This morning, on Facebook, we got into a vigorous discussion about the Quebec Student Strike (for a really slanted view--with which I heartily disagree, please see this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education).
okay, kids. that's enough now...
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Jeffrey All my regular lefty FB friends are blaming the police.6 hours ago ·
Ian: Ok? Clear-headed arguments. We in quebec pay twice the amount of taxes than Ontario, We pay higher gaz prices, that "private medication insurance" is draining my paycheck. We are asked to pay toll bridges (they do it in the US I hear) but we pay far more taxes than in the us. Residential taxes in Montreal are increasing and increasing every year, yet we have no more services. I'll say it, I'm no longer a student, but you should get the idea. Why didn't the X and the BBB protes (let alone riot) when 40 bllions (you read that right - 40 billions) "dissapeared" from the provincial retirement fund. Regimes have fallen over less. The "Train de l'est" is turning into a fiasco with "unplanne" cost that will double the bill (those "unplanned" costs will be more expensive, BTW thant the tuition increase.) The recent arrests by UPAC are proof that corruption is very, very real... yet when the youth says "enough" we are tagges as lazy, violent bums. "Ok kids? That's enough now!" please!
6 hours ago ·
James: Ian ... great post. Unfortunately, our government is following in the same footsteps.
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman you can have free university tuition when the professors agree to teach for nothing, okay? ditto for all the other workers at the university. i was a student too, and i have 3 kids who are students. TANSTAAFL, Ian. your movement jumped the shark & revealed its totalitarian nature (again) when it prevented Concordia's new President (candidate) from speaking at a lawful assembly. there is no "free." as it is, university is 80% "free" ie. taxpayer funded. go back to class & learn something.
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman oh, and a strike, really? a strike is when the workers withdraw some essential service. whether you go to school or lose your semester...you're biting off your own nose, my friend.
5 hours ago · ·
Mary LTotalitarian nature? Since when is fighting back, defending ourselves a fucking dictatorship?
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman ah, just saw you're no longer a student. well, then, there's no excuse. who's going to pay the millions of $$ it's costing in extra policing? all those now income-less university professors?
5 hours ago ·
Mary LYou guys are living in your own bubble. Free school does not mean unpaid teachers lady! It means we pay the government back with services...
5 hours ago ·
Mary LWe already pay for that, the struggle is much larger than what you are talking about. Who's income less? All teachers are sitting on thin ice with their jobs already. Remember the concordia techs back a few years ago?
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman if anyone's living in a bubble, it's the free tuition movement. and totalitarian is as totalitarian does. when you refuse to have a secret ballot on whether or not to strike because it won't fit in the 'time line' and is 'too timeconsuming to organize,' when opposition to the idea of a strike is shouted down at meetings held to discuss having a strike, when the potential new head of a university that surely SURELY needs a new head is shouted down in a public meeting...when millions of dollars are wasted in futile confrontations with the police, and crimes against property are perpetrated for no good reason...that's totalitarian, my friend. and the fact that you guys don't realize what it is you're doing...proves what your education to this point has been worth. university education costs (in direct fees to students) a fraction of what it is elsewhere. the time has come to keep pace with inflation, for gawd's sake.
5 hours ago ·
Mary LI might not be in school but my daughter will. I'm doing this for our futur. You don't see, and a lot of you don't see that this is not like the yearly strike from students. This is us picking up the steps from the last ten years. Fighting for a better lifestyle. One where the governement represents the population, and the whole population
5 hours ago ·
Tracey A wise young man once told me that schooling is a privilege. He has travelled the world (as a student I might add) and has seen far worse. Enjoy the privileges we have and go back to school.
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman you change governments by voting, not by smashing down the windows of the palais des congres. civics 101. and don't call me "lady," lol!
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman (for some reason, Tracey Del Vecchio, i can't 'like' your comment. but i do!!)
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman i can understand people being unhappy with the way they feel society is going. what i can't accept is the smashing, burning, and shouting dissent--or even a meeting--down. that's not the way a liberal democracy works.
5 hours ago ·
Ian I do not endorse violence. I used to... hell I used to be a fuckup who got into fist fights and I didn't mind all that much. But guess what, all you moralists who claim "I did it and so can you", I did the same. I turned my life around, got clean, became a vegetarian and embraced buddhism. Guess what, I went back to school and I did it too. I could claim the same "I did it and so can you", but I wont. Because I probably wouldn't have done it if the fees had been higher. We have to realise that there can be a system where people can achieve their goals because of a system, not in spite of it. i could also add this : I will happily pay the same tuition as Ontario the day we have the same taxe rates and gaz price...
