Forum Post: OWS has let me down in regards to its offering of solidarity for the students of Québec
Posted 12 years ago on May 22, 2012, 1:46 p.m. EST by GaryAutumn
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I'm from Montréal and I support the students' protest against the hike in the cost of university. However, I'm sad of the way OWS is handling the matter.
This protest has been going on for months, and is the biggest student protest in the history of Québec, perhaps Canada. For three months, OWS did not talk about it. It only decided to get involved when Jean Charest passed the loi 78 which restricts the rights for student protesters.
This law by Jean Charest turned the protest from being about school fees to being student vs police standoffs and this is when OWS got involved. I believe Mr. Charest did this on purpose as a decoy, and I find it sad that everybody has bitten his poisoned apple. For three months, I fought for the school fees, and now nobody talks about that problem anymore. Even the news article that Occupy published about this matter does not talk about the school fees, the original problem, it only refers to the loi 78.
http://occupywallst.org/article/solidarity-quebec/
I don't believe you can be in solidarity with something you don't understand, and I don't believe most OWS protesters know what's going on in Québec.
I'm sad to say this, but it seems to me that OWS is more interested in talking about police standoffs than anything else. i wish OWS had explained what our original problem was, - the hiking of student fees. It didn't budge a muscle when this protest was about student fees, but it suddenly starting foaming at the mouth when it heard about the new law limiting rights to assemble.
Is OWS still about Wall Street nowadays? About problems of the economy? Or is it just about police confrontations?
One of the founders of this website is a student who lives in Québec.
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I went to uni in Quebec and give you my full support. We Americans have a lot of our own problems, though. Are you aware of what it costs to go to university here? It would blow your mind.
When you buck the system no matter what your cause you will have to contend with it's paid forces.So In Quebec it is now tuition and the authorities.In the U.S it is the banks and now the authorities.You can not have any change without repression thrown into the mix.
From the top of the news item you are criticizing: "From the top of the news post you are criticizing: " Today in NYC: Solidarité avec les étudiants québécois! Posted 17 hours ago on May 22, 2012, 2:15 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Today, students and their allies in Quebec mark the 100th day of protest since the beginning of a student strike to defend accessible public education and oppose tuition increases. The strike has spread and become a general revolt against austerity and corrupt, illegitimate politicians. Throughout the massive demonstrations, which have reached sizes of around 300,000 people, riot police have brutally attacked marchers using clubs, grenades, rubber bullets, and chemical weapons. Two protesters have lost eyes and one has nearly died. Police have also illegally arrested entire busloads of protesters on their way to or from demos."
What the Quebec and Montreal governments have done since then puts the matter on an entirely new level of concern and the willingness of 300,000 to stand up to potential beatings, fines, chemical attack, arrests, loss of eyes or life puts it on another level yet.
Hats off to you and everyone in Montreal and Quebec who are standing up for humanity, for the future of the youth.
We're with you; we just have a LOT on our plates right now. NATO, G8, lots of court cases, and local issues makes it hard for everyone to be 100% involved in everything.