemos oponernos, y ante estas medidas que se esperan de un estado policial del “Tercer Mundo”, pero no de una llamada “democracia”, la desobediencia civil es justo, correcta, y necesaria.

Ya no se trata de la matrícula.

Nuestra libertad está en juego.

Andrew Gavin Marshall es un investigador independiente y escritor residente en Montreal, Canadá, que escribe sobre una serie de cuestiones sociales, políticas, económicas e históricas. También es Project Manager del The People’s Book Project y presenta un programa semanal de podcast, “Empire, Power and People”, en BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Por Andrew Gavin Marshall

The following is a Spanish translation of my recent article, “From the Chilean Winter to the Maple Spring,” courtesy of Verdad Ahora.

En la noche del 16 de mayo, miles de estudiantes y simpatizantes de Montreal salieron a las calles para pasar la 23va noche consecutiva de protestas, esta vez impulsada por el anuncio del gobierno de Quebec de legislar para terminar con la huelga estudiantil de 14 semanas que se ha apoderado de Quebec en los últimos tres meses. El proyecto de ley propuesto por el gobierno “impondría condiciones estrictas a los estudiantes que deseen manifestarse en contra de los aumentos previstos en las tarifas de matrícula”, que podrían “incluir multas severas contra cualquiera que intente bloquear las entradas a los colegios y universidades.” El primer ministro de Quebec, Jean Charest, anunció que el actual semestre no ha sido cancelado por el gobierno, “Estamos suspendiendo el semestre. No lo estamos cancelando… Esto nos permitirá terminar el semestre en agosto y septiembre.” Los estudiantes advirtieron que impugnarán la ley ante los tribunales “si la legislación limita su derecho a manifestarse y bloquear las clases si la mayoría de los miembros de una escuela o de las asociaciones estudiantiles vota realizarlo.”

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, el portavoz de 21 años de la asociación de estudiantes más grande, CLASSE, que representa a más de la mitad de los 160.000 estudiantes en huelga, declaró que: “El proyecto de ley que el gobierno propone a la mesa es una ley antisindical, es autoritario, represivo y vulnera el derecho de los estudiantes a la huelga… Este es un gobierno que prefiere golpear a sus jóvenes, ridiculizar a sus jóvenes, en lugar de escucharlos.” Cuando miles de personas salieron a las calles de Montreal para oponerse al plan del gobierno, se toparon nuevamente con la policía antidisturbios, y se desató la violencia después de que la que fuera una protesta pacífica fuese declarada “ilegal” por la policía, con 122 manifestantes arrestados. Sólo unos pocos de los 122 manifestantes arrestados están acusados de agredir a algunos agentes, mientras que el resto está siendo acusado de haber participado en una “protesta ilegal”. La policía antidisturbios cargó contra la multitud y se dispersó la protesta en unidades más pequeñas, que la policía luego arrinconó, y acto seguido, con roció con gas pimienta y les arrojó granadas aturdidoras, además de golpear con lumas a los estudiantes.

Más temprano el mismo día 16 de mayo, a unos 9.000 km de Montreal, cerca de 100.000 estudiantes y simpatizantes salieron a las calles en Santiago, Chile, en la segunda manifestación más importante este año, llevando al resurgimiento del movimiento estudiantil que se inició un año antes, en mayo de 2011; los estudiantes fueron movilizados por la Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile (CONFECH), una confederación de todos los sindicatos estudiantiles de universidades públicas, (así como de algunas privadas), y el sindicato más antiguo, la Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile (FECH). Estos sindicatos marcharon contra el sistema educativo más caro de los países de la OCDE, un sistema de educación privatizado instalado en mayor medida en Chile por el ex dictador militar, Augusto Pinochet, quien llegó al poder en 1973 con apoyo de la CIA. Gabriel Boric, el líder estudiantil de la FECH y vocero de la CONFECH de 26 años declaró: “Somos más de 100.000 personas. Estamos dando una vez más una clara señal al gobierno de que el movimiento estudiantil, después de un año, se levanta sobre sus pies y no va a descansar. Todavía estamos en la lucha.” Boric agregó: “Seguiremos siendo rebeldes, ya que el movimiento estudiantil no va a conformarse con corregir algunos excesos. Queremos arreglarlo todo.” El gobierno de Chile ha presentado tres propuestas diferentes a los estudiantes en el último año, todas las cuales no cumplían con el movimiento estudiantil, ya que eran meras concesiones que no tratan el problema principal de un sistema social, política y económicamente injusto, exigiendo un sistema de educación pública gratuita y de calidad para todos los chilenos. Boric declaró: “Este gobierno ha sido incapaz de responder a las peticiones básicas de los estudiantes.”

Las protestas de 16 de mayo 2012 se tornaron violentas con enfrentamientos entre estudiantes y policías antidisturbios, que llevaron al arresto de 70 estudiantes en Santiago. Esta fue la segunda manifestación estudiantil más importante de este año, después de cerca de 40 manifestaciones en todo el país durante 2011. La policía antidisturbios respondió a la protesta de los estudiantes con gas lacrimógeno y carros lanza agua. El 15 de marzo, Santiago fue sede de la primera manifestación estudiantil importante del año en la que varios miles de estudiantes salieron a las calles, y se produjeron enfrentamientos con la policía antidisturbios que llevaron a 50 arrestos. Por cierto, el 15 de marzo en Montreal, estudiantes y otras personas participaron en una protesta contra la brutalidad policial que terminó en violencia y en la detención de más de 200 manifestantes.

El gobierno chileno ha tratado constantemente de tanto reprimir – a través de la violencia estatal – y socavar – a través de pequeñas concesiones legislativas – al movimiento estudiantil que se ha identificado con la necesidad de un cambio en el sistema social, político y económico. A pesar de un año de protestas, la ex líder estudiantil de la FECH, de 24 años, Camila Vallejo, quien dirigió el movimiento estudiantil hasta que fue reemplazada por Boric en las elecciones estudiantiles de noviembre de 2011, comentó respecto al movimiento estudiantil: “En términos concretos, se podría decir que hemos logrado poco o nada… Pero a grandes rasgos, el movimiento estudiantil ha hecho una ruptura en la sociedad chilena. Hay un antes y un después de 2011, y por primera vez estamos hablando de temas que eran tabú en Chile.”

El 14 de mayo, la ministra de educación de Quebec, Line Beauchamp, renunció declarando: “Estoy renunciando porque ya no creo ser parte de la solución.” Ello siguió a las revelaciones de que Line Beauchamp asistió a un evento de recaudación de fondos para el Partido Liberal donde aceptó donaciones de un conocido mafioso de Montreal. Quebec se ha visto envuelta desde hace años en una controversia por la corrupta industria de la construcción, que está fuertemente controlada por la mafia y recibe contratos públicos tremendamente sobrevalorados por parte de los gobiernos municipales y provinciales. Beauchamp no ha sido la primera casualidad en el gabinete del primer ministro, Jean Charest. Ya en septiembre de 2011, la primer ministro subrogante de Jean Charest, Nathalie Normandeau, que también fue ministra de recursos naturales de Quebec, renunció en medio de controversias. Ella también estuvo implicada en escándalos de corrupción relacionados con la mafia.

Cerca de un mes después de que las protestas estudiantiles comenzaran en Chile, el ministro de educación, Joaquín Lavín, renunció en julio de 2011. Fue sustituido por Felipe Bulnes, quien a su vez renunció en diciembre de 2011, en medio del persistente movimiento estudiantil. Bulnes había tratado de calmar las protestas estudiantiles mediante la concesión de un mayor acceso al crédito y “una mejor supervisión de las universidades.” Bulnes fue reemplazado con Harald Beyer. Así como Bulnes renunció, tras las revelaciones de que tenía fuertes lazos con una universidad privada en Santiago (y por lo tanto, un interés personal en la defensa del sistema educativo privatizado), el ministro de Agricultura, José Antonio Galilea también renunció. A finales de marzo de 2012, el ministro de Energía de Chile, Rodrigo Álvarez renunció tras dos meses de protestas en la región austral de Aysén por el alza de los precios del combustible.

Como ministra de recursos naturales de Quebec (hasta su renuncia en septiembre de 2011), Nathalie Normandeau fue responsable de introducir el ‘Plan Nord’ (Plan del Norte), un programa de desarrollo económico de 80 mil millones para explotar los recursos del norte de Quebec a través de inversiones públicas y privadas. El Plan incluye inversiones en minería, silvicultura, transporte y gas, y está atrayendo el interés de corporaciones multinacionales de todo el mundo. El Plan Nord fue anunciado por Normandeau y el primer ministro Jean Charest en mayo de 2011, donde Charest declaró: “En el plano político, este es uno de los mejores momentos de mi vida.” Y añadió: “Esta es una de las razones por las que me involucré en la política.” El Plan prevé 11 nuevos proyectos mineros en los próximos años, con miles de millones gastados por el gobierno en el desarrollo de infraestructura y caminos para el transporte. La industria minera aplaudió Charest, pero incitó la preocupación de grupos ambientalistas y representantes de los pueblos originarios. En abril de 2012, un grupo de mujeres del pueblo inuit marchó desde el Norte a Montreal para protestar contra el Plan Nord, llegando a la ciudad para la reunión que promovería el Plan Nord entre el 20 y el 21 de abril. El 20 de abril, las mujeres de los pueblos originarios se reunieron para protestar contra la reunión, y se unieron a las protestas estudiantiles fuera del Palais des congrèsen en el centro de Montreal. Los manifestantes chocaron con la policía antidisturbios, granadas aturdidoras, gases lacrimógenos y lumas, y unos 90 manifestantes fueron arrestados.

En mayo de 2011, al igual que el gobierno de Quebec anunciando sus planes para el Plan Nord, el gobierno chileno anunció la aprobación del proyecto Hidroaysén, que será el generador de energía más grande de Chile, llevando a protestas de cientos de personas. El proyecto “consta de cinco represas y 1.900 kilómetros (1.180 millas) de línea de transmisión para alimentar a la red central que abastece a Santiago y a las ciudades circundantes, así como las minas de cobre de propiedad de Codelco y Anglo American Plc.” El proyecto provocó un aumento de la ira de los residentes de la región, así como de ambientalistas y otros activistas. Los opositores al proyecto presentaron recursos de amparo y una corte de apelaciones suspendió el proyecto Hidroaysén en junio de 2011. Fue en este momento que el movimiento estudiantil en Chile comenzó a emerger rápidamente. En octubre, un tribunal de apelaciones local rechazó las siete demandas contra el proyecto y dio luz verde para reanudar las obras. En diciembre, un recurso legal en contra del proyecto fue llevado a Corte Suprema de Chile. En abril de 2012, la Corte Suprema rechazó los siete recursos contra el proyecto. Esto provocó grandes protestas por la decisión de la corte, que chocaron con la represión la policía antidisturbios. La creciente demanda de energía proviene de la industria minera en rápido crecimiento de Chile, de la cual las empresas mineras canadienses son la mayor inversión de origen extranjero.

Protestas estallaron la región sureña chilena de Aysén en febrero de 2012, donde el costo de vida es significativamente mayor que en el norte (debido a la lejanía de la región patagónica) y por lo tanto, los costos de combustible, alimentos, cuidado de la salud y la educación son mayores que en otras partes. Los manifestantes se enfrentaron casi todas las noches con la policía antidisturbios, incluso levantando barricadas y lanzando piedras contra la policía, que utilizó carros lanza agua y gases lacrimógenos contra los manifestantes. Uno de los manifestantes incluso perdió un ojo durante los enfrentamientos, según informes, al ser baleado por la policía. Partidarios salieron a las calles de Santiago en solidaridad con los que luchaban en Aysén . En marzo, los manifestantes relajaron los bloqueos para mantener negociaciones entre el gobierno y las más de treinta organizaciones sociales que participaban en las protestas. Fue después de las negociaciones que renunció el ministro de energía Álvarez, diciendo que fue excluido de las conversaciones. A fines de marzo, el gobierno anunció planes para crear mejores condiciones en la región de Aysén.

En abril de 2012, Chile experimentó protestas contra una planta termoeléctrica y la minería, donde en mayor medida participaron chilenos de ascendencia indígena, y los estudiantes regresaron a las calles de Santiago, con decenas de miles de personas. A lo largo de Quebec, los estudiantes intensificaron las protestas durante todo el mes de abril, y se unieron indígenas, ecologistas y estudiantiles en protesta contra el Plan Nord. El 25 de abril, decenas de miles de estudiantes chilenos salieron a las calles de Santiago, en protesta contra la propuesta de “reforma” educacional del gobierno, que era completamente inadecuada. En el mismo día, 25 de abril, cerca de 5.000 estudiantes protestaban en Montreal contra de la cancelación del diálogo del gobierno con los líderes estudiantiles. A principios de ese mismo mes, el presidente chileno Piñera y el primer ministro canadiense Harper se reunieron en Chile para expandir el tratado de libre comercio entre los dos países. Los movimientos estudiantiles no fueron objeto de debate.

En Chile, al movimiento estudiantil y su desarrollo social más amplio junto a ambientalistas, sindicatos y otros grupos de activistas se le ha conocido como “Invierno Chileno“. En Quebec, el movimiento estudiantil, con su desarrollo social más amplio junto a sindicatos, ambientalistas, y otras organizaciones de activistas, se ha conocido como “Primavera Arce.” Ambos movimientos, manteniendo al mismo tiempo sus propias especificidades, en última instancia, se han movilizado en torno a una lucha contra el neoliberalismo, contra la austeridad, y contra un sistema social, político y económico que ha gobernado el mundo para unos pocos y en detrimento de las mayorías.

Para que ambos movimientos avancen, es importante no sólo promover actos informales y declaraciones de solidaridad entre los dos movimientos, sino comenzar a establecer vínculos directos e indirectos entre los movimientos: establecer conexiones entre las asociaciones estudiantiles, coordinar días de acciones de protesta importantes, protestar contra las empresas mineras que explotan a Quebec en el Norte y a Chile en el Sur, crear medios de comunicación organizados por estudiantes que compartan información entre ellos, realizar intercambios de activismo estudiantil entre los dos países, pero en primer lugar, es importante educar a los estudiantes en Quebec sobre lo que está ocurriendo en Chile, y a los estudiantes en Chile sobre lo que está ocurriendo en Quebec. Esa es la base para todas las otras formas de cooperación.

Así que desde el Invierno Chileno a la Primavera Arce

¡Solidarity, solidarité, solidaridad!

Andrew Gavin Marshall es un investigador independiente y escritor residente en Montreal, Canadá, que escribe sobre una serie de cuestiones sociales, políticas, económicas e históricas. También es Project Manager del The People’s Book Project y presenta un programa semanal de podcast, “Empire, Power and People”, en BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Bill 78 is a “Declaration of War on the Student Movement”

By: Andrew Gavin Marshall

Originally Published at: The Media Co-Op

On Friday, May 18, the Québec legislature signed a special “emergency law” to “restore order” in the province following three months of student protests in a strike against the government’s proposed 80% increase in the cost of tuition. A legislative debate lasted all night and resulted in a vote of 68-48 in favour of the legislation. The legislation has three main focal points: (1) it “suspends” the school semester for schools majorly affected by the strike, (2) it establishes extremely high fines for anyone who attempts to picket or block access to schools, and (3) it imposes massive restrictions on where and how people may demonstrate and protest in the streets. The law is set to expire by July 1, 2013.

On Monday, May 14, Quebec’s Education Minister Line Beauchamp resigned, and was replaced with Quebec’s Treasury Board president Michelle Courchesne, a former Education Minister from 2007 to 2010, who had also participated in the failed negotiations the weekend of May 4. Premier Jean Charest commented on the change of ministers and the continuity of the government’s position on the tuition hikes, saying that, “We believe in this policy… This policy is going to go ahead.” On Tuesday, May 15, protests continued in Quebec, with about 100 riot police called in to break a student strike blockage of a community college in Montreal. Students were told that “all necessary force” would be used to ensure that classes would resume, in line with a legal injunction obtained by 53 of the school’s students to return to class. Legal injunctions have regularly been used to undermine the student strike, as the state refuses to recognize the right of students to strike. As a result, a few dozen – or even one or two – students can obtain legal injunctions to force the schools to re-open and go to class. The injunctions are backed by the power of the state, and so the riot police are called in to pepper spray, tear gas, and beat with batons those students who form picket lines blocking access to the schools. On May 15, parents and teachers of striking students were involved in helping organize the picket line which ended with the riot squad using tear gas and arresting several people.

That night, student leaders met with the new Education Minister Michèle Courchesne, in a meeting that lasted just over an hour, at which students urged the government “to abandon any hard line strategy and impose a moratorium.” The students pushed for a “truce” with the government, and said, following the meeting, that the new Minister was “receptive” but had “refused to commit herself to a position.” Students, however, were assured by the new Minister that no special laws would be adopted to force a settlement. The spokesman for the largest student association – CLASSE – Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, stated that, “We cannot say that the impasse has been overcome. The Minister told us the decision will be taken by the cabinet (on Wednesday).” Martine Desjardins, another student leader expressed optimism in thinking a solution may be at hand, “This is a crisis and we need to solve it quickly and everybody is working hard to do that.” Leo Bureau-Blouin, head of the college student federation, stated, “We certainly hope [the] cabinet will be open to compromises.” The student leaders warned against using legislation to end the conflict, with Nadeau-Dubois stating, “It would be a major step backward… You can’t end a strike like this with police force.” Gabriel-Nadeau indicated that CLASSE was discussing the possibility of sacrificing the semester, and Martine Desjardins of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) indicated that they were willing to make concessions in negotiations, but was concerned about the government’s hard line with court injunctions and police interventions, which only stoke anger and incur harsher reactions. Léo Bureau-Blouin of the college association stated that, “I’m sure that if they gave us new proposals it would help move things along,” but condemned the idea of a special law: “This would do nothing to help the crisis, to help settle the conflict. With battery of court injunctions, the tension has grown. A special law would only make matter worse.”

Students emerged from the meeting with the new Education Minister stating that they were “relatively satisfied” and that, “we hope that the council of ministers is going to be open to our compromises,” referring to the cabinet meeting to be held the following day. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois described the meeting as “cordial” and stated, “We also unblocked certain channels of communication that had perhaps been blocked by some misunderstandings with Madame Beauchamp.” Jeanne Reynolds, another spokesperson for CLASSE, stated that Minister Courchesne had “assured the students she has no intention of seeing the semester cancelled,” and that this was, “very reassuring.” She added: “Like us, the minister seems to agree injunctions are not the solution to solve the current crisis… Obviously we were very happy to hear that.” The student leaders were surprised to hear the next day that Minister Courchesne commented on their meeting, stating, “On their side I sensed a hardening of their position… That was very clear.” She added, “I will report to the cabinet soon. The government will judge what decision to make then.”

Resentful of the fact that a minority of students have used legal injunctions to violate the declared strike, roughly one hundred students on Wednesday, May 16, went through the hallways disrupting classes at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM). Emotions were heated in confrontations with some of the other students and teachers. This happened as Jean Charest and his cabinet met in Quebec City to discuss a “solution” to the crisis by passing “emergency legislation.”

On May 17, Quebec’s opposition Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois called on Premier Charest to sit down with students instead of legislate against them, “Why is the premier attacking the youth of Quebec?” As the Quebec government tabled legislation to crack down on the student protests, students from all sides of the debate – wearing a red (pro-strike), green (pro-hike), or white squares (proposing a moratorium on tuition fee hikes) – all banded together to urge the government to negotiate instead of passing “repressive” legislation. Student leader Léo Bureau-Blouin commented, “You can clearly see it here today. Regardless of the colour of squares we carry, regardless of the political parties, today is not a time to play partisan politics… Parliamentarians were elected to ensure social peace…we are open to compromises, we are open to discussions.” Student leader Martine Desjardins commented, “All the coloured squares are here to say that it would be better to negotiate a deal rather than unilaterally impose a resolution to this crisis.” Even the main student representative demanding students return to class and end the strike, Laurent Proulx, asked the government not to resort to the legislation, “We want to make sure that both sides reach a settlement that won’t require either to surrender.” Student leaders announced that they would challenge the legislation in court as it violates their right to legitimately protest.

As the Quebec government began an all-night debate on Thursday night on the proposed legislation, protests took place in all five of Quebec’s largest cities. Before Thursday night’s debate, student leaders were calling for new negotiations, with Martine Desjardins opposing Jean Charest’s legislation, “Let him come sit with us, and negotiate a solution to this crisis… Let him come show us that he is a head of state, not just a party leader.” Bureau-Blouin stated, “We are more ready than ever to compromise.” Protests in Montreal the night before – when the legislation was first announced – drew thousands into the streets and resulted in riot police arresting 122 people.

In “abandoning any hope of negotiating a settlement with striking students,” Jean Charest announced that, “We need to bring down the pressure where strikes are still on. We need to bring back social peace.” With student leaders saying they were willing to compromise, Charest announced that he will not back down from the tuition hikes, and “promised a tougher approach to ensure classes can resume in August, with stronger police intervention to guarantee access.” He added, “No student will be forced to attend class. But for others, they have the right to attend classes in a secure environment.” Charest stated that, “We cannot accept that access be blocked … we will not bow to violence and intimidation – our laws need to be obeyed.” Apparently, this means passing new laws to violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. After all, “our laws need to be obeyed.” Student leaders warned of the dangers of passing such a law, as the reaction is sure to be intense. Léo Bureau-Blouin commented, “If there is violence, if there is tension, Mr. Charest will be the only one to blame.” Martine Desjardins commented, “We now know that Mr. Charest never had any real intentions of solving this conflict.” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois of CLASSE responded to the proposed legislation, “The bill that the government is proposing to table is an anti-union law, it is authoritarian, repressive and breaks the students’ right to strike… This is a government that prefers to hit… its youth, ridicule its youth rather than listen to them.” The student leaders continued to call on students to hold peaceful demonstrations and support the plans for a massive demonstration on Tuesday, May 22, to mark the 100th day of the strike.

The legislation – Bill 78 – includes heavy fines for those participating in student strike demonstrations: “fines of between $1,000 and $5,000 for any individual who prevents someone from entering an educational institution,” and these numbers climb to “between $7,000 and $35,000 for a student leader and to between $25,000 and $125,000 for unions or student federations.” The bill would essentially aim to bankrupt and destroy the student associations. Further, it includes strict new regulations in regards to holding demonstrations – manifestations – which include mandating that demonstration organizers must give police (in writing) at least eight hours before a scheduled demonstration, the details of the itinerary, duration, time, and route for a march. Police are then granted the “right” to demand changes, “in order to keep the peace and maintain order and public security.” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois commented, “This is an abuse of power… It’s totally unacceptable in a democracy to table such legislation.” Leo Bureau-Blouin, the student leader who has been most willing to compromise, commented, “This legislation strikes a blow to the freedom of expression.” Martine Desjardins stated that the bill is a “declaration of war against the student movement.” The bill, explained student leaders, will only increase tension and make the crisis much worse. Jean Charest commented, “We hold the conviction that this decision is important — not only for our young people, but for the future of the Quebec people.”

The legislation has promoted calls for increased civil disobedience. Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois stated, “When laws become unjust, sometimes you have to disobey and we are now thinking seriously about that possibility… Police repression never scared us. The demonstrations will continue tonight, I believe, every night if necessary.” A member of the National Assembly Amir Khadir, leader of the Quebec political party Quebec Solidaire, stated that, “Civil disobedience is a noble thing… In my democratic perspective and that of my party, civil disobedience, when justified and morally right and commendable, it is politically appropriate.” On Friday, May 18, the Quebec Bar Association stated it had “serious concerns” over the legislation, which it described as “excessive.” Student and union groups united on Friday to oppose the bill, describing it as turning Quebec into a “totalitarian state” and stating, “This law is guided by the aggressiveness, anger and revenge of the Liberal Party.” But not everyone was upset about it. As the law requires organizers to inform police about gatherings of 10 or more people, the chamber of commerce of Gatineau, Quebec, released a “tongue-in-cheek” statement of plans to hold an “assembly of more than 10 people” and asked how many police officers would be present “so that they could prepare the appropriate number of hors d’oeuvres.”

Nadeau-Dubois stated, “I believe my anger is quite representative of the way students are feeling, and I am convinced that will be expressed in the streets… over the next few days and the next few weeks.” He then added: “It’s a declaration of war, not only against students but also against anyone who clings in any way to democracy, against anyone who clings to what Quebec was before this legislation was tabled.” He predicted that Quebecers would “rise up against such an unacceptable document.” The heads of three major Quebec unions came out in opposition to the law, with one leader stating, “The Quebec government chose to use a club instead of dialogue and negotiations… Quebec must not become a police state and that’s what this law means.” Louis Masson, president of the Quebec Bar Association, stated that, “This bill, if adopted, is a breach to the fundamental, constitutional rights of the citizens.” A university and college teacher’s union stated, “If we are no longer able to protest in our society, it becomes a totalitarian society… We are telling our members to defend their fundamental right, the right to demonstrate.”

The legislation also bars students from demonstrating inside or even within 50 metres of college and university buildings. This essentially amounts to making freedom of assembly and speech illegal on college and university campuses. Bureau-Blouin stated, “This bill transforms all civil protests into a crime and transforms a state that has a tradition of openness into a police state… It is an unreasonable limit on our right to demonstrate and aims at killing our associations.” The legislation directly targets the student associations. If a student association attempts to disrupt or prevent students from getting to classes, “it will lose its funding.” Further, “for each day classes are disrupted by actions taken by a student group, the penalty will amount to cessation of funding for a term.” This bill could “virtually bankrupt student associations” for supporting the strike. It also severely restricts the ability of other unions and professors and teachers to support striking students.

Legal experts began speaking out against the legislation, saying that it “goes too far and contravenes fundamental rights.” To add insult to injury, on the same day the legislation was voted for, the City of Montreal quietly passed a by-law which bans masks being worn at protests. The Quebec Bar Association explained that its “serious concerns” about Bill 78 included the fact that, “The scale of its restraints on fundamental freedoms isn’t justified by the objectives aimed by the government.” The president of the Quebec Bar added, “The government is making it harder for people to organize spontaneous demonstrations. It is a limit on freedom of speech.” A Laval University law professor, Louis-Philippe Lampron, an expert in human rights, commented, “Read it. Stunned. Can’t believe that a democratic government can adopt such a law.”

Another Laval University law professor, Fannie Lafontaine, raised concerns about the provisions in the law “which aim to prevent protesters from barring other students from attending school,” as Section 13 and 14 state that no one can “directly or indirectly contribute” to delaying classes or preventing others from having access to them. Section 15 said that student associations must undertake “appropriate means” to ensure their members do not “directly or indirectly” contribute to delaying or denying access to classes. Section 25 threatens fines that go as high as $125,000 for student associations that violate these provisions. Law professor Lafontaine warned that “those sections are too broadly defined while at the same time they are twinned with stiff penalties,” adding: “The students are told to take `appropriate means’ and we don’t know what this implies, to `induce’ members to comply, so there’s an obligation to get results… this doesn’t work in law. You can’t have offences that are written so vaguely they’re impossible to respect.” She also stated, “In times of crisis, all governments tend to restrain fundamental rights and history shows that excessive restrictions don’t help restore order.” Louis Roy, who represents most of the province’s teachers said that his members are “disgusted,” and that, “[t]hey will not be collaborating in any kind of police action. They are not going to become some kind of police squad for the provincial government. We are very close to having a government ready to trample on fundamental rights.” Another union leader stated, “This law is worthy of a banana republic.”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers spoke out on May 18 in condemnation of Bill 78, “for violating fundamental freedoms of association, assembly, and expression.” James L. Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, stated, “This special law is a terrible act of mass repression… The Quebec government has opted to exert the heavy hand of the law as a weapon to suppress dissent.” The bill not only imposes heavy fines and limits freedom of assembly, but it also stipulates that students associations (and other supportive associations, including unions) will be held responsible for any third party violence which takes place at demonstrations.  Turk stated, “Now, more than ever, the rest of Canada needs to be pinning on a red felt square showing their support for the students of Quebec and for civil liberties… Bill 78 needs to be defeated in the name of democracy or the rest of Canada should be joining the students on the streets.”

Lucie Lemonde, a law professor at Universite du Quebec a Montreal, stated, “It’s the worst law that I’ve ever seen, except for the War Measures Act,” which was the invocation of martial law in Quebec in 1970 during the FLQ crisis. She added, “We knew something was coming, but I didn’t think they would use it to change the rules of the game in terms of the rights to demonstrate.” Meanwhile the President of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, Michel Leblanc, “welcomed the bill as a way to protect downtown businesses which say they are suffering because of the frequent demonstrations.” All in all, over the course of Friday May 18:

Student groups, unions, opposition politicians, a host of legal scholars, the Quebec Human Rights Commission, right-wing and left-wing commentators, and the normally restrained Quebec Bar Association blasted the provincial law as an assault on the right to speak and assemble freely.

“This bill infringes many of the fundamental rights of our citizens. The basis of a democracy is the rule of law. We must respect the law. We must also respect fundamental freedoms, like the freedom to protest peacefully, the freedom of speech and the freedom of association,” bar association president bâtonnier Louis Masson, said in an interview.

Quebec Solidaire party leader Amir Khadir stated, “This is a bludgeon law imposed by an illegitimate, corrupt government… I call upon all citizens to respect the laws. But we have to ask ourselves the question: Must we obey a law that takes away fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution? Can we be justified to disobey?”

So this is where we’ve come to now: the government of Quebec has decided that instead of compromising on its tuition hikes – something it has stated from the beginning that it was unwilling to even consider – and instead of negotiating in good faith with the students, as all the negotiations have been farces thus far, it will instead “crack down” on the students of Quebec, implementing the “worst law” since the War Measures Act of 1970, which was a declaration of martial law. Bill 78 amounts to a pseudo-declaration of martial law against the students of Quebec. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and expression. Bill 78 is the most dangerous law in all of Canada, and one of the most dangerous laws in our history as a country. It must be opposed, and in the face of such measures which are expected of a ‘Third World’ police state but not of a so-called ‘democracy,’ civil disobedience is just, righteous, and necessary.

This is no longer about tuition.

Our very freedom is at stake.

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project. He also hosts a weekly podcast show, “Empire, Power, and People,” on BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Solidarity and the Student Movements in Chile and Quebec

By: Andrew Gavin Marshall

Originally Published at: The Media Co-op

On the night of May 16, thousands of Montréal students and supporters took to the streets for the 23rd consecutive night of protests, this time spurred on by the Government of Québec’s announcement that it would legislate an end to the 14-week student strike which has gripped Quebec for the past three months. The government’s proposed bill would “impose strict conditions on students wanting to demonstrate against the planned tuition fee hikes,” which could “include stiff fines against anyone attempting to block entrances to the colleges and universities.” Québec Premier Jean Charest announced that the current school session will be postponed by the government, “We are suspending the session. We are not cancelling it … This will allow us to finish the session in August and September.” Students warned that they would challenge the law in court “if the legislation limits their right to demonstrate and to block classes if the majority of members of a school or student association votes to do so.”

Gabriel nadeau-Dubois, the 21-year old spokesperson for the largest student association, CLASSE, representing over half of the 160,000 striking students, stated that, “The bill that the government is proposing to table is an anti-union law, it is authoritarian, repressive and breaks the students’ right to strike… This is a government that prefers to hit on its youth, ridicule its youth rather than listen to them.” As thousands poured into the streets of Montréal to oppose the government’s plan, they were again met with riot police, and as violence broke out after what was a peaceful protest was declared “illegal” by the police, 122 protesters were arrested. Only a few of the 122 arrested protesters are being charged with assaulting officers, while the rest are being charged with taking part in an “illegal protest.” Riot police charged the crowd and broke the protest up into smaller units, which police then cornered and followed, using pepper spray and flash bang grenades, as well as beating students with batons.

Earlier on the same day of May 16, nearly 9,000 km away from Montréal, roughly 100,000 students and supporters took to the streets in Santiago, Chile, in the second major demonstration of the new year, bringing a resurgence to the student movement that began one year ago, in May of 2011, the students were mobilized by the Student Confederation of Chile (CONFECH), a confederation of all the student unions from public universities (as well as some private ones), and the oldest individual union, the Student Federation of the University of Chile (FECH). These usions collectively rallied the students against the most expensive educational system among the OECD nations, a largely privatized system of education brought in by Chile’s former military dictator, Augusto Pinochet, who came to power in 1973 with CIA support. Gabriel Boric, the 26-year old student leader of the FECH and spokesperson for CONFECH declared, “We are more than 100,000 people. We are giving again a clear sign to the government that the student movement, after a year, stands up on its feet and will not rest. We are still in the fight.” Boric added, “We will keep on being rebels, because the student movement is not going to settle for a few excesses having been corrected. We want to fix all of them.” The Chilean government has submitted three different proposals to the students in the past year, all of which did not satisfy the student movement as they were mere concessions which did not address the main issue of an unfair social, political, and economic system, demanding a free, quality public education system for all Chileans. Boric stated, “This government has been unable to respond to the students’ basic requests.”

