Taking Stock Of The Student Movement
Forum On Student Activism To Be Held At UQAM
With the Liberals out of office, the hikes cancelled and Law 12 repealed, the future of the student movement is ambiguous
For this reason, the Université du Québec à Montréal student association AFESH (Association facultaire étudiante des sciences humaines de l’UQÀM) will host a two-day Student Activism Forum this weekend.
“The new government–via promises that are attractive to many–has sapped us of our most visible demands by claiming to answer them,” the event’s website reads in French.
One of the forum’s conferences will deal with what students’ demands should be under a Parti Quebecois government.
“There’s no strong agreement on what we should be fighting for,” commented forum organizer Frank Lévesque-Nicol in an interview with The Link on Wednesday.
Lévesque-Nicol also cited the need for reflection as a reason for the forum.
“We need to conduct an assessment of the student movement […] there’s a feeling that we’re not necessarily ready to start up another struggle; we need to reflect, to step back from the strike,” he said. “The student struggle was won, and that’s quite rare […] how can we push further?”
Other conferences will deal with the historical background of student unionism, the student movement’s failure to bring about a social strike, the role of non-student groups in the movement and the opportunities for activism outside of the student setting.
“It’s a huge workshop for taking stock of the strike,” Lévesque said. “There are really so many things that could happen next.”
Forum on Student Activism/ Forum sur le syndicalisme étudiant Starts Oct. 13 at 8:30 a.m., ends Oct 14 at 6:00 p.m. at UQAM More info on Facebook
