We stand in solidarity with our teachers (Le Devoir)

By: Myriam Boileau, Pénélope Dulude-de-Broin and Marie Longpré – grade 10 & 11 students, respectively, as well as all members of the Association militante des élèves du secondaire (AMES) [High School Activist Student Association]
Originally published on: September 30 2015
Original French text here: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/451278/nous-sommes-solidaires-de-nos-enseignants

Photo: Annik MH De Carufel, Le Devoir | We cannot stress this enough: your work conditions are our own learning conditions, students say to their teacher

To Quebec’s public school teachers,

As high school students, we are acutely aware of the direction that Quebec has been veering towards in the course of the past few years. We know it too well : it is the only project that the government has presented to us in our lifetime. We know that public services are increasingly neglected, we know that students and patients are now addressed as “clients”, that attaining zero deficit seems to be our sole priority; that, in spite of the terrifying data that continue to surface, protecting the environment that we are to live in is the last item on the list.

Fuck it all! (Le Devoir)

By: Sébastien Jean
Published on: April 10, 2015
Original French text here: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/437086/fuck-toute

A generation of spoiled brats, as the saying goes. A generation saddled with debt that will probably not have a pension, will retire at 74, have a 50-year mortgage, life-long precarious employment, a slowly privatising healthcare system and a environment ravaged by their parents’ heedlessness. Its offspring, if it dares to have any, will have only the schooling they can access, if the system hasn’t self-destructed under pressure. All-out cuts, endless hikes.

When this generation marches to denounce what’s going on, it gets pounded. “Stay home and study”, it is told. People applaud the police, who are trained to rough it up while the complicit media complacently demonises it. This generation is only questioned in order to be mocked. The very government doling out austerity awards itself retirement packages and excellent salaries while the very rats accused of collusion are free as a bird.

Protest’s Variable Standards (Le Devoir)

By: Marie-Andrée Chouinard
Originally published on: April 4, 2015
Original French text here: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/436429/profilage-politique-manifs-a-geometrie-variable

The way that cops treat students is different than the way they treat other advocacy groups

PHOTO CREDIT: Annik MH De Carufel Le Devoir | Hundreds of protesters, including many students, took to the streets in Montreal to oppose police brutality on March 15

Thursday April 2, Montreal. A motley crowd in the street, a street flooded by the spring sunlight that is finally warming our faces, faces coloured with the red of protest, a protest suddenly halted by shots of teargas and the charge of police officers.

Montreal, Sunday March 29. On this chilly day, women take to the streets and step out of Émilie-Gamelin square while shouting chants aimed at reminding Couillard’s government that no one is to hinder abortion access. Around 500 people make their way towards Health Minister Gaétan Barrette’s office then turn back around. The police flank the march but never intervene.

In both cases, no itinerary was provided to the police administration. No “violent” incidents were noted by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). And yet these two protests came to two very distinctive conclusions. Why?

“It’s quite obvious from the dozen recent protests: when they are not organized by student groups, but by feminist groups for example, they are not subject to the same treatment. The treatment is notably differential, and it amounts to political profiling.”

Authoritarian Spiral at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) (Le Devoir)

By Various (group text)
Originally published on March 26, 2015
See original French text here: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/435441/derive-autoritaire-a-l-uqam

Source: Wikipedia

Since the establishment of the first universities in Europe, students have mobilized around academic and social problems, such as the cost of rent. Student activism is not new. Strikes, occupations, and event disruptions have been part and parcel of university life, including at UQAM. Often, these collective actions have been at the forefront of progressive causes working towards social justice: feminism, pacifism, the environmental movement, amongst others.

Historically, university administrations have been relatively tolerant towards activist initiatives, including occupations, some of which lasted as long as six months (like at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1968). In the 2000s, administrators began to change their approach, choosing to quickly call the police, who have intervened in a brutal way, as has been the case at UQAM (not to mention at the UQO and the University of Montreal in 2012, among other examples). This conscious change is part of a broader tendency on the part of authority figures to be more and more repressive towards social movements. They jump on a few isolated incidents to justify an increase in repressive measures. In line with this tendency, UQAM’s administration increasingly prefers the repressive tactics of intimidation and institutional violence. This has important costs (security cameras and extra “security” guards) and contributes to the degradation of the social climate on a campus that is well known for its community and activist environment. And yet, there is no academic consensus about the effects of repression on social movements. Some studies show that repression weakens mobilization efforts, while other reports show that repression provokes increased mobilization and a radicalization of activists.

Equality Crisis (Le Devoir)

By Karl Rettino-Parazelli
Originally published on March 3 2015
See original French text here: http://www.ledevoir.com/economie/emploi/433298/relance-economique-les-femmes-ont-ete-plus-penalisees-que-les-hommes-conclut-l-iris

Women are more harshly affected by austerity measures than men, and recovery plans are less favourable to them as well.

Photo: Jacques Nadeau Le Devoir

IRIS researchers have observed a 7 billion dollar gap between men and women.

Women in Quebec have suffered from the collateral damage of the most recent economic crisis more than men. They have been more harshly affected by the “austerity” measures put in place in order to balance the budget and have not seen as many benefits of the economic recovery as men have.

A new study published on Monday by the Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques (IRIS) reveals that the measures iimposed to straighten out Quebec’s finances are not “neutral” or “technocratic”, contrary to the Couillard government’s claims: they affect women more than men.

“The results are clear, the process of economic recovery since 2008 has had a negative impact on women, be it in the context of recovery or austerity measures”, states the study’s co-author Eve-Lyne Couturier.