The protests of May 16, 2012 turned violent with clashes between students and riot police, leading to the arrest of 70 students in Santiago. This was the second major student demonstration of this year, following roughly 40 demonstrations across the country in 2011. The riot police responded to the student protest with tear gas and water cannons. On March 15, Santiago was host to the first major student demonstration of the year in which several thousand students took to the streets, and clashes erupted with riot police, leading to 50 arrests. Incidentally, on March 15 in Montréal, students and others took part in a protest against police brutality which ended in violence and the arrest of over 200 protesters.

The Chilean government has consistently attempted to both repress – through state violence – and undermine – through minor legislative concessions – the student movement which has identified the necessity of change in the social, political, and economic system itself. Despite a year of protests, the former student leader of FECH, 24-year old Camilla Vallejo, who led the student movement until she was replaced by Boric in student elections in November of 2011, commented on the student movement: “In concrete terms, you could say we have accomplished little or nothing… But in broad strokes, the student movement has made a break in Chilean society. There’s a before and after 2011, and we’re talking about issues that were taboo in Chile for the first time.”

On May 14, Québec’s Education Minister Line Beauchamp resigned, stating, “I am resigning because I no longer believe I’m part of the solution.” This followed revelations that Line Beauchamp attended a Liberal Party fundraiser at which she accepted donations from a known Montréal mafioso. Québec has been embroiled for years in a controversy over the corrupt construction industry, which is heavily controlled by the Mafia and gets massively over-valued public contracts from city and provincial governments. Beauchamp has not been the only such casuality in Premier Jean Charest’s cabinet. Back in September of 2011, Jean Charest’s Deputy Premier, Nathalie Normandeau, who was also Québec’s Natural Resources Minister, resigned amid controversy. She too, has been implicated in corruption scandals related to the Mafia.

Roughly a month after the student protests began in Chile, the Education Minister Joaquin Lavin resigned in July of 2011. He was replaced with Felipe Bulnes, who in turn resigned in December of 2011, in the midst of the persistent student movement. Bulnes had attempted to calm student protests by granting increased access to credit and “improved supervision of universities.” Bulnes was then replaced with Harald Beyer. Just as Bulnes resigned, following revelations that he had strong ties to a private university in Santiago (and thus, a personal interest in defending the privatized education system), the Agriculture Minister Jose Antonio Galilea also resigned. In late March of 2012, Chile’s Energy Minister Rodrigo Alvarez resigned following two months of protests in the southern region of Aysen over increased fuel prices.

As Quebec’s Natural Resources Minister (until her resignation in September 2011), Nathalie Normandeau was responsible for introducing ‘Plan Nord’ (Northern Plan), an $80 billion economic development program to exploit the resources of northern Québec through public and private investments. The Plan includes invesments in mining, forestry, transportation, and gas, and is drawing interest from multinational corporations around the world. Plan Nord was announced by Normandeau and Premier Jean Charest in May of 2011, at which Charest stated, “On the political level, this is one of the best moments of my life.” He added, “This is one of the reasons I got involved in politics.” Tha Plan envisions 11 new mining projects in the next few years, with billions being spent by the government on developing infrastructure and roads for transportation. The mining industry applauded Charest, but incited concern from environmental groups and First Nations representatives. In April of 2012, a group of First Nations Innu women walked from the North to Montreal to protest against Plan Nord, arriving in the city for the meeting to promote Plan Nord on April 20-21. On April 20, First Nations women gathered to protest the meeting, and were joined by student protesters outside the Palais des congrès in downtown Montreal. The protesters were met with riot police, sound grenades, tear gas, and batons, and roughly 90 protesters were arrested.

Back in May of 2011, just as the Québec government was announcing its plans for Plan Nord, the Chilean government announced the approval of the HidroAysen project, to be Chile’s largest power generator, drawing protests from hundreds of people. The project “involves five dams and a 1,900 kilometer (1,180 mile) transmission line to feed the central grid that supplies Santiago and surrounding cities as well as copper mines owned by Codelco and Anglo American Plc.” The project provoked increased anger from residents of the region, as well as conservationists and other activists. Opponents of the project filed legal injunctions and an appeals court suspended the HidroAysen project in June of 2011. It was at this time that the student movement in Chile began to emerge rapidly. In October, a local appeals court rejected the seven lawsuits aginst the project and gave the green light to resume work. In December, a legal appeal against the project was taken to Chile’s Supreme Court. In April of 2012, the Supreme Court rejected the seven appeals against the project. This sparked major protests over the court’s decision, met with riot police repression. The increased demand for energy comes from the rapidly growing Chilean mining industry, of which Canadian mining companies are the largest foreign investment source.

Protests erupted in the southern Chilean region of Aysen in February of 2012, where the cost of living is significantly higher than in the north (due to the remoteness of the Patagonian region) and thus, the costs of fuel, food, health care and education were greater than elsewhere. Protesters fought almost nightly battles with riot police, even setting up barricades and throwing rocks at police, who used water cannons and tear gas on the protesters. One protester even lost an eye during the confrontations, reportedly by being shot by the police. Supporters took to the streets in Santiago in solidairty with those struggling in Aysen, also clashing with police. In March, the protesters lifted roadblocks to hold negotiations with the government and the more than thirty social organizations participating in the protests. It was after the negotiations that Energy Minister Alvarez resigned, stating that he was excluded from the talks. In late March, the government announced plans to create better conditions in the Aysen region.

In April of 2012, Chile was experiencing protests against a thermoelectric plant and mining, largely participated in by Chileans of indigenous descent, and students took back to the streets in Santiago in the tens of thousands. Across Quebec, students escalated protests throughout the month of April, and united indigenous, environmental and student activists in protest against Plan Nord. On April 25, tens of thousands of Chilean students took to the streets in Santiago, protesting the government’s education “reform” proposal, which was grossly inadequate. On the very same day, April 25, roughly 5,000 student protesters in Montreal demonstrated against the government’s cancellation of negotiations with the student leaders. Earlier in that same month, Chilean President Pinera and Canadian Prime Minister Harper met in Chile to expand the free trade agreement between the two countries. The student movements were not up for discussion.

In Chile, the student movement and its wider social development with environmental, labour, and other activist groups has been referred to as the “Chilean Winter.” In Quebec, the student movement, with its wider social development with labour, environmental, and other activist organizations, has been referred to as the ‘Maple Spring.” Both movements, while maintaining their own specifics, are ultimately mobilized around a struggle against neoliberalism, against austerity, and against a social, political, and economic system which has ruled the world for the few and at the expense of the many.

For both of these movements to move forward, it is important to not only promote informal acts and statements of solidarity between the two movements, but to begin establishing direct and indirect ties between the movements: establishing connections between the student associations, coordinating days of major protest actions, protesting mining companies that exploit both the North of Quebec and the South of Chile, creating student-run news outlets which share information between each other, undertake student-activist exchanges between the two countries; but first and foremost, it is important to educate the students in Quebec about what is taking place in Chile, and the students in Chile about what is taking place in Quebec. That is the basis for all other forms of cooperation.

So from the Chilean Winter to the Maple Spring

Solidarity, solidarité, solidaridad!

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project. He also hosts a weekly podcast show, “Empire, Power, and People,” on BoilingFrogsPost.com.

By: Andrew Gavin Marshall

The student strikes in Quebec, which began in February and have lasted for three months, involving roughly 175,000 students in the mostly French-speaking Canadian province, have been subjected to a massive provincial and national media propaganda campaign to demonize and dismiss the students and their struggle. The following is a list of ten points that everyone should know about the student movement in Quebec to help place their struggle in its proper global context.

1)            The issue is debt, not tuition

2)            Striking students in Quebec are setting an example for youth across the continent

3)            The student strike was organized through democratic means and with democratic aims

4)            This is not an exclusively Quebecois phenomenon

5)            Government officials and the media have been openly calling for violence and “fascist” tactics to be used against the students

6)            Excessive state violence has been used against the students

7)            The government supports organized crime and opposes organized students

8)            Canada’s elites punish the people and oppose the students

9)            The student strike is being subjected to a massive and highly successful propaganda campaign to discredit, dismiss, and demonize the students

10)            The student movement is part of a much larger emerging global movement of resistance against austerity, neoliberalism, and corrupt power

1)            The issue is debt, not tuition: In dismissing the students, who are striking against a 75% increase in the cost of tuition over the next five years, the most common argument used is in pointing out that Quebec students pay the lowest tuition in North America, and therefore, they should not be complaining. Even with the 75% increase, they will still be paying substantially lower than most other provinces. Quebec students pay on average $2,500 per year in tuition, while the rest of Canada’s students pay on average $5,000 per year. With the tuition increase of $1,625 spread out over five years, the total tuition cost for Quebec students would be roughly $4,000. The premise here is that since the rest of Canada has it worse, Quebec students should shut up, sit down, and accept “reality.” THIS IS FALSE. In playing the “numbers game,” commentators and their parroting public repeat the tuition costs but fail to add in the numbers which represent the core issue: DEBT. So, Quebec students pay half the average national tuition. True. But they also graduate with half the average national student debt. With the average tuition at $5,000/year, the average student debt for an undergraduate in Canada is $27,000, while the average debt for an undergraduate in Quebec is $13,000. With interest rates expected to increase, in the midst of a hopeless job situation for Canadian youth, Canada’s youth face a future of debt that “is bankrupting a generation of students.” The notion, therefore, that Quebec students should not struggle against a bankrupt future is a bankrupted argument.

2)            Striking students in Quebec are setting an example for youth across the continent: Nearly 60% of Canadian students graduate with debt, on average at $27,000 for an undergraduate degree. Total student debt now stands at about $20 billion in Canada ($15 billion from Federal Government loans programs, and the rest from provincial and commercial bank loans). In Quebec, the average student debt is $15,000, whereas Nova Scotia and Newfoundland have an average student debt of $35,000, British Columbia at nearly $30,000 and Ontario at nearly $27,000. Roughly 70% of new jobs in Canada require a post-secondary education. Half of students in their 20s live at home with their parents, including 73 per cent of those aged 20 to 24 and nearly a third of 25- to 29-year-olds. On average, a four-year degree for a student living at home in Canada costs $55,000, and those costs are expected to increase in coming years at a rate faster than inflation. It has been estimated that in 18 years, a four-year degree for Canadian students will cost $102,000. Defaults on government student loans are at roughly 14%. The Chairman of the Canadian Federation of Students warned in June of 2011 that, “We are on the verge of bankrupting a generation before they even enter the workplace.” This immense student debt affects every decision made in the lives of young graduates. With few jobs, enormous housing costs, the cutting of future benefits and social security, students are entering an economy which holds very little for them in opportunities. Women, minorities, and other marginalized groups are in an even more disadvantaged position. Canadian students are increasingly moving back home and relying more and more upon their parents for support. An informal Globe and Mail poll in early May of 2012 (surveying 2,200 students), “shows that students across Canada share a similar anxiety over rising tuition fees” as that felt in Quebec. Roughly 62% of post-secondary students said they would join a similar strike in their own province, while 32% said they would not, and 5.9% were undecided. In Ontario, where tuition is the highest in Canada, 69% said they would support a strike against increasing tuition. A Quebec research institution released a report in late March of 2012 indicating that increasing the cost of tuition for students is creating a “student debt bubble” akin to the housing bubble in the United States, and with interest rates set to increase, “today’s students may well find themselves in the same situation of not being able to pay off their student loans.” The authors of the report from the Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-economique explained that, “Since governments underwrite those loans, if students default it could be catastrophic for public finances,” and that, “If the bubble explodes, it could be just like the mortgage crisis.” In the United States, the situation is even worse. In March of 2012, the Federal Reserve reported that 27 percent of student borrowers whose loans have gone into repayment are now delinquent on their debt.” Student debt in the United States has reached $1 trillion, “passing total credit card debt along the way.” It has become a threat to the entire existence of the middle class in America. Bankruptcy lawyers in the US are “seeing the telltale signs of a student loan debt bubble.” A recent survey from the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) indicated, “more than 80 percent of bankruptcy lawyers have seen a substantial increase in the number of clients seeking relief from student loans in recent years.” The head of the NACBA stated, “This could very well be the next debt bomb for the U.S. economy.” In 1993, 45% of students who earn a bachelor’s degree had to go into debt; today, it is 94%. The average student debt in the United States in 2011 was $23,300, with 10% owning more than $54,000 and 3% owing more than $100,000. President Obama has addressed the situation by simply providing more loans to students. A recent survey of graduates revealed that 40% of them “had delayed making a major purchase, like a home or car, because of college debt, while slightly more than a quarter had put off continuing their education or had moved in with relatives to save money,” and 50% of those surveyed had full-time jobs. Between 2001 and 2011, “state and local financing per student declined by 24 percent nationally.” In the same period of time, “tuition and fees at state schools increased 72 percent.” It would appear that whether in the United States, Canada, or even beyond, the decisions made by schools, banks, and the government, are geared toward increasing the financial burden on students and families, and increasing profits for themselves. The effect will be to plunge the student and youth population into poverty over the coming years. Thus, the student movement in Quebec, instead of being portrayed as “entitled brats” elsewhere, are actually setting an example for students and youth across the continent and beyond. Since Quebec tuition is the lowest on the continent, it gives all the more reason that other students should follow Quebec’s example, instead of Quebec students being told to follow the rest of the country (and continent) into debt bondage.

3)            The student strike was organized through democratic means and with democratic aims: The decision to strike was made through student associations and organizations that uniquely operate through direct-democracy. While most student associations at schools across Canada hold elections where students choose the members of the associations, the democratic accountability ends there (just like with government). Among the Francophone schools in Quebec, the leaders are not only elected by the students, but decisions are made through general assemblies, debate and discussion, and through the votes of the actual constituents, the members of the student associations, not just the leaders. This means that the student associations that voted to strike are more democratically accountable and participatory than most other student associations, and certainly the government. It represents a more profound and meaningful working definition of democracy that is lacking across the rest of the country. The Anglophone student associations that went on strike – from Concordia and McGill – did so because, for the first time ever, they began to operate through direct-democracy. This of course, has resulted in insults and derision from the media. The national media in Canada – most especially the National Post – complain that the student “tactics are anything but democratic,” and that the students aren’t acting in a democratic way, but that “it’s really mob rule.” Obviously, it is naïve to assume that the National Post has any sort of understanding of democracy.

4)            This is not an exclusively Quebecois phenomenon: I am an Anglophone, I don’t even speak French, I have only lived in Montreal for under two years, but the strikers are struggling as much for me as for any other student, Francophone or Anglophone. Typically, when others across Canada see what is taking place here, they frame it along the lines of, “Oh those Quebecois, always yelling about something.” But I’m yelling too… in English. Many people here are yelling… in English. It is true that the majority of the students protesting are Francophone, and the majority of the schools on strike are Francophone, but it is not exclusionary. In fact, the participation in the strike from the Anglophone schools (while a minority within the schools) is unprecedented in Quebec history. This was undertaken because students began mobilizing at the grassroots and emulating the French student groups in how they make decisions (i.e., through direct-democracy). The participation of Anglophone students in the open-ended strike is unprecedented in Quebec history.

5)            Government officials and the media have been openly calling for violence and “fascist” tactics to be used against the students: With all the focus on student violence at protests, breaking bank windows, throwing rocks at riot police, and other acts of vandalism, student leaders have never called for violence against the government or vandalism against property, and have, in fact, denounced it and spoken out for calm, stating: “The student movement wants to fight alongside the populace and not against it.” On the other hand, it has been government officials and the national media which have been openly calling for violence to be used against students. On May 11, Michael Den Tandt, writing for the National Post, stated that, “It’s time for tough treatment of Quebec student strikers,” and recommended to Quebec Premier Jean Charest that, “He must bring down the hammer.” Tandt claimed that there was “a better way” to deal with student protesters: “Dispersal with massive use of tear gas; then arrest, public humiliation, and some pain.” He even went on to suggest that, “caning is more merciful than incarceration,” or perhaps even re-imagining the medieval punishment in which “miscreants and ne’er-do-wells were placed in the stockade, in the public square, and pelted with rotten cabbages. That might not be a bad idea, either.” This, Tandt claimed, would be the only way to preserve “peace, order, and good government.” Kelly McParland, writing the for National Post on May 11, suggested that it was now time for Charest to “empower the police to use the full extent of the law against those who condone or pursue further disruption,” and that the government must make a “show of strength” against the students. If this was not bad enough, get ready for this: A member of the Quebec Liberal Party, head of the tax office in the Municipal Affairs Department, Bernard Guay, wrote an article for a French-language newspaper in Quebec in mid-April advocating a strategy to “end the student strikes.” In the article, the government official recommended using the fascist movements of the 1920s and 1930s as an example in how to deal with “leftists” in giving them “their own medicine.” He suggested organizing a political “cabal” to handle the “wasteful and anti-social” situation, which would mobilize students to not only cross picket lines, but to confront and assault students who wear the little red square (the symbol of the student strike). This, Guay suggested, would help society “overcome the tyranny of Leftist agitators,” no doubt by emulating fascist tyranny. The article was eventually pulled and an apology was issued, while a government superior supposedly reprimanded Guay, though the government refused to elaborate on what that consisted of. Just contemplate this for a moment: A Quebec Liberal government official recommended using “inspiration” from fascist movements to attack the striking students. Imagine if one of the student associations had openly called for violence, let alone for the emulation of fascism. It would be national news, and likely lead to arrests and charges. But since it was a government official, barely a peep was heard.

6)            Excessive state violence has been used against the students: Throughout the three months of protests from students in Quebec, the violence has almost exclusively been blamed on the students. Images of protesters throwing rocks and breaking bank windows inundate the media and ‘inform’ the discourse, demonizing the students as violent, vandals, and destructive. Meanwhile, the reality of state violence being used against the students far exceeds any of the violent reactions from protesters, but receives far less coverage. Riot police meet students with pepper spray, tear gas, concussion grenades, smoke bombs, beating them with batons, shoot them with rubber bullets, and have even been driving police cars and trucks into groups of students. On May 4, on the 42^nd anniversary of the Kent State massacre in which the U.S. National Guard murdered four protesting students, Quebec almost experienced its own Kent State, when several students were critically injured by police, shot with rubber bullets in the face. One student lost an eye, and another remains in the hospital with serious head injuries, including a skull fracture and brain contusion. The Quebec provincial police – the SQ – have not only been involved in violent repression of student protests in Quebec, but have also (along with the RCMP) been involved in training foreign police forces how to violently repress their own populations, such as in Haiti. Roughly 12,000 people in Quebec have signed a petition against the police reaction to student protests, stipulating that the police actions have been far too violent.  In late April, even before the Quebec police almost killed a couple students, Amnesty International “asked the government to call for a toning down of police measures that… are unduly aggressive and might potentially smother students’ right to free expression.” The Quebec government, of course, defends police violence against students and youths. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) – Canada’s spy agency – has recently announced its interest in “gathering intelligence” on Quebec student protesters and related groups as “possible threats to national security.” Coincidentally, Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismantled the government agency responsible for oversight of CSIS, making the agency essentially unaccountable. In reaction to student protests, the City of Montreal is considering banning masks being worn at protests in a new bylaw which is being voted on without public consultation. Thus, apparently it is fine for police to wear gas masks as they shoot chemical agents at Quebec’s youth, but students cannot attempt to even meagerly protect themselves by covering their faces. The federal Conservative government of Stephen Harper is attempting to pass a law that bans masks at protests, which includes a ten-year sentence for “rioters who wear masks.” Quebec has even established a secretive police unit called the GAMMA squad to monitor political groups in the province, which has already targeted and arrested members of the leading student organization behind the strike. The police unit is designed to monitor “anarchists” and “marginal political groups.” Some political groups have acknowledged this as “a declaration of war” by the government against such groups. Spokesperson for the largest student group, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, stated that, “This squad is really a new kind of political police to fight against social movements.” The situation of police repression has become so prevalent that even the U.S. State Department has warned Americans to stay away from student protests in the city, “as bystanders can quickly be caught up in unforeseen violence and in some cases, detained by the local police.”

7)            The government supports organized crime and opposes organized students: The government claims that it must increase the cost of tuition in order to balance the budget and to increase the “competitiveness” of schools. The government has ignored, belittled, undermined, attempted to divide, and outright oppress the student movement. The Liberal Government of Quebec, in short, has declared organized students to be enemies of the state. Meanwhile, that same government has no problem of working with and supporting organized crime, namely, the Montreal Mafia. In 2010, Quebec, under Premier Jean Charest, was declared to be “the most corrupt province” in Canada. A former opposition leader in the Montreal city hall reported that, “the Italian mafia controls about 80 per cent of city hall.” The mafia is a “big player” in the Quebec economy, and “is deeply entrenched in city affairs” of Montreal, as “more than 600 businesses pay Mafia protection money in Montreal alone, handing organized crime leaders an unprecedented degree of control of Quebec’s economy.” The construction industry, especially, is heavily linked to the mafia. The Montreal Mafia is as influential as their Sicilian counterparts, where “all of the major infrastructure work in Sicily is under Mafia control.” In 2009, a government official stated that, “It’s Montreal’s Italian Mafia that controls what is going on in road construction. They control, from what we can tell, 80 per cent of the contracts.” In the fall of 2011, an internal report written by the former Montreal police chief for the government was leaked, stating, “We have discovered a firmly rooted, clandestine universe on an unexpected scale, harmful to our society on the level of safety and economics and of justice and democracy.” The report added, “Suspicions are persistent that an evil empire is taking form in the highway construction domain,” and that, “If there were to be an intensification of influence-peddling in the political sphere, we would no longer simply be talking about marginal, or even parallel criminal activities: we could suspect an infiltration or even a takeover of certain functions of the state.” Quebec Premier Jean Charest, for several years, rejected calls for a public inquiry into corruption in the construction industry, even as the head of Quebec’s anti-collusion squad called for such an inquiry. An opposition party in Quebec stated that Jean Charest “is protecting the (Quebec) Liberal party – and in protecting the Liberal party, Mr. Charest is protecting the Mafia, organized crime.” After the leaked report revealed “cost overruns totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, kickbacks and illegal donations to political parties,” Charest had to – after two years of refusing – open a public inquiry into corruption. The Quebec mafia have not only “run gambling and prostitution and imported stupefying amounts of illegal drugs into Canada, but they have extended their influence to elected civic and provincial governments, and to Liberal and Conservative federal governments through bribery and other ‘illustrious relations’.” The Federal Conservative Party of Canada, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper as its leader, received dozens of donations from Mafia-connected construction and engineering firm employees. The Mafia-industry has also donated to the Federal Liberal Party, but less so than the Conservatives, who hold power. In Quebec, government officials have helped the Mafia charge far more for public-works contracts than they were worth. These Mafia companies would then use a lot of that extra money to fund political parties, most notably, the Liberals, who have been in power for nine years. A former Montreal police officer who worked in the intelligence unit with access to the police’s confidential list of informants was suspected of selling information to the mafia. In January of 2012, he was found dead, reportedly of a suicide. In April of 2012, fifteen arrests were made in Montreal by the police in relation to corruption charges linked to the Mafia. Among them were one of the biggest names in the construction industry, with 14 individual facing conspiracy charges “involving municipal contracts associated with the Mascouche water-treatment plants [that] are connected to big construction, engineering and law firms that have been involved in municipal contracts and politics across the Montreal region for decades. And the individuals have been around the municipal world for years.” One Quebec mayor has even been charged. The Montreal police force has “not been very interested, and it should be,” in helping the anti-corruption investigation. Two of those who were arrested included Quebec Liberal Party fundraisers, one of whom Charest personally delivered an award to in 2010 for his “years of service as an organizer.” All three of Quebec’s main political parties were connected to individuals arrested in the raids. Canada’s federal police force, the RCMP, have refused to cooperate with the Mafia-corruption inquiry in handing over their massive amounts of information to the judge leading the inquiry. Quebec Education Minister Line Beauchamp, who has been leading the government assault against the students, attended a political fundraiser for herself which was attended by a notorious Mafia figure who personally “donated generously to the minister’s Liberal riding association.” As these revelations emerged, Beauchamp stated, “I don’t know the individual in question and even today I wouldn’t be able to recognize him.” At the time, Beauchamp was the Environment Minister, and was responsible for granting the Mafia figure’s company a favourable certificate to expand its business. Beauchamp claimed she did not know about the deal, but as head of the Ministry which handled it, either she is utterly incompetent or a liar. Either way, she is clearly not fit for “public service” if it amounts to nothing more than “service to the Mafia.” The fact that she is now responsible for increasing tuition and leading the attack on students speaks volumes.  Line Beauchamp, when questioned about taking political contributions from the Mafia, stated, “Now that the information is public and the links well established, I would not put myself in that position again.” Well isn’t that reassuring? Now that it’s public, she wouldn’t do it again. That’s sort of like saying, “I wouldn’t have committed the crime if I knew I was going to be caught.” The notion that Beauchamp didn’t know whom this Mafia figure was who was giving her money is absurd. It’s even more absurd when you note that one of Beauchamp’s political attaches was a 30-year veteran of the Montreal police force. As one Quebec political figure commented about the Liberal Government’s Mafia links: “They refuse to sit down with a student leader but they have breakfast with a mafioso … where is the logic in that?” Indeed. It’s clear that the Quebec government has no problem working with, handing out contracts to, and taking money from the Mafia and organized crime. In fact, they are so integrated that the government itself is a form of organized crime. But for that government, and for the media boot-lickers who follow the government line, organized students are the true threat to Quebec. National newspapers declare Quebec students following “mob rule” when it’s actually the government that is closely connected to “mob rule.” The students are challenging and being repressed by a Mafioso-government alliance of industrialists, politicians, financiers and police… yet it is the students who are blamed for everything. The government gives the Mafia public contracts double or triple their actual value, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars (if not more), while students are being asked to pay nearly double their current tuition. There’s money for the mob, but scraps for the students.

8)            Canada’s elites punish the people and oppose the students: It’s not simply the government of Quebec which has set itself against the students, sought to increase their tuition and repress their resistance, often with violent means, but a wide sector of elite society in Quebec and Canada propose tuition increases and blind faith to the state in managing its repression of a growing social movement. As such, the student movement should recognize that not simply are Jean Charest and his Liberal-Mafia government the antagonists of social justice, but the whole elite society itself. As early as 2007, TD Bank, one of Canada’s big five banks, outlined a “plan for prosperity” for the province of Quebec, and directly recommended Quebec to raise tuition costs for students. Naturally, the Quebec government is more likely to listen to a bank than the youth of the province. Banks of course, have an interest in increasing tuition costs for students, as they provide student loans and lines of credit which they charge interest on and make profits. The Royal Bank of Canada acknowledged that student lines of credit are “very popular products.” Elites of all sorts support the tuition increases. In February of 2010, a group of “prominent” (i.e., elitist) Quebecers signed a letter proposing to increase Quebec’s tuition costs. Among the signatories were the former Premier of Quebec for the Parti Quebecois, Lucien Bouchard.  In early May, a letter was published in the Montreal Gazette which stated that students need to pay more for their education in Quebec, signed by the same elitists who proposed the tuition increase back in February of 2010. Initially, this group of elitists had proposed an increase of $1,000 every year for three years. The letter then calls for the application of state power to be employed against the student movement: “It is time that we react. We must reinstate order; the students have to return to class… This is a situation when, regardless of political allegiances, the population must support the state, which is ultimately responsible for public order, the safety of individuals and the integrity of our institutions.” The “integrity” of institutions which cooperate with the Mafia, I might add. What incredible integrity! The letter was signed by Lucien Bouchard, former Premier of Quebec; Michel Audet, an economist and former Finance Minister in the first Charest government in Quebec; Françoise Bertrand, the President and chief executive officer of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (The Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce), where she sits alongside the presidents and executives of major Canadian corporations, banks, and business interests. She also sits on the board of directors of Quebecor Inc., a major media conglomerate, with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on its board. Another signatory was Yves-Thomas Dorval, President of the Quebec Employers’ Council, who formerly worked for British American Tobacco Group, former Vice President at Edelman Canada, an international public relations firm, was a director at a pharmaceutical corporation, head of strategic planning at an insurance company, and previously worked for the Government of Quebec and Hydro-Quebec. Joseph Facal, another signatory to the letter demanding higher tuition and state repression of students, is former president of the Quebec Treasury Board, and was a cabinet minister in the Quebec government of Lucien Bouchard. Other signatories include Pierre Fortin, a professor emeritus at the Université du Québec à Montréal; Michel Gervais, the former rector of Université Laval; Monique Jérôme-Forget, former finance minister of Quebec and former president of the Quebec Treasury Board, member of the Quebec Liberal Party between 1998 and 2009, was responsible for introducing public-private partnerships in Quebec’s infrastructure development (which saw enormous cooperation with the Mafia), and is on the board of directors of Astral Media. Robert Lacroix, another co-signer, was former rector of the Université de Montréal is also a fellow at CIRANO, a Montreal-based think tank which is governed by a collection of university heads, business executives, and bankers, including representatives from Power Corporation (owned by the Desmarais family). Another signatory is Michel Leblanc, president and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, a prominent business organization in Montreal, of which the board of directors includes a number of corporate executives, mining company representatives, university board members, bankers and Hélène Desmarais, who married into the Desmarais family. Another signatory is Claude Montmarquette, professor emeritus at the Université de Montréal, who is also a member of the elitist CIRANO think tank, which as a “research institution” (for elites) has recommended increasing Quebec’s tuition costs for several years. Another signatory was Marcel Boyer, a Bell Canada Professor of industrial economics at the Université de Montréal, Vice-president and chief economist at the Montreal Economic Institute, is the C.D. Howe Scholar in Economic Policy at the C.D. Howe Institute, Member of the Board of the Agency for Public-Private Partnerships of Québec, and Visiting Senior Research Advisor for industrial economics at Industry Canada. At the Montreal Economic Institute, Boyer sits alongside notable elitists, bankers, and corporate executives, including Hélène Desmarais, who married into the Desmarais family (the most powerful family in Canada). At the C.D. Howe Institute, Boyer works for even more elitists, as the board of directors is made up of some of Canada’s top bankers, corporate executives, and again includes Hélène Desmarais. The Desmarais family, who own Power Corporation and its many subsidiaries, as well as a number of foreign corporations in Europe and China, are Canada’s most powerful family. The patriarch, Paul Desmarais Sr., has had extremely close business and even family ties to every Canadian Prime Minister since Pierre Trudeau, and all Quebec premiers (save two) in the past several decades. The Desmarais’ have strong links to the Parti Quebecois, the Liberals, Conservatives, and even the NDP, and socialize with presidents and prime ministers around the world, as well as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, and even Spanish royalty. Paul Desmarais Sr. has “a disproportionate influence on politics and the economy in Quebec and Canada,” and he especially “has a lot of influence on Premier Jean Charest.” When former French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave Desmarais the French Legion of Honour, Desmarais brought Jean Charest with him. Quebec author Robin Philpot commented that Desmarais “took him along like a poodle,” referring to Charest. The Desmarais family has extensive ties to Canadian and especially Quebec politicians, have extensive interests in Canadian and international corporations and banks, are closely tied to major national and international think tanks (including the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberg Group), and even host an annual international think tank conference in Montreal, the Conference of Montreal. The Desmarais family have had very close ties to Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien, Paul Martin, and even Stephen Harper, and to Quebec premiers, including Lucien Bouchard, who co-authored the article in the Gazette advocating increased tuition. The Desmarais empire also includes ownership of seven of the ten French newspapers in Quebec, including La Presse. The Desmarais family stand atop a parasitic Canadian oligarchy, which has bankers and corporate executives controlling the entire economy, political parties, the media, think tanks which set policy, and even our educational institutions, with the chancellors of both Concordia and McGill universities serving on the boards of the Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank of Canada, respectively, as well as both schools having extensive leadership ties to Power Corporation and the Desmarais family. It is this very oligarchy which demands the people pay more, go further into debt, suffer and descend into poverty, while they make record profits. In March of 2012, Power Corporation reported fourth quarter profits of $314 million, with yearly earnings at over $1.1 billion. Canada’s banks last year made record profits, and then decided to increase bank fees. At the end of April, it was reported that Canada’s banks had received a “secret bailout” back in 2008/09, from both the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve, amounting to roughly $114 billion, or $3,400 for every Canadian man, woman, and child (more than the cost of yearly tuition in Quebec). And yet Quebec youth are told we suffer from “entitlement.” And now banks are expected to be making even more profits, as reported in early May. As banks make more record profits, Canadians are going deeper into debt. The big Canadian banks, along with the federal government, have colluded to create a massive housing bubble in Canada, most especially in Toronto and Vancouver, and with average Canadian household debt at $103,000, most of which is held in mortgages, and with the Bank of Canada announcing its intent to raise interest rates, Canada is set for a housing crisis like that seen in the United States in 2008, forcing the people to suffer while the banks make a profit. The head of the Bank of Canada (a former Goldman Sachs executive) said that Canadian household debt is the biggest threat to the Canadian economy, but don’t worry, Canada’s Finance Minister said he is working in close cooperation with the big banks to intervene in the housing market if necessary, which would likely mean another bailout for the big banks, and of course, hand the check to you! So, Canada has its priorities: every single Canadian man, woman, and child owes $3,400 for a secret bank bailout to banks that are now making record profits and increasing their fees, while simultaneously explaining that there is no money for education, so we will have to pay more for that, too, which is something those same banks demand our governments do to us. When the students stand up, they are said to be “brats” and whining about “entitlements.” But then, what does that make the banks? This is why I argue that Canada’s elites are parasitic in their very nature, slowly draining the host (that’s us!) of its life until there is nothing left the extract.

