A group who had taken part in the Montreal student strike of the past few months gave the presentation, composed of current students and anarchist supporters. I found out about the meeting after talking to people working in Spartacus Books, and having failed to meet any Canadian anarchists prior to this point, I suddenly found myself in a whole nest. I took some notes during the talk, and now I’m doing this with them.
The student movement in Quebec has had an active history, with eight student strikes having taken place since 1968. This most recent strike began primarily over tuition fees increases, which had been effectively frozen for the previous thirty years.
A number of important political tensions exist in Quebec, each of which became more pronounced at key moments during the strike. Firstly, there are tensions between Anglophone and Francophone peoples. Secondly, between working and ruling class. Thirdly, between anarchists and Quebec nationalists.
The popular governance of Quebec has been more socialist in comparison to the rest of Canada, carrying more of an anti-government feeling.
CEGEPs are colleges that provide a bridge between high school and university, offering vocational as well as academic programmes. Traditionally, their student bodies are more working class, in part due to their greater affordability. Similarities can be seen between them and the community colleges found in other parts of Canada.
February 2012 saw a successful vote passed on initiating the student strike. The action came to use several tactics, such as blocking access to educational buildings through picket lines, setting off fire alarms to clear institutions, and noise protests to cause disruption. As the government has to continue paying teachers and support staff regardless of whether there are any students present on site for them, even a single strike day can be very expensive for the state.
On February 16th, there was a general assembly to occupy one of the CEGEPs. I heard what it was called, but it had a French name that I couldn’t spell, didn’t attempt to write down, and have since forgotten. The aim was to follow the successes of a previous occupation in 2005, but it was found the opposition were more prepared for a struggle this time. One key debate among the occupying students was whether to barricade themselves into the building or not. Following a 2am police raid, everyone who had stayed to occupy the CEGEP was arrested. Those involved were locked out of the buildings, but as the student union is legally obliged to provide an organising area, private spaces were subsequently hired out by them for the occupiers.
At McGill University the ‘Sixth Floor Party’ occupied for several days. As this is an English-speaking university rather than a French one, and therefore not expected to be as militant, this occupation was one of the most notable.
Following the lock-outs, the strikes spread more into the streets. The basic strategy became one of economic disruption, as it was reasoned that those in power only care about protest which hurts them monetarily. The island of Montreal found itself regularly experiencing blockades to bridges, ports and trainlines, all of which were intended to obstruct the flow of capital.
During this time, many groups were active in organising individual protests and events, distributing innumerable flyers announcing when and where they would take place. These multiple autonomous actions were very effective in achieving their disruptive goals, and helped to break away from the possibility of the strike as a whole being dominated by any specific organisational body.
Another discussion which created tensions among demonstrators regarded the use of violent tactics. As the months went by, commitments to pacifism decreased among many, with increases in the use of autonomous direct action, sometimes of a violent nature. For example, greater use of vandalism as a protest tactic, and disruption of the metro system through smoke bombs.
On April 20th, a demonstration was organised to disrupt a job fair. The types of careers being offered there included mining, timber extraction, and hydro jobs in the indigenous land in the north of Quebec. This was a turning point in the movement moving away from just being about students, and more about austerity and campaigning against capital. People in the main demo got into the convention centre at the job fair, with other demos running into each other by chance. Severe clashes and disruption ensued, culminating in a riot. The number and size of the demos was huge, going on for five hours, despite being continually broken up by the police. After this date, the police presence was much higher within the city.
On April 23rd-25th, an executive of a group’s name that I didn’t catch (my note-taking skills are amazing) [EDIT – I’m pretty sure it was CLASSE) agreed to a truce with the government. Quite a lot of people didn’t agree with doing this, and a demonstration of thousands followed. A police station was smashed, and smoke bombs set off on the metro the following morning. Every day after that at 8 o’clock there were more demos, along with an escalation in police repression. Also on the increase were demonstrations next to prisons where people had been arrested.
Many protestors were given injunctions set, but people continued to blockade classes, being in clear contempt of court. Law 78 was then implemented, making it illegal to deny access to a place where someone has a right or duty to be in an educational building. Also, any demonstration of 50 or more people in Quebec was declared to be illegal unless the police were informed. Huge fines were set for those who violated Law 78, with it being possible for fines to be doubled for any subsequent offences.
In response to Law 78, neighbourhood assemblies began through spontaneous organisations. A lot of people were outraged by the law, which turned the protests into being about far more than student tuition fees.
People have been arrested at demos, and then had conditions set whereby they cannot return to the downtown area of Montreal. Some residents banned from the island have had to move out very quickly. House raids by police have been in effect, for example on band members that have songs against the government. Some people have been banned from associating with anyone who has pending charges, or illegal demonstrators (which, following changes to the law, is pretty much any demonstration). Also, a bylaw has been set up making mask wearing during demonstrations an arrestable offence.
The speakers said they were concerned the upcoming election will divert people’s attention to itself rather than continuation of direct action tactics. They felt the neighbourhood organising had been good, even though the diversity of views present often meant slower action.Nonetheless, a strength of these events has been the introduction of political self-organisation to people who don’t normally think in those terms. A final point raised was their hostility to groups of those present during protests who define themselves as pacifist, but are better described as exhibiting what could be called ‘contradictory militant pacifism’. These groups have shown they are set on disrupting the actions of others, including taking away banners and masks and blocking any possibility of confrontation with police.
I asked where a good (English language) place to go to keep up with information on this was, and I was told to try the Montreal Media Cooperative. So I did look, and some of the articles are in French. What the fuck’s all that about?
Talking to people in the bookshop and in the house a lot of us went to after the meeting, a few differences were revealed between UK and Canadian varieties of anarchism. I was told anti-fascist issues are basically non-existent in Canada, but they do have a much bigger emphasis on environmental problems, frequently in connection with mining and resource extraction. Also, problems that particularly affect native peoples are a frequently addressed topic there. Intervening in these matters is a sensitive issue as, like with anarchism in the UK, activists are predominantly white.
redandblackrainbows 
You must be logged in to post a comment.