Ah everyone wants to be first

I don't get the appeal of standing in line to get product X on the day it is released. I hate crowds. I don't think I've ever lined up for tickets of anything.  Apparently today there were line-ups at Apple stores around the world.

I wonder if the Apple stores in Montreal called the police to warn them about gatherings around their stores and I wonder if they had busloads of riot squad police waiting on side streets a few streets over the main apple stores ready to disperse the crowds like they do when people assemble somewhere to protest.

Things that make you go HmmmMmmmm.

July 22nd was no different

Students have been having marches the 22nd of each month since March, and July 22nd was no different. While the daily marches have petered out with the summer heat, the marches on the 22nd have not. 

Students are getting ready to continue their protests in the fall, and hopefully if there are fall elections, all the youth will be going to the polls and making their opinions known. Maybe Charest will NOT get in again and it will change the political climate in Quebec. 

Un Plan pour le Quebec!

Casseroles night in Canada

Casserole night in Canada :)

We're inspired by the Quebec student strike and the popular uprising in Quebec against Law 78 and the Charest government, so ... On Wednesday, May 30, starting at 8pm, people from coast to coast to coast all over Canada are showing solidarity by banging pots and pans everywhere! This will be the first of many casseroles nights across Canada. Once Quebec student students stop the tuition hike and Law 78, we're all going to Stop Harper together! *

Nous sommes inspiré(e) par la grève étudiante et le mouvement populaire du Québec contre la loi 78 et contre le gouvernement Charest. Mercredi le 30 mai, à partir de 20h, les gens de partout au Canada montreront leur solidarité en faisant entendre un tintamarre de casseroles, joyeux oui, mais qui symbolisera aussi notre colère et notre exaspération. Ce sera la première de plusieurs soirées de tintamarre à travers le Canada. Une fois que nous aurons atteint la victoire quant à la hausse des frais de scolarité et que la loi 78 sera abrogée, nous pourrons aussi stopper Harper ensemble!"

The media and the rest of Canada have the Quebec student protests all wrong

Great blog via Huffington Post discusses how the media, and in my opinion, the rest of Canada have the Quebec student protests all wrong. 

Editorial cartoon from "Le Devoir" - Caricature du Devoir

Also amusingly, in the past couple of weeks, suddenly articles about Canada and Quebec have appeared in Al Jazeera. Here is there latest.  Usually they never write about us because we're too boring :)

Nightly protests and percussive civil disobediance

Most mornings now I sift through dozens of news articles on the events of the night before. One of the fears that came through last night is that the nightly protests will have a serious impact on Montreal's tourist season.  It really doesn't help that some journalists have written pretty one sided pieces making Montreal sound like Russia.

What's for sure is that there are nightly protests. Not just marches but people in various towns and cities are picking up pots and pans and spoons and making lots of noise at 8pm. It has yet to spread to my Montreal suburb but it's just a matter of time.  It's an activity that can include every member of society from babies to grandparents!

I haven't gone downtown with my vehicle in some time and don't intend to. Going downtown by train will remain my preferred method of travel.  As it goes, if you use underground public transport like the metro or the train, you can get around Montreal with the minimum of disruptions caused by the ongoing protests. 

Montreal is the city of festivals, perhaps this summer it will be mainly the festival of the pots and pans with whatever repercussions it might have on our tourism. 

What started in Montreal with the Occupy movement has now fuelled the student movement and will continue because people are fundamentally unhappy with how our governments work.

First there was the Arab spring now there's "le printemps érable" :)

Video de Mardi le 22 Mai - Etat Policier au Quebec

Etat Policier - Episode1

It's sad - more arrests in student protests then during FLQ crisis in Quebec

Quoted from the Toronto Star:

"More than 2,500 people have been arrested in a months-long dispute that has catapulted the province onto international news pages, which is at least five times the number jailed during the 1970 FLQ crisis that saw martial law declared in Quebec."

This despite the fact there has been no deaths, just protests. Which proves one of the things I've been saying for months, under this government we have no rights. We should have the right to protest!

Lots of arrests in La Belle Province last night..

Over 500 people were arrested in Montreal and Quebec city last night.  I've got to wonder, like some of those who were arrested at Occupy Montreal, how many of those arrested last night got UV tagged?

Anyone who gets arrested at protests should check their hands under UV light if they get the chance!

I stood outside at 8pm, and it was very quiet. No one in my neighbourhood was banging on pots and pans I was disappointed I must say. Just a couple of dogs barking back and forth and being annoying :( I banged my pot a few times and went back inside.

This is the route the students were going to take :)

Bang on your pots and pans.

Interesting editorial about Quebec students

One of the complaints I have about reading AlJazeera is that usually it never reports much about Canada. I realize we are a small boring country but still :)   As it goes, in the past week or two there has been at least 3 different articles in AlJazeera about the situation with the Quebec students.  This one that I read today is an interesting read especially coming from a newspaper from halfway across the world.

100 days of student protests

Today at 2pm is going to be one of the biggest student protests yet, to underline 100 days of student protests and to complain about law 78. I was reading this morning that there is a group calling itself the white block that is trying to help prevent vandalism and violence. Apparently they would stand in front of stores/banks while marchers go by to prevent vandalism that has been seen. 