9)            The student strike is being subjected to a massive and highly successful propaganda campaign to discredit, dismiss, and demonize the students: In the vast majority of coverage on the student strike and protests in Quebec, the media and its many talking heads have undertaken a major propaganda campaign against the students. The students have been consistently ignored, dismissed, derided, insulted and attacked. One Canadian newspaper said it was “hard to feel sorry” for Quebec students, who were “whining and crying” and “kicking up a fuss,” treating Canada’s young generation like ungrateful children throwing a collective tantrum. In almost every article about the student strike, the main point brought up to dismiss the students is that Quebec has the lowest tuition costs in North America. The National Post published a column written by a third-year political science student at McGill University in Montreal stating that, “Quebec students must pay their share,” and advised people to “ignore the overheated rhetoric from student strikers,” and that, “Jean Charest must go full steam ahead.” The student author, Brendan Steven, is co-founder of McGill’s Moderate Political Action Committee (ModPAC), which is an organizing mobilizing McGill students in opposition to the strike. Steven’s organization attacked striking student associations as “illegitimate, unconstitutional shams” and attacked the democratic functioning of other student associations holding general assemblies. Steven complained that the democratic general assemblies “are being invented on a whim.” Brendan Steven not only gets to write columns for the National Post, but gets interviewed on CBC. Steven’s anti-strike group sent a letter to the McGill administration complaining about pro-strike students on the campus, writing, “This group violates our democratic right to access an education without fear of harm,” and added: “We are demanding the McGill administration take action against this minority group before the current conflicts escalate into disasters. They have proven they will not remain peaceful.” As a lap-dog boot-licking power worshipper, Brendan Steven has a future for himself in politics, that’s for sure! Back in January, Steven wrote an article for the Huffington Post in which he explained that the reason why CEOs get paid so much is because “they’re worth it.” He referred to Milton Friedman – the father of neoliberalism – as a “great economic thinker.” Back in November of 2011, Steven wrote an article for the McGill Daily entitled, “Do not demonize authorities,” and then went on to justify police violence against protesting students engaged in an occupation of a school building, which he characterized as “an inherently hostile act.” Steven later got an opportunity to appear on CBC’s The Current. Margaret Wente, writing for the Globe and Mail, wrote that, “It’s a little hard for the rest of us to muster sympathy for Quebec’s downtrodden students, who pay the lowest tuition fees in all of North America.” She then referred to the striking students as “the baristas of tomorrow and they don’t even know it.” Wente then attempted to explain the Quebec students by writing: “Now I get it: The kids are on another planet.” Interesting how she used the word “kids” to just add a little extra condescension. But it seems clear that Wente “gets” very little. In an August 2011 column, Wente tried to explain why poor black communities in Britain and America were experiencing riots and gang activity, placing blame on “single-mothers” and “family breakdown,” and explained that, “Rootless, unmoored young men with no stake in society are a major threat to social order.” Explaining this demographic in economic terms, Wente wrote: “They are, quite simply, surplus to requirements.” In another column, Wente argued that helping deliver much-needed humanitarian supplies to Gaza would “enable terrorists.” Wente also wrote an article entitled, “The poor are doing better than you think,” suggesting that it’s not so bad for poor people because they have air conditioning, DVD players, and cable TV. Wente has been consistently critical of the Occupy movement, and suggested in another article that, “the biggest economic challenge we face today is not income inequality, greedy corporations, Wall Street corruption or the concentration of wealth among the top 1 per cent. It’s the increasing failure of young men with high-school degrees or less to latch on to the world of work.” Of course, in Wente’s world, the inability of young men to get a job has nothing to do with income inequality, greedy corporations, Wall Street corruption or the concentration of wealth. In another article criticizing the Occupy movement, Wente managed to argue that it was not Wall Street and bankers that have destroyed the economy and left people without jobs, but rather what she refers to as the “virtueocracy,” blaming unions, single mothers who gets masters degrees in social sciences, and people who want to work at NGOs and non-profits, doing “transformational, world-saving work.” So it’s Wente’s “insightful” voice which is “informing” Canadians about the student movement in Quebec. Other Canadian publications writing about the Quebec student strike have headlines like, “Reality check for the entitled,” repeating the idiotic argument that because Quebec students pay less than the rest of Canada, they shouldn’t be “complaining” about the hikes. Andrew Coyne wrote a syndicated column in which he claimed that, “Quebec students know violence works,” framing the protest at which police almost killed two students as an action “of general rage the students had promised.” With no mention of the student who lost an eye, or the other student who ended up in the hospital with critical head injuries, Coyne talked about a cop who “was beaten savagely” and “lay helpless on the ground.” No mention, of course, of the police truck that drove into a group of students moments later, or the fact that the cop who was “beaten savagely” got away with minor injuries, unlike the students who were shot in the face with rubber bullets. By simply omitting police brutality and violence, Coyne presented the student movement as itself inherently violent, instead of at times erupting in violent reactions to state violence, which is far more extreme in every case. The Toronto Sun even had an article which claimed that the students have employed tactics of “thuggery” and “violent criminal behaviour.” Publications regularly ask their readers if Quebec students have “legitimate” grievances, if they are fighting for “social justice,” or if they are just “spoiled brats.” A syndicated column from the Vancouver Sun by Licia Corbella was titled, “How rioting students help make me grateful.” She discussed her latest visit to church where the pastor advised: “Parents, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them,” and mentioned how parents anger their children by “belittling them, underestimating them and not treating them as individuals.” Corbella then took particular note of how parents provoke and enrage children “when we give them a sense of entitlement.” With the word “entitlement,” Corbella naturally then began thinking about Quebec students, as according to Corbella’s pastor, “entitlement leads to rage.” Corbella wrote that rioting “is, in essence, what a spoiled two-year-old would do if they had the ability.” She further wrote: “In Quebec, these entitled youth, who believe the rest of society MUST provide them with an almost free education or else, have blocked other students from accessing the educations they paid for, burned vehicles, smashed shop windows, looted property and severely beaten up a police officer who got separated from the rest of his colleagues.” Again, no mention of the two students who were almost killed by police at the same event. Corbella quoted someone interviewed on TV, endorsing the claim that the student protests are “starting to resemble terrorism,” though she took issue with the word “starting.” This is the result of creating, according to Corbell, “an entitlement society.” Apparently, the pastor’s lesson about not “belittling” the young did not sink in with Corbella. An article in the Chronicle Herald asked, “What planet are these kids on?” The author then wrote that, “the irony is that these students now want the system to accommodate their desires and for someone else to pay the bill,” and that, “students should stop making foolish demands.” Other articles claim that students “need a lesson in economics.” After all, the fact that the majority of economists, fully armed with “lessons in economics,” were unable to predict the massive global economic crisis in 2008, should obviously not lead to any questioning of the ideology of modern economic theory. No, it would be better for students to learn about the ocean from those who couldn’t see a tsunami as it approached the beach. Another article, written by a former speechwriter to the Prime Minister of Canada, wrote that the student arguments were vacuous and that the youth were in a “state of complete denial.” Rex Murphy, a commentator with the National Post and CBC, referred to the student strike as “short-sighted” and that student actions were “crude attempts at precipitating a crisis.” Student actions, he claimed, were the “actions of a mob” and were “simply wrong,” and thus, should be “condemned.” The CBC has been particularly terrible in their coverage of the student movement. With few exceptions, the Canadian media have established a consensus in opposition to the student protests, and use techniques of omission, distortion, or outright condemnation in order to promote a distinctly anti-student stance.

10)            The student movement is part of a much larger emerging global movement of resistance against austerity, neoliberalism, and corrupt power: In the coverage and discourse about the student movement, very little context is given in placing this student movement in a wider global context. The British newspaper, The Guardian, acknowledged this context, commenting on the red squares worn by striking students (a symbol of going squarely into the red, into debt), explaining that they have “become a symbol of the most powerful challenge to neoliberalism on the continent.” The article also adopted the term promoted by the student movement itself to describe the wider social context of the protests, calling it the “Maple Spring.” The author placed the fight against tuition increases in the context of a struggle against austerity measures worldwide, writing: “Forcing students to pay more for education is part of a transfer of wealth from the poor and middle-class to the rich – as with privatization and the state’s withdrawal from service-provision, tax breaks for corporations and deep cuts to social programs.” The article noted how the student movement has linked up with civic groups against a Quebec government plan to subsidize mining companies in exploiting the natural resources of Northern Quebec (Plan Nord), taking land from indigenous peoples to give to multibillion dollar corporations. As one of the student leaders stated, the protest was about more than tuition and was aimed at the elite class itself, “Those people are a single elite, a greedy elite, a corrupt elite, a vulgar elite, an elite that only sees education as an investment in human capital, that only sees a tree as a piece of paper and only sees a child as a future employee.” The student strike has thus become a social movement. The protests aim at economic disruption through civil disobedience, and have garnered the support of thousands of protesters, and 200,000 protesters on March 22, and close to 300,000 on April 22. Protests have blocked entrances to banks, disrupted a conference for the Plan Nord exploitation, linking the movement with indigenous and environmental groups. It was only when the movement began to align with other social movements and issues that the government even accepted the possibility of speaking to students. Unions have also increasingly been supporting the student strike, including with large financial contributions. Though, the large union support for the student movement was also involved in attempted co-optation and undermining of the students. At the negotiations between the government and the students, the union leaders convinced the student leaders to accept the deal, which met none of the student demands and kept the tuition increases intact. There was a risk that the major unions were essentially aiming to undermine the student movement. But the student groups, which had to submit the agreement to democratic votes, rejected the horrible government offer. Thus the Maple Spring continues. Quebec is not the only location with student protests taking place. In Chile, a massive student movement has emerged and developed over the past year, changing the politics of the country and challenging the elites and the society they have built for their own benefit. One of the leaders of the Chilean student movement is a 23-year old young woman, Camila Vallejo, who has attained celebrity status. In Quebec’s student movement, the most visible and vocal leader is 21-year old Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who has also achieved something of celebrity status within the province. Just as in Quebec, student protests in Chile are met with state violence, though in the Latin American country, the apparatus of state violence is the remnants of a U.S.-supported military dictatorship. Still, this does not stop tens of thousands of students going out into the streets in Santiago, as recently as late April. Protests by students have also been emerging elsewhere, often in cooperation and solidarity with the Occupy movement and other anti-austerity protests. Silent protests are emerging at American universities where students are protesting their massive debts. California students have been increasingly protesting increased tuition costs. Student protests at UC Berkeley ended with 12 citations for trespassing. Some students in California have even begun a hunger strike against tuition increases. In Brooklyn, New York, students protesting against tuition increases, many of them wearing the Quebec “red square” symbol, were assaulted by police officers. Even high school students in New York have been protesting. Israeli social activists are back on the streets protesting against austerity measures. An Occupy group has resumed protests in London. The Spanish indignado movement, which began in May of 2011, saw a resurgence on the one year anniversary, with another round of anti-austerity protests in Spain, bringing tens of thousands of protesters, mostly youths, out into the streets of Madrid, and more than 100,000 across the country. Their protest was met with police repression. Increasingly, students, the Occupy movement, and other social groups are uniting in protests against the costs of higher education and the debts of students. This is indeed the context in which the ‘Maple Spring’ – the Quebec student movement – should be placed, as part of a much broader global anti-austerity movement.

So march on, students. Show Quebec, Canada, and the world what it takes to oppose parasitic elites, mafia-connected politicians, billionaire bankers, and seek to change a social, political, and economic system that benefits the few at the expense of the many.

Solidarity, brothers and sisters!

For a comprehensive analysis of the Quebec student strike, see: “The Québec Student Strike: From ‘Maple Spring’ to Summer Rebellion?”

For up to date news and information of student movements around the world, join this Facebook page: We Are the Youth Revolution.

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project. He also hosts a weekly podcast show, “Empire, Power, and People,” on BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Class War and the College Crisis, Part 7

By: Andrew Gavin Marshall

Paul Desmarais Sr. (left), Nicolas Sarkozy (centre), and Quebec Premier Jean Charest (right)

Part 1: The “Crisis of Democracy” and the Attack on Education

Part 2: The Purpose of Education: Social Uplift or Social Control?

Part 3: Of Prophets, Power, and the Purpose of Intellectuals

Part 4: Student Strikes, Debt Domination, and Class War in Canada

Part 5: Canada’s Economic Collapse and Social Crisis

Part 6: The Québec Student Strike: From ‘Maple Spring’ to Summer Rebellion?

As hundreds of thousands of students in the province of Québec continue to strike into their 13^th week against tuition increases, as the provincial government continues to employ legal repression and state violence against the youth, as Canadian families are over $100,000 in debt, as a looming housing crisis begins to rear its ugly head, as youth unemployment increases, student debt explodes, jobs vanish, poverty deepens, and oppression increases, it’s time to meet those responsible, those who are doing better than ever, those who are making record profits, sitting comfortably in their estates which are larger than the entire island of Manhattan, who travel by helicopter and private jet, who co-mingle with the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, Spanish royalty, presidents and prime ministers at home and abroad: meet Canada’s ruling oligarchy.

As this series, “Class War and the College Crisis,” is more focused on the issue of education, I will focus here on the composition of the oligarchy in terms of how they control our educational system. This part in the series will be part article and part research annex. First, I will introduce the reader to Canada’s most powerful family, our version of the Rockefeller’s south of the border, or the Rothschilds in Europe, and of course, all these families are close in both business and social circles. Such is the nature of being an elite in a globalized world. The Desmarais family, located in the province of Québec, are without question the most influential and powerful family in the country, and it’s no wonder, considering their power is vested in an investment company known as Power Corporation.

Why is Power Corporation important?

The name says it all: it has Power. Founded in 1925, Power Corporation of Canada is an investment company involved in communications, business, and especially finance. Power Corporation was founded by A.J. Nesbitt and P.A. Thomson, two partners in the Montreal investment firm, Nesbitt, Thomson and Company, who wanted to consolidate Canada’s power sector, and established Power Corporation as a ‘holding company,’ meaning, it owns other corporations. In the 1960s, the company began to invest in energy, finance, industry, and real estate. In 1968, financier Paul Desmarais took over the leadership of Power Corporation, and rapidly expanded the assets held by the company, including by the 1970s: Canada Steamship Lines (transportation); Consolidated Bathurst (pulp and paper); Investors Group, Great-West Life, Montreal Trust (financial services); and Gesca (communications). Power Corporation expanded across Canada, Europe, and into China. Paul Desmarais stepped aside as Chairman and CEO in 1996, though remaining as the controlling shareholder, and had his two sons, Paul Jr. and André, become Chairman and President and Co-CEOs. Power Corporation owns Gesca, a communications company which in turn owns La Presse as well as six other daily newspapers in Quebec.

The Desmarais family, wrote Christa d’Souza for the London Telegraph, are “Canada’s equivalent of the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts.”[1] Indeed, it would appear that the Desmarais are very much akin to the Rockefellers, the most powerful family in the United States, and one of the most powerful families in the world (perhaps only challenged by the older European-based Rothschild banking family). The Rockefeller family developed the Standard Oil empire, which branched off into several different oil companies, including Exxon and Chevron; founded the Rockefeller Foundation as an engine of social engineering, founded the University of Chicago, became a dominant force in global banking (through Citibank and JP Morgan Chase), highly influential in politics (Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and Senator Jay Rockefeller), and of course, remain a dominant influence in think tanks, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group, and the Trilateral Commission, which ultimately play a major role in shaping policies of industrial nations.

The Desmarais family, while not as powerful in a global sense as the Rockefellers, have nevertheless made themselves a powerful name in the global oligarchy, and most certainly the most powerful family in Canada. Paul Desmarais Sr. is one of Canada’s richest individuals, which is, of course, no surprise, and as Konrad Yakabuski wrote for the Globe and Mail, “Desmarais has been personally consulted by prime ministers on every major federal economic and constitutional initiative since the 1970s. Most of the time, they’ve taken his advice.” Power Corporation has taken large stakes in major European companies such as Bertelsmann, Total and Suez. Peter Munk, a friend of Paul Desmarais and the CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation (a major mining company profiting off of genocide in the Congo), said that, “Paul built that business with an enormous capability for networking that no one in Canadian history has ever matched. And the boys got introduced to his contacts. They were educated well, they married well. And they’ve behaved.” In the mid-1960s, a protégé of Desmarais was a young Montreal lawyer named Brian Mulroney, who would later become Canada’s Prime Minister. Paul Sr. groomed his sons, and especially André, who is now perhaps the most well-known Canadian businessman in China. André also married the daughter of another Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien. Desmarais Sr. also got involved in French banking through Paribas, and later, Pargesa, which handled investments in a wide range of European corporations, and shot Desmarais into the accepted ranks of French nobility and the old-monied European elite. Paul Desmarais Jr. is close friends with the recent French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and socializes with Spanish royalty, the Rothschilds, and other European oligarchs.[2]

The Desmarais family have strong connections to Canada’s four major political parties: the Liberals, Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois, and the NDP. This has included close ties to Lucien Bouchard, former leader of the Parti Québecois and Premier of Quebec, Jean Chrétien, former Canadian Prime Minister; Brian Mulroney, former Canadian Prime Minister who worked for Power Corporation; Bob Rae, an NDP leader, and Paul Martin, another Liberal Prime Minister who worked for Power Corporation. When André Pratte, the chief editorialist of the Desmerais-owned paper La Presse, wrote in 1994 that, “Power Corp. controls everything, everyone knows that. Chrétien, [then Quebec premier Daniel] Johnson, it’s Power Corp,” Paul Desmarais Sr. intervened directly with the paper to ensure that Pratte was demoted. Claude Masson, the deputy publisher of La Presse at the time, stated that, “When you bite the hand that feeds you, there are consequences.”[3] Indeed, the hand bites back.

The Desmarais’ also have close connections with James Wolfensohn, the former President of the World Bank, who has extensive ties to the Rockefeller family. Paul Jr. married Hélene Blouin, the “founder and CEO of le Centre d’entreprises et d’innovation de Montréal, an incubator for tech businesses; a director of the Montreal Board of Trade; chairman of HEC Montréal; and a co-founder of the Montreal Economic Institute, a think tank that has become Quebec’s leading policy advocate on the non-partisan right.” André married France Chrétien, daughter of Jean Chrétien, and he even served as a press secretary to Jean Chrétien while he was Minister of Justice in the Pierre Trudeau government. In the 1990s, the international advisory board of Power Corporation included former Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney and Pierre Trudeau. Brian Mulroney was sure to create friendly ties between the Desmarais family and soon-to-be Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who put two Desmarais-connected politicians in his cabinet, Peter Mackay and Maxime Bernier.[4]

Quebec author Robin Philpot wrote a scathing critique of the power of the Desmarais family several years ago, suggesting that, “Over the last several years, [Paul Desmarais Sr.] has spun his web to such an extent that it now enables him to call the shots,” especially in promoting his right-wing economic vision, with “a disproportionate influence on politics and the economy in Quebec and Canada.” Of course, it’s not only Canadian politicians with whom Desmarais is close, but French and American politicians as well, including Sarkozy, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Desmarais owns seven of the ten French-language newspapers in Quebec, and has been close to nearly every Quebec premier, apart from Parti Québécois leaders Jacques Parizeau and Bernard Landry. Philpot alleged that Desmarais “has a lot of influence on Premier Jean Charest,” who is the current premier imposing tuition increases. When Desmarais received the French Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honour) from Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean Charest was in attendance, of which Philpot stated, “He took him along like a poodle.” Philpot added, “It’s a very unhealthy situation for a government to be indebted to a businessman that has his own interest at heart. They get their hands tied.”[5]

Jean-François Lisée, the director of the Center for International Studies and Research at the University of Montreal stated that, “They are in a class all by themselves… There’s the Desmaraises, then there’s everyone else.” However, as one man close to the family said, in regards to their influence in politics, “We live in a village in Canada, and there are a lot of circumstances which come together which make it appear as if there’s some great manipulation… These are the coincidences of life. It might be more notorious than substantial.”[6] Indeed, the elite live in “a village,” and that’s the whole point, which is, I might add, “substantial.”

In rural Quebec, the Desmarais family has an estate the size of Manhattan, with a private golf course and pheasant shooting range, as well as a music pavilion where opera is performed. This is the home of Paul Desmarais Sr. Guests, such as former U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, come play golf on this vast estate, and are flown in on helicopters belonging either to Power Corporation or Desmarais personally. As one of Canada’s richest billionaires, this is a simple matter. Power Corporation, which owns a controlling share in Power Financial Corporation, an insurance giant, has established ties with one of Belgium’s richest men, Albert Frere, with whom they have been in business for decades, and together hold significant shares of Total SA (the third largest oil company in Europe), Lafarge SA (the world’s largest cement maker), and GDF Suez SA (the world’s second largest utility company).[7]

The Desmarais family has even had the internationally renowned Cirque du Soleil perform on their massive 15,000-acre estate. King Juan Carlos of Spain has even been a guest from time to time. André Desmarais is himself a member of the Trilateral Commission, founded by David Rockefeller, and is also on the International Advisory Board of David Rockefeller’s former bank, JP Morgan Chase, alongside other notables such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Both brothers have regularly attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group, of which David Rockefeller is a top official (founded in 1954 as an elite think tank linking Western Europe and North America). The Desmarais also hold a major international meeting of elites in Montreal every year, the Conference de Montreal, drawing in thousands of top policy-makers, industrialists, bankers, strategists, and international elites from the major nations of the world. A son of Paul Desmarais Jr., Paul Desmarais III, is a banker with Goldman Sachs. At times, the influence of the family is shyly acknowledged. As French President Sarkozy stated upon awarding Paul Desmarais Sr. with the French Legion of Honour, “If I am the president of France today, it is thanks in part to the advice, the friendship and the loyalty of Paul Desmarais.”[8]

So while Quebec students are being asked to pay double their current tuition to reduce public spending, the Desmarais family is hob-nobbing around with a top public-sector individual responsible for investing $150 billion in Quebecers’ public-sector pension and insurance plans, Michael Sabia. Though apparently a weekend stay at the Desmarais estate by Sabia did not involve business discussions, it was merely “friendly.” No doubt. Meanwhile, Power Financial profits rose 37% in March of 2012, earning the company $533 million, while Power Corporation itself earned $314 million in the same amount of time, with its profits also increasing by 37%.[9]

The Canadian Oligarchy Assaults Democracy

In the 1970s, just as the United States elite were organizing for their assault on the democratic advances brought about by the activism and popular mobilizations of the 1960s, so too was Canada. With the Powell Memo and the Trilateral Commission’s “Crisis of Democracy” report in the early and mid 1970s, we saw the emergence of a vast array of right-wing pro-business think tanks which sought to – and successfully did – promote neoliberalism and thus, created enormous repercussions for universities and education. Canada was not to be left behind in the elitist assault on democracy.

As William Carroll and Murray Shaw wrote in the journal Canadian Public Policy: “Integral to the rise and consolidation of neoliberal hegemony were the emergence of new centres of class-wide business activism and the retooling of established policy institutes along neoliberal lines.” A few major think tanks and policy institutes were integral to this approach for Canada. The Conference Board of Canada was founded in 1954 when the New York Conference Board opened an office in Montreal, later moved to Ottawa, and now one of the largest think tanks in Canada, linking academia, government and corporate elites. The Private Planning Association of Canada (PPAC) was founded in 1958 by members of the Canadian American Committee (CAC), “a group of business and labour leaders from Canada and the US” who were seeking closer and deeper ties between Canada and the United States, specifically in relation to trade. When the PPAC merged with the C.D. Howe Memorial Foundation in 1973, the C.D. Howe Institute was formed. The C.D. Howe Institute became a major force pushing for free trade agreements such as NAFTA, and by the mid-1990s, was portraying social programs as a major source of Canada’s economic problems.[10]

The Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) – now known as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) – was founded to create consensus on policy issues among Canada’s top 150 CEOs, making it less of a think tank, and more of a “shadow government.” Founded in 1976 in order to bring together the corporate elite of Canada into forming a more long-term strategic position with the government, directly lobbying the state. The mandate of the Council is “to ensure that Canadian chief executives play an influential role in the international financial, trade, investment, environmental and foreign affairs domains.” Since the era of the Trudeau Liberals, politicians have come and gone from power, but the Council, “the voice and organizational embodiment of corporate rule, is a permanent presence.” Another major player is the Fraser Institute (FI), dedicated to mythical “free market” policies and neoliberalism, founded in 1973 with money from fifteen different mining executives, and is essentially a replica of the American Enterprise Institute in the United States. The Fraser Institute is perhaps the most quoted institution in the Canadian media, ensuring that its neoliberal ideology is firmly entrenched in popular ‘information’ (i.e., propaganda). One study from 1998 showed that over the course of a year, the left-wing think tank, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives was quoted in business news stories 16 times, while the Fraser Institute was quoted in over 140 stories.[11]

Today, Hélène Desmarais, wife of Paul Desmarais Jr., is on the board of the C.D. Howe Institute, alongside top officials from GE Canada, Manulife Canada, HSBC Canada, Enbridge, Barrick Gold, BMO Financial Group, and a number of other top financial and industrial corporations. Power Corporation is listed among the C.D. Howe Institute’s supporters, alongside other notable entities such as: Astral Media (a major media conglomerate), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barrick Gold Corporation, BMO Financial Group, Bombardier, Canadian Bankers Association, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, CIBC, Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Oil Sands Limited, Cargill Limited, CN, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Desjardins Group, Deutsche Bank, Enbridge, Encana, Ford Motor Company, HSBC, Google, Imperial Tobacco, JP Morgan, National Bank of Canada, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, RBC Financial Group, Rio Tinto Alcan, Scotiabank, Shell Canada, SNC Lavalin, Standard Life Financial, Swiss Bankers Association, TD Bank Group, and many others. The C.D. Howe Institute also gets a good deal of financial support from several Canadian universities, including Carelton, HEC Montréal, Laval, McMaster, Queen’s, Ryerson, Calgary, Lethbridge, Western Ontario, Université de Sherbrooke, U. of Alberta, UBC, Ottawa, Saskatchewan, U of T, and Wilfred Laurier University.[12]

Looking at Power

The board of directors of Power Corporation includes: Pierre Beaudoin, President and CEO of Bombardier; Marcel R. Coutu, President and CEO of Canadian Oil Sands Limited and Chairman of Syncrude Canada, director of Great-West Lifeco (owned by Power Corporation), and is a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives; Laurent Dassault, Vice President of Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault (a Paris-based investment and financing company), and a director of a number of European companies, including SITA, Generali France, Kudelski, and the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild Europe (a major banking house owned by the Rothschild family); Guy Fortin, Vice Chairman of Sanpalo Investments, former senior partner at Ogilvy Renault, Chairman of the Canadian Tax Foundation; Anthony R. Graham, President of Wittington Investments, formerly with National Bank Financial Inc., Chairman of President’s Choice Bank, on the board of Power Financial, Loblaw Companies, George Weston Limited, Brown Thomas Group Ltd, Holt Renfrew & Co., the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Council for Business and the Arts in Canada, and is a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives; Robert Gratton, former Chairman and CEO of Montreal Trust, director of Power Financial, member of the Harvard Business School Canadian Advisory Board, the Conference Board of Canada, the C.D. Howe Institute, and the Trilateral Commission; Isabelle Marcoux, Vice Chair of the board of Transcontinental Inc., on the boards of George Weston Ltd., Rogers Communications, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal; Donald Mazankowski, director of Power Financial, former member of the Canadian House of Commons and member of Parliament for 25 years, former Canadian Minister of Transport, Deputy Prime Minister, President of the Queen’s Privy Council, and Government House Leader, and is a former member of the board of governors of the University of Alberta.

Other board members include: Raymond L. McFeetors, Vice Chairman of Power Financial and Chairman of Great-West Lifeco, a director of London Life, Canada Life Financial, Canada Life, Crown Life, IGM Financial, Investors Group, Mackenzie Financial, Putnam Investments; Jerry E. A. Nickerson, Chairman of Nickerson & Sons Ltd., director of several Power Corporation companies, honorary director of the Bank of Montreal; James R. Nininger, on the Board of Management of the Canada Revenue Agency (responsible for administering the tax laws of Canada and most of the provinces), on the board of Canadian Pacific Railway, former President and CEO of The Conference Board of Canada (a major research institute/think tank); R. Jeffrey Orr, President and CEO of Power Financial, a board member of several Power group subsidiaries, former Chairman and CEO of BMO Nesbitt Burns and Vice Chairman of the Bank of Montreal’s Investment Banking Group, and is a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives; Robert Parizeau, Chairman of Aon Parizeau, Inc., director of National Bank Life Insurance Company, former Chairman of Gaz Métro, former director of Van Houtte, and director of the National Bank of Canada for over 20 years, and is a director of the Institute of Corporate Directors; Michel Plessis-Bélair, Vice Chairman of Power Corporation, director of several Power group subsidiaries, and a director of Lallemand Inc., Université de Montréal, Hydro-Québec, and is a member of the International Advisory Board of École des hautes etudes commerciales (HEC) of Montréal (Business School of Montreal); John A. Rae, director of a number of Power subsidiaries, a director of Fednav Ltd, BNP Paribas (Canada), McGill University Health Centre Foundation, former Executive Assistant to Jean Chrétien, National Campaign Chairman for Jean Chrétien’s 1984 and 1990 leadership campaigns, and Coordinator of the National Campaign of the Liberal Party of Canada for the 1993, 1997, and 2000 elections, and is also Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Queen’s University; Henri-Paul Rousseau, a director of several Power group subsidiaries, board member of the Global Financial Markets Association, former President and CEO of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec (which manages public pensions for the province of Quebec), former President and CEO of the Laurentian Bank of Canada, former CEO of Boréal Assurances Inc., and former Senior VP of the National Bank of Canada; T. Timothy Ryan, Jr., President and CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), the leading trade association representing global financial market participants, CEO of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA), a director of a number of Power subsidiaries, as well as a director of Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyds TSB Bank, HBOS, the Bank of Scotland, and the United States-Japan Foundation, formerly a top official with J.P. Morgan, is a private sector member of the Global Markets Advisory Committee for the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), the Council which oversees all sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies; and Emoke J.E. Szathmary, President Emeritus of the University of Manitoba, former President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Manitoba, Provost and Vice President of McMaster University, and former Dean of the Faculty of Social Science of the University of Western Ontario, is currently a director of a number of Power subsidiaries, and is a director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Board of Governors of McMaster University.

And of course, we have the Desmarais family themselves, including Paul Desmarais Sr., Paul Desmarais Jr., who is not only a director of several Power subsidiaries, but is Vice Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of Pargesa, a director of Group Bruxelles Lambert, GDF Suez, Total, Lafarge, and is a member of the European Institute of Business Administration, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Economic Forum of the Americas, a trustee and Co-Chair of the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institute, founder and member of the International Advisory Board of the McGill University Faculty of Management in Montreal, and the founder and member of the International Advisory Committee of HEC (business school) in Montreal. André Desmarais is not only on several Power subsidiaries, former Special Assistant to the Minister of Justice of Canada, a director of Pargesa in Europe, CITIC Pacific Ltd. in China, is a member of the Chairman’s International Advisory Council of the Americas Society (founded by David Rockefeller), and is Honorary Chairman of the Canada China Business Council.

As for Power Financial, while there is a great deal of overlap between the two boards, there are some unique names on the board of Power Financial. Among these are J. Brian Aune, President of Aldervest Inc., former Chairman of St. James Financial Corporation, is Governor Emeritus of Concordia University; V. Peter Harder, President of the Canada China Business Council, former Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, former Deputy Minister of the Treasury Board, Solicitor General, Citizenship and Immigration, and Industry Canada, and is a director of IGM Financial, TimberWest, Telesat Canada, Energizer Resources, Northland Power, Pinetree Capital Ltd, and is an independent advisor to the Auditor General of Canada.

The Oligarchy of Education

Canada’s universities, like all universities, are governed by bankers and corporate executives, foundation officials, and think tank presidents, media moguls and millionaires. Given the current situation in Quebec, where hundreds of thousands of students have been taking to the streets in a strike against tuition increases, with over 200 protests in Montreal over the past three months alone, I will focus here on the two major English-speaking universities in the province: Concordia and McGill. This is important to focus on, simply because throughout this crisis, the university administrations have been claiming to be “neutral,” though they have actively set themselves against the students, filing legal injunctions against picketing, hiring private security firms to patrol the schools, and even calling in riot police to disperse striking youth. The schools have claimed to be neutral on the issue of tuition increases, though they have not – in any way – applied pressure or lobbying efforts on the government to reverse its position. In fact, it has been the exact opposite. When we look at who actually sits on the boards of the school administrations, it becomes clear that these are the very same elite who, in their various other social positions, lobby the government to increase the tuition, who sit on the boards of the banks that hand out student loans and charge exorbitant interest rates, who profit off the debt and poverty of the masses.

