Editorial
Know Your Fight
We’re a reasonably radical group here at The Link, so it takes a lot for us to write off any fight–the–man protest. But after some of our journalists returned from Occupy Wall Street, it was not uncommon to hear the phrase, “fucking hippies” bandied about the office.
The reporters we sent told us that, while there were many people at the protest who had informed and varying opinions, there were also a ton of, well, idiots.
A lot of the people they spoke to were uninformed or couldn’t articulate what it was that they were actually angry about beyond uttering stock rebellious phrases.
That doesn’t mean our reporters couldn’t relate to what brought so many people out to Wall Street in the past weeks. After all, this is our fight too.
Not the Wall Street struggle—but the entire concept that has sprung up of the 99 per cent of us who are not in the richest one per cent of the population. Because, really, who does this apply to more than students?
Here in Quebec, Jean Charest—a man who makes roughly $200,000 a year—thinks he has the right to tell students about to be affected by a steep tuition hike to “pay their fair share” and that this wasn’t up for debate. Charest made it clear that a conversation with the people the hike will actually affect was something not worth his time.
At Concordia, Peter Kruyt was even less subtle. When asked by Concordia Student Union President Lex Gill to explain why he called for a secret ballot on the question of student representation—student representation that’s all the more crucial in the face of these looming hikes—he responded, “It’s not debatable. I’ve called for it.” To him, we’re a couple of kids interrupting mom and dad’s dinner discussion.
So if anyone understands the frustration of having a bunch of old, rich, white men destroy our financial future, it’s students. Like the people in New York, we’ve been given no real recourse. As Gill so succinctly put it, “When you’re closing people out of boardrooms, out of classrooms, fine: we’ll meet you on the fucking street.”
And with Montreal having the highest number of university students per capita of any metropolitan centre in North America, Charest and Kruyt may not be so happy with what that’s going to look like.
But we’ll do more harm than good to our cause if the public feels that students in Quebec are a bunch of uneducated hooligans when it comes to fighting for their education. People need to know why we’re angry and what we want––regardless of whether what we want is a definite goal, like tuition freeze, or something broader, like an end to corporate or boardroom greed.
When we’re out there—on Nov. 10 and beyond—we can’t lose sight of our goal. These protests will call for a full tuition freeze, nothing less. It’s attainable, as long as we stick to the three most important characteristics of a successful protest: urgency, clarity, and direct action.
Urgency isn’t something we’ll have to work for. Starting next fall, we’ll see the first raise in our tuition—an extra $325 on your tab. The semester after that, it’ll be $650 more than usual. And so on. Tell your wallet to brace itself.
Clarity is essential. When asked to defend our position, we need to be capable of articulating our wants and needs. If you believe in affordable education, but would like to learn more about the issue, there are tons of great resources at your disposal.
Just ask your CSU councillors and executives, visit the websites of student lobby groups Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec and L’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, read freezetuition.ca and tuitiontruth.ca, or hell, keep your eyes on these pages over the next few weeks as our coverage intensifies leading up to the Nov. 10 Day of Action.
As for direct action, we don’t have to tell you how that works; you tell us. But when we’re out there covering whatever crazy, creative protest/manifesto/occupation/demonstration shindig you throw, please, don’t leave us walking away muttering about the fucking hippies.
It’s time to get angry. But more than that, it’s time to get smart.
—Julia Wolfe
Managing Editor