I'll say it again, I'm all for PEACEFUL PROTESTS and I support the students so long as they are peaceful.

La loi 78 a pas les effets voulu!

Quebec's striking students

I've read more about our striking students then most. Some commentary from across Canada is purely vitriolic. Some comment that the Quebecois are just a bunch of whiners and spoiled brats. That this whole distinct society is being payed by the rest of Canada.I find that comment interesting as Quebecois like other Canadians pay their taxes. It amazes me when other Canadians suggest we stop transfer payments to Quebec because of the students strike.

Perhaps there is no such thing as free education in North America and we all know Quebec has the less costly education, however it doesn't mean that scolarity fees need to increase by 82%.  There are countries in this world that offer free education even at the University level. The nordic countries, like Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark have free education, in some cases even for students not from their country!  There's also Greece, Brasil, the UAE, Sri Lanka and the list goes on. 

One thing that came out of Quebec's Revolution Tranquille was  some of the lowest university fees in North America, including mostly free CEGEP education.  The ultimate goal was free education.  Just because the rest of North America has a different stance, doesn't mean Quebec students should change their perspective or aspirations.

One article I read yesterday, I found interesting, he suggests students shouldn't be protesting about the fees, but about the quality of the education they receive. That quality education includes degrees that will generate jobs at the end of the line. Many liberal arts degrees tend to send you to a McJob.

Personally I have no problems with the striking students. I have a problem with the minority who feels the need to break things and attack people.  I'm all for peaceful protests and support those students peacefully protesting.

However those who break things downtown should be arrested like any other vandal, just cause or not.  What gives you the right to break other people's property to make a point?

Smoke bombs in metro = mischief, not terrorism.....

You can see the terror in the people in the metro right?

Un message circulant présentement à travers Facebook:

J'attire votre attention, vous les étudiants sur le fait que la mafia gouvernementale n'a aucune gêne à utiliser contre vous des armes létales dont un de vos co-porte-parole à Victoriaville a faillit perdre la vie et exige de vous dissocier et de dénoncer la moindre action non publicisée par vos porte-parole. On appel ça diviser pour régner.

Comme retraité de la STM, je peux vous confirmer qu'il y a des activités de nuit qui génèrent beaucoup plus de fumée qu'une banale bombe fumigène sans aucun danger et les postes de ventilation pouvaient éliminer toute fumée en moins de 30 secondes. De plus on ne ferme jamais les stations pour un suicide qui passe souvent inapperçu. Donc ce jeudi matin les policiers n'avaient aucune raison de fermer toutes les lignes du métro si ce n'est le désir gouvernemental d'ameuter abusivement la population contre vous.

Je vous invite donc à cesser de vous soumettre à toutes les demandes démagogique du gouvernement corrompu. Dans le passé, les syndicats ont fait bien pire et ont exigés l'abandon de toute poursuite. Je vous invite à faire de même et de ne plus être duppe des opérations et manipulations purement criminelles de ceux qui nous gouvernents.

English Translation [Mostly from google so it's not perfect]

A message currently circulating on Facebook:

I draw your attention,  to you students to the fact that the mafia government does not shy to use lethal weapons against you which one of your co-spokesperson in Victoriaville has almost lost his life and requires you to separate and to denounce any action not publicized by your spokesman. We call it divide and conquer.

As a retiree of the STM, I can confirm that there are night activities that generate a lot more smoke than an ordinary smoke bomb without any danger and the positions of ventilation could eliminate smoke in less than 30 seconds. Also we never close the stations for a suicide that often goes unnoticed. So Thursday morning the police had no reason to close all underground lines except the government desire to stir up the people against you unfairly.

I invite you to stop   submitting to all the demagogic requests of the corrupt government. In the past, unions have done much worse and have required the dropping of all charges. I invite you to do the same and no longer be dupe of the purely criminal operations and manipulations of those who govern us. 

Student Protests get out of hand

I'm all for keeping the cost of education down and I do believe the students have a point. But I am really against violence. 

My eldest attends Concordia and this morning, when she arrived at the Hall building early for an Exam, she realized that there was protesting students blocking the entrance.  They were violent and attacked anyone who went anywhere near a door. Other non-protesting students had to rescue them.

Her exam was at 9am. She arrived at 8:15 figuring she'd have time to find the room, get comfortable and be mentally prepared for her exam. She didn't make it to the class before 9:15 after the police  pushed the protesters out of the way and her exam did not start till 9:30am.

Interesting photo taken at Student protests in Montreal

I'm just re-posting, this is not one of my photos.

Student loses an eye in protest

Yesterday there were reports of police brutality at the Student protest in front of the Loto Quebec building. One student will lose an eye due to having received some form of projectile launched by the anti-riot squad.

Students had a vigil later that night in support of the student who lost an eye. They were about 50 and they were chased by hundreds of anti-riot squad police and just brutalized without provocation.  Even a teacher who joined the students in the vigil was brutalized by the police despite asking repeatedly if this was an illegal assembly because if it was he was leaving, and the police who brutalized him refused to give him their badge numbers or names or let him leave peacefully.