So let’s start with my own school: Concordia University.

The Chancellor of Concordia is L. Jacques Ménard, the President of BMO Financial Group, one of Canada’s largest banks, a director of Claridge Inc., and a director of the Institute for Research on Public Policy (a think tank promoting elite interests). The Chairman of the Board of Governors of Concordia is Peter Kruyt, President and CEO of Victoria Square Ventures, a director of La Presse (the largest French-language newspaper in Quebec), a director of Picchio Pharma Inc., a director of CITIC Pacific Ltd., Chairman of the Canada China Business Council, and a Vice President of Power Corporation, a company he has been working for since 1980 when he was Executive Assistant to the CEO, Paul Desmarais.

Norman Hébert, Jr.: CEO of Group Park Avenue Inc., former board member of Hyrdo-Québec, Chairman of the Board of Société des Alcools du Québec (SAQ, a provincial crown corporation which sells liquor).

Hélène F. Fortin: a director of Larose Fortin CA Inc., member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, former Assistant to the Vice President of Quebecor Inc. (a major media conglomerate), and a former director of CBC and Hydro-Québec.

Brian Edwards: founder of BCE Emergis, one of North America’s largest electronic commerce companies, Chairman of the Board of Miranda Technologies and Biotonix 2010 Inc., and is on the boards of Camoplast Inc. and Impath Networks Canada Corporation, and Transat AT.

Jean Pierre Desrosiers: on the boards of KPGM, Aéroports de Montréal and D-BOX Technologies Inc.

Rita Lc de Santis: a partner at Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg, former member of The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada, Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal, Business Development Bank of Canada and Hydro-Québec.

James Cherry: President and CEO of Aéroports de Montréal, former executive with Bombardier, Oerlikon Aerospace Inc., CAE Inc. and ALSTOM Canada Inc.

Baljit Singh Chadha: Director of the Canada-India Business Council, Pesident and founder of Balcorp Ltd.

Charles Cavell: former President and CEO of Quebecor World Inc., former Chairman of the Board of Sun Media Corp, a director of Adaltis Inc., Novelis Inc.

Tim Brodhead: former President and CEO of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, former Executive Director of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), past chair of Philanthropic Foundations Canada.

Joelle Berdugo Adler: founder of ONEXEONE, and CEO of Diesel Canada.

Jonathan Wener: President and CEO of Canderal (a major real estate investment company), a trustee of the Fraser Institute, member of the board of the Laurentian bank of Canada, Silanis Technologies, and former president of the Urban Development Institute of Canada.

Annie Tobias: former official at Deloitte & Touche

Michael Novak: Executive Vice President of SNC-Lavalin Group, a global engineering and defense contractor.

Marie-José Nadeau: Executive Vice President of Hydro-Québec, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and General Secretary at Cascades Fine Papers Group Inc, and is a director of Metro.

Andrew T. Molson: Chairman of the Board of Molson Coors Brewing Company, is a partner and chairman of RES PUBLICA Consulting Group, a Montreal-based holding and management company, is Chairman of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal and a director of The Montreal Canadiens, DundeeWealth Inc., Groupe Deschênes Inc. and Montréal International, and is president of the Molson Foundation.

Tony Meti: President of G.D.N.P. Consulting Services, Inc., a former Senior Vice President at National Bank Financial Group, a director of ADF Group, Saputo Inc.

Jacques Lyrette: Executive at Innovative Materials Technologies, former CEO of ADGA Inc., an engineering consulting company.

Arvind K. Joshi: CEO at St. Mary’s Hospital Center, member of the advisory board of the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.

Suzanne Gouin: President and Chief Executive Officer, TV5 Québec Canada, former director of Hydro-Québec.

McGill University:

H. Arnold Steinberg: Chancellor of McGill University, formerly worked for Dominion Securities (now RBC – Royal Bank of Canada – Dominion Securities), has been a member of the boards of Bell Canada, Teleglobe, Provigo, National Bank of Canada.

Heather Munroe-Blum: Principal and Vice Chancellor of McGill, is on the board of the Internationalization Committee, and the Membership Committee of the Association of American Universities, a member of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) of Canada, the U.S. National Research Council’s Committee on Research Universities, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Trilateral Commission, and is co-chair of the Private Sector Advisory Committee of the Ontario-Quebec Trade and Co-operation Agreement, on the boards of the Trudeau Foundation, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Conférence de Montréal, and the Royal Bank of Canada. She has served on the boards of the Conference Board of Canada, Montreal Chamber of Commerce, Four Seasons Hotel, and Hydro One.

Stuart Cobbett: Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Stikeman Elliott LLP, and is a Director of Citibank Canada.

Lili de Grandpré: founder of an organization strategy consulting firm, CenCEO Consulting, formerly with the Mercer Consulting Group and Bank of Montreal.

Michael Boychuk: President and CEO of Bimcor Inc., and is a member of the advisory board of Centennial Ventures, a U.S. private equity firm, former Senior Vice President and Treasurer of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada.

Gerald Butts: President and CEO of WWF-Canada.

Daniel Gagnier: former Chief of Staff to Quebec Premier Jean Charest, former VP at Alcan, former Chairman of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, current chairman of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and a board member of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Banking on Power

In Canada, there are five major banks which dominate the national banking sector (and together wield enormous influence over Canada’s monetary system through the Bank of Canada). These banks are the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), the Bank of Montreal (BMO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). To understand how these banks wield influence over Canada as a whole, it would be useful to examine the boards of directors of the banks, drawing the overlap of leadership between the ‘Big Five’ and Canada’s major corporations, think tanks, foundations, media and educational institutions. For the purpose of this report, I will simply take a look at the board of directors of the biggest bank: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and show how it overlaps with the other institutions which dominate our society.

W. Geoffrey Beattie: on the board of directors of General Electric (GE), President of the Woodbridge Company, a privately held investment holding company (the majority shareholder of Thomson Reuters, a major media conglomerate of which he is Deputy Chairman), and he is also a board member of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and Chairman of CTV Globemedia, a major Canadian media conglomerate.

Richard L. George: President and CEO of Suncor Energy, on the board of the Canadian Pacific Railway, former Chairman and current board member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), was a member of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), which was formed in 2006 to advise North American governments on the process of ‘North American integration’.

Paule Gautier: the first woman president of the Canadian Bar Association, on the boards of Metro Inc., TransCanada Corporation, and Transcanada Pipelines, an associate member of the American Bar Association, and is on the board of CARE, a supposed “humanitarian” organization, and she was a former director of the Institut Québecois des Hautes Études Internationales at Laval University.

Timothy J. Hearn: former CEO of Imperial Oil Limited, former chairman of the C.D. Howe Institute (a major pro-business think tank) where he remains as a board member, former member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), is co-chair of a fundraising campaign for the University of Alberta and is chair of the fundraising campaign for Tyndale University, and is on the Advisory Board of the Public Policy School at the University of Calgary, a director of Viterra Inc., and is Chair of the board of directors of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

Alice D. Laberge: former CEO of Fincentric, a current Commissioner of the Financial Institutions Commission, on the board of the Minerva Foundation, and a member of the Financial Executives Institute, and a former director of BC Hydro and Power Authority, and is on the board of directors of the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Jacques Lamarre: former President and CEO of SNC-Lavalin, a major global engineering, construction, and military contractor; is on the board of Suncor Energy, the founding member and former Chair of the Commonwealth Business Council, former Chairman of the board of directors of the Conference Board of Canada, a leader at the World Economic Forum, a former director of Canadian Pacific Railway, a member of the C.D. Howe Institute’s British North American Committee.

Brandt C. Louie: Chairman and CEO of H.Y. Louie Co. Limited, a food retail distribution company, Chairman of London Drugs Limited, Vice Chairman of IGA Canada Ltd., former Chancellor of Simon Fraser University (SFU), Governor of the Vancouver Board of Trade, Governor of the British Columbia Business Council, a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), and is a member of the Dean’s Council of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and is a current director of the Gairdner Foundation. He is also a board member of the World Economic Forum, Grosvenor (a property company), and the Fraser Institute, a major right-wing pro-business think tank.

Michael H. McCain: President and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Chairman of the Canada Bread Company, board member at the American Meat Institute, the Richard Ivey School of Business Advisory Board, a member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), and a former director of Bombardier Inc.

Heather Munroe-Blum: the Principal and Vice Chancellor of McGill University, board member of the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, a member of the Trilateral Commission, has attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group, is co-chair of the Private Sector Advisory Committee of the Ontario-Quebec Trade and Co-operation Agreement, on the board of the Trudeau Foundation, and is on the board of the Conférence de Montréal (the International Economic Forum of the Americas), which is chaired by Paul Desmarais Jr.; and she has also been on the boards of the Conference Board of Canada, Montreal Chamber of Commerce, Four Seasons Hotel, and Hydro One.

Gordon Nixon: President and CEO of the Royal Bank of Canada, a director and past Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), on the board of directors of the International Monetary Conference, and has been on the boards of Daimler/Chrysler, Catalyst, EnCana Corporation, and Queen’s University School of Business; is a director of the Institute of International Finance and has attended Bilderberg Group meetings.

David P. O’Brien: Chairman of the Board of the Royal Bank of Canada, Chairman of EnCana Corporation, a director of Enerplus Corporation, Molson Coors Brewing Company, and TransCanada Corporation; he is also the Chancellor of Concordia University, and is on the board of the C.D. Howe Institute. He was the former Chairman and CEO of Canadian Pacific Limited.

J. Pedro Reinhard: a director of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, a director of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a chemical company; former Executive Vice President and Dow Chemical Company, is a former board member of the Coca-Cola Company, and is President of Reinhard & Associates, a financial advisory practice.

Edward Sonshine: was President, CEO and a director of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Chairman and a director of Chesswood Income Fund, and is Vice Chairman and a director of Mount Sinai Hospital.

Kathleen P. Taylor: President of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is a director of The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation, a cabinet member of the United Way of Greater Toronto and a member of the Industry Real Estate Financing Advisory Council of the American Hotel and Motel Association and the International Advisory Council of the Schulich School of Business of York University.

Bridget A. van Kralingen: Senior Vice President of IBM, and was Managing Partner of Deloitte Consulting, and is a member of the board of advisors at Catalyst Inc.

Victor L. Young: a director of Imperial Oil Ltd., former Chairman and CEO of Fishery Products International Limited, and is a current board member of McCain Foods, former Chairman and CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, and was a director at BCE Inc. (Bell Canada).

Our Parasitic Elite

Canada’s elite, like all elites, are parasitic to the social good and wellbeing of the people. They own the banks and financial institutions, own our central bank which sets the interest rates, gives loans and collect on debt, pushing people deeper into servitude and slavery; poverty as punishment. They control our media, which shapes our views and ‘opinions,’ they sit on the boards of our universities, putting future generations into debt before they have a chance at life, and control the ‘knowledge economy’ for which they have defined the purpose of education. They influence and control our governments and political leaders, sit on the boards of the think tanks that write policy and promote political agendas, they run the foundations and claim themselves to be benevolent philanthropists, when philanthropy is at best, moral masturbation for the wealthy, a way to feel good about their vast disparity of wealth, and at its more organized levels, is simply a means through which to engage in social engineering and social control: to give a little in order to continue taking so much. The profit off of the foreign wars our country wages and supports, blood plunderers of the Congo, Afghanistan, and Libya. The Canadian elite rule the country as a proxy for the American Empire, acting as a resource suction-cup for the behemoth below us, providing the United States with most of its oil, water, electricity, and timber. These rapacious parasites claim they hold the answers to the crises they cause and profit from; a super-class which can only be understood as a sprawling, venomous, and vacuous social succubus.

With a massive student movement in Quebec nearing its fourth month of strikes against tuition increases, the media has set against them in a massive propaganda campaign, the legal system has set against them in declaring injunctions against picketing students, the provincial state has dismissed, derided, and engaged in fallacious negotiations designed only to win public sympathy for the government, while the police have been incredibly oppressive against the youth: employing pepper spray, tear gas, smoke bombs, concussion grenades, beatings with batons, mass arrests, shooting students in the face with rubber bullets, and a disturbing trend of driving police cars and trucks into crowds of students. These are images you expect from a military dictatorship like Egypt, but not from a supposed “democracy” like Canada. In the midst of this social upheaval and state repression, the propaganda campaign against the students has been so successful that the majority of public opinion stands with the government and against the youth. Through every institution, and with every means made available, the elite have set themselves against the student movement. It is time the students and Canada at large recognize our elite for what they are: parasites!

While this rhetoric is perhaps a little inflammatory, it remains apt. A parasite is much smaller than its host, and it benefits at the expense of the host, changing its behaviour and health. The word “parasite” comes from the Latin word parasitus which is itself derived from the Greek word, parasitos, meaning, “one who eats at the table of another.” The elite have been eating at our table for far too long. They have long over-stayed their welcome. It’s time to make it known that we have no patience or place for them at our table any longer. This will not be easy, this will not be simple; this will take a long time and a great deal of effort. But if we don’t start now, if we don’t begin to take and create a society of, by, and for the people (what was once referred to as ‘democracy’), then elite parasitism will continue to sap the strength, health, environment, wealth, and the very hope and lives of future generations. They will continue to spread like a social cancer until the host is dead.

The youth are always told that the future is ours, but that remains up to us to make it so. The past and the present belong to the parasites, so if we do not stand up and struggle now and forever, we have no future to inherit, no world in which to grow and no hope in which to gaze. We have only debt bondage, state violence, table scraps, impoverishment, punishment, and oppression. The youth in Quebec are trying to just begin to stand up, to say ‘No More!’ and demand for themselves and others a chance at a future. The success of the strike is secondary to the newly-discovered strength of the students. They have been dismissed and derided, insulted and oppressed, from the left and the right, from so-called Progressives and self-congratulating Libertarians. Because the students do not articulate the same philosophy as those of other critics, they are presented as naïve and ‘entitled.’ Those who insult and deride without empathy or understanding only expose their own naivety.

The fundamental and historical importance of the present situation in Québec is not the cost of tuition, it’s the mass mobilization of youth: it is an expression of a popular and growing dissatisfaction with the way things are and an articulation and drive to create something different, to chart a course for the way things can be. Those who fail to see and recognize that, fail to see the development of progress through history, not immediate, but evolving, not instant, but incremental and persistent. If nothing else, this generation can look back and say, “At least we tried. At least we started.”

What will you look back and say?

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project. He also hosts a weekly podcast show, “Empire, Power, and People,” on BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Notes

[1]            Christa d’Souza, The art of being Louise MacBain, The Telegraph, 26 June 2004:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3619575/The-art-of-being-Louise-MacBain.html

[2]            Konrad Yakabuski, Like Father, like sons?, The Globe and Mail, 26 March 2006:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/like-father-like-sons/article170466/singlepage/#articlecontent

[3]            Ibid.

[4]            Ibid.

[5]            Marianne White, “Author delivers high-voltage critique of Paul Desmarais Sr. — the man behind Power Corp,” Ottawa Citizen, 21 October 2008:

http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=2e3cff7f-05a2-44fc-afc1-616c5c40f64f

[6]            Ian Austen, “The Name Is ‘Power’ and It Fits,” The New York Times, 26 January 2007:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/business/26fund.html?_r=1

[7]            Lisa Kassenaar, “Desmarais family keeps a low profile,” Edmonton Journal, 1 August 2009:

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=b40b4563-fe56-4612-920d-a66e9e7da838

[8]            Lisa Kassenaar, “Buffett Loses to Desmarais as Power Exceeds Return,” Bloomberg, 30 July 2009:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEl4wizkuSTQ

[9]            Christinne Muschi, “Great-West Lifeco helps boost profit at Power Financial,” Reuters, 14 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/great-west-lifeco-helps-boost-profit-at-power-financial/article2368991/print/

Kevin Dougherty, “Sabia-Desmarais meeting was “friendly”, not lobbying, Caisse de dépôt says,” Montreal Gazette, 7 February 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Sabia+Desmarais+meeting+friendly+lobbying+Caisse+d%C3%A9p%C3%B4t+says/6116318/story.html

[10]            William K. Carroll and Murray Shaw, “Consolidating a Neoliberal Policy Bloc in Canada, 1976 to 1996,” Canadian Public Policy (Vol. 27, No. 2, June 2001), pages 196-200.

[11]            William K. Carroll and Murray Shaw, “Consolidating a Neoliberal Policy Bloc in Canada, 1976 to 1996,” Canadian Public Policy (Vol. 27, No. 2, June 2001), pages 200-202.

[12]            C.D. Howe Institute, Members and Supporters: http://www.cdhowe.org/members-and-supporters

Tuition Hikes, Student Strikes, Police Batons, and Teargas Bombs

By: Andrew Gavin Marshall

The following is Part 6 of the series, “Class War and the College Crisis.”

The “red square” symbol of the Québec student movement

Part 1: The “Crisis of Democracy” and the Attack on Education

Part 2: The Purpose of Education: Social Uplift or Social Control?

Part 3: Of Prophets, Power, and the Purpose of Intellectuals

Part 4: Student Strikes, Debt Domination, and Class War in Canada

Part 5: Canada’s Economic Collapse and Social Crisis

In Montréal, where I live, and across the Canadian province of Québec, there is a growing and expanding student movement which emerged as a strike in February against the provincial government’s plan to increase the cost of university tuition by $325 per year for the next five years, for a total of $1,625. The students have been seeking and demanding a halt to the tuition hike in order to keep higher education accessible, a concept that the province of Québec alone has held onto with greater strength than any other province in Canada. The government continues to dismiss and deride the students, meeting their protests with batons, teargas bombs, and mass arrests. The universities in Québec are complicit with the government in their repression of students and the struggle for basic democratic rights, bringing in private security firms to patrol and harass students in the schools. While the university administrations claim they are ‘neutral’ on the issue of tuition hikes, privately, the boards of governors are made up of bankers and business executives who lobby the government to increase tuition. After all, in April of 2007 – five years ago – Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank Group), one of Canada’s ‘big five’ banks which dominate the economy, released a “plan for prosperity” for the province of Quebec, which recommended, among other things, raising the cost of tuition: “by raising tuition fees but focusing on increased financial assistance for those in need, post secondary education (PSE) institutions will be better-positioned to prosper and provide world-class education and research.”[1]

The movement is becoming more radicalized, more activated, and is consistently met with more state repression. Almost daily, it seems, there are protests all over the city, drawing in other social organizers and activists in solidarity. The little red square patch – the symbol of the Québec student strike – is adorned across the province of Québec and the city of Montréal and on the jackets and bags of a large percentage of its residents. The city and the province, it seems, are at the forefront of a youth-driven social struggle, a growing and rumbling resistance movement. As the issues spread from tuition hikes to a more broad conception of social justice, the movement has the potential to grow both within and far beyond Québec. If the situation continues as it has until present, already the longest student strike in Québec’s history, with increased activism and accelerated state repression, it is not inconceivable to imagine a growing student-led social rebellion by the end of the summer. As the economic situation in Canada – and indeed, the world – continues to get worse for the people of the world (as opposed to the corporations and banks, who are doing very well!), the momentum behind the current student movement has the potential to spill across Québec’s borders into the rest of Canada, with some people referring to this as the beginnings of the ‘Québec Spring,’ or the ‘Maple Spring.’

Protest in Montréal

Emotions are running high in Québec, and increasingly, the government and the Canadian media are presenting the protesters as violent and destructive, and framing the debate in a misleading context, presenting the students as whining about “entitlements.” The rest of Canada is especially fed a line of intellectual excrement, repeating the same invalid and misleading arguments ad nauseum. This article seeks to present the issues of the strike, and the actions of protesters and the government into a wider context, so that other young Canadians (and youth around the world) may understand what is truly taking place, what is truly being struggled for, what the government and media are doing to stop it, the absurdity of the arguments against the students, and the need for this movement to spread beyond this province, to let this truly be the dawn of the ‘Maple Spring.’

Entitlements and Social Justice: Putting the Protests in Context

The most commonly spewed argument against the student protests – and for the tuition increases – emanating from the ‘stenographers of power’ (the media) and others, is that the students are complaining about their supposed ‘right’ to entitlements for cheap education. Québec has the cheapest university tuition in Canada (for residents of the province), and even with the tuition increases, it will still remain among the cheapest nation-wide. Thus, claims the media, there is no rational basis for the complaints and strike. The argument is, however, based upon the fallacious argument that, “the rest of Canada does it, so why not Québec?” In Québec’s history, however, the claim that “the rest of Canada does it” has never been an argument that has won the sympathy of residents of Canada’s French-speaking province. This argument, however, goes beyond a cultural difference between Québec and English-speaking Canada. The most basic problem with this line of thinking is that what is taking place in the rest of Canada is something to aspire to, that because the rest of Canada has higher tuition costs, this is not something to struggle against. When placed in context, we are left with the conclusion that the rest of Canada should be following the example of the students in Québec, not the other way around. So let’s break down the numbers.

Currently, the average yearly cost of tuition for Québec residents is $2,519. With the projected increases of $325 over five years (for a total of $1,625), the annual cost would reach roughly $4,000. The province of Ontario has the highest tuition costs in the country, which has also increased over the past four years from $5,388 to $6,640, an increase of 23% between 2008 and 2012. Québec’s proposed 75% increase over the next five years would mean that Newfoundland would have the lowest tuition in Canada, at $2,649 per year. Québec, while currently the cheapest in Canada, has already undergone a number of tuition hikes in recent years. While maintaining a tuition freeze between 1994 and 2007, while the rest of Canada had consistent hikes, Québec premier Jean Charest introduced a five-year tuition hike of $100 per year between 2007 and 2012. So the reality is that Jean Charest has undertaken and is attempting to undertake a 10-year tuition hike for a total of $2,125 in additional costs, more than doubling what tuition cost in 2007, prior to the onset of the global economic crisis.[2]

So, what does this have to do with the rest of Canada? Let’s pretend, for a moment, that the argument that “the rest of Canada does it” is a valid one. So let’s look at what the rest of Canada actually does, and therefore, if this is something which should be accepted and promoted, instead of struggled against. An article in the Kamloops Daily News pointed out that the average tuition cost in Canadian schools is $5,000, while Québec currently has roughly half that cost. Thus, stated the author, “despite all the whining and crying coming from post-secondary students in Quebec, it’s hard — really hard — to feel sorry for them.” Describing the students like children throwing a tantrum for lack of getting what they want – “kicking up a fuss” – the author contends that since we’re not in a “perfect world,” tuition has to be increased. This line of thinking is, of course, beyond ignorant. Its premise is that because we don’t live in a “perfect world,” there is no basis for trying to struggle for a “better world.” I suppose that black Americans in a liberation struggle in the 1950s, 60s and 70s should have just listened to those who claimed that, “hey, it’s not a perfect world, accept your place in it!” Or perhaps gays and lesbians should just accept that it’s “not a perfect world,” so, why bother attempting to attain rights? Or, for that matter, just tell women to get back in the kitchen. After all, it’s not a “perfect world,” so there’s really no point in trying to make it better, in trying to achieve even small victories along the way. With this absurd argument out of the way, it is true that Québec has roughly half the tuition costs as the rest of Canada. As well as this, Québec students have less student debt than the rest of Canada, at roughly $13,000, also nearly half as what the rest of Canada has. The author of the absurd article contends, therefore, that the real reason for the strike is that, “like a lot of things in Quebec, the sense of entitlement seems to have become a normal part of the culture.”[3]

Now, think about this for a moment. Let’s put this in its proper context. The average tuition for students in Québec is $2,500, and the average debt for Québec students is $13,000. On the other hand, the average tuition costs for Canadian students is $5,000, with the average debt for Canadian students at $27,000. Is this really something to aspire to? Is this really the type of “equality” that we should want, that we should accept, or adhere to? Is it really a valid argument in stating that since the rest of Canadian students pay excessive tuition costs and graduate with absurd debts, that we should too? Especially important in this equation is the current condition for students and youth in Canada today, where upon graduating with an average of $27,000 (a national average, which, by the way, is kept lower due to Quebec’s lower fees), and “once they complete their degrees, there are fewer jobs around that pay the kind of money that allows grads to seriously whittle away at their debt.” This massive debt for students in Canada “is bankrupting a generation of students,” explained the Globe and Mail. It’s not simply the money which is being borrowed, but the interest rates being paid, varying from province to province at between 5 and 9 percent. Interest rates, more over, are expected to increase, and thus, the cost of the debt will increase, and with that, so too will youth poverty increase.[4]

With tuition hikes to add to that, the debt burden will become greater. So not only will the average interest payments on student debt increase with more student debt required to pay for tuition, but the interest rates themselves will increase. What this translates into is class warfare. Thus, the argument that “the rest of Canada does it, so stop complaining,” is akin to saying, “Everyone else is screwed, doomed to be a ‘lost generation’, so stop complaining that we’re throwing you to the wolves too!” Since debt essentially amounts to a form of slavery, let’s use the example of slavery itself to look at this argument. Let’s build a premise of ten slave plantations, one of which is made of indentured slaves (meaning that they will be freed after a set amount of time), and the other nine consist of absolute slavery (from birth to death). Indentured slavery, while not desirable, is better than absolute slavery from birth to death. So, if the plantation owners begin to change the system of slavery of the unique plantation from indentured to life-time slavery, and the indentured slaves revolt, the plantation owners would then argue, “All nine other plantations operate under that system, stop complaining.” Is this a legitimate argument? So when Québec’s student-slave plantation owners tell us that, “the rest of Canada does it,” what they’re really saying is that they want to enslave us in debt and plunge us into a poverty of future opportunities to the same degree that exists in the rest of Canada. And when we fight against this, they say we are “whining and crying” about “entitlements.”

Québec students, themselves, are not living the easy life, as the picture is often painted. A study from November of 2010 put to shame these notions, based upon surveys of students in 2009, and thus, before the $500 tuition increase that ended in 2012, meaning that the numbers are likely much worse today. Half of all full-time students in Québec live on less than $12,200 per year, significantly below the national poverty line. To add to that, 25% of full-time students live on less than $7,400 per year. This data includes the amounts that students get in government loans, leading the president of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (University Student Federation of Quebec), Louis-Philippe Savoie, to comment, “Imagine the disastrous effect that raising tuition fees by the Charest government” would then have on the students. The largest source of finances for students does not come from government loans, but from working: part-time students work more, and have less debt, with their work accounting for 83% of their financing; full-time students have more debt, but still 55% of their financing comes from working, and over 80% of full-time students work an average of 18.8 hours per week. Thus, Savoie noted, “The portrait of the lazy student is totally false.” The second largest source of financial support for students is from parents, accounting for 22%, with 60% of full-time students getting support from their parents and families, while 23% of part-time students get financial support from their parents, accounting for a total of 7% of their total financing. Roughly 60% of full-time students in Québec will go into debt, averaging at around $14,000, with student loans making up the majority of that debt, as 44.5% of full-time students have government loans, 23.4% take out bank loans or credit lines, and 22.1% take on credit card debt. The study further showed that 46.6% of part-time students will even end up in debt, averaging at $11,500. The report concluded that the government should freeze tuition and increase financial assistance.[5] Over one year later, the government announced a 75% increase in tuition costs.

To Strike and Strike Down!

By April 26, 2012, the student strike – the longest in Québec’s history – had lasted 72 days and had a running total of 160 different protests, hundreds of people arrested, multiple injuries, and still the government stands stubborn in its refusal to even enter a negotiation with the students in good faith. As a result of the government’s intransigence to democratic appeals, some have taken to acts of violence and destruction. Bricks have been tossed off a downtown overpass, and onto the tracks of the Montréal metro system, leading to road and metro closures. Cars and businesses in downtown are left with broken windows and shattered debris, the remnants of protests in which police invariably turn to oppression and brutality. As the government and police become more repressive, the issue becomes less and less about tuition, and develops a wider social position. Thus, the nomenclature has begun to change from “student strike” to “Québec Spring” – or “Maple Spring” emblematic of “a broader, international Occupy-style fight for a new economic order.” In French, ‘Maple Spring’ is translated as “Printemps Érable,” with érable being very close to the French word for ‘Arab,’ thus drawing an even closer dialectical connection with the ‘Arab Spring.’ One student commented, “A lot of people have stopped calling it a student movement; now it’s a social movement, and I think that it affects people in a much deeper way than just tuition fees.” Another student added, “the whole protest is against the neoconservative and neoliberal point of view of doing politics… People in Quebec are using this movement as a means of venting against the current government.”[6]

In March of 2011, Québec’s Finance Minister under the Liberal Jean Charest government announced the tuition hikes of $325 per year, over five years. In August of 2011, students began campaigning against the tuition hikes, with a large peaceful rally held in Montréal in November, establishing a “common front” of student groups attempting to apply democratic pressure against the government. On February 13, 2012, the strike officially began, with several student groups voting in favour of a walk out. The decisions in the student group are, after all, made democratically, unlike the decisions of the government.

