Getting to the HEART of the Quebec Student Movement, and mobilization in general

Getting to the HEART of the Quebec Student Movement, andmobilization in general

Keynote address byRushdia Mehreen

At the North Carolina State-wide student convergence, February 2013.http://studentpowernc.org/conference/

posted on http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/

What you might know about the Quebec student movement…

75%increase of university tuition fees

$1625 over 5 years

Government announces

Bill 78

7 months of strike

Up to 300K students on strike

Hundreds of protests: Monthly, weekly, daily

TWO years of escalationUnprecedented civil society mobilization

Over 3,000 arrests

and

One election later…

Newly elected government cancels the tuition hike

How did we get there?

• Mass demos• Other strike

actions• Economic

Disruption• CLASSE

Congress• General

Assemblies• Mobilization• Mobilization

Committees (mob squad)• Building

Relationships

Background image credit: awatercolouraday.tumblr.com

Keeping the momentum throughcreative and visibility actions

Disrupt the economy

Build large state-wide coalitions

Empower students through direct democracy

Image design by H. Bonin; inspired by Cegep St-Laurent student association (l’Association étudiante du cégep de Saint-Laurent (AECSL))

Image design by H. Bonin; inspired by Cegep St-Laurent student association (l’Association étudiante du cégep de Saint-Laurent (AECSL))

Do the ground workGet the word out!

Setup mobilization groups and committees

Build support and solidarity

One person at a time

• Mass demos• Smaller actions• Economic

Disruption• Coalitions• General

Assemblies• Mobilization• Mobilization

Committees (mob squad)

• Building Relationships

Background image credit: awatercolouraday.tumblr.com

Recapping referencesThis presentation is posted on http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/category/qcstudentmovement/

In the order of appearance in the presentation (all accessed on 2nd April 2013):• http://freeeducationmontreal.org/movement-grows/• http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2012/08/14/the-2012-strike-in-quebec-full-report/ • http://mailleapart.blogspot.ca/• http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/category/concordia-mobilization/• http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/from-the-classroom-to-the-boardroom• http://freeeducationmontreal.org/on-general-assembly• http://geograds.wordpress.com/• http://gsaconcordia.ca/information-2/rights-and-history/ (on the student movement, very well presented, unlike the URL ;)• http://geographyonstrike.wordpress.com/• http://geoggingclub.wordpress.com/• http://www.stopthehike.ca/ (See Materials link on top)• http://www.bloquonslahausse.com/ (See Materiel d'Information link on top) • http://freeeducationmontreal.org/library/ (a bunch of research material, in particular, see the now famour brochure - Eight misleading arguments for the hike.• http://www.gratuitescolaire.info/mobilisation • http://www.afesh.uqam.ca/• http://freeeducationmontreal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Creating-Departmental-or-Faculty-Associations_v1.0.1.pdf)• http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/mobilization-at-concordia-a-retrospect/• http://www.tuitiontruth.ca/• http://psastrike.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/department-of-philosophy-is-on-strike/• http://mcgillgradmobilization.wordpress.com/• http://socialpolicy.org/index.php/spring-2013/602-the-2012-student-strike-many-lessons-were-learned-and-taught

Videos: • Labour solidarity demo: http://www.cutvmontreal.ca/videos/1060• WHALE / flash mob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwnyri6XYCY• Various Concordia related videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/freedmconcordia• Angry Week at Concordia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_54TX6etqE• Results of the on the go “training” of tabling/one-on-one mob, in Brazil, June 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuIgVxr3Ibw