5 hours ago ·
Ian Also, as for "bashing, breaking and etc..." I watched the whole thing yesterday on CUTV, unedited and live, so I will happily take my own interpretations of who bashed what over whatever powercorp or quebecor is throwing at me.
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman i can't control gas prices and tax rates. speak to the separatists if you want the economy to improve in quebec. but i will say that from what i've heard, the gov't is taking steps to increase support to those who can't afford tuition increases. i am not a moralist...we all know people who should have gone to university and were unable to. we also all know lots of people who aren't there for the right reasons, too. i feel peoples' thinking is muddled on this issue: "i'm angry about corruption, taxes, and gas prices, so i'm gonna go down to the palais des congres and get my ass kicked in"? does this sound reasonable to you?? civil disobedience works. but there are no shortcuts to social change. imho, anyway.
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman the strike isn't democratic--it isn't even really a strike--and i don't believe it's supported by a majority of students. it's a vocal minority that devolves into mobbism.
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman and now i must get back to work to support all those brainiacs who are throwing billiard balls at the po-lice...or whatever the heck they're up to next. feel free to keep posting, though. i wouldn't miss this convo for the world.
5 hours ago ·
Donna: I am so fed up with all of this. I think we should wear red with an x on it, and protest the protests
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman the true cost of higher ed is only fractionally related to the tuition increases. it's the money foregone by attending university and doing the work required that's the killer for those without enough $$.
Ian: Again, I never mentionned that I support violence, yet the "violent" agrument keeps coming back. I will not add on it. As for numbers, the largest demonstration rallied 300 000 people, some say, I will use 250 000 just to take a lower estimate. Still, 250 000 people in the same march at the same time, means that 3.15% of Quebec's population was marching in the street, no small feat in of itself. And lets mention Woodworth's severance. I lost a job, I get my 4% vacation (and no vacation), she gets &700 000. "There are no shortcuts to social change" - Indeed, the path is long and hard. First step is what I call the "personal revolution" : get rid of things you don't need and get rid of people who will sink you, but most of all, get rid of hate. Only when that is done can you rebuild yourself. Second step educate yourself. Granted, most of what we learn in college can be read for free in most libraries, but you need the diploma in order to (maybe) get a job so you pay the tuition and you hope for a job when you get out. That is "plan A", plan B is you do it yourself, or you start a business, that's the theory anyways, but then you need money or credit, who controlls both, banks and government. I didn't have money, I didn't want credit (I am 29 and the only thing I owe is my student loan) so what, you work for a few years ans save up money, but the time you are ready, you have lost a third of your professional life poorly employed. I finished schoo, I make $30 000 a years, which I admit is the most money I've ever fucking had. But then, the government starts collecting me, regardless of what I want, they take around 30%. Granted we do have more than other people around the world, but we also pay a lot (a lot) more in taxes.
5 hours ago ·
Beverly Akerman quebec has the most progressive tax system in canada, i believe. which means we have the most people who pay nothing in income taxes because their incomes are too low. in our house, we'd be happy to get off with 30%. as for Judith Woodward's severance, i can only say this: people have contracts. contracts have clauses covering their dissolution. are Concordia's contracts out of line with what is commonly done at universities? i believe this is being looked into by an enquiry. but i sincerely doubt the 250,000 people out in the street were motivated by Judith Woodward's severance package. again, i repeat: people should be involved in the political process. and by that, i don't just mean voting come election time. join a party that supports your point of view. work to get your ideas some air time. it's a long slog, i know. and we don't pay that much more in taxes anymore, btw. i believe we're more middle of the pack right now. not to mention the incredible social programs we have: $7/day daycare, year-long mat leaves, free college education...but, of course, nothing is really "free," is it? there's always someone paying. that's what the students are forgettting.
4 hours ago ·
Ian http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDiLfQUBnyA
www.youtube.com
Charles Bukowski - Born Into This - Dinosauria, We Henry Charles Bukowski (born ...See more
4 hours ago ·For more about Alan Shepard's disgraceful treatment at Concordia University, please see "Strikers silence leadership hopeful."