On February 23, students occupied a downtown bridge, and were subsequently pepper-sprayed by police. During a protest on March 7, one student, Francis Grenier, almost lost an eye due to a police stun grenade. On March 21, student tactics changed – as the government refused to even consider negotiations – and were now seeking to disrupt the economy in order to be heard. One group of students occupied the busy city Champlain Bridge in Montréal during rush hour, leading to each student involved being fined $494. On March 22, a massive rally of students from around the province took place in Montréal, drawing hundreds of thousands of students and supporters. The government again refused to negotiate or even consider changing its position. Line Beauchamp, the Quebec [Mis]Education Minister, had the outside of her Montréal office painted red – the symbolic colour of the protests – as she continued to deride the protests and refuse to negotiate with the students. On April 16, the city’s subway (metro) system was shut down in a number of places as some individuals (who remain unidentified) tossed bags of rocks onto the metro tracks at a number of different stations. On April 18 and 19, over 300 people were arrested in the city of Gatineau, Québec, in a confrontation with police at a local university campus. On April 20 and 21, as Jean Charest was attending a job fair, speaking to an audience of business leaders in promoting his ‘Plan Nord’ (Plan North) which seeks to provide government funds to subsidize multi-million and multi-billion dollar mining corporations to exploit the mineral resources of northern Québec, had his speech interrupted by protests. Outside the convention centre, protesters clashed with police, leading to the arrests of over 100 people.[7]

Francis Grenier, who almost lost his eye

In what was described by the Globe and Mail as Jean Charest’s “Marie Antoinette moment,” as tear gas filled the streets with students fleeing the riot police protecting the comfortable lap-dog-to-the-rich premier inside the convention centre, Charest, speaking at a business lunch with his real constituency (the wealthy elite), joked, “we could offer them a job … in the North, as far as possible.”[8]

Jean Charest, when he paused from making jokes about giving jobs to students “as far as possible” in the North, commented that, “[t]his is 2012, this is Quebec. We have had ministers find tanks of gas on their verandas… Molotov cocktails in front of their offices. There are ministers who have had death threats.” He added, “I find it unacceptable that one student association refuses to condemn violence,” referring to C.L.A.S.S.E (the largest and most militant of the student groups). Meanwhile, as Charest joked and complained, students were being brutalized by police just outside his conference meeting, with tear gas and concussion grenades being tossed at Québec’s youth by riot police. Charest declared social disruption to be “unacceptable,” but apparently state repression and violence is therefore, totally acceptable.[9]

With Jean Charest’s ‘Marie Antoinette moment’ during his conference of congratulating Quebec’s business elite on their new government subsidization from his administration (the latest Québec budget allocated massive funds for mining companies), protests continued outside, with students setting up barricades “made from construction site materials and restaurant patio furniture to impede the circulation of police,” and so of course, the police “responded with stun grenades, pepper spray and batons.” As the violence erupted, Charest was inside making more jokes to his real constituents, stating, “[t]he (event) that we’re holding today is very popular. People are running all over the place to get in.” The crowd of businessmen erupted in laughter and applause. Charest added, “It’s an opportunity for job hunters.” The spokesperson for the student group, CLASSE, replied to the premier’s contemptuous comments, stating, “all my calls for calm won’t do anything… He’s laughing at us. I don’t know if he realizes were in a crisis right now.”[10]

The Schools Side Against the Students

The schools themselves have been participating in the repression of student strikes. Injunctions were issued to protesters, demanding that they permit other students to attend their classes and exams. The legal injunctions declared that those who were not attending classes were not considered to be participating in a legitimate strike. After the injunctions were issued, and two days after the school’s director demanded classes resume, student protesters blocked the entrance to College de Valleyfield, with hundreds blocking the main doors to the school. The school director threatened students that if they did not return to class they would fail the semester. The director, however, canceled the classes in order to avoid a physical confrontation with protesters. Education minister Line Beauchamp then reminded schools that, “they are legally obliged to provide courses.” Premier Charest, who was in Brazil at the time, again serving corporate interests on a trade mission, suggested the possibility of “forcing the schools to open.” He added, “We leave to each institution the task of taking the decisions they must make based on several criteria that include safety as well as the management of their establishments.”[11]

At Concordia University, protesters also blocked the entrance doors, preventing other students and teachers from entering the building during exams. The school responded by calling in the riot police to ‘remove’ the protesters, with fights breaking out between various students, and police then began “intervening” with pepper spray. The University of Montreal won a court injunction which banned protests from assembling on the school campus. The school informed students that, “all individuals must refrain from blocking access to campus buildings, individual classrooms, and even parking lots. Protesters are also banned from taking any action that interferes with classes, campus services or meetings.”[12]

Protest at Concordia University

Striking students at McGill University delivered a letter to University President Heather Munroe-Blum, signed by many students, professors, staff and student groups, asking the school to accommodate striking students with finding alternatives to exams or issuing ‘Incompletes’ for classes. Munroe-Blum was not present to accept the letter, with her chief of staff accepting the letter on her behalf, stating that Munroe-Blum had “University business off campus.” Perhaps she was running errands for the Royal Bank of Canada, whose board of directors she also sits on. Concordia University has also shown significant opposition to the strike. The chancellor of Concordia, incidentally, is also on the board of directors of the Bank of Montreal. Concordia, facing demands from striking students to accommodate the strike, replied: “The university’s position has been the same from the beginning, and it’s not going to change.” Students who are involved in the strike, stated a Concordia spokesperson, are “accepting the risks.” She added, “[t]hose who choose not to attend exams when exams are being held, they know the consequences… There’s just nothing more we can add.” A CLASSE representative referred to the situation of the striking students at Concordia, numbering in the thousands, “Unfortunately, since the start of the conflict [they] have faced an intransigent and undemocratic attitude in their talks with their administration.” Some of the French-speaking schools had been making accommodations for striking students, but none were to be found at the English-speaking schools, where there are fewer strikers and more elitist administrators. The CLASSE representative, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, commented that, “[o]ur coalition and our militants will be there on the campus to help the students, to help the strikers, in order to make their democratic-mandated strike respected.”[13]

Concordia University has also responded to the strike by hiring a private security firm to patrol the school. On March 26, there was a clash between striking students and security guards as the school took a harsh stance against picketing students. Some students were taking part in a sit-in on the 7^th floor of the school, while others were being harassed by seven security guards on the 4^th floor. Geography students were blocking the entrance to their classroom when security guards showed up, purportedly to ensure “there would be no incident,” while intimidating the students and filming them. One student who was present commented, “What happened at the classrooms so far was very calm and very peaceful. The presence of security guards is creating a really uncomfortable environment on campus. It’s really unnecessary and it feels like students are being prosecuted.” The previous week, the school had sent emails out to all of its students, “warning about consequences for students who choose to continue blocking access to classes, which could include formal charges.” The geography teacher who was supposed to teach the class then cancelled it, telling the security guards that there weren’t enough students to continue the class. The professor commented, “I just think that I’m in a really difficult position because I respect what the students have democratically chosen to do… But the picket wouldn’t permit me to pass through anyway and there weren’t enough students that were in the classroom to hold the class.” Earlier that same day, a student who was filming an argument between security guards and students “was struck in the face by one of the security guards, throwing the camera out of her hands and onto the ground.” The incident was filmed, and after the camera was thrown to the ground, the student asked the security guard for his name “for hitting a student,” after which he walked away.[14]

As it turned out, the security official that hit the student in the face “was discovered not to be in possession of a valid security permit, according to a letter sent by the Concordia security department.” The student who had been assaulted had filed a request for information from the director of Concordia University Security, to which she received a letter response informing her that the assaulting guard – hired by the school from the private firm of Maximum Security Inc. – did not possess a security license, adding, “Given the fact that he is not a licensed security agent [...] we are not legally permitted to release his name.” Concordia Student Union (CSU) VP Chad Walcott commented, “It would be very concerning if we are being blocked access to any information about the assault of a student… Having unlicensed security staff on campus is completely unacceptable.” The student who was hit told the school newspaper that, “[t]hese kind of accidents are likely to happen again… That’s what happens when you start hiring a large number of security guards for political purposes on campus when they’re not trained to do it.”[15]

CSU VP Chad Walcott later commented: “The university told us on [March 30] that this person was under review… Then we found out that he wasn’t even licensed at all, which leads me to believe that the university lied to us, or they themselves were lied to… Every security agent that is on the university premises is supposed to be a licensed individual. These individuals are also all supposed to be providing students with licenses when requested, and to fail to do so is a violation of the Private Security Act.” As section four of Quebec’s Private Security Act stipulates, “Any person operating an enterprise that carries on a private security activity must hold an agency license of the appropriate class.”[16]

Meanwhile, in late April, the Canadian Parliament – with the Conservative Party in power – are attempting to pass a bill entitled, “Bill C-26: The Citizen’s Arrest and Self Defence Act,” which “clarifies” laws around citizen’s arrests, and according to the Canadian Bar Association, “will grant greater powers to private security agencies” which “will give poorly trained ‘rent-a-cops’ greater latitude to arrest Canadians.” An official at the Canadian Bar Association warned that, “Such personnel often lack the necessary range of equipment or adequate training to safely and lawfully make arrests in a manner proportionate to the circumstances.” The only MP in Parliament to oppose the bill was Elizabeth May of the Green Party, who stated that it would be a “very big gift to the private security companies… The constitution of this country is governed by the concept of peace, order and good government… This stuff goes off in a wacky new direction, and it worries me.”[17]

The Concordia University email sent to students declared that it was “no longer possible to tolerate further disruption of university activities by a minority of protesters who refuse to respect the rights of others,” though apparently it is okay to tolerate harassment by private security guards. The university informed students that those who choose to picket will be asked for their IDs by the private security goons, “and will be reported to a panel to face the appropriate charges,” while those who refuse to provide ID “will have their pictures taken in order to be identified.” The school declared that, “[t]he charges will depend on the severity of the case but it could go from a written reprimand to expulsion.” A Concordia spokesperson stated, “[t]he university will only target students who are physically blocking access to classrooms and offices. We received complaints and we need to make sure our community has the liberty of movement. Blocking the Guy Metro building [the previous week] for example was unacceptable.” The Concordia Student Union and Graduate Student’s Association replied to the school’s email, stating, “Students will not be intimidated.” Both organizations referred to the school’s email as “dangerous” and “irresponsible,” presenting picketers as aggressive, when “in reality [their actions] have been consistently characterized by a lighthearted, peaceful, and creative nature, with very few incidents.” A student union official stated, “[t]heir message is calling for a profiling of students and a general discrimination against protesters and picketers. We think that it is highly unacceptable.” The same official added that, “We actually sat with the university administration to tell them that this email would only create conflictual relations between students and the university… We were basically told that the university did not care if things went out of hand.”[18]

Negotiations in Good Faith…? Not With Beauchamp! 

In late April, the [Mis]Education Minister, Line Beauchamp, suggested that the government would agree to discussions with the students. She ensured, however, that the talks would be cancelled before they began, by demanding that the more radical, and most active student organization – C.L.A.S.S.E. – be refused the opportunity to engage in the discussions. Why? CLASSE was branded as “radical” (assuming ‘radical’ is a bad term to begin with) because it refused to come outright in denouncing violence at the protests, though there has never been any condemnation of police brutality and repression from the government, so it’s apparently a contradictory position. Moreover, Beauchamp, accustomed to operating in an authoritarian manner, empty of any notion of democratic governance, demanded that CLASSE do as she said before they could be invited to discussions with a government that had, until late April, refused to discuss the issue with hundreds of thousands of students demanding it. Beauchamp delivered an undemocratic ultimatum, stating that she would only speak with two of the three student associations involved, which together represent 53% of striking students. The student organization, CLASSE, which represents 47% of the 175,000 striking students, held a press conference in response, saying “Beauchamp’s decision was unacceptable and that there can’t be a solution to the dispute without CLASSE’s involvement.” A spokesperson for CLASSE commented, “She can’t marginalize half of the people on strike,” and accused Beauchamp of attempting to “divide and conquer” the student movement. CLASSE was not even involved in the violence that took place, and as the organization acts and makes decisions in a democratic manner, it cannot respond to authoritarian ultimatums from a woman who has no consideration for democratic methods.[19]

Education Minister Line Beauchamp

Despite Beauchamp’s authoritarian ultimatum, the other student groups remained in solidarity with CLASSE and refused to meet with the [Dis]Honourable Beauchamp unless CLASSE was present. CLASSE announced that they could only denounce the violence if the members voted on it, since the leaders of the organization (unlike those of the government) must make decisions based upon the democratic wishes of their constituents, not their personal pandering to the financial elite. Of course, the refusal by CLASSE to follow the immediate demands of Beauchamp incurred the continued denunciation of the organization by the government and its media lap-dogs like the Montreal Gazette, responsible for possibly the most deriding, rag-like, yellow-journalism-inspired newspaper coverage of the protests to date. However, on April 22, CLASSE addressed its constituents (unlike the government) and they took a vote in which they unanimously condemned the violence, stating: “The position we took to last night was to clearly denounce and condemn any act of deliberate physical violence towards individuals… As a progressive and democratic organization, we cannot subscribe to those actions.” The spokesperson for CLASSE added, however, that civil disobedience will continue: “We think that the principle of civil disobedience has made Quebec civil society a little bit more just and little bit more free than other societies.” Beauchamp replied to the announcement, clearly confused about the difference between civil disobedience (the likes of which was praised and practiced by peaceful non-violent leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King) and acts of violence. Beauchamp addressed her own lack of education in stating, “We all need to act in good faith. If social and economic disruptions continue, the students who endorse them will be excluding themselves from talks.” So where previously it was the refusal to denounce violence that would result in exclusion of talks, and since that requirement was met, the demand changed to refusal to denounce “social and economic disruptions,” which is the entire basis of civil disobedience, strikes, and protests. So, essentially, Beauchamp is demanding that the student organizations denounce their cause before they meet… to discuss their cause.[20]

The last strikes that took place in Quebec in 2005 were successfully divided using the same strategy as Beauchamp attempted. However, as her tactical failure was evident, the divide and conquer effort clearly was not working on Québec students anymore, who remained in solidarity with one another. The government then agreed to sit down to negotiations with the student groups in late April. The talks came to a quick end on April 25, as Line Beauchamp admonished CLASSE for sponsoring a protest the previous night which ended in violence, vandalism, and injuries. Beauchamp commented that, “We cannot pretend today that they have dissociated themselves. I consider, therefore, that the CLASSE has excluded itself from the negotiation table.” A CLASSE spokesperson replied, “Madame Beauchamp does not want to talk about the tuition hike… This decision by Madame Beauchamp is obviously another strategy to sabotage the discussions… Madame Beauchamp will not resolve the crisis without the CLASSE.”[21]

On the night Beauchamp threw her hissy-fit and again ended the chances of negotiations, Montréal had a large protest, drawing thousands of students into the streets. When the students reached a police barricade at a major downtown intersection, tempers flared: garbage cans were overturned, windows of banks were smashed, and some rocks were hurled at police cars. It is notable that violence tends to erupt in protests when confronted with a heavy police presence. A protest earlier on that same afternoon was entirely peaceful, as the police did not have a major presence, instead tailing behind the protesters in vans. It is when the protest is cordoned off, and the right to march – the right to freedom of speech, association, and movement – is being curtailed by riot police, blocking off entire intersections like some reinforced line of Storm Troopers, with police tactics aimed at attempting to separate the protesters into smaller groups, that the police presence creates an antagonizing factor. So, as the protest on the 25^th of April was confronted by the line of riot police storm troopers, the protest was declared to be “illegal” by the police: as a few acts of vandalism took place, the police waited, and then began firing tear gas into the crowd of students. The crowd began to disperse and students ran, as the police threw concussion grenades and used their batons.[22]

Protest following Beauchamp’s cancellation of negotiations

The following day, all the blame was placed upon the students. In fact, this remains consistent. All the blame for all the events that have taken place is placed squarely upon the students and protesters. When, earlier in April, three out of four of Montréal’s metro lines were shut down due to bags of bricks being thrown on the tracks and emergency stop levers being pulled on the trains, the blame was also put on students, “but the police have not connected this incident to students.” One individual even released a smoke bomb in a metro station on April 18.[23] While the sources of these incidents remain unknown, the sources of the vast majority of violence at protests is quite evident: the police.  It should also be noted that Québec has a bad track record of dealing with protesters and inciting violence, often through agent provocateurs. Back in 2007, at the Montebello protests against North American integration, the Québec provincial police had to later admit that they planted three undercover cops among the protesters, dressed in all black, with their faces covered and brandishing large rocks in their hands as they neared a lineup of riot police. The three men were called out by protesters as being undercover cops attempting to start a riot and justify police repression, and once their cover was blown, they made their way past the police line where they were then “arrested.” Photos of the men show that they were wearing the same police-issued shoes as the riot cops, and the government had to later admit that they were indeed police. Though, the government claimed at the time, their men were undercover “to keep order and security.” No doubt with large rocks.[24]

Emergence of the ‘Maple Spring’

Following the large protests in late April, the Liberal Quebec government – bypassing negotiations – came up with its own brand new “solution” to the protests: increase the tuition even more! Jean Charest and Line Beauchamp gave a press conference on April 27 announcing a six-point plan to end the protests, with absolutely no input from the protesters themselves. Charest began the press conference, speaking to the stenographers of power (the media), stating, “There is an increase in the tuition fees… Let’s not pretend it isn’t there.” The proposal suggested that the government would spread the increases over seven years instead of five, though Charest announced that the government would begin “indexing” the tuition costs in the sixth and seventh years to the rate of inflation, which would mean an annual increase of $254 over seven years (instead of $325 over five), resulting in a total of $1,778, as opposed to the $1,625 over five years. Beauchamp added that, “after factoring in the income-tax credit on tuition fees, the increase is $177 a year, or 50 cents a day.” Beauchamp told reporters, “I invite the students to go to their courses because the solution proposed by the government is a just and equitable solution which ensures better financing of our universities, which ensures a fair share from students, which also ensures access to university and ensures better management of our universities.” Further, Charest and Beauchamp announced that the government would add $39 million in bursaries, the premise of which suggests that it’s fine if the government takes a lot more money from students, so much as they give a small fraction of it back, without raising the obvious question of: why don’t we just keep it in the first place? A student organizer commented that Beauchamp’s “50 cents a day” argument was “very clever,” yet, “It does not touch the nub of the question.” The president of the student organization, the Federation etudiante universitaire du Quebec (FEUQ), Martine Desjardins, commented that, “Quebec families are already heavily indebted,” and the new plan would only increase the debt burden.[25]

An overlooked report from late March by the Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-economique explained that, “increased student debt from higher tuitions could have severe repercussions on public funds.” The researchers noted that, “the provincial government is creating a precarious situation when it encourages students to incur higher debt, much in the same way banks in the United States created a risky situation when they made it easy to obtain mortgages – a situation that ultimately threw the U.S. economy into a recession when homeowners began to default on their payments.” When interest rates go up, as they are set to do so, “today’s students may well find themselves in the same situation of not being able to pay off their student loans.” One of the researchers commented, “Since governments underwrite those loans, if students default it could be catastrophic for public finances… We are already seeing signs of a higher education bubble like that in the U.S… If the bubble explodes, it could be just like the mortgage crisis… The fact is, there is no need for additional funding for Quebec universities.”[26]

The student movement has now begun the campaign for other social movements, labour groups, and activist organizations to join the protests in a wider ‘social strike’ against the Québec government. The more radical student organization, which represents 47% of the 175,000 striking students in Quebec, C.L.A.S.S.E., issued a press release in late April calling for a “social strike” from the “population as a whole!”[27]

Following a massive demonstration of over 200,000 people on April 22 in Montréal demanding the protection of the environment and natural resources, the message was clear: more than tuition is at stake. A manifesto for a “Maple Spring” appeared and spread through social media networks in late April. The manifesto declared that:

2011 was the year of indignation and revolt. The Arab spring unnerved autocrats, swept out dictators, destabilized regimes and drove many to grant reforms. The images of these Arab peoples deposing their oligarchies went around the world and set an example.

Inspired by the spontaneous occupations of public places in the Arab world, the first Indignados appeared in Spain, when deep-going austerity measures were imposed on the country. The Spanish highlighted the real limits of democracy in that country, strongly affected by the economic crisis, subject to the dictates of the financial markets, with 46 per cent of its young people unemployed. The initiative produced its emulators and the movement spread in Europe and beyond.

The movement extended to North America, and from New York around the Occupy Wall Street initiative. That movement was aimed at the richest 1 per cent, the major banks and multinational corporations, which dictate the laws of an unjust global economy that is mortgaging the future of all of us. The movement then spread to more than 100 U.S. cities, but also to Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal).

The rebellious Arabs, the European Indignant, or the American occupiers, all have gathered behind the same message of hope: Another world is possible!

This storm of global protest against economic and political elites out of touch with the legitimate concerns of insecure peoples who are always being asked to pay more, to work harder, and above all not to demand anything in return, is now blowing over Quebec. The students’ courageous fight for the right to education now constitutes the spearhead of a profound movement of indignation and popular mobilization that has been stirring in Quebec for several years. The monster demonstration of March 22 launched the printemps érable! [Maple Spring!]

Let us join in this global current of revolt and follow the example of the Icelanders who, in January 2009, forced the resignation of the neoliberal government of Geir Haarde, which had participated in the genesis of the economic and social crisis in which that country plunged in 2008.

It’s Quebec’s turn to bring down its corrupt clique!

Charest, that’s enough! Let us demand the government’s resignation![28]

Among the ‘demands’ that the manifesto made were:

- The right to education for everyone, without discrimination linked to money;

- The right to a healthy environment and the conservation of our natural resources, to protect our water, our rivers, our forests, our regions, and not to yield to the voracious appetite of the mining and oil and gas companies;

- The rights of the indigenous peoples to their aboriginal lands;

- The right to enjoy a responsible and democratic government, serving its people and not some financial interests;

- The right to pacifism and international solidarity, clearly displaying Quebec’s opposition to the militaristic and commercial policies of the federal Conservative government;

- The right to a local, sustainable, mutually supportive social economy that puts humans at the centre of its concerns.[29]

Solidarity for the Québec students has been shown from students and unions and other groups across Canada and indeed, around the world. Students from the University of Ottawa have participated in strikes and protests in Montréal, and the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) sent a bus of students to participate in the mass rally of hundreds of thousands of students on March 22. SFUO president Amalia Savva stated, “When it comes to tuition fees in general—when we see a 75 per cent increase in tuition fees over the next five years in Quebec—that’s extremely dangerous for students not only in Quebec, but across the country, to set a precedent like that… Tuition fees are one of the common struggles students have, not only between Quebec and Ontario, but across the country and across the world as well.”[30]

A number of unions from Ontario expressed solidarity with the student strike, stating that, “We stand in solidarity with the student strikers and the professors, campus workers and community members who have supported this movement. Students in Quebec are fighting against the commercialization of education and user pay through tuition increases that create massive barriers to access and student debt that profits the banks while haunting students for years after graduation.”[31]

On April 26, roughly 50 peaceful protesters assembled in downtown Toronto, with riot police assembled nearby, demonstrating in support of the Québec student strike.[32] A progressive think tank, the Centre for Social Justice, had called for the Toronto protest, issuing a press release stating: “Join us for a rally in front of Québec’s Office in Toronto in solidarity with the ongoing student strike. On this occasion, we will be delivering a petition to be sent to the Premier’s office in Québec. With this action, we also want to contribute to bringing this great movement’s democratic and combative spirit to Ontario.”[33] Students, while fighting against tuition hikes around the world, continue to express solidarity with Québec’s strike, including signs of solidarity appearing at a protest against tuition hikes in Taipei, Taiwan, as well as small protests in Paris and Brussels specifically assembled to show solidarity with Québec students.[34]

Solidarity protest in Belgium

Solidarity protest in Paris, France

Student protest in Taiwan, also showing solidarity with Québec

Québec is not the only place where there is a massive student movement developing into a wider social movement. In fact, Chile saw the start of its massive nation-wide student protest movement in May of 2011, roughly one year ago. The movement began as a student protest and evolved into a wider social movement with demonstrations drawing hundreds of thousands of Chileans, often met with the state apparatus of repression, remnants from Chile’s military dictatorship put in power by the CIA in 1973. The student movement has continued into the new year, and on April 25, the same day that large protests erupted in Montréal, Santagio had a protests which drew tens of thousands of students into the streets (between 25-50,000), rejecting the government’s proposed reforms as “too little.” Student leader Gabriel Boric declared, “We will carry on making history… We students will not give up the fight to make education a public right.”[35] Roughly ten days prior to the protests, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Chile seeking to extend “free-trade” agreements for the benefit of multinational corporations. Canada already has the largest investment in Chile’s mining industry. Reportedly, the massive student movement in Chile was not under discussion between Harper and Chilean President Pinera.[36]

So in Québec, the premier is dismissing the students and subsidizing the mining corporations. In Chile, the Canadian Prime Minister is ignoring student movements in both Canada and Chile while seeking to better secure Canadian mining interests. Thus, in the provincial, national, and international arena, Canadian politicians continually seek to protect, support, and expand the interests of multinational corporations while simultaneously undermining, ignoring, dismissing, and repressing massive student movements demanding social, political, and economic justice. This is not merely a Canadian issue, but a global one, making what is happening in Québec all the more relevant in attempting to bring about a ‘Maple Spring.’ Informal acts of solidarity and formal associations and relationships should be established between the two student movements in Québec and Chile so as to further empower and support those around the world who are partaking in a similar struggle.

What the Students are Saying

I had the chance to interview students and youth taking part in the strike and protests here in Québec. While the mainstream media inundates readers with quotes and concerns of the minority of students who do not support the strike, thus giving a very slanted perspective of the events taking place, I felt it was important to provide statements and perspectives from students who do support and have been taking part in the strike. I asked the students to tell me about their experiences, perspectives, and hopes for the strike and student movement, and what their message to the rest of Canada would be, in light of the poor information being given through the media.

Karine G. from Québec City said that her message to the rest of Canada was that, “Québec is not Canada. Our education system, like other specificities in our society, reflects our difference and our values. We are not complaining, simply trying to defend who we are and how we think it should be reflected through our institutions. Democracy supposes that citizens are free to invest in what they value the most; we think education should be a priority.” She added, “No matter what people try to justify with numbers, raising tuition fees is an ideological decision. Even though the Liberals are trying to make us believe – ‘There is no other alternative’ – we are not fools.” She expressed a great deal of frustration in getting others to understand what democracy and strikes actually represent and consist of, and finds a great deal of “ignorance and individualism” as well as apathy among others who criticize or oppose the strike.

Mathieu Lapointe Deraiche from Montréal stated that while the strike began in opposition to the tuition hikes, “I think after 11 weeks of strike, in the middle of one of the greatest student movements in the history” of the province, in both numbers and duration, “the hike of fees is now only a detail.” He added, “It is now a social crisis that [has] revealed an important generational gap (not to say ‘war’) between Quebec’s youth and the children of the ‘Trentes Glorieuses,” referring to the “30 Glorious Years” of growth following World War II, ending in the 1970s. He explained that the “social crisis” has “called into question the role of the police and the media,” such as TVA, the Journal de Montréal, and the Gazette. Referring to it as a “socio-political war between the youth and the government,” Mathieu explained that it has now reached the point where he “couldn’t be satisfied with a cancellation of the fees,” as his “actual disgust towards [the] government… transcends a financial issue.”

Freezing the ‘Spring’: State Repression of the Strike

Andrée Bourbeau, a member of the legal committee for C.L.A.S.S.E., is responsible for organizing funds to pay for the legal defense of those who are arrested at the protests (whether or not they are students), by disputing the tickets and fines which are dispersed to protesters by the police for taking part in the demonstrations. The mass arrests are done through the use of such tickets, using two Québec laws in particular to repress the student protests, which C.L.A.S.S.E. maintains – and rightly so – as being unconstitutional. For example, article 500.1 of du Code de sécurité routière (Québec law) is “unconstitutional,” explained Bourbeau, “because it prohibits any demonstration.” The article states that, “No person may, during a concerted action intended to obstruct in any way vehicular traffic on a public highway, occupy the roadway, shoulder or any other part of the right of way of or approaches to the highway or place a vehicle or obstacle thereon so as to obstruct vehicular traffic on the highway or access to such a highway.” In short, the very notion of a street protest is declared “unlawful” by Québec, which is a very violation of the right to assemble, the right to free speech and movement. Thus, it is unconstitutional. This article has led to the repression of every demonstration in Québec City, where more than 300 people have received $500 fines under this law. If any of those individuals take part in another protest, and receive another fine, the amount increases to between $3,500 and $10,500. Bourbeau told me, “this is outrageous because this is purely political repression of the student movement in Quebec City.” From the beginning of April, demonstrations have been declared illegal by the police, who threaten students that they will be fined if they take part, even if the demonstrations are peaceful, and of course the vast majority of them are.

It’s a stark reminder of the reality of how the student movement is presented in the media that with over 160 protests – with an average of 2-3 per day across the province – the rest of Canada only hears about the few protests that turned violent. Yet, for the nearly 200 protests that have taken place thus far, they are consistently met with a large police presence, fines, police brutality, and other forms of state coercion and repression. But it is the incidents of bank windows being smashed which the rest of Canada hears about. In Montréal, protests are repressed by the police through a bylaw which forbids assemblies that “breach the peace.” Bourbeau explained, “this is so broad it covers every kind of demonstration.” Thus, at each demonstration, the police arrest students and other protesters simply for being present. When some protesters react with violence or vandalism, this is referred to in the media and by the government as a “riot.”

For example, an article in the National Post written by David Frum was entitled, “David Frum on the Quebec student riots.” The first line in the article wrote, “The rioting students of Quebec got scant sympathy even before they started smashing windows and detonating smoke bombs.” He later referred to the student protesters as “a radical fringe,” who do not “deserve any sympathy.” He added: “And besides, they are part of the problem: a richer-than-average tranche of their own cohort demanding support from the taxes of less affluent people.”[37] David Frum, it should be noted, is a Canadian-American “journalist” who was previously a speechwriter for U.S. President George W. Bush, an ardent neoconservative, and was one of the loudest voices calling for the war on Iraq. Frum was also responsible for coining the phrase “axis of evil,” which George Bush first used in a speech from 2002. Hard to imagine that Québec would get fair coverage from the likes of Frum.

The use of bylaws and other unconstitutional ‘articles’ are – explained Bourbeau – aimed at “trying to demobilize the students, to make us fear going out to demonstrations and organize.” Of particular concern for protesters and organizers, she said, was the recently created police “GAMMA squad” in Montréal. In January of 2011, the GAMMA (Guet des activités et des mouvements marginaux et anarchists) squad was created as a special unit of the Montréal police, specifically designed to monitor anarchists and other “marginal political groups.” In short, it is a political policing unit, designed to engage in repression of ideological opposition to the state. These types of “squads” are typical in fascist and authoritarian countries around the world, but it’s new to Montréal. While protest organizers are very concerned about this squad, they have remained virtually out of the national media (though there is some discussion of them in the French media), so very few are even aware of their existence.

In July of 2011, C.L.A.S.S.E. filed human rights complaints against the GAMMA squad after an “unprecedented” wave of arrests, when four members of the student group, three of whom were executives, were arrested as they were preparing to organize a campaign against the tuition hikes. The stated reason for the arrests was for the organizers participating in having organized protests the previous March which resulted in a small injury of a staff member of Québec Finance Minister Bouchard’s office. A CLASSE spokesperson stated that the aim of the arrests was to “break the back” of the student movement before it even began to mobilize. CLASSE is neither an “anarchist” nor a “marginal” organization (due to it being the largest representation of the student movement), which is not to say that monitoring anarchist and other “marginal” groups (however the State defines that) is acceptable, because it is not. The “evidence” against the student organizers was largely provided by an informant for the GAMMA squad.[38] CLASSE spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois stated, “There is no doubt about the political nature of these arrests… This is clearly an attempt by the [Montreal police] to decapitate the Quebec student movement on the eve of one of its historical struggles.”[39]

Alexandre Popovic, a spokesperson for the Coalition against repression and police brutality, explained that the GAMMA squad represents “police use of social stereotyping to hinder the legal expression of opposition to social and legal policies.” He stated, “It’s ridiculous… They have a stereotypical cartoon image of anarchists,” adding that while anarchists believe in opposing authority (which is a good thing!), they also have families, host book fairs, and engage in intellectual discussions. Referring to the complaints filed against GAMMA to the Québec Human Rights Commission, Popovic stated: “The commission needs to remind the police that we are not in a police state. We have the right to disagree and even have thoughts they might not like.”[40] CLASSE spokesperson Nadeau-Dubois explained, “This squad is really a new kind of political police to fight against social movements.” The GAMMA unit is a branch of the Montréal Police Force’s Organized Crime Unit, which “uses tactics developed to monitor mafia and street gangs in order to keep tabs on political activists.”[41]

Though apparently they don’t do a very good job of handling the Montréal mafia, since the city government they work for has been handing out public contracts to the mafia, who have connections to political parties and the construction industry as well.[42] Back in 2009, a former city government opposition leader, Benoit Labonte, facing corruption charges, stated that the Montréal mafia controls roughly 80% of City Hall, telling Radio-Canada, “Is there a Mafia system that controls city hall? The response is yes.”[43] Mafia-connected construction executives have been involved in election campaigns in municipalities all across the city of Montréal and elsewhere, and have thereafter been awarded with lucrative public contracts.[44] Arrests were made on anti-corruption charges in Montréal in late April, and among the 14 suspects arrested, two of them were Liberal Party organizers, putting Jean Charest’s government further on the offensive. One of those Liberal Party organizers was personally given an award by Jean Charest at a Liberal Party meeting in 2010.[45] Back in September of 2010, Jean Charest’s Québec government was declared by Maclean’s Magazine to be “the most corrupt province” in Canada. Marc Bellemare, the province’s former Justice Minister in the Charest government, spoke out about the rife corruption, favouritism, collusion and graft, with Charest granting Liberal Party fundraisers a say in the appointments of judges, not to mention his government’s deep connections to the overtly-corrupt construction industry. Interestingly, “it costs Quebec taxpayers roughly 30 per cent more to build a stretch of road than anywhere else in the country.”[46] So if Québec really is concerned with “balancing the budget,” perhaps the government – and the police, for that matter – should start with ending corruption in the governments itself (as if that were even possible!). It seems that the government is more interested in supporting organized crime than organized students.

I do not mean to paint Charest as a pawn of the mafia, since he always has been and always will be far more beholden to elite financial and economic interests, specifically that of the powerful Desmarais family (Canada’s equivalent of the Rockefeller family), with its patriarch Paul Desmarais Sr, who treats Charest like a little poodle, and who has established close connections with every Canadian Prime Minister since the 1970s, and all but two of Québec’s premiers in the same amount of time. As one reporter with the Globe and Mail explained, “Desmarais has been personally consulted by prime ministers on every major federal economic and constitutional initiative since the 1970s. Most of the time, they’ve taken his advice.”[47] It was also reported that, “[o]ver the last several years, [Paul Desmarais Sr.] has spun his web to such an extent that it now enables him to call the shots,” especially in promoting his right-wing economic vision, with “a disproportionate influence on politics and the economy in Quebec and Canada.” In particular, Desmarais “has a lot of influence on Premier Jean Charest.” Quebec writer Robin Philpot wrote that when Paul Desmarais received the French Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honour) from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean Charest was in attendance, of which Philpot stated, “He took him along like a poodle.” Philpot added, “It’s a very unhealthy situation for a government to be indebted to a businessman that has his own interest at heart. They get their hands tied.”[48]

Québec Premier Jean Charest (right), with French President Sarkozy (centre), and Canadian billionaire oligarch Paul Desmarais, Sr. (left)

And now Charest is attempting to ensure that future generations of students are themselves beholden to the same interests he is: the bankers and corporations, the political-economic and financial elite who dominate the province and the country.

