Support from profs, parents and high school students, and a day of near-miraculous heat in an exceptional spring. The students could not have hoped for better for their huge national demonstration, one of the largest Montréal has seen, which proceeded in exemplary fashion yesterday afternoon. In this immense appeal to be heard, there were 200,000 shouting No to the increase in education fees. “The government’s stubbornness explains why the debate is taking place in the street,” proclaimed a representative of Profs contre la hausse,[1] to the high-charged crowd at the post-march speeches.
When the movement has reached 300,000 students on strike, disrupted traffic, blocked the port, and carried out a multitude of imaginative actions, above all a monster demonstration that will go down in history, what more is there to do? Yet the movement is apparently refusing to run out of steam.
“Ce-n’est-qu’un-début, conti-nuons-le-com-bat!”[2] Chanted by the pumped up students, the slogan resonated at length from the stone and concrete walls of the Vieux-Port, at the conclusion of the protest. “The strike begins today,” read a huge banner.
The lack of new thinking in the Bachand budget seems to have rekindled the anger of many. “I think this is a beginning, especially after the release of the budget, which completely ignored the students. It is worse than an insult,” said Marie-Frédérique Gagnon, a student in philosophy from Laval University. “But we certainly have the sense that things are polarizing.”
“We don’t know what lies ahead, but it doesn’t seem at this point to be declining,” added her friend Isabeau Legendre. He noted that a number of student associations have already extended their strike vote to April 3. Some associations, such as UQAM’s,[3] have also adopted a resolution not to hold another vote on the strike unless the Minister of Education tables a satisfactory offer.
“Some people have stayed home since the outset and are finding it tiresome. Of course we would like to return to class,” Perrine Leblan, a student in literary and film creation, acknowledged. “But we will probably propose to renew the strike until the government agrees to listen to us.”
Everyone was indeed against the increase. But the message was much greater in scope, a sort of generalized discontent. “We’re here in solidarity against the Liberal government and the Harper government. It’s been months, years, that we’ve been waiting for this demonstration!” exclaimed Michel Lopez, saying he was expressing an exasperation that went beyond the student demands.
According to the Québec solidaire spokesman Amir Khadir, the Charest government cannot hold firm for much longer. “They seem worried to me. They won’t show it… but they’re in a fix. Politically, I don’t see how they can look into the cameras and say everything is going well. There are 200,000 people in the street, with support coming in from everywhere,” he noted.
An exemplary demonstration
Around noon, some high school students began to pour into Philips Square. One by one, the delegations were greeted triumphantly by applause and shouts of jubilation. Some had even defied their principals and risked detention in order to be at the protest. “We were stopped. It was forbidden to come,” said Arnaud Valade, a pupil in the Jean XXIII school. “We’ll go on detention with the others, out of solidarity,” he promised. Marie-Hélène Vallière was “excited” to be in attendance. “In my family there are five children and four of us will be going to University. That’s a really big expense for my parents,” said this 16-year-old girl, who attends the Pierre-Laporte school.
Shortly afterward, by 1 o’clock, the Place du Canada was black — rather, red[4] — with people, filled by passengers from 90 buses from the regions and thousands of university and college students and other demonstrators who had come in support. It was some time before the crowd got going. When the demonstrators at the head of the march were walking along Berri street, some were still waiting at the Place du Canada.
The NDP member of parliament from Rosemont-Petite-Patrie, Alexandre Boulerice, encountered at the beginning of the march, was impressed. “It’s like the huge demos I have seen in the past,” he noted, mentioning the one in 2003 against the war in Iraq. It’s the people of the left who are rising up.”
Full of enthusiasm, this human wave swept along for more than four hours, coming to an end in Vieux-Montréal. The demonstrators dispersed peacefully, without the least jot of violence. It had been feared that the demonstration would split in two, but apart from small groups that momentarily tried to stray from the main route, nothing happened. The only disruption yesterday was the blocking of the port of Montréal, in the morning.
However, despite appearances, there was a feeling that the three major student groups — the Fédération étudiante collégiale (FECQ), the Fédération étudiante universitaire (FEUQ) and the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE), were not pulling in exactly the same direction. “Let’s not get hijacked. The FECQ and the FEUQ do not represent us,” read a huge banner noticed at a bend in the road. Behind the scenes, some sharp discussions broke out between members of the two federations and those of the CLASSE, who wanted to be the only ones to speak at the end. For how much time will the unity hold?
For now, the students are saying this is the time for action. They are promising some economic disruptions, and in Liberal ridings. “Students, trade unions and Opposition parties are going to be working in close collaboration during the coming weeks, to put the necessary pressure on the Charest government in order to find a solution to this strike,” promised Léo Bureau-Blouin, president of the FECQ. And, for as long as possible, to make the spring last.
By Lisa-Marie Gervais, with assistance from Mélissa Guillemette and Louis Chaput-Richard