Students to step up pressure tactics
Campus tensions rise as 300,000 join campaign, but others want to attend class
Expect more protests, more occupations and more civil disobedience. Student leaders are warning Quebecers that the demonstration planned for Montreal today is just the beginning of an escalation of pressure tactics rather than the culmination of the tuition-hike protests that are now in their sixth week. Karen Seidman reports that as tactics have escalated over the last week so have tensions on campus between striking and non-striking students.
“There will be more protests, more occupations, more and more actions that are disturbing.”
STUDENT LEADER GABRIEL NADEAU-DUBOIS ON PLANS FOR FRIDAY
Tens of thousands of students are expected to march in Montreal on Thursday in protest of tuition hikes, with 300,000 university and CEGEP students throwing their support behind a student movement that seems unstoppable.
Strike-weary Montrealers hoping the demonstration marks the end of a tumultuous winter semester may be in for a rude awakening on Friday when students – angrier than ever after Tuesday’s provincial budget maintained the tuition increases – plan to step up pressure tactics.
“After Thursday, we will go to the next level,” said Gabriel Nadeau-dubois, a spokesperson for the Coalition large de l’association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante.
“There will be more protests, more occupations, more and more actions that are disturbing.”
Students, he says, will become more radical, with more civil disobedience.
Meanwhile, many campuses are seeing more conflicts between striking and non-striking students. Some who don’t support the strike say they feel their security is at risk.
“I’d be lying if I said I was not concerned for my safety,” said Concordia University chartered accountancy student Todd Lipstein.
“I don’t understand why in order to assert their rights to education, they have the right to impede me from accessing the right to my own education.”
A group of Mcgill University students has sent a letter to the administration saying a small group of pro-strikers has been disrupting the campus despite widespread opposition to a strike.
“This group violates our democratic right to access an education without fear of harm,” reads the letter, spear- headed by the Mod PAC (moderate political action committee) group.
“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.”
Mcgill says it has asked everyone on campus to be respectful of each other.
“Your right to protest shouldn’t trump my right to go to class,” said Mcgill media relations director Doug Sweet.
On Thursday, as many as 100,000 students are expected to take to the streets of downtown.
Concordia University and the Université de Montréal are shutting down for the day, and the Université du Québec à Montréal is expecting a slow day because the vast majority of its student body is striking.
At UQAM, university officials have opened the door to extending the semester to allow striking students to make up lost hours. A decision will be made once students return to classes.
A march last November, with about 30,000 participants, started smoothly, but dissolved into conflict when some students occupied the administration building at Mcgill and riot police were called in.
Universities say they are doing their best to continue classes for those who want them, despite many students who say they are blocked on a regular basis by striking students.
Daniel Zizian, director general of the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec, says students must recognize that ensuring a high quality of education through proper financing of universities is the best way to ensure employment after university.
But striking students say they cannot accept the increase of $1,625 over five years, and their resolve is growing.
“In the next week or so, public pressure will be so great that the government won’t have a choice but to talk to us,” said Léo BureauBlouin, president of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec.
“They thought the movement would stop after March 22, but it won’t. It will just get bigger and bigger.”
In anticipation of a provincial election, the FECQ says it plans a campaign targeting Liberal MNAS who are seeking a return to office.
Bureau-blouin said the federation will release a poll on Friday showing that striking students have public support, despite vocal opposition and taunts of “go get a job” on Internet news sites.
Zizian noted that some students who are against tuition increases don’t support the strike, and added that universities must pay attention to the question of security.
Chris Mota, director of media relations at Concordia, said there have been only a few complaints from students and staff about harassment.
For the most part, she said, the university is meeting its responsibility of providing classes for those who want them.
“I’m sure there are students who feel discomfort. But no one has a right to threaten anyone else, so they must complain if it happens.”
But sometimes that’s easier said than done.
“It doesn’t feel like a safe environment when classes are being blocked,” said Kayla Herbert, one of the founders of Mcgill’s Mod PAC.
“The law is on our side and we will not let a tyrannical minority break it,” she added, referencing the letter sent to the administration.