The Students ‘Spring’ Forward

Following Charest’s announcement of a new “seven-year” program for the tuition hikes (with even more tuition costs added on!), students took to the streets in another night of major protests in Montreal. Student leaders rejected the absurd proposal, declaring, “It’s not an offer, it’s an insult.” When some students in the protest occupied an intersection and sat down in the street, the police responded with tear gas. Then, after two hours of peaceful protest (apart from police aggression and a few projectiles thrown at police in response), the police declared the demonstration to be “illegal” and began arresting people.[49]

In late April, in the eleventh week of the strike, international media have finally taken notice, as the student movement is making its way into the headlines of CNN, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera. Martine Desjardins, president of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), one of the main student groups, commented that, “I think we’ve seen that no matter how far reaching the movement is, Charest just isn’t listening… After months of taking to the streets, it’s encouraging and surprising to see the struggle catching on like this. It’s been tiring for students to have to keep marching and striking but this gives us new hope moving forward.” However, despite the general perception of the protests, both student leaders and the police themselves admit that the vast majority of those assembled do so peacefully. Constable Yannick Ouimet of the Montreal Police said, “We know that 99 per cent of the people who show up to protest want to do so peacefully… What we’re seeing now is that the peaceful protesters and their leaders are helping police identify criminals so that they can be removed from the crowd.” Desjardins reflected on the latest “proposal” from Charest, calling it “a smokescreen.” He explained: “the offer was never mentioned when we set down to negotiate with the government. Instead, it was sent above students’ heads as an attempt to win over the general public.” While the media continues to repeat the falling support for the students among the general public – figures which are attributed to the violence – Desjardins felt it noteworthy to point out, “We’re seeing small openings and we’re seeing our support base broadening. It’s not just students out there, it’s parents, teachers, trade unions and different social groups. We don’t want to have gone through all of this and to go back to school empty handed.”[50]

Québec students are increasingly frustrated with the government response to the strike. At a protest in late April, a number of students gave their complaints to the media. “I don’t think there is any class of society that would like to be ignored for three months,” one student explained. She added, “Now, all of a sudden, people realize something is going on because some windows were broken.” Another student, and mother of two, Aurélie Pedron, raised the issue of agent provocateurs being used to demonize the students: “When there are vandals on bicycles, with rocks so huge that you could not find them on Ste. Catherine Street [where the protest was taking place], when it’s a bookstore whose window is smashed, do you really think it is students who do that?.. Don’t take us for idiots.” Another student explained that, “the government approach is to present us as a bunch of vandals.” One political science student explained, “this has become more than a student fight, it is a fight against the government and the state.” Another student at the protest agreed: “The issue is bigger than tuition fees. It is a question of re-establishing democracy. There is no democracy. We are closer to totalitarianism. Decisions are made without listening to the people.” Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the spokesperson for CLASSE, elaborated on the increased scope and vision of the struggle of students: “Those people are a single elite, a greedy elite, a corrupt elite, a vulgar elite, an elite that only sees education as an investment in human capital, that only sees a tree as a piece of paper and only sees a child as a future employee.” Thus, he explained, the student strike would be “a springboard to a much wider, much deeper, much more radical challenge of the direction Quebec has been heading in recent years.”[51]

C.L.A.S.S.E. spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois

Andrée Bourbeau of CLASSE told me that, “if Quebec is the province that has the lowest tuition fees and the best system of bursaries, it’s because we fought since the 1960s through organized actions and strikes,” with the current 2012 strike being the ninth one, and the largest of its kind, with the longest duration. She added, in regards to the methods of the student organizations, that, “we have practiced direct democracy through our student general assemblies for several decades now,” and that it is through this ‘direct democracy’ approach that decisions of the students are made before approaching the government. When the government ignores and dismisses the demands of the students, it is through the direct democracy approach of syndicalisme de combat that the students decide to target – through civil disobedience and peaceful assembly – the economy itself. “Transparency is very important,” explained Bourbeau, “Acting with syndicalisme de combat means that we mobilize people, we organize demonstrations and actions. The movement is its members, not an enlightened elite.” I asked her what her message to the rest of Canada was, to which she replied:

I wait for Canadian students to start struggling for their rights, for free tuition and self-governed universities. I don’t think Quebec has to be different than the other provinces in regards to social programs and public services. [I speak] in solidarity with the people of Canada!

The “political police” and its corrupt and elite-beholden government sponsor continues to repress dissent, demonize an emerging social movement, prevent the expression of basic – constitutionally guaranteed – rights and liberties of hundreds of thousands of youth and activists across the province. The government of Québec is attempting to turn a potential ‘Maple Spring’ into a ‘Hopeless Winter.’ But as we here in Montréal can see and feel, winter is on its way out, the temperature is getting warmer, the sun is starting to shine more and more, and spring is sprouting!

Message from Canada’s Youth: We Refuse to be a Lost Generation!

The argument that Québec students are “whining and crying” about “entitlements” is not only wrong, but deeply immoral. What Québec students are doing is finally standing up and saying, ‘No More!’ What Québec students are doing is not a misguided attempt to preserve “entitlements,” but to try to ensure for ourselves a future, a future which is being – year-by-year – stolen from us. My generation of Canadians – and for that matter youth all over the world – are shackled with more debts than any before us, with less job opportunities, with more poverty, and with the burden of beginning our lives under a system which has consistently favoured the rich few at the expense of the rest. We are told to go to school and get a good job. So we go to school, get deep into debt, and graduate into a market with few jobs. With professional degrees, we go work at Starbucks, so that we may pay the interest on our student debts, or the interest on our credit card debts, struggling to pay our monthly rent, or living at home for much longer than any generation before us because we simply can’t afford to move out. Rents are going up, and housing prices are sky-high in an absurd bubble waiting to burst. So then we are told that if we want “a future,” we have to buy property. None of us can afford a $500,000 condominium in Vancouver or Toronto, so we are told: get a mortgage, it’s the “smart” thing to do. So we get a mortgage, because our parents, our banks, and our government said: “It’s the smart thing to do.” And when this absurd housing bubble pops,  our interest payments on our mortgages will skyrocket, and our student debts will skyrocket, and our credit card interest payments will skyrocket, and we won’t even be able to keep up with the increasing costs of food.

We are doomed to poverty before we even have a chance at possibility. We were raised with expectations of a life we could have. For those of us who grew up middle class, like myself, we grew up in a world built on a mirage of debt. The average Canadian household today spends 150% of its income, so that for every $1 they make, they owe $1.50. The average Canadian household is $103,000 in debt, largely due to mortgages, but also as a result of credit card debt, student debt, and other loans. Canada’s big five banks help provide the mortgages, the student debt, tell us to get credit cards, and through the Bank of Canada (our central bank), keep the interest rates low so as to encourage people to get more loans and go deeper into debt. Everyone is told to get an RRSP because “it’s the smart thing to do.” So we save what money we can, and put it into an RRSP account. Yet, if we want to spend that money, we have to do so on property. If we take out the money for anything other than a house or condo (which would still require us to get a mortgage to cover the full expense), then we lose a huge percentage of the money within the account. I took a class in high school where the teacher explained to all the compliant young students that investing your money in an RRSP is “the smart thing to do.”

So now our parents are struggling to pay their rent, meet their interest payments, or even pay for food. They work several jobs, and still we struggle, day-to-day and week-to-week. Our parents see us – their children – also struggling, falling behind and not meeting the social expectations that were set for us: when to move out, when to get an apartment, when to go to school and graduate, when to get a job, when to get a house, when to get married, when to have kids, etc. So our parents, naturally, want the best for us, want us to have what they tried for but are now struggling to even maintain as an illusion. So they tell us: get a student loan to go to school and get a good job, get a credit card, get a mortgage to buy a house. They encourage us to follow their path, when where they currently stand is already dangerously close to the cliff’s edge. Our path, then, is much rougher, much more dangerous, and all the more illusory than theirs. They see only their own children, and want the best. But we, their children, see each other: we see our friends, co-workers, fellow students and compatriots; we see our entire generation and how we all struggle. Our parents see the individual struggles of their own kids. We see and feel the collective struggle of a generation. We did what we were told, and now we are left with massive debt and no jobs, higher rents and fewer hopes. We did what we were told, year after year, because, as they say, “It’s the smart thing to do.” We did everything we were told to “get ahead,” and now we are being left behind.

So what the students in Québec are doing is simply trying to catch up, is simply speaking up and saying that we don’t want to be a “lost generation,” doomed to debt bondage. And now that we – finally! – are awakening to our situation and taking action, we are derided and dismissed, insulted and ‘dissed’, spat on and chastised, beaten with batons, bombed with tear gas. We are told, now, that we are “crying and whining,” that we are spoiled children, demanding “entitlements” and subsidies. We aren’t asking for a free ride through life, all we are wanting… is the chance to have a life.

The future is the world that we are inheriting, and before we can even enter the future, it’s being stolen from us. We are disciplined under heavy debts and higher costs before we have the chance to even reach a true sense of autonomy and independence. We are indebted before we even move out of our homes, before we get our first job. And then we are told we are spoiled and entitled!

It’s time for older generations to move aside, to stop telling us what it is we should want, how we should get it, and then deride us for not doing what they say. If we feel we are ‘entitled,’ it is because we were raised to feel that way. This is partly the fault of our parents’ generation, who have lived a life in debt, and who now instruct us to follow them into the abyss, and dismiss us when we say we want to chart our own course. Well now it’s time for them to move aside. They tried, in the 1960s and early 70s, to civilize society and make a better world – something we are now told is not worth aspiring to – and indeed, achievements were made, but it was stopped short. The elites of our society saw the emergence of social democratization and struggles for liberation and put a finish to it. The system they constructed to strangle the struggle for liberation is what we call “neoliberalism” and debt-domination.

Demonstration in Montréal

Now, all around the world, from North Africa, to Latin America, East Asia, Europe and right here in Québec, the youth are finally standing up against this ruthless global system of exploitation, militarism, racism, and domination. What the students in Québec are doing is joining the global struggle as it emerges around the world, and setting an example for the rest of Canada and North America, who have so far been lagging far behind. We are not preserving entitlement; we are seeking empowerment. If our parents failed to do it, it is left to us. So, for those in previous generations who only want “the best” for their children, it is time to stop telling us to follow their examples, and time to start following ours. It is time to stand with and behind the youth, instead of out in front and above us. It is time to support us where we need it most. What the youth of the world are now saying is that we will welcome your support and encouragement, but if you get in our way, we will push you aside and leave you behind. So if you – like all people of this world should – desire a better world for your children, want to enter a more hopeful future, and create a more equal and fair society, it’s time to step up to the plate and stand behind the vanguard of the revolution: the youth!

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project. He also hosts a weekly podcast show, “Empire, Power, and People,” on BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Notes

[1]            Press Release, “TD Economics outlines plan for prosperity in Quebec report,” Newswire, 10 April 2007:

http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/178423/td-economics-outlines-plan-for-prosperity-in-quebec-report

[2]            Claire Penhorwood, “Quebec tuition fight about keeping education accessible, students say,” CBC News, 21 March 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/03/21/f-tuitionfees.html

[3]            Kamloops Daily News, “It’s hard to feel sorry for these Quebec students,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 February 2012:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/its-hard-to-feel-sorry-for-these-quebec-students-140407073.html

[4]            Gary Mason, “The crushing weight of student debt,” The Globe and Mail, 7 July 2011:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/gary_mason/the-crushing-weight-of-student-debt/article2088760/

[5]            Jacob Serebrin, “Half of full-time Quebec students live on $12,000 a year,” Canadian University Press, 19 November 2010:

http://cupwire.ca/articles/38179

[6]            Stefani Forster and Alexander Panetta, “Quebec Student Strike: Montreal’s Riotous Night Leaves A Mess After Government Talks Break Down,” The Huffington Post, 26 April 2012:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/26/montreal-quebec-student-protest-riots_n_1454679.html

[7]            Canadian Press, “Some key events in Quebec’s battle over tuition hikes,” The Winnipeg Free Press, 27 April 2012:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/some-key-events-in-quebecs-battle-over-tuition-hikes-149265525.html

[8]            Antonia Maioni, “Charest’s Marie Antoinette moment,” The Globe and Mail, 24 April 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/charests-marie-antoinette-moment/article2411573/

[9]            CBC, “Violent Montreal student protest nets 17 arrests,” CBC News, 20 April 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/04/20/students-palais-de-congres.html

[10]            Giuseppe Valiante, “Montreal protest turns violent,” QMI Agency, 20 April 2012:

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2012/04/20/protest-at-kenney-immigration-speech

[11]            CTV, “Tuition protesters unrelenting, in spite of injunctions,” CTV Montreal, 12 April 2012:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120412/mtl_valleyfield_120412/

[12]            Ibid.

[13]            Henry Gass, “Students continue striking into exam period,” The McGill Daily, 15 April 2012:

http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/04/students-continue-striking-into-exam-period/

[14]            Joel Ashak, “Campus security clashes with students,” The Concordian, 27 March 2012:

http://theconcordian.com/2012/03/27/campus-security-clashes-with-students/

[15]            Joel Ashak, “Agent involved in alleged assault found unlicensed,” The Concordian, 1 April 2012:

http://theconcordian.com/2012/04/01/agent-involved-in-alleged-assault-found-unlicensed/

[16]            Corey Pool, “Scrutinizing Security,” The Link, 3 April 2012:

http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/2917

[17]            Jeff Davis, “Citizen’s arrest bill gives more power to rent-a-cops, police warn,” Postmedia News, 24 April 2012:

http://www.canada.com/news/Citizen+arrest+bill+gives+more+power+rent+cops+police+warn/6512389/story.html

[18]            Joel Ashak, “Campus security clashes with students,” The Concordian, 27 March 2012:

http://theconcordian.com/2012/03/27/campus-security-clashes-with-students/

[19]            Karen Seidman, “Students’ battle against Quebec heats up,” The Gazette, 17 April 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Students+battle+against+Quebec+heats/6468030/story.html

[20]            Sarah Deshaies, “Students, education minister start talks in Quebec,” Canadian University Press, 26 April 2012:

http://cupwire.ca/articles/52659

[21]            Kevin Daugherty, “Tuition negotiations hit a roadblock,” The Gazette, 26 April 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Tuition+negotiations+roadblock/6520106/story.html

[22]            Megan Kinch, “BLOG: Montreal Demonstration “Turned Violent” When Police Shot Explosives at Us,” Toronto Media Co-op, 26 April 2012:

http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/blog/megan-kinch/10656

[23]            Sarah Deshaies, “Quebec education minister reaches out to select organizations as student strikes reach 10th week,” Canadian University Press, 18 April 2012:

http://cupwire.ca/articles/52648

[24]            CBC, “Quebec police admit they went undercover at Montebello protest,” CBC News, 23 August 2007:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2007/08/23/police-montebello.html

[25]            Kevin Dougherty, “Protesting Quebec students reject Jean Charest’s new six-point plan on education,” The National Post, 27 April 2012:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/27/protesting-quebec-students-reject-jean-charests-new-six-point-plan-on-education/

[26]            Karen Seidman and Kevin Daugherty, “Increased student debt from higher tuition could cost Quebec, report contends,” The Montreal Gazette, 28 March 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Student+debt+could+cost+Quebec+report/6372686/story.html

[27]            CLASSE, “Quebec students appeal for wider ‘social strike’ against Charest government,” Rabble.ca, 27 April 2012:

http://rabble.ca/news/2012/04/quebec-students-appeal-wider-social-strike-against-charest-government

[28]            Various, “Manifesto for a Maple Spring,” Rabble.ca, 26 April 2012:

http://rabble.ca/news/2012/04/quebecs-spring-manifesto-printemps-%C3%A9rable

[29]            Ibid.

[30]            Jane Lytvynenko, “U of O students show solidarity with Quebec,” The Fulcrum, 28 March 2012:

http://thefulcrum.ca/2012/03/u-of-o-students-show-solidarity-with-quebec/

[31]            UWO, “UNIONS ACROSS ONTARIO STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE QUEBEC STUDENT STRIKE,” UWO GTA Union, 25 April 2012:

http://www.gtaunion.com/gta/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=150:unions-across-ontario-stand-in-solidarity-with-the-quebec-student-strike

[32]            James Hamilton, “Toronto rally for Quebec Students,” Toronto Grand Prix Tourist, 26 April 2012:

http://torontogp.blogspot.ca/2012/04/toronto-rally-for-quebec-students.html

[33]            CSJ, “Solidarity With Quebec Student Strike!”, Centre for Social Justice, 26 April 2012:

http://www.socialjustice.org/community/?f_cat=2&arch=3

[34]            Mediaswap, “International Support for the Québec Student Strike Against Tuition Hikes,” 28 March 2012:

http://mediaswap.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/international-support-for-the-quebec-student-strike-against-tuition-hikes/

[35]            Jill Langlois, “Chile: Students protest for free education, reject President Sebastian Pinera’s $700 million funding offer,” Global Post, 26 April 2012:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/chile/120426/chile-students-protest-free-education-reject-president-offer

[36]            Jennifer Ditchburn, “Harper looks to Chile for help in joining lucrative Pacific trade pact,” The Globe and Mail, 16 April 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-looks-to-chile-for-help-in-joining-lucrative-pacific-trade-pact/article2403953/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Politics&utm_content=2403953

[37]            David Frum, “David Frum on the Quebec student riots: Grandpa’s free ride,” The National Post, 27 April 2012:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/04/28/david-frum-on-the-quebec-student-riots-grandpas-free-ride/

[38]            Vincent Larouche, “Des étudiants se disent persécutés par la police,” La Presse, 18 July 2011:

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/education/201107/18/01-4418938-des-etudiants-se-disent-persecutes-par-la-police.php

[39]            Jacob Serebrin, “Student union’s human rights complaint against Montreal police,” Maclean’s On Campus, 20 July 2011:

http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2011/07/20/student-unions-human-rights-complaint-against-montreal-police/

[40]            Max Harrold, “Montreal police unit to monitor anarchists,” The Gazette, 14 July 2011:

http://www.globalmontreal.com/Montreal+police+unit+monitor+anarchists/5109988/story.html

[41]            Christian Macdonald, “Political policing in Montreal,” The Dominion, 9 November 2011:

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4236

[42]            CBC, “RCMP challenges Quebec request for Mafia evidence,” CBC News, 18 April 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/04/18/rcmp-challenges-quebec-inquiry-request-for-mafia-evidence-cp.html

[43]            CTV, “Mafia ties run deep at city hall: Labonte,” CTV Montreal, 22 October 2009:

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091022/mtl_poll_091022?hub=MontrealHome

[44]            Linda Gyulai, “Quebec collusion squad casts a very wide net,” Postmedia News, 18 April 2012:

http://www.canada.com/Quebec+collusion+squad+casts+very+wide/6479620/story.html

[45]            Brian Daly, “Two Que. Liberal organizers among corruption suspects,” The Toronto Sun, 19 April 2012:

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/19/two-que-liberal-organizers-among-corruption-suspects

[46]            Martin Patriquin, “Quebec: The most corrupt province,” Maclean’s, 24 September 2010:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/09/24/the-most-corrupt-province/

[47]            Konrad Yakabuski, Like Father, like sons?, The Globe and Mail, 26 March 2006:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/like-father-like-sons/article170466/singlepage/#articlecontent

[48]            Marianne White, “Author delivers high-voltage critique of Paul Desmarais Sr. — the man behind Power Corp,” Ottawa Citizen, 21 October 2008:

http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=2e3cff7f-05a2-44fc-afc1-616c5c40f64f

[49]            Christopher Curtis, Roberto Rocha and Max Harrold, “Jean Charest’s new education offer results in huge night of protests,” The National Post, 28 April 2012:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/28/jean-charests-new-education-offer-results-in-huge-night-of-protests/

[50]            Christopher Curtis, “Quebec student strike makes international news, but “Charest just isn’t listening”,” The Montreal Gazette, 28 April 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Student+strike+makes+international+news/6536473/story.html

[51]            Graeme Hamilton, “Quebec student protests not just about tuition but battle against ‘greedy elites’,” National Post, 28 April 2012:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/27/quebec-student-protests-not-just-about-tuition-but-battle-against-greedy-elites/

Movimiento estudiantil, dominación por deudas y lucha de clases en Canadá

Por Andrew Gavin Marshall

Nota del Editor: Este artículo es parte de una serie titulada “La Lucha de Clases y la Crisis Universitaria” de Andrew Gavin Marshall. Publicamos esta serie de artículos ya que ayudan a comprender la problemática de la mercantilización de la educación desde una perspectiva global y a conocer el estado de los movimientos estudiantiles en otras regiones del mundo.

Existe un proceso en curso en Canadá, liderado por la élite empresarial y financiera, y dirigido contra la población en general, los pobres, y los jóvenes, con la intención de beneficiar a los ricos y poderosos, castigar a los pobres y robar a los demás, para sumergirlos en la pobreza, reprimirlos, controlarlos y dominarlos: este proceso se llama “lucha de clases” y es liderado por los súper-ricos contra el resto de la población, supuestamente superflua. Su objetivo es simple: preservar, proteger y ampliar el control y la dominación de los ricos sobre la mayoría.

En Quebec, donde la lucha de clases ha realizado un asalto específico contra los estudiantes y los jóvenes, finalmente aparecen cada vez más indicios y las acciones de que los jóvenes están empezando a luchar. El gobierno provincial de Quebec – la provincia francófona de Canadá – ha decidido duplicar los costos de matrícula para los próximos años. Estas medidas han llevado a cientos de miles de estudiantes a lo largo de Quebec a la huelga en protesta por el aumento de las tasas. Puesto que Quebec tiene en la actualidad los menores costes de matrícula en Canadá para los residentes, una gran cantidad de medios de comunicación y comentarios sobre el tema están esmerados en arremeter contra los quebequenses por su concepto de “derechos” y “quejarse” porque tienen que pagar lo que otros pagan. El debate se centra en torno a la “necesidad” de que el gobierno de Quebec deba reducir su deuda – equilibrar su presupuesto – enmarcando los costos del aumento de la matrícula como una necesidad que debe ser aceptada, y cuando es resistida, desacreditar a los manifestantes como poco realista y mezquinos.

¿Entonces es cierto que Quebec tiene las tasas más bajas de matrícula en Canadá? Sí. Sin embargo, los residentes de Quebec también pagan los impuestos al ingreso más altos de todo el Canadá. [1] Uno de los grandes reclamos por parte del gobierno de Quebec en cuanto al porqué la matrícula debe aumentarse es la afirmación de que las universidades de Quebec se encuentran entre las más “insuficientemente financiadas” en Canadá, y por lo tanto, necesitan aumentar su financiación con el fin de aumentar su “competitividad”. Sin embargo, de acuerdo al mismo gobierno de Quebec, el gasto público total en educación (en 2008-2009) ascendió al 1,94% del PIB, frente al 1,76% de Ontario, y el 1.65% de Canadá en su conjunto. Al mismo tiempo, el gasto universitario total por alumno en Quebec asciende a los 29.242 dólares, en comparación con los 26.383 dólares en Ontario, y los 28.846 dólares para Canadá en su conjunto. [2] De este modo, las universidades de Quebec se financian mucho más que el resto de Canadá, así que el argumento no tiene peso.

Las universidades de Quebec se financian más que las otras universidades canadienses, mientras que los residentes de Quebec pagan más en impuestos que el resto de Canadá, ¿por qué el aumento de la matrícula? Como las tasas de matrícula para las universidades aumentaron, el gasto público en educación disminuye. Como explica la Federación de Estudiantes Canadienses:

En los últimos quince años, las tasas de matrícula en Canadá se han elevado hasta convertirse en el gasto más grande para la mayoría de los estudiantes universitarios. Los dramáticos aumentos en las tasas de matrícula en este período fueron el resultado directo de los recortes a la financiación pública para la educación post-secundaria por parte del gobierno federal y, en menor grado, de los gobiernos provinciales. La financiación pública representa en la actualidad un promedio de aproximadamente el 57% de los fondos de funcionamiento universitarios, frente al 84% de hace dos décadas. Durante el mismo período los derechos de matrícula han aumentado de un 14% de los fondos de operación de más del 34%. [3]

Esto marca un paso “desde un modelo de financiación pública hacia un sistema privatizado de cuotas por usuario”, que ha hecho que la “educación post-secundaria se vuelva inalcanzable para muchos canadienses de bajos y medianos ingresos.” A los mediados de los 60, casi todo el financiamiento de las universidades canadienses era proporcionado por los gobiernos federal y provincial, y las tasas de matrícula eran muy bajas o inexistentes. Este proceso comenzó a cambiar en la década del 80, con el auge del neoliberalismo en la economía política global, que vio movidas hacia la reducción del gasto social de los gobiernos. Como la financiación del gobierno disminuyó, los costos de matrícula se elevaron, y como resultado, entre los años 80 y principios de los 90, las tasas de matrícula en Canadá prácticamente se duplicaron. En 1995, el gobierno federal liberal de Canadá recortó 7 mil millones de dólares en el gasto de las provincias, dando lugar a “los mayores aumentos de las tasas de matrícula en la historia de Canadá.” Quebec había, sin embargo, resistido el impulso de hacer pagar más a los estudiantes, algo que estaba ocurriendo en todas las demás provincias canadienses. En la década del 90, el promedio de las tasas de matrícula de pregrado en Canadá era de 1.464 dólares. Hoy el promedio se ha más que triplicado a 5.138 dólares [4]

¿Por qué tiene lugar este proceso? ¿Por qué el gasto público en educación (y otros programas sociales) se redujo, mientras que los gastos personales de todos estos servicios se incrementaron? La respuesta no está en la “eficiencia” o “equilibrio presupuestario”, sino más bien, en la lucha de clases.

En abril de 2007, TD Bank (uno de los “cinco grandes” bancos que dominan la economía de Canadá) dio a conocer un “plan para la prosperidad” para la provincia de Quebec, que recomienda, entre otras cosas, elevar el costo de la matrícula: “mediante el aumento de las tasas de matrícula, pero centrándose en una mayor asistencia financiera a los necesitados, las instituciones educación post-secundaria (EPS) estarán mejor posicionadas para prosperar y ofrecer educación e investigación de clase mundial”. [5] En una provincia de Canadá, Nueva Escocia, el gobierno contrató a un ex economista jefe del Banco de Montreal, Tim O’Neill, para evaluar las finanzas de la educación superior, y como era de esperar, abogó por mayores tasas de matrícula. [6] Los bancos, por supuesto, tienen un gran interés en promover el aumento de los costos de matrícula, debido a que pueden ofrecer préstamos a los estudiantes y sacar ganancias de los intereses de la deuda del estudiante, al igual que algunos malévolos súcubo que se fortalece cada vez más drenando la fuerza y el potencial vital de las generaciones futuras, que están condenadas a la esclavitud por deudas. Así que, naturalmente, nuestros gobiernos toman el consejo de los bancos, porque saben que son sus verdaderos amos.

Cabe señalar, además, que esto no es más que un problema de Quebec o Canadá. Decenas de miles de estudiantes en el Reino Unido está planeando una marcha en protesta por el aumento de la matrícula, que “están sacando a los estudiantes de la educación”. [7] El Movimiento Occupy en los Estados Unidos se está moviendo hacia las universidades, mientras en los campus de California se han desarrollado manifestaciones y protestas contra los “recortes presupuestarios del estado en la educación y las alzas resultantes en la matrícula”. [8] En España, más de 30.000 estudiantes salieron a las calles de Barcelona protestando por las de los recortes de austeridad en la educación, y luego, por supuesto, se enfrentaron con la represión del Estado. [9] Tal vez lo más impresionante fue el masivo movimiento estudiantil que se ha desarrollado en Chile durante el año pasado.

La Crisis Universitaria

¿Qué es la “crisis universitaria”? Es muy sencillo: nuestra sociedad está produciendo con jóvenes profesionales con mas educación que nunca antes, los que luego se gradúan en un mercado sin trabajo, y lo que es más, se gradúan con una gigantesca deuda. La educación profesional que los estudiantes reciben, en combinación con la pesada y autoritaria carga de la deuda y la insatisfacción por la inmensa falta de oportunidades para ellos, generarán un gran grupo de gente movilizada, educada, activa y muy enojada. Esto es lo que se conoce como “pobreza de expectativas”, en donde las expectativas inculcadas a un grupo o sector de la sociedad no pueden ser satisfechas por la sociedad en que viven. En cualquier sociedad, en cualquier período de la historia, esta es una receta para el malestar social, la resistencia, la rebelión, y potencialmente la revolución.

Naturalmente, las élites de cualquier sociedad temen ese escenario, por lo que siempre aparecen con distintos métodos de gestión para estas condiciones cada vez más problemáticas. Las soluciones, siempre, siempre están encaminadas a encontrar métodos y medios para socavar la capacidad y la eficacia del grupo objetivo de movilizar y organizar a su causa, en este caso, los estudiantes. Recortar los presupuestos en educación y aumentar las tasas de matrícula es un medio muy eficaz para crear condiciones más ‘deseables’ para las élites. ¿Cómo es eso? Cualquier forma de “austeridad” es esencialmente un acto de lucha de clases, llevada a cabo por la clase alta contra el resto. Austeridad significa que los presupuestos se reducirán y los costos se incrementarán, ya sea a través de impuestos, aumentos directos en servicios y necesidades, o más a menudo, ambas cosas. El propósito declarado de las “medidas de austeridad” es reducir la deuda (o gasto) y aumentar la rentabilidad (o ingresos), con la presunta intención de eliminar la deuda con el tiempo. Ese, sin embargo, no es el verdadero propósito de la austeridad, y por lo tanto, nunca es el resultado. El resultado es realmente es elevar la deuda, e imponer un régimen de “genocidio social”: el aumento de las cargas, los costos, los impuestos, y las penurias de la población en general. Para los pobres, significa desesperación; para la clase media, significa pobreza; y para los ricos, significa prosperidad y el poder.

La crisis actual se deriva de los acontecimientos que tuvieron lugar en la década del 60, que vieron un aumento del activismo y la participación de la población en general, y especialmente de los jóvenes. Las universidades fueron un caldo de cultivo para el activismo y los movimientos que buscaban la generación de mejoras sociales. La respuesta de la élite para este escenario, en los Estados Unidos en particular, pero también en todo el Mundo Occidental en su conjunto, fue declarar una “crisis de la democracia” en la cual muchas personas estaban haciéndole demasiadas demandas al sistema, donde todas las formas de autoridades estaban bajo ataque, y la legitimidad de las autoridades se puso en duda. Las élites de izquierda y derecha vieron la aceleración de la participación democrática y el activismo como un asalto a su concepción de lo que la “democracia” debía ser – es decir, un estado que sirva a sus intereses exclusivos. Desde la derecha, la Cámara de Comercio de Estados Unidos – y desde los internacionalistas liberales, la Comisión Trilateral – lanzaron un gran ataque nacional y global contra la oleada de activismo democrático al Comisión Trilateral definido como un “exceso de democracia”. El resultado de este ataque: neoliberalismo y deuda. Los dos documentos que más influyeron en este ataque a la democracia fueron el “Memo Powell” de 1971 enviado a la Cámara de Comercio de Estados Unidos, que describe un programa detallado de cómo las grandes empresas pueden reorganizar la sociedad para sus propios intereses, y el informe de la Comisión Trilateral de 1975, “La Crisis de la Democracia”, que delinea una ideología para la élite, que vio que el problema de la sociedad estaba en un “exceso de democracia” y que lo que se requiere es corregir la balanza a favor de las élites y aumentar la apatía y la pasividad de la población. La Cámara de Comercio representa a todos los intereses de las empresas más importantes en los Estados Unidos, mientras que la Comisión Trilateral (fundada en 1973 por el banquero David Rockefeller), representa alrededor de 350 personajes de élite en las áreas de la academia, finanzas, negocios, gobierno, política exterior, medios de comunicación y fundaciones de América del Norte, Europa Occidental y Japón.

El resultado de ello fue disminuir el financiamiento gubernamental para la educación, aumentar las matrículas y otros costos, elevar la deuda de los estudiantes y la población en general en su conjunto (a través de tarjetas de crédito, hipotecas, préstamos, etc.), y fusionar la educación superior y las grandes empresas: mercantilización y privatización de las universidades.

Como parte de este proceso, el conocimiento se transformó en “capital” – dentro del “capitalismo del conocimiento” o de una “economía del conocimiento”. Los informes del Banco Mundial y la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) en la década de 1990 transformaron estas ideas en una “plantilla directiva.” Esta buscaba establecer “una nueva coalición entre la educación y la industria”, donde “la educación una vez reconfigurada aparecería como una forma de capital del conocimiento masivamente subvalorado que determinará el futuro del trabajo, la organización de las instituciones del conocimiento y la forma de la sociedad en los próximos años.” [10]

El conocimiento se define así como un “recurso económico”, lo que llevaría al crecimiento de la economía. Por lo tanto, en la era neoliberal, donde todos los aspectos de la productividad y el crecimiento económico se privatizan (supuestamente para aumentar su eficiencia y capacidad productiva, ya que sólo el “libre mercado” lo puede hacer), la educación – o la “economía del conocimiento” – sí, estaba destinada a ser privatizada. [11]

Resolviendo la “Crisis Universitaria”

En febrero de 2011, se informó que la deuda promedio de una familia canadiense había llegado a más de 100.000 dólares, es decir el 150% de sus ingresos. Así, por cada 1.000 dólares en ingresos, descontados los impuestos, la familia media canadiense debe 1.500 dólares. Las cifras de la deuda incluyen hipotecas, préstamos estudiantiles, deudas de tarjetas de crédito y líneas de crédito. En 1990, la familia media canadiense era capaz de tener más o menos 8.000 dólares en ahorros, en 2012, esa cifra es de 2.500 dólares. Así, mientras al público se les dice constantemente que la “recesión” se acabó, esto simplemente no es cierto para la población en general, aunque pueda parecer verdad en los informes trimestrales de las empresas multinacionales y los bancos de Canadá. Un informe de 2011 indicó que “eran 17.400 los hogares atrasados en sus pagos hipotecarios por tres meses o más en 2010, hasta un 50% más desde que comenzó la recesión. La morosidad de tarjetas de crédito y las tasas de quiebra también siguen siendo más altas que antes de la recesión.” [12]

En febrero de 2012, esta tasa ingreso-deuda no sólo no mejoró, sino que está aún peor, alcanzando un nuevo récord. [13] El estado de las familias canadienses es, en efecto, cada vez peor. Más de la mitad de los puestos de trabajo creados desde el “fin” de la “recesión” fueron para mayores de 55 años, dejando a la juventud luchando por encontrar trabajo, mientras los trabajadores de edad tienen que permanecer trabajando más tiempo, volviendo de su retiro, ya que no pueden sobrevivir con sus pensiones, y por lo tanto, los jóvenes están viviendo en casa más tiempo y permanecer en la escuela por más tiempo. Los ligeros aumentos en los ingresos por hora no se han mantenido con la inflación, y por lo tanto equivale a una pérdida de ingresos mientras la desigualdad de ingresos sigue creciendo entre los súper-ricos y el resto. [14]

Mark Carney, gobernador del Banco de Canadá (el banco central de Canadá), es también Presidente del Consejo de Estabilidad Financiera del Banco de Pagos Internacionales (BPI) en Basilea, Suiza – el banco central de los bancos centrales del mundo – y que opera bajo los auspicios del G-20. Carney había servido previamente como subgobernador del Banco de Canadá, en el Departamento de Finanzas de Canadá, y pasó trece años en Goldman Sachs antes de eso.

El Banco de Canadá, al igual que todos los bancos centrales, sirve a los intereses dominantes de la élite de la nación, y también a la élite financiera internacional un sentido más amplio. La junta directiva del Banco de Canadá incluye a William Black, ex director general de Maritime Life, que se sienta en los consejos de administración de la Universidad de Dalhousie, el Shaw Group, Standard Life de Canadá, y Nova Scotia Business Inc.; Philip Deck, director general de Extuple, Inc. (una corporación de tecnología financiera), antiguo socio de la gestión de banca mercantil de la empresa Partners HSD, y está en el consejo de uno de los principales think-tanks canadienses, el CD Howe Institute; Bonnie DuPont, ex vicepresidenta de Enbridge Inc., ex directora de la Junta Canadiense del Trigo, actual directora de la empresa de agro-negocios Viterra Inc., UTS, parte de la junta de gobernadores de la Universidad de Calgary, miembro del Instituto de Directores Corporativos, y es ex presidenta del Club Calgary Petroleum; Jock Finlayson, vicepresidente del Consejo Empresarial de la Columbia Británica, ex vicepresidente del Consejo Canadiense de Jefes Ejecutivos (un think-tank formado por los mejores 150 CEOs de Canadá), y miembro de la Fundación del Oeste de Canadá; Daniel Johnson, director de Bombardier, IGM Financial, Mackenzie Financial Corporation, Investors Group, y ex Ministro de Industria y Comercio en la provincia de Quebec; David Laidley, Presidente Emérito de la firma Deloitte & Touche LLP, parte de los consejos de indemnizaciones de Nautilus Limited, Inc. ProSep, EMCOR Group, Aviva Canada Inc., la Fundación Cole, y de varias juntas directivas de la Universidad McGill. El resto de los directores del Banco de Canadá son casi exclusivamente hombres de negocios o ex funcionarios del gobierno (dos mujeres en total), y todos ellos son blancos, de modo que, naturalmente, representan s la luchadora familia canadiense.

En marzo de 2012, el Banco de Canadá advirtió que la deuda de los hogares “sigue siendo el mayor riesgo interno” de la economía canadiense. Si bien parte de la función del Banco es establecer las tasas de interés, ha mantenido las tasas de interés muy bajas (1%) con el fin de alentar los préstamos (y, de hecho, las familias han terminado más endeudadas como resultado). Sin embargo, señala el Banco, las tasas de interés tendrán que subir en algún momento. Los economistas de los bancos más importantes de Canadá (CIBC, RBC, BMO, TD, y Scotiabank) naturalmente apoyan este tipo de fatalidad, como dijera un economista de BMO, “si bien es poco probable que las tasas aumenten en el corto plazo, el siguiente paso probablemente sea el alza antes que la baja, y así podría despegar antes de lo que actualmente se anticipa.” El economista jefe de CIBC señaló que, “los mercados se darán cuenta ligero cambio hacia mejor en la economía, y podrían adelantar la fecha implícita de la primera alza de tasas.” Esto se traduce en: la economía va bien para los grandes bancos, por lo que exigirá mayores tasas de interés sobre las deudas, y sumirán a la población canadiense en la pobreza; la “mano invisible del libre mercado “en acción [15]. El aumento de las tasas de interés significa el aumento de los pagos de las deudas, lo que significa un aumento del sufrimiento de los endeudados, que constituyen la mayoría de la población.

Puesto que el Banco de Canadá advierte que las tasas de interés aumentarán, quizás durante este año, el pueblo canadiense – altamente endeudados – van a sufrir mucho y es probable que no cumplan con sus pagos de intereses. Puesto que un gran mayoría de la deuda y los intereses están las hipotecas, esto potencialmente podría generar una gran crisis inmobiliaria, que ya está en proporciones de burbuja (especialmente en Vancouver, ahora la ciudad más cara para vivir en América del Norte), y arrastre a la clase media y al resto de la economía canadiense hacia abajo con ella. Incluso el TD Bank ha dicho que el mercado inmobiliario está sobrevalorado (es decir, artificialmente), y advirtió de una inminente “corrección” (es decir, crisis económica). [16]

Mientras crece la brecha entre los ricos y todos los demás en casi todos los países de la OCDE (Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico), Canadá no es una excepción. El 10% de los canadienses más ricos gana diez veces más que el 10% más pobre. El 1% más rico en Canadá, vio aumentada su participación en los ingresos totales de 8,1% en 1980 al 13,3% en 2007, mientras que el 0,1% más rico registró un aumento del 2% al 5,3%. Las políticas fiscales en Canadá fortalecen la brecha de la riqueza. En 1981, la tasa de impuestos para la parte superior de los asalariados era del 43%, y en 2010, del 29%. Como declarara el Secretario General de la OCDE en diciembre de 2011, “El contrato social está empezando a desarmarse en muchos países… Este estudio desmiente la hipótesis de que los beneficios del crecimiento económico de forma automática pasarán eventualmente a los desfavorecidos y que la mayor desigualdad social, fomenta una mayor movilidad.” Por lo tanto, “la desigualdad seguirá aumentando.” [17]

En un estudio de 2008 de la OCDE, Canadá fue señalado como uno de los países con los peores índices de desigualdad y cada vez mayores, afirmando que, “En los últimos 10 años, los ricos son cada vez más ricos, dejando a las clases medias y pobres más pobres por detrás.” El 3,8% más rico de los hogares canadienses controlaba el 66,6% de toda la riqueza financiera en 2009, con tasas que estaban en aumento. Mientras el gobierno conservador de Canadá siga llevando a cabo recortes en el impuesto de sociedades, esta disparidad se incrementará, con el gobierno de Harper aportando 60 mil millones de dólares en recortes de impuestos corporativos, mientras mantiene un déficit presupuestario de 30 mil millones de dólares (de deuda pública). A pesar de todos los recortes de impuestos para las empresas, el dinero que no se gasta en impuestos tiende a ir a los accionistas y muy poco se destina a las inversiones o la creación de empleo, lo que significa que los beneficios no se “chorrean hacia abajo”, sino más bien, como era de esperar, se van hacia arriba. Como señalan las políticas y los programas fiscales del Primer Ministro Harper, “Cuanto más alto sea el ingreso, mayor será la rebaja de impuestos.” El economista senior de la Confederación Sindical Internacional señalara, “La creciente brecha entre los ricos y el resto de nosotros tiene muchas causas, incluyendo una mayor remuneración para los que más ganan, beneficios mucho más altos como porcentaje de la economía, menos poder de negociación de los trabajadores, y menos impuestos progresivos… las políticas fiscales conservadoras claramente van a agravar el problema.” [18]

El Conference Board de Canadá dio a conocer un estudio en el otoño de 2011, que declaró que “la desigualdad del ingreso ha aumentado más rápidamente en Canadá que en Estados Unidos desde la década del 90,” y a nivel global, “Canadá ha tenido el cuarto mayor aumento en la desigualdad de ingresos entre sus pares.” El Presidente del Conference Board explicó: “A pesar de que los Estados Unidos tiene actualmente la brecha de ingresos más grande entre ricos y pobres de esos países, la brecha en Canadá ha aumentado a un ritmo más rápido.” [19]

Entre los países de la OCDE, el que tiene los mayores índices de desigualdad no otro el plato experimental del neoliberalismo, Chile, seguido por Israel, Italia, Portugal, Reino Unido y Estados Unidos. Mientras que el 10% más rico de los canadienses tenían un ingreso promedio de 103.500 dólares, el 10 más pobre tenía un ingreso promedio anual de 10.260 dólares. [20]

Mientras Canadá es a menudo aclamado como el país más prometedor para salir de la crisis económico-financiera de 2008, ya que sus bancos quedaron en mayor medida fuera del mercado inmobiliario de derivados (y por lo tanto, estaban protegidos), los hechos en terreno presentan una realidad diferente. Como informó The Economist en 2010, de las 31 naciones de la OCDE, Canadá clasificó como el país 22 en términos de peor pobreza infantil, uno de cada diez canadienses (unos 3 millones) es pobre; 610.000 de ellos son niños. En noviembre de 2010, se informó que aproximadamente 900 mil canadienses dependían del reparto de alimentos, un aumento del 9% respecto al año anterior, con cerca de 300.000 personas sin hogar. La mayoría de los pobres son madres solteras, inmigrantes, aborígenes y canadienses con discapacidad. A lo largo de los 80 y 90 (con la aplicación de las políticas neoliberales), los pagos de asistencia social a estos grupos fueron reducidos, con la Columbia Británica como el partidario más entusiasta de exacerbar la pobreza infantil, donde se situó en el 10,4% en 2010. [21]

El costo de la pobreza es bastante extenso:

* En 2011, se dijo que la pobreza costaría al gobierno entre 72 y 86 mil millones de dólares por año;
* En la ciudad de Hamilton, Ontario, hay una diferencia de 21 años en la esperanza de vida entre quienes viven en barrios de altos y bajos ingresos;
* En marzo de 2010, cerca de 900.000 canadienses tenían que ir a depósitos de alimentos para la comer, el 38% de ellos niños, un aumento del 28% desde marzo de 2008, el “nivel más alto de uso de los depósitos de alimentos jamás registrado”;
* En 2010, había entre 150 y 300 mil personas sin hogar “visibles” en Canadá, con otro 900.000 “oculto”, y 1.5 millones de familias con “necesidad de vivienda básica”, y 3.1 millones de familias en viviendas imposibles de mantener;
* En 2010, el 59% de los canadienses (más de 20 millones de canadienses) vivían de cheque en cheque, “señalando que estarían en dificultades financieras si su nómina se retrasara una semana”;
* En 2009, el ingreso promedio anual de los mejores directores ejecutivos pagados de Canadá era 6,6 millones de dólares, “155 veces mayor que el ingreso promedio del trabajador (42.988 dólares);
* Un tercio de todo el crecimiento de los ingresos en Canadá durante las últimas dos décadas se ha ido al 1% más rico de los canadienses.” [22]

La Juventud Canadiense: Una “Generación en Bancarrota”

En enero de 2009, los estudiantes canadienses tenían una deuda con el gobierno federal de más de 13 mil millones de dólares, con la deuda de los préstamos estudiantiles creciendo 1.2 millones cada día. La Federación de Estudiantes Canadienses dijo que la respuesta obvia a esta creciente crisis es que la educación fuese “asequible”. Los estudios muestran los efectos de la deuda sobre los estudiantes, reduciendo “la capacidad de los nuevos graduados de formar una familia, trabajar en carreras de servicio público, invertir en otros activos, ser voluntarios, o simplemente tomar un empleo de salario bajo en su propio campo para poner un pie en la puerta.” Por encima de los 13 mil millones de dólares adeudados al Gobierno Federal, los estudiantes canadienses debían una suma adicional de 5 mil millones de dólares a los gobiernos provinciales, y las cifras no incluyen la deuda contraída con los bancos, las compañías de tarjetas de crédito o por los padres. [23] En resumen, los jóvenes estudiantes de Canadá son una “generación perdida”.

En septiembre de 2010, el Consejo Canadiense de Aprendizaje publicó un informe que indicaba que, “los estudiantes que se gradúan de la universidad con grandes deudas están posponiendo la compra de una casa, tener hijos o invertir para el futuro.” La carga de la deuda promedio de un canadiense graduado de la universidad en 2009 fue de 26.680 dólares, y la deuda promedio de los graduados de college fue de 13.600 dólares. Estas cifras, debe hacerse notar, no tienen en cuenta las hipotecas, deudas de tarjetas de crédito, líneas de crédito o préstamos para automóviles. [24], que representan una duplicación en la cantidad de deuda estudiantil desde 1990, y en 2005, el número de estudiantes canadienses que necesitan préstamos para pagar su educación había aumentado a un 57%. [25]

En octubre de 2011, se informó que la deuda del estudiante canadiense (para el Gobierno Federal) superarán los 15 mil millones de dólares para el 2013, que es el actual límite máximo fijado por el gobierno para préstamos estudiantiles. Por lo tanto, si se llega al techo, el gobierno (en teoría) ya no sería capaz de proporcionar préstamos a los estudiantes. La solución, según la Federación Canadiense de Estudiantes, no implica eliminar el tope de la deuda, lo que sólo empeorará el problema, sino más bien, en reducir los costos de la educación misma. Como explicó el presidente nacional de la federación de estudiantes: “La realidad es que el mercado de trabajo es sombrío y los estudiantes se enfrentan a sus primeras entrevistas con una deuda hipotecaria gigantesca.” Así, cuando comienzan a trabajar, no contribuyen al crecimiento económico del país, sino más bien sólo tiene que centrarse en el pago de intereses y el reembolso de las deudas. El costo de la educación universitaria en Canadá se estima en 60.000 dólares, y algunos estudios sugieren que esa cifra aumentará hasta 140.000 dólares para los nacidos en el año 2011. El promedio de las tasas anuales de matrícula de pregrado tuvieron un aumento de 4,3% respecto al año anterior, alcanzando los 5.366 dólares. [26]

En 2011, casi dos millones de canadienses tenían una deuda de los estudiantes un total de 20 mil millones dólares, y como el presidente de la Federación de Estudiantes Canadienses declaró: “Tenemos una generación entera de gente que ahora más que nunca tiene que completar algún tipo de educación post-secundaria sólo para obtener una entrevista de trabajo, con más del 70% del total de nuevos puestos de trabajo requiriendo algún postgrado o diploma. Estamos al borde de la bancarrota de una generación antes de que entre a trabajar.” Como las pérdidas de empleos continuarán, y sobre todo porque el mercado laboral de los jóvenes sigue disminuyendo, el número de estudiantes a tiempo completo tiende a aumentar, y la disponibilidad de trabajos a medio tiempo para los estudiantes continúa disminuyendo. La educación post-secundaria ya no aumenta el “retorno de la inversión” a lo largo de toda la vida, que era lo que se suponía. La deuda total de los estudiantes no es el problema más inmediato y urgente, sino más bien la “paralizante tasa de interés adjunta a estos préstamos del gobierno”, sumiendo a los jóvenes en una profunda crisis. Así, mientras que las tasas de interés son muy bajas (en los préstamos, según lo establecido por el Banco de Canadá, del 1%), el gobierno está cargando con un 8% de interés a los préstamos estudiantiles. Margaret Johnson, presidente de Solutions Credit Counselling Service Inc. en Vancouver indicó que, “Cuando se deja de pagar el préstamo, el interés comienza a acumularse. Y entonces tienes una pesadilla. El promedio de la deuda que estoy viendo es de entre 30.000 y 60.000 dólares. Los pagos son tan altos en algunos de estos préstamos que el joven no puede vivir y pagar al mismo tiempo. En lugar de bajar la tasa de interés – o eliminar, que creo que es la mejor solución – el gobierno prorrogó el plazo de amortización a 14 años. El hecho de que tantos préstamos estén en mora demuestra que no es la respuesta.” [27]

Algunas cosas vale la pena repetirlas: la deuda promedio de cada hogar canadiense es más de 100.000 dólares y la deuda promedio de un graduado universitario en Canadá es más de 26.000 dólares, y casi un millón de canadienses dependen de los bancos de alimentos para su alimentación, la pobreza y la desigualdad están aumentando, la falta de vivienda está en aumento mientras los ricos se hacen más ricos y todos los demás se hacen pobres o más pobres, y tenemos un horrible mercado laboral con pocos empleos disponibles, y mucho menos disponibles para los jóvenes. Así que la “solución” – nos dicen – par el supuesto “problema” de la “competitividad” en nuestras universidades… es aumentar la carga, el costo y la deuda de los estudiantes, las familias y la población en general, aumentando la matrícula y deuda de los estudiantes, para aumentar las tasas de interés de todas las deudas, y consumir a la población en la pobreza extrema. Parece, pues, los canadienses que, y el Mundo Occidental en general (ya que estas políticas están siendo impulsadas en todas las naciones del G-8 en total) están a punto de obtener una dura lección de lo que nuestros países industrializados y supuestamente “democrática” del Norte le han estado haciendo al resto del mundo (África, Asia, América Latina) durante décadas y siglos, de hecho. Lo que hemos hecho en el extranjero viene a descansar a casa.

Las condiciones, restricciones, programas y políticas que nuestros países han impuesto a África, Asia y América Latina en las últimas cuatro décadas han sumido a esos países en la pobreza, permitieron el control sin trabas y la extracción de sus recursos para nuestras empresas, sumieron a sus naciones en deuda bancaria, explotaron a sus poblaciones como mano de obra barata, y apoyaron a dictadores despiadados para reprimir al pueblo si alguna vez se volvía sabio y quería cambiar la sociedad. Mientras que nuestras naciones, por supuesto, continuarán en su violación y saqueo del mundo, ahora también han dirigido su atención – y absoluto desprecio por la humanidad – hacia sus poblaciones locales. Los mismos bancos, instituciones internacionales, naciones, organizaciones e incluso individuos que promueven las políticas que condujeron al empobrecimiento y el castigo de la mayor parte de la población del mundo ahora nos dicen que estas mismas políticas son las “soluciones” a nuestras crisis actuales, así como le dijeron a las poblaciones de África, Asia y América Latina. Si escuchamos a estas mismas personas, nos sometemos a las mismas políticas, y aceptamos las mismas ideologías que han causado tanta destrucción y devastación en todo el mundo, y esperamos resultados diferentes en nuestro país, nos merecemos lo que obtendremos. Naturalmente, entonces, debemos dejar de aceptar y consentir a la hegemonía y el poder de nuestras élites y sus instituciones e ideologías. Esto significa que tenemos que crear alternativas de manera activa, no sólo protestar en contra de sus programas, o las demandar reformas, o volver a ordenar las sillas en el Titanic. El barco se está hundiendo, no importa cómo se se vea en el camino hacia abajo. Es hora de un sistema completamente nuevo. No se puede exigir a los demás crear un nuevo sistema, sino que activamente debemos crearlo nosotros mismos.

En la próxima parte de esta serie, “La Lucha de Clases y la Crisis Universitaria”, voy a discutir la crisis económica que se viene en Canadá, que hasta ahora ha sido aclamada como la nación emergente “más segura” desde la “recesión” de 2008, un mito que pronto se romperá. Como Canadá, y gran parte del resto del mundo, comenzará su rápido descenso hacia una depresión económica, las estadísticas antes mencionadas con respecto a la deuda, la pobreza y la desigualdad van a empeorar. Al profundizarse la crisis social y económica, nuestros gobiernos seguirán mostrando para quienes gobiernan realmente: con lumas, gases lacrimógenos, golpizas, detenciones masivas, centros de detención, y el crecimiento y desarrollo de una sociedad de vigilancia estado-policíaca, nuestros gobiernos demostrarán que gobiernan para los banqueros, las corporaciones, y los oligarcas. La fachada democrática se caerá. Es en estas circunstancias que los canadienses, y el resto del mundo en general, debe tratar de crear un sistema verdaderamente democrático. En primer lugar, sin embargo, debemos reconocer y entender el sistema en que vivimos por lo que es: una sociedad capitalista-estatal gobernada por una oligarquía enferma por de poder. La siguiente parte de esta serie va a echar un vistazo a lo que esta oligarquía enferma de poder está haciendo y le va a hacer a la economía y la sociedad canadienses en los próximos años. He aquí una pista: ¡no te beneficiará a ti!
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Andrew Gavin Marshall es un investigador independiente y escritor residente en Montreal, Canadá, que escribe sobre una serie de cuestiones sociales, políticas, económicas e históricas. También es Project Manager del The People’s Book Project y presenta un programa semanal de podcast, “Empire, Power and People”, en BoilingFrogsPost.com.
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Notas

[1] CRA, What are the income tax rates in Canada for 2012? Canada Revenue Agency:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

[2] Finances Québec, “A Fair and Balanced University Funding Plan: To Give Québec the Means to Fulfill its Ambitions,” The Government of Québec, 2011-2012 Budget, page 7.
[3] CFS, Tuition Fees, The Canadian Federation of Students:

http://cfs.bc.ca/index.php/section/49

[4] Ibid.
[5] Press Release, “TD Economics outlines plan for prosperity in Quebec report,” Newswire, 10 April 2007:

http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/178423/td-economics-outlines-plan-for-prosperity-in-quebec-report

[6] CNW, “Déjà Vu: O’Neill Report Recycles Dated, Discredited Tuition Fee Myths,” Newswire, 17 September 2010:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/673917/deja-vu-o-neill-report-recycles-dated-discredited-tuition-fee-myths

[7] Alison Kershaw, “Thousands of students to stage walkout protest,” The Independent, 12 March 2012:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/thousands-of-students-to-stage-walkout-protest-7562129.html

[8] Carla Rivera and Larry Gordon, “Occupy protests bring small yet intense crowds to state campuses,” Los Angeles Times, 1 March 2012:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/01/local/la-me-student-protests-20120302

[9] Giles Tremlett, “Fighting breaks out in Barcelona as students protest over education cuts,” The Guardian, 29 February 2012:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/29/fighting-barcelona-students-protest-education-cuts?newsfeed=true

[10] Mark Olssen and Michael A. Peters, “Neoliberalism, Higher Education and the Knowledge Economy: From the Free Market to Knowledge Capitalism,” Journal of Education Policy (Vol. 20, No. 3, May 2005), page 331.
[11] Ibid, pages 338-339.
[12] CTV News Staff, “Average Canadian family debt hits $100,000,” CTV News, 17 February 2011:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110217/family-debt-110217/

[13] Why are Canadian families falling further into debt?, The Globe and Mail, 14 February 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/why-are-canadian-families-falling-further-into-debt/article2337540/

[14] Tavia Grant, “Financial security ‘elusive’ for many Canadian families,” The Globe and Mail, 22 March 2012: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/financial-security-elusive-for-many-canadian-families/article2377592/
[15] Gordon Isfeld, “Bank of Canada says household debt ‘biggest risk’ to economy,” The Leader Post, 9 March 2012:

http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Bank+Canada+says+household+debt+biggest+risk+economy/6274564/story.html

[16] John Morrissy, “Household debt a mounting concern as rates appear set to rise,” The Montreal Gazette, 23 March 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Household+debt+mounting+concern+rates+appear+rise/6347875/story.html

[17] CBC, Wealth gap widens to 30-year high, CBC News, 5 December 2011:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/05/oecd-rich-poor-gap.html

[18] Les Whittington, “Tax policies may aggravate gap between rich and poor,” Toronto Star, 27 May 2011:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/998648–tax-policies-may-aggravate-gap-between-rich-and-poor

[19] Tavia Grant, “Income inequality rising quickly in Canada,” The Globe and Mail, 13 September 2011:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/daily-mix/income-inequality-rising-quickly-in-canada/article2163938/

[20] CTV News Staff, “OECD report finds income inequality rising in Canada,” CTV News:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111205/organization-economic-cooperation-development-oecd-inequality-report-canada-111205/#ixzz1pycGLl6e

[21] Poverty in Canada: Mean Streets, The Economist, 25 November 2010:

http://www.economist.com/node/17581844

[22] CTV News Staff, “Canada Student Loan debt tops $13B, figures show,” CTV News, 21 January 2009:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20090121/student_loans_090121/

[23] CTV News Staff, “Canada Student Loan debt tops $13B, figures show,” CTV News, 21 January 2009:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20090121/student_loans_090121/

[24] CBC, “Student debt limits post-grad options,” CBC News, 22 September 2010:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2010/09/22/con-student-debt.html

[25] QMI Agency, “Student debt doubled over 20 years: Study,” Toronto Sun, 22 September 2010:

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/09/22/15435176.html

[26] Sharon Singleton, “Action needed on student debt: CFS,” Toronto Sun, 17 October 2011:

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/17/action-needed-on-student-debt-cfs

[27] Mary Teresa Bitti, Student debt bankrupting a generation, The Financial Post, 4 June 2011:

http://www.financialpost.com/news/Student+debt+bankrupting+generation/4874861/story.html

By: Andrew Gavin Marshall

Hundreds of thousands of students take to the streets in Québec to protest tuition increases

Part 1: The “Crisis of Democracy” and the Attack on Education

Part 2: The Purpose of Education: Social Uplift or Social Control?

Part 3: Of Prophets, Power, and the Purpose of Intellectuals

Part 4: Student Strikes, Debt Domination, and Class War in Canada

Part 6: The Québec Student Strike: From ‘Maple Spring’ to Summer Rebellion?

What are the Spending Priorities of the Government?

In the debate raging over increased costs of tuition in Quebec, increased debt loads of the federal and provincial governments, the need to reduce costs – impose “fiscal austerity” – and find “solutions” to these problems, very little context is given. As students fight back against increased fees, the counter argument simply states that people must pay for their education, that governments must reduce their deficits, and therefore, cuts in spending and increases in tuition are necessary, though undesirable. But how necessary are they? Where is the government putting its money?

The question really comes down to one of priorities and approach. What are the spending priorities of the government, for people in need or for the benefit of the rich? What is the government’s approach to spending in terms of addressing a major social and economic crisis, to treat symptoms or address the cause? A great deal is revealed about the moral, ethical and humanitarian considerations of a state in terms of how and where it spends its money. Canada is no exception.

First, let’s start with Canada’s debt. In October of 2011, it was reported that Canada’s combined federal and provincial debt equaled roughly $1.1 trillion. This raised calls from the business community in Canada stating that, “It’s time for governments across Canada to get more serious about controlling and reducing debt.” In other words: time for fiscal austerity! (i.e., cutting social spending and increasing costs and taxes) This debt load amounts to roughly 58% of government GDP (that is, 58% of yearly tax revenues), as opposed to Greece, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 160%.[1]

An interesting issue to note is that the Bank of Canada (Canada’s central bank) was created in 1934 as a private bank, and it was transformed into a government-owned bank in 1938, and was then able to lend to the government without interest, and thus, “the Bank is ultimately owned by the people of Canada.” The job of the Bank is to manage monetary policy, by issuing the currency and setting interest rates. Canada had a unique central bank, as most other central banks were founded and maintained as private banks (responsible to private shareholders), such as the Bank of England (1694), the Bank of France (1801), and the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States (1913). It was responsible for financing Canada’s war machine during World War II, railways, the St. Lawrence seaway, the TransCanada Highway, schools, hospitals, healthcare, pensions, and social security, all with no interest attached. Between 1940 and 1974, Canada had a national debt below $18 billion. In 1974, all of this changed as Canada sunk into its neoliberal abyss, when private banks (the “big five” in Canada) essentially took over the function of lending to the government, and at high interest rates, with Canada paying over $61 billion per year on interest to private banks alone. Between 1981 and 1995, the Canadian government collected $619 billion in income tax, but because the debt was owed to private banks, instead of being interest-free with the Bank of Canada, during that same period of time, the Canadian government paid the private banks $428 billion in interest payments.[2]

Interest payments on Canada’s debt account for roughly 15% of Canada’s revenues. Statistics Canada provides information up until 2009 on the Canadian government’s expenditures and revenues. In 2009, the federal government’s expenditures amounted to $243 billion, with $26 billion spent on health care, $88 billion on social services, $5.8 billion on education, and $18.6 billion on debt charges.[3]

So, while cuts are being made to social programs and education (fiscal austerity), they are increasing dramatically to the military, defense, and police. In 2000, Canada spent $10 billion on defense, and that rose to $21.8 billion in 2011. In 2008, Canada’s Conservative government set out a plan to increase defense spending over the following 20 years, setting the goal at $490 billion in total defense spending over that period. Included in the plans are the purchase of 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, the American war profiteering corporation, to a possible dollar amount of $30 billion or more.[4] So there is money for the war machine, to support an increasingly imperialistic foreign policy, and as the ever-present appendage lap-dog to the American Empire to the south.

And since Canada has its lowest crime rate since the 1970s, naturally the ever-pragmatic Conservative government is seeking to rapidly accelerate the construction of prisons and expansion of police forces. The government’s proposed changes to the criminal system seek to “create a flood of Canadians into the prison system.”[5] The government identified prisons, police, and the purposely-Orwellian classification of “public safety” as the biggest winners in increased budget allocations for 2011, seeking to build more prisons and hire hundreds more police officers.[6] At the same time, the government is slashing benefits to seniors and old-age pensioners. According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, prison costs are expected to rise from $4.4 billion in 2011 to $9.5 billion in 2015-16. When the Conservatives came to power in 2006, prison costs amounted to $1.6 billion per year.[7] So while the government spends billions on corporate tax cuts, fighter jets, police and prisons, it is simultaneously planning on cutting spending for old age pensioners and social security programs.[8]

As the government cuts between 11-22,000 federal public sector jobs, the Canadian Forces (military), RCMP (police), and the overall ‘national security’ establishment will not suffer such cuts, and in fact, will gain employees. Ultimately, under the plans of the Conservative government, between 60,000 and 70,000 jobs could vanish across the country to implement $8 billion in spending cuts.[9]

While spending on health care exceeded $200 billion in 2011, it amounted to $5,800 per person in Canada. While this system – of what is often called ‘socialized healthcare’ – is portrayed by Americans as costly and wasteful, it is far cheaper than the American corporatized – or privatized – health “care” system. The average spending on health care for OECD countries – as a percentage of GDP – is 9.5%: Canada spent 11.4% of its GDP on healthcare in 2009, compared to the United States, which spent 17.4% of its GDP on healthcare; with the Netherlands spending at 12% of GDP, France at 11.8% and Germany at 11.6%. In terms of spending per capita (that is, the cost of healthcare spread out evenly to each individual within the country), Canada spends $4,363 (U.S. dollars) per person on healthcare, with the OECD average at $3,223, and compared to the United States at $7,960 per capita. The irony here, of course, is that a for-profit health system is far more costly than a ‘socialized’ healthcare system, despite the common claims to the contrary.[10]

So naturally, the Federal Government, in the midst of – and on the precipice of a far greater – economic crisis, decides that the best courses of action are to increase unemployment by firing tens of thousands of people, reduce social spending so that they are left with less support in their newfound poverty, and continue to privatize everything. Of course, this inevitably leads to social unrest, protests, even rebellion. Quebec is a great example, as it seems that the anti-tuition strikes and protests are getting more dramatic with each passing week. As the reality of our situation settles in over the course of the next year and years, the protests and resistance will exacerbate and grow nation-wide (along with the development of similar movements around the world). Thus, we may properly understand the impetus of the government to increase spending on police, the military, “public safety” (national security/police state) and prisons: as typical state responses to social crises, throw money at the systems, structures and institutions of oppression so that when the people begin to rise up, the state may have the force available to push them down, oppress them, and imprison them.

The Government of Quebec, which is doubling tuition costs over the next five years, has a current debt of $184 billion or 55.5% of GDP.  Quebec’s current budget, released in March of 2012, projects spending of $70.9 billion, with 42.5% of the budget allocated to healthcare and social services, 22.5% on education and culture, 11.6% on debt servicing, 3.5% on families and seniors, and 19.9% on “other.” Total expenditures on education, leisure, and sports amount to less than $16 billion, with $1.3 billion being allocated to Quebec’s corporations, $5 billion going to manufacturing, while $8.2 billion of the budget is going to pay the interest on the debt. Meanwhile, the government was announcing major investments in mining, aiming to produce a surplus, with $1 billion in investments in mining and hydrocarbon industries, as part of Quebec’s ‘Plan Nord,’ The Plan includes the creation of Resources Québec, a new Crown corporation that will oversee a $1.2-billion equity portfolio, designed to “help develop the north and exploit the province’s abundant mineral resources.” The government, in turn, is expecting $4 billion in mining royalties over the next decade. The forestry, tourism, and agribusiness industries are also getting support from the government, creating partnerships between big business, government, and unions. Quebec provides a great deal of corporate welfare. In 2007, Quebec ranked first among Canadian provinces in how much corporate welfare was doled out, at $6 billion, followed by Ontario at $2.1 billion, Alberta at $1.2 billion, and British Columbia at over $1 billion.[11] So, there’s no more money for education, but there’s plenty of money to throw at multi-billion dollar corporations.

For all the screaming and wailing governments engage in over the costs of social programs and benefits for the public, there’s very little discussion over the expenditures of governments which go to corporations, not to mention, tax cuts. Beginning in 2000, under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, the Canadian federal government began implementing massive corporate tax cuts, which “allowed Canadian companies to amass some $477 billion in cash reserves,” with corporate taxes going from 28% in 2000, to 21% when the Conservatives came to power in 2006, to 15% at the beginning of 2012. While the tax cuts were supposedly to encourage job creation, in reality, the cuts “allowed companies to hoard cash, pay out larger dividends to shareholders and beef up executive salaries.” For each percentage point in a decrease of corporate taxes, the federal government loses $2 billion in potential revenue. Thus, the total loss from the new tax cuts amounts to $26 billion. A report from the Canadian Labour Congress explained, “The government has been borrowing money to pay for its corporate tax giveaways. Now, to pay for tax breaks, the government is planning to make massive cuts to public services, such as meat inspection, that are essential to Canadians.”[12]

So while students, seniors, and the poor suffer, Canadian corporations are doing marvelously well. Reports from Statistics Canada show that Canadian corporations are “sitting on more than $583 billion in Canadian currency and deposits, and more than $276 billion in foreign currency.” The cash reserves of these companies have climbed 27.3% since 2007, back when Canada’s economy was “booming,” and 9% of the increase in reserves was since last year. Not including financial corporations and banks, Canadian companies saw their cash reserves increase by $33 billion in the last quarter of 2011. While Canadian household debt has doubled since 1990, corporate taxes have been cut almost in half in the same amount of time. Canadian provinces have been lowering corporate taxes as well. Back in 2000, Canada’s combined federal and provincial corporate tax rate was the highest of the OECD countries, at 43%. Today, it’s around the world average of 26%. So while Canadian corporations sit on hundreds of billions of unused dollars, the Canadian government is continuing to give them more money to put in their bank accounts, which then reduces the government budget by billions each year, and the Canadian people are then expected to pay for this corporate welfare through reduced social services, loss of public sector jobs, increased tuition costs and increased debt.[13]

Corporate welfare is dolled out by provincial governments as well. In 2011, the Province of Quebec and Quebec City each provided $200 million to build a new hockey arena for a for-profit hockey team. Ontario is also a corporate welfare haven, as between 2003 and 2005, the province gave $422 million to GM, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler, and in 2009, the province participated in a Canada-Ontario $15.3 billion bailout of GM and Chrysler. The last year that government statistics are available, in 2008, Ontario spent $2.7 billion on corporate welfare, while Quebec spent $6 billion.[14] Between 1991 and 2009, the government of Ontario gave $27.7 billion in tax dollars to corporations.[15] Meanwhile, the Government of Quebec increased taxes in 2010, and the provincial sales tax increased by 2% since then, along with an increased gas tax, and of course, tuition increases.[16]

This system is, by definition, corporatist. A corporatist system (alternatively referred to as “corporate socialism” or “economic fascism”) is one in which profit is privatized and risk is socialized. In other words, the state ensures that corporations profit and become more powerful and dominant, while the people have to foot the bill and suffer for it. As Benito Mussolini reportedly stated, “Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism, for it is the merger of state and corporate power.” It is no surprise then, that as the state becomes more supportive to the suckling-pig-like-corporate cancers of our society, they also become more oppressive and totalitarian. The very circumstances demand it.

The Big Five Banks Declare War on the People

In early March of 2012, it was reported that Canada’s big five banks (Royal Bank, CIBC, TD, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal) have recorded “sky-high profits” of $7 billion in the first quarter alone (from November 2011 to January 2012), an average increase of 5.8% since last year. Much of the profits, especially for CIBC, “were mostly due to higher volumes of personal and commercial loans,” or, in other words: debt for people and corporations.[17] Canadian banks are, on the whole, doing better than ever. They are consistently rated as the “world’s soundest” banks by the World Economic Forum, and are even adding some jobs, while U.S. banks cut theirs.[18]

A recent report released by CIBC stated that corporate Canada is as “fit as a fiddle,” as “a health check on Canada’s corporate sector shows businesses across the country passing with flying colours.” In fact, according to economists from CIBC, Canada’s corporate sector has never been better. The major indices of corporate ‘health’ are: “debt-to-equity ratios, cash to credit ratios, profit margins, returns on equity, returns on capital.” The economists concluded that, “even with public sector retrenchment under way, and indications that consumers may not have the same appetite to spend as earlier in the recovery, corporate Canada could be positioned to pick up the mantle and drive economic growth in the years ahead.”[19] So naturally while Canada’s corporations are as “fit as a fiddle” and the public at large is dominated by debt, the government – both federal and provincial – seek to extend more benefits to corporations (tax cuts and state subsidies), while extending hardships to the majority of Canadians (increased taxes, reduced social spending, increased costs). Again, it’s about priorities.

The banking sector in Canada itself is becoming two-tiered, where the big five banks are vacating the inner cities, and so-called “fringe banks” are becoming the choice banks for poor and low-income Canadians. Professor Jerry Buckland wrote that, “There is something ethically troublesome about a situation where low-income people are paying high fees for low-quality services and middle-income people are paying low fees for high-quality services.” Unexpected fees, bad banking hours, lack of ID, and other constraints have pushed lower income groups away from the big five and toward the ‘fringe banks’ which also charge big fees but are more accessible. However, the combination of the big five leaving the inner cities and the fringe banks charging high fees and interest rates, “exacerbate poverty and create a two-tiered banking system.”[20]

Canada’s big five banks are rolling in money. CIBC reported $835 million in profits for the first quarter, up 9.4% from last year; Royal Bank reported first quarter profits of $1.86 billion; TD Bank had profits of $1.48 billion; Scotiabank had first quarter profits of $1.44 billion, a 15.2% increase from last year; and the Bank of Montreal recorded profits of $1.11 billion, up 34.5% from last year.[21]

So why are Canada’s banks doing so well? It’s simple: because people are in debt, and getting deeper into debt. As the Globe and Mail reported, “Mortgages and credit card spending have fuelled bank profits for years.”[22] So now what? Well, Royal Bank of Canada and TD both announced in March of 2012 that they will begin to increase their interest rates on mortgages, which means that they are seeking to further sap the wealth and deflate the future potential of the average Canadian household. But the increase in interest rates will increase bank profits, so it’s a good thing for Royal Bank and TD, never mind that it’s bad for everyone else. The other major Canadian banks will likely follow suit in raising their interest rates. The chief economist at TD Bank estimated that, “more than one million Canadian households, or about 10 per cent of those that currently have debt, will have to devote 40 per cent or more of their income to making their monthly debt payments if rates rise by two-to-three points to more normal levels.”[23]

A Bubble Waiting to Burst?

So what is the Canadian mortgage and housing market doing? Well, it’s replicating the disaster seen in the United States just prior to the 2008 crash. Canada’s banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions warned that Canadian banks were offering mortgages very similar to the U.S. subprime loans and that these pose an “emerging risk” to Canadian banks. Now the regulator didn’t just come out and say this, because that might be helpful. Instead, this information was released to Bloomberg news via a Freedom of Information law request, which revealed that Canadian mortgages “have some similarities to non-prime loans in the U.S. retail lending market.” In 2009, Canada’s housing market began to soar with record-low interest rates on mortgages. This is one of the primary reasons why Bank of Canada governor (and former Goldman Sachs executive) Mark Carney warned that household debt is the greatest threat to Canada’s economic stability.[24]

The state of the Canadian population is abysmal. The average debt for a Canadian household is over $100,000, and the average Canadian household spends 150% of their income. This means that for every $1,000 earned, $1,500 is owed. These debt figures are primarily made up of mortgages, but also student debt, credit card debt, and other lines of credit. A 2011 report indicated that, “17,400 households were behind in their mortgage payments by three or more months in 2010, up by 50 per cent since the recession began. Credit card delinquencies and bankruptcy rates also remain higher than before the recession.”[25]

In March of 2012, the Bank of Canada warned that household debt “remains the biggest domestic risk” to Canada’s economy. While part of the Bank’s role is to set interest rates, it has kept interest rates very low (at 1%) in order to encourage lending (and indeed, families have become more indebted as a result). Yet, the Bank says, interest rates will have to rise eventually. Economists at Canada’s major banks (CIBC, RBC, BMO, TD, and ScotiaBank) naturally support such an inevitability, as one BMO economist stated, “while rates are unlikely to increase in the near term, the next move is more likely to be up rather than down, and could well emerge sooner than we currently anticipate.” The chief economist at CIBC stated that, “markets will pick up on the slightly improved change in tone on the economy, and might move forward the implied date for the first rate hike.” This translates into: the economy is doing well for the big banks, therefore they will demand higher interest rates on debts, and plunge the Canadian population into poverty; the “invisible hand of the free market” in action.[26]

The Canadian housing market is in a major bubble, “with a run-up in prices, high ownership rates and overbuilding.” A majority of Canadian mortgages are financed through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the equivalent of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the United States (which both went bust in the 2008 crash). The CMHC has an outstanding balance of $132 billion in mortgage-backed securities, $202 billion in Canada Mortgage Bonds, and last year issued a debt of $41.3 billion (compared to $6.5 billion in 2001). The big five banks generally provide the remaining mortgages (again, just like in the U.S.). A spokeswoman for the Canadian Bankers Association, however, reassured those who somehow still trust bankers that Canadian banks “carefully manage risk in their mortgage portfolios.” Home sales are increasing – another indication of the growing bubble – by 9.5% last year alone, while home prices increased by 7.2%. CIBC reported that Canadian homes are overvalued (that is, their prices are artificially inflated) by 10%, and the heads of the Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank both warned in late 2011 that, “condominium markets in Toronto and Vancouver are at risk of correction,” which is to say, a crash.[27]

The problem is especially large in Vancouver, which was recently rated as the most expensive city to live in across North America, followed Los Angeles and New York. Vancouver is now the 37^th most expensive city in the world, whereas just last year it was ranked as 72^nd. The average price for a detached bungalow in Vancouver increased by 17% from the previous year to $1.02 million. The average cost of a condominium in Vancouver rose 5.1% to $513,500 and the “average priced home in Vancouver is now 11.2 times the average family income, a figure many economists call unsustainable.”[28] In certain areas of Vancouver, such as Richmond, West Vancouver and the West End, housing prices have soared nearly 80% in the past five years, and 27% just in the past year alone. This has been raising fears of a housing bubble in Vancouver, and indeed it should be.[29]

In January of 2012, Bank of Canada governor warned – in very subtle and vague terms – that Canada’s property market is “probably overvalued,” meaning that it is heavily overvalued. Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty also hinted that something is rotten in the state of Denmark, stating, “We watch the housing market carefully and we are prepared to intervene if necessary.” So is it a bubble? Yes! In fact, the Bank of Nova Scotia recently reported that, “At 13 years and counting, Canada’s current housing boom is one of the longest-lasting in the world.” The price of Canadian homes has increased by over 85% since 1998, with a slight stagnant period in 2008, and then continued to rise in 2009, growing by a further 20%. It is no coincidence that household debt has increased as well, with the debt burden of Canadian families at 153% of their income, which is “almost as much debt as American households had at the peak of their bubble.” In fact, the Economist magazine estimated that the Canadian housing market is overvalued by more than 70% (which is to say, it’s probably much higher than that). One of the major American banks, Merrill Lynch, issued a report indicating that the Canadian housing market is rife with “overvaluation, speculation and over supply.” According to an international survey of housing affordability, Vancouver is the second-least affordable city in the world.[30]

It seems that 2012 will be the year the housing market bubble begins to pop, with the economy slowing down, unemployment rising, and job creation has virtually stalled, according to CIBC, which explained that, “the job market is currently weaker than any non- recessionary period.” Canada is not alone, of course, as the United States and Ireland were just the beginning. It is expected that the U.K., Australia, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden are all set to follow suit. Within Canada, however, British Columbia and Ontario will be the most affected. But don’t worry, the Canadian banking sector will survive the pop, because it is actually the Canadian government which owns 75% of the mortgages, meaning that this will then pass to Canadian taxpayers, not the poor disadvantaged millionaire and billionaire bankers.[31] Besides, the risk they have will probably be bailed out by our government. As our Finance Minister stated, “we are prepared to intervene if necessary,” which means that they will take all the bad debts of the banks, and then hand them to YOU.

An economist at the Bank of Montreal said not to worry, however, because Canada’s housing market isn’t a bubble, “it’s a balloon,” and therefore, she predicted, “Canada’s housing market is expected to deflate slowly rather than pop.”[32] The argument, however, is one based upon faith: faith that the banks won’t increase interest rates by too much, faith that Canadian household debt won’t inflict as much harm as American household debt, and faith that one can compete in verbal and mental gymnastics in such a way as to convincingly refer to a bubble as a “balloon.” It should be noted that up until the burst of the American housing bubble, all the major players were denying that a bubble even existed.

Patti Croft, a recently retired chief economist from the Royal Bank of Canada warned the Canadian Parliament in January of 2012 that, “the risk of a housing bubble was among Canada’s biggest issues.” The Bank of Canada’s extremely low interest rate (of 1%) has stimulated this growth, just as the Federal Reserve in the United States helped stimulate the housing bubble there through historically low interest rates. The result of such low rates is an excess of speculative actions in the housing market, driving prices up. Croft warned that, “the greater concern is the looming housing bubble that we see, particularly in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, because I think that is where the speculative excesses lie.”[33]

In March, TD Bank warned that Canada’s housing bubble posed a “clear and present danger” to Canada’s economy, and singled out Vancouver as “the market with the greatest risk of a housing price correction.”[34] The effects of the bubble are already evident, as British Columbia is increasingly losing people who are moving to other provinces due to the high cost of living.[35]

It should be noted that, even though this housing bubble in Canada has been inflated since the late 1990s, it is only being talked about, admitted as even existing (though some make absurd claims about magical “balloons”), and acknowledged NOW. This is dangerous. The fact that it is now being acknowledged by top banks, the finance minister, the Bank of Canada and other major international organizations and banks, implies that they are now preparing for it to burst, and are thus positioning themselves to profit from the coming collapse. Remember, this is not a strange idea: during the housing bubble collapse in the United States, all the big banks which helped create it then bet against the market and profited off of its collapse, not to mention, they were then rewarded by the federal government with trillions of dollars in bailouts for their outstanding accomplishments in causing the crisis in the first place. Criminals are rewarded, and victims are punished. That is for a simple reason: government is organized crime.

Canada’s youth are in a major crisis. The youth unemployment rate in Canada is at 14.7%, compared to an overall unemployment rate of 7.4%, with 27,000 less jobs for young Canadians than last year. As one economist explained, “In addition to the fact that youths are facing competition from their own age cohorts, they are now facing competition from people who just lost their jobs during the recession and have 20 years of experience in the workforce.” Further, the economist added, “the whole process of trying to get to where you wanted to be when you got out of university takes years longer than it used to. Taking a lower wage than you were initially expecting has significant repercussions for your long-term career.” A one percent increase in unemployment rates leads to a six-to-seven percent decrease in salary, and thus, “It can take anywhere from 10 upwards to 15 years to close that gap of reduced wages. So your lifetime earnings are substantially lower, for the simple fact that you graduated at the wrong time.” The real rates of unemployed are actually much higher than the stated 14% “because a lot of young people aren’t collecting Unemployment Insurance or welfare.” Thus, it is 14% of Canadian youths who are on Unemployment Insurance or welfare, and the statistics don’t include the rest of the unemployed youth population of Canada.[36]

As for the net unemployment rate of Canadians at 7.4%, this too is misleading, because the statistics don’t include the number of Canadians who have simply given up on the job search, amounting to 38,000 Canadians in the past year. The province of Manitoba created 600 new jobs in 2011, while cutting 10,000 jobs in the same amount of time. The Canadian economy has cut 37,000 jobs just since October of 2011, and it’s only going to get worse. While there are 27,000 less jobs for Canadian youth than there were last year, this number grows to 300,000 less jobs for youth than there were in 2008.[37]

The Canadian federal budget, released in late March, set out the government’s priorities for the coming year. Students and youth, who are among the most in need of help, were basically left out of the budget, naturally, since they are not multinational corporations, bankers, or billionaires. What money is going to schools is marked for industry-related research (i.e., a corporate subsidy), and as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty explained, “The plan’s measures focus on the drivers of growth: innovation, business investment, people’s education and skills that will fuel the new wave of job creation.” Again, it’s important to note that when politicians use the terms “jobs” or “job creation,” what they actually mean is “profit” and “profit creation,” invariably for corporations and banks. In regards to education:

The Conservatives placed a clear emphasis on partnerships between businesses and universities when it came to research funding: among their plans, they intend to dedicate $14 million over two years to double the Industrial Research and Development Internship Program, which currently supports 1,000 graduate students in conducting research at private-sector firms.[38]

While the Canadian government announced funding of “$500 million over five years to support modernization of research infrastructure on campuses through the Canada Foundation for Innovation,” as well as through other research granting councils, the funding will actually be reallocated from other areas of education financing, what are deemed “lower-priority programs,” which means that they do not directly support corporate or industrial profit-making potential. The government will also cut 19,200 jobs from the public sector.[39]

The federal government’s budget estimates a $5.2 billion cut in spending, as well as increasing the limit on Old Age Security from 65 to 67, meaning that older people will have to work longer before getting any benefits.[40] That will give the government just enough time to steal everyone’s pension and hand them to corporations before the people actually need them. So while the government cuts social spending, ignores the needs of Canada’s youth, and fires tens of thousands of workers – this is what economists call “fiscal austerity” – it simultaneously is increasing its spending and support to Canada’s corporations (who are already as “fit as a fiddle”), with “direct spending and incentives to help firms expand, invest and export, as well as measures designed to shed some of the shackles on their growth.” The chief economist at TD Bank stated, “They are trying to create a favourable environment in which businesses can grow.” So while the government provides a meager $50 million to help students find jobs, it hands out billions to corporations. The increased funding for research at universities is also specifically designed to produce products to go onto the market; so again, education funding is being further railroaded into merging business and higher education.[41]

These moves are obviously not taken on the initiative of government alone, but are lobbied for by the corporate and financial elite, whether directly through interest groups, or indirectly through think tanks. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) – formerly the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) – is an interest group made up of the top 150 CEOs in Canada, and which directly lobbies the government to serve their interests. They played a major role in the efforts to create NAFTA and to pursue the agenda of North American integration, as well as a plethora of other free trade deals. However, their “interests” extend beyond trade, and they seek to lobby the government to serve their interests across the whole society.

The current President and CEO of the CCCE is John P. Manley, former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, former Minister of Finance, Industry, and Foreign Affairs. He was the co-chair of a Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on the Future of North America (which set the agenda for the Security and Prosperity Partnership and North American integration). He is also on the board of directors of CIBC and a number of other corporations and non-profits. The Vice Chairman of the board of directors of the CCCE is of course, Paul Desmarais Jr. (of the powerful Desmarais family, who essentially OWN Canada’s politicians and Prime Ministers), and other board members include: William A. Downe, CEO of BMO Financial Group; Gordon Nixon, CEO of Royal Bank of Canada; and a number of other leading corporate executives.

The CEOs of the following companies and business organizations are all represented in the CCCE: Air Canada, Astral Media, Barrick Gold Corporation, BCE Inc and Bell Canada, BMO Financial group, BNP Paribas (Canada), Bombardier, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, Canadian Oil Sands Limited, Canadian Pacific Railway, Canfor Corporation, Cargill Limited, Chevron Canada, CIBC, CN, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Desjardins Group, Dow Chemical Canada, E.I. du Pont Canada Company, Encana Corporation, Ford Motor Company of Canada, GE Canada, GlaxoSmithKline, the Great-West Life Assurance Company, HSBC Bank Canada, Hudson’s Bay Company, IBM Canada, Imperial Oil Limited, Manulife Financial Corporation, McCain Foods Limited, Microsoft Canada, National Bank of Canada, Pfizer Canada, Power Corporation of Canada, Power Financial Corporation, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, SNC-Lavalin Group, Standard Life Assurance Company, Sun Life Financial, Suncor Energy, TD Bank Group, TELUS, TransCanada Corporation, The Woodbridge Company Limited, among many others.

Back in October of 2010, John Manley spoke to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada on the issue of making Canada “a leader in the knowledge economy.” Manley stated that Canada needed to ensure that “more of our academic discoveries successfully ‘cross the chasm’ to commercial success,” referring to the need to market what is done in university laboratories. Manley stated that, “there is a need for closer collaboration between post-secondary education institutions and the business community,” as, he explained: “Business-university collaboration is key to Canada’s ability to compete more effectively, to enhance our quality of life and to provide better opportunities for tomorrow’s graduates.” Manley elaborated:

All of us have an interest in achieving stronger partnerships between post-secondary institutions and the private sector, and in overcoming the barriers to commercialization of university research – barriers ranging from “hard” issues of funding and intellectual property ownership, to less tangible considerations such as differences in expectations, culture and behaviour between academia and the private sector.[42]

With the release of the Canadian federal budget for 2012, the CCCE of course praised the budget as “taking steps to promote job creation and business investment.” John Manley stated, “By restraining the growth in public spending, reducing regulatory overlap, improving Canada’s immigration system and enhancing support for business-driven research, the government is helping to build a stronger and more competitive Canadian economy.”[43]

Economists from Canada’s major banks had a good deal to say about the budget. Economists from TD Bank explained that, “When combined, the various measures included in today’s budget are aimed at improving productivity and boosting private sector growth, at a time when public spending is being constrained,” and that, of course, this is a good thing. An economist at CIBC praised “the path towards fiscal balance,” as “the 2012 budget was as much about Canada’s longer term prospects as it was about squeezing spending.” Economists at the National Bank of Canada praised the budget’s decision to raise the old age security pension eligibility from 65 to 67 years, “While it is a step in the right direction, it could have been implemented earlier.” Economists at Royal Bank of Canada stated that the Canadian government “has delivered on its promise of guiding the Canadian economy towards improved fiscal performance in what are generally difficult economic times globally.” Meanwhile, the National Pensioner and Senior Citizens Federation declared that, “Today’s budget tabled by Finance Minister Flaherty confirmed the worst for our children and grandchildren… This government has attacked the retirement security of future generations as it looks years ahead for dollars to finance other priorities… There was nothing for seniors, not even a discarded penny for the poorest living in poverty.”[44]

But then, that’s the point, isn’t it? Why would you seek to help the elderly and the poor and needy when you can help the multinational corporations and global banks, and thus, when you leave government, get a secure position on their boards (as John Manley did), and live the rest of your days as a jet-setting, globe-trotting, high-rolling elite? As a politician, you get no personal benefit or profit from supporting or serving the poor or the majority, you must only serve a tiny elite, and then your place is ensured among them.

Make no mistake: Canada’s Big Five Banks, the corporations they control, and the federal and provincial governments, which they collectively OWN, have declared class war on the people of Canada. The agenda is simple: get the population of Canada indebted, which is to say, enslaved; then, increase interest rates, cut social spending, increase unemployment, increase tuition, increase consumer costs, increase taxes, and at the same time, give more support and money to corporations and banks, and decrease their taxes. Then, build prisons, fund the military and the police and the police state apparatus of surveillance and control, so that when the people wake up to the fact that their future is being stolen from them, you can put them in their place: under the boot.

So the question for Canadian is this: will you acknowledge the class war taking place against you, your friends, and your families and fellow brothers and sisters, and then seek to fight back; or, will you continue to go into credit card debt, further into student debt, get mortgages and passively accept subservience to a system which treats you like a slave, sub-human degenerates, and superfluous, that is, useless and expendable. It is a question of passive acceptance of an evil system, or active resistance to forge ahead and creatively construct a humane society. The question is for all; the answer is yours alone.

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project. He also hosts a weekly podcast show, “Empire, Power, and People,” on BoilingFrogsPost.com.

Notes

[1]            Rachel Mendleson, “Canada’s Public Debt Hits $1.1 Trillion, But That May Not Be As Bad As It Sounds,” The Huffington Post, 3 October 2011:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/10/03/canada-debt-cfib-road-to-greece_n_992480.html

[2]            Bill Woollam And Will Abram, Bank of Canada the answer to tax, debt issue, The Citizen, 23 March 2012:

http://www.canada.com/Bank+Canada+answer+debt+issue/6347095/story.html

[3]            StatsCan, Federal government revenue and expenditures, Statistics Canada:

http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/govt49b-eng.htm

[4]            Brian Stewart, “$30B fighter jets just the start of defence-spending boom,” CBC News, 6 April 2011:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/06/f-vp-brian-stewart-navy.html

[5]            Editors, “A tough-on-crime bill that goes too far,” Maclean’s, 25 August 2011:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/25/a-tough-on-crime-bill-that-goes-too-far/

[6]            David Akin, Prisons, police top feds’ spending priorities, Toronto Sun, 1 March 2011:

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/03/01/17455551.html

[7]            Barbara Yaffe, Prison spending trumps seniors for Harper government, The Vancouver Sun, 29 February 2012:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Prison+spending+trumps+seniors+Harper+government/6227615/story.html

[8]            Les Whittington, “Federal Budget 2012: Government not backing down on plan for cuts to Old Age Security,” The Star, 2 February 2012:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1125296–federal-budget-2012-government-not-backing-down-on-future-old-age-security-changes-jim-flaherty-says

[9]            Kathryn May, At least 11,000 local PS jobs on line, study argues, Ottawa Citizen, 23 January 2012:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/least+local+jobs+line+study+argues/6035339/story.html#ixzz1kKdIfxO4

[10]            OECD, OECD Health Data 2011: How Does Canada Compare? Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

[11]            Rhéal Séguin, “Hobbled by debt, Quebec to table budget amid rising public anger,” The Globe and Mail, 19 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/hobbled-by-debt-quebec-to-table-budget-amid-rising-public-anger/article2374622/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Politics&utm_content=2374622

Canadian Press, “Quebec 2012-2013 Budget: Read the full document here,” Global Montreal, 20 March 2012:

http://www.globalmontreal.com/Pages/Story.aspx?id=6442604662

Corinne Smith, “Quebec budget curbs spending, explores mining,” CBC News, 20 March 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/03/19/quebec-budget-2012-2013.html

Quebec budget analysis, CBC News, 20 March 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/03/19/quebec-2012-budget-analysis.html

Roberto Rocha, “Quebec budget highlights,” Montreal Gazette, 22 March 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/Highlights+2012+Quebec+budget/6331845/story.html

Tasha Kheiriddin, “The new ‘Quebec model,’ same as the old,” The National Post, 22 March 2012:

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/Quebec+model+same/6340173/story.html

[12]            Daniel Tencer, “Canada’s Corporate Tax Cuts Prompt Companies To Hoard Cash, Not Hire, CLC Says,” The Huffington Post, 25 January 2012:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/25/canada-corporate-tax-rate-canadian-labour-congress_n_1231089.html#s638444&title=1_George_Weston

[13]            Canadian Press, “Businesses Getting Billions In Tax Cuts Despite Rising Corporate Cash Reserves,” The Huffington Post, 4 January 2012:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/01/tax-cuts-corporations-canada_n_1178382.html

[14]            Mark Milke, “How corporate welfare undermines core services,” Troy Media, 25 February 2011:

http://www.troymedia.com/blog/2011/02/25/how-corporate-welfare-undermines-core-services/

[15]            Mark Milke, “Corporate welfare is a costly shell game,” Financial Post, 28 December 2011:

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/12/28/corporate-welfare-is-a-costly-shell-game/

[16]            Rhéal Séguin, “Hobbled by debt, Quebec to table budget amid rising public anger,” The Globe and Mail, 19 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/hobbled-by-debt-quebec-to-table-budget-amid-rising-public-anger/article2374622/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Politics&utm_content=2374622

[17]            Grant Robertson, “CIBC joins big banks’ profit parade,” The Globe and Mail, 8 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/cibc-joins-big-banks-profit-parade/article2362579/

[18]            Sean B. Pasternak and Ilan Kolet, “Canadian Banks Gain Jobs, Profit as U.S. Lenders Cut Back,” Bloomberg, 20 March 2012:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-20/canadian-banks-gain-jobs-profit-as-u-s-lenders-cut-back.html

[19]            Tim Kiladze, “Corporate Canada’s finances ‘fit as a fiddle’,” The Globe and Mail, 27 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/streetwise/corporate-canadas-finances-fit-as-a-fiddle/article2382736/

[20]            Mary Agnes Welch, “’Unbanked’ residents of inner-cities paying price, author finds,” The Montreal Gazette, 19 March 2012:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Unbanked+residents+inner+cities+paying+price+author+finds/6326315/story.html

[21]            “How Canada’s Big Five banks stack up,” The Globe and Mail, 8 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/how-canadas-big-five-banks-stack-up/article2363455/

[22]            Grant Robertson, “Lending is a bright spot for Canadian banks,” The Globe and Mail, 4 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/lending-is-a-bright-spot-for-canadian-banks/article2358252/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2358252

[23]            CBC, “RBC, TD hike 5-year mortgage rates,” CBC News, 26 March 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/03/26/rbc-mortgage-rate.html

[24]            Andrew Mayeda, “Canada’s Subprime Crisis Seen With U.S.-Styled Loans: Mortgages,” Bloomberg, 30 January 2012:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/canada-s-subprime-crisis-seen-with-u-s-styled-loans-mortgages.html

[25]            CTV News Staff, “Average Canadian family debt hits $100,000,” CTV News, 17 February 2011:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110217/family-debt-110217/

[26]            Gordon Isfeld, “Bank of Canada says household debt ‘biggest risk’ to economy,” The Leader Post, 9 March 2012:

http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Bank+Canada+says+household+debt+biggest+risk+economy/6274564/story.html

[27]            Andrew Mayeda, “Canada’s Subprime Crisis Seen With U.S.-Styled Loans: Mortgages,” Bloomberg, 30 January 2012:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-30/canada-s-subprime-crisis-seen-with-u-s-styled-loans-mortgages.html

[28]            Peter Meiszner, “Vancouver now the most expensive city in North America,” Global News, 14 February 2012:

http://www.globaltvbc.com/vancouver+now+the+most+expensive+city+in+north+america/6442580994/story.html

[29]            CTV, “Is Vancouver’s housing bubble about to burst?,” CTV BC, 26 September 2011:

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110926/bc_story_housing_bubble_110926?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

[30]            Erica Alini, “What happens when Canada’s housing bubble pops?” Maclean’s, 26 January 2012:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/01/26/what-happens-when-canadas-housing-bubble-pops/

[31]            Ibid.

[32]            Robert Hiltz, “Housing bubble is really a balloon: BMO’s Sherry Cooper,” The Vancouver Sun, 30 January 2012:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Housing+bubble+really+balloon+Sherry+Cooper/6073335/story.html

[33]            Derek Abma, “Under-used labour, pending housing bubble, problems for Canada: panel,” Vancouver Sun, 26 January 2012:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Under+used+labour+pending+housing+bubble+problems+Canada+panel/6056952/story.html

[34]            CBC, “Housing bubble a danger to economy, TD says,” CBC News, 16 March 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/03/16/td-overvaluation-debt.html

[35]            Wendy Stueck, “Storm clouds forming over Vancouver’s real-estate market,” The Globe and Mail, 16 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/storm-clouds-forming-over-vancouvers-real-estate-market/article2372362/

[36]            Claire Penhorwood, “Canada’s youth face job crunch,” CBC News, 26 March 2012:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/03/19/f-canada-youth-unemployment.html

[37]            Julian Beltrame, “Jobless picture in Canada grim,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 March 2012:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/jobless-picture-in-canada-grim-142188733.html

[38]            Emma Godmere, “Students largely left out of federal budget,” Canadian University Press, 29 March 2012:

http://cupwire.ca/articles/52529

[39]            Ibid.

[40]            Tamsin McMahon, “Top five things you need to know about the budget,” Maclean’s, 29 March 2012:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/03/29/top-five-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-budget/

[41]            Julian Beltrame, “Federal budget passes the stimulus baton from government to business,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 March 2012:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/federal-budget-passes-the-stimulus-baton-from-government-to-business-144958375.html

[42]            John Manley, “Notes for an Address by the Honourable John Manley,” The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, 27 October 2010.

[43]            CCCE, “Fiscally responsible 2012 budget includes targeted measures to improve Canadian competitiveness, CEOs say,” Canadian Council of Chief Executives, 29 March 2012:

http://www.ceocouncil.ca/news-item/fiscally-responsible-2012-budget-includes-targeted-measures-to-improve-canadian-competitiveness-ceos-say

[44]            Michael Babad, “Jim Flaherty’s budget: Pennywise or attack on our kids’ pensions?,” The Globe and Mail, 30 March 2012:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/jim-flahertys-budget-pennywise-or-attack-on-our-kids-pensions/article2386823/?from=sec434