I was extremely hopeful for the student protests in Quebec which makes it very hard for me to accept that the protests have degenerated to the point where they can provoke nothing but annoyance. The protesters forgot that the only kind of political activism that has any hope of being successful is the one that can maintain the same very concrete, very practical demands over a sustained period of time. Protesting “against injustice” and “for world peace” is a waste of time because these are not the goals you can reach by marching and chanting.
Now the protesters seem to have abandoned the very important issue of the proposed unfair tuition hikes. The protests in Montreal this weekend have been aimed against the Grand Prix. Yes, you heard right. Somehow we have gotten from tuition hikes to the Grand Prix.
Crowds of undressed people march in downtown Montreal harassing peaceful citizens and tourists with the unseemly sight of their ugly naked bodies because they have something against the Grand Prix race. Once again, the protesters have not chosen to disturb the governmental buildings. They are targeting regular folks instead:
The Grand Prix race usually attracts 300,000 people to Montreal. CLAC, an anti-capitalist group, has promised that over the weekend it will repeatedly target Crescent Street, which is traditionally the most active bar and restaurant strip during race week.
“Nightly protests will disrupt this crass elite at play in [the west part of] downtown every night,” the CLAC group said on its website.
Marc-André Cyr, a historian of social movements and columnist for Montreal’s Voir weekly, said CLAC’s targeting of the Grand Prix is part of its campaign to disturb society’s wealthy classes.
Anybody who lived in Montreal for any amount of time understands how stupid the plan to target “the wealthy classes” on Crescent Street is. I lived around the corner from Crescent for years and I can tell you that there aren’t any wealthy classes there. All of the buildings in that area are occupied by cheap apartments rented by the students of nearby universities (I was one of those students) and bars. The only people with at least some money who go there are tourists. Who obviously cannot be blamed for any of Quebec’s problems.
I still remember going out to Crescent on weekends when I was a student at McGill University. I only wish I knew back then that visiting the bars on Crescent with $10 in my pocket and not a dime more to my name in the entire world made me a member of a “crass elite.”
Mind you, we have some pretty wealthy areas in Montreal. For some reason, however, the protesters are not heading there. Might that be because there aren’t any streets filled with bars there? One has got to wonder.
On Sunday, the protesters are planning to disrupt the subway system in Montreal. Because, apparently, all those filthy rich people take the metro to go on their crassly elitist jaunts.
This was such a wonderful opportunity for the people of Quebec to make an actual political statement and achieve something important. This was the perfect chance to say to the government, “We pay the taxes and you will do what we say.” Instead, this has all degenerated into a series stupid tantrums by a bunch of stupid idiots who are searching for wealthy classes in the subway. What a shame.
Clarissa's Blog 
No. No. And no.
CLAC is not CLASSE, nor FEUQ, nor FECQ. What you depicted as Montreal student protests collapsing into utter stupidity was not organized by student organizations. That picture above shows a feminist group protesting against the Grand Prix. Some feminist groups consider the GP to be misogynistic. There may be students protesting against the Grand Prix (which, by the way, is such a cheap and objectionnable event), but they are not student protests per se. It is an ‘amalgam’ and it reflects the wider protest movement Montreal is experiencing, especially after Bill 78. THE CLAC used the student protest movement as a jump-off to make a anti-capitalist statement against the Grand Prix.
“Mind you, we have some pretty wealthy areas in Montreal. For some reason, however, the protesters are not heading there. Might that be because there aren’t any streets filled with bars there? One has got to wonder.”
There was and there are students protesting in front of PM Charest house in Westmount. There were and there are students and people like me supporting the student movement protesting in front of the Quebec parliament, even protesting in front of deputy offices in sleepy suburbs! Protesting downtown has to do with visibility. Protesting near Crescent street has to do with visibility. Looking for street with bars as a condition to protest? Keep wondering if you want, but you can do better than that!
And bars on Crescent St. suck anyways:) Somehow this street feels Disney-like…
“This was such a wonderful opportunity for the people of Quebec to make an actual political statement and achieve something important. This was the perfect chance to say to the government, “We pay the taxes and you will do what we say.”
Who is to blame? The protesting students, I guess? Many ot them are leaving the city and they are going back to more rural areas for the summer, many of them have summer jobs. Academic life is less busy during summertime and because of that organizing protests is more difficult. The government allowed the conflict to degenerate. It made the political bet that their decision would pay off and that the student protests would not stay that long anyways. Reading some reactions and commentaries on the web and it seems that the government made a smart political move. Barf.
Many people and many students are tired of protests and are waiting for the next election. I am not optimistic, as you know.
“Instead, this has all degenerated into a series stupid tantrums by a bunch of stupid idiots who are searching for wealthy classes in the subway. What a shame.”
I agree that the subway thing is stupid. But I took the metro on Friday to visit a friend and there were two policemen in each wagon. That is the real scandal if you want my opinion. That outrages me more and scares me more than a few anti-capitalist protesters.
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Nobody is going to make the distinction between these alphabet soup organizations. Also nobody will ask who’s a student and who’s simply an idiot. Have the student protesters repudiated publicly and severely these anti Grand Pris and pseudo feminist folks? If not, then what is there to talk about?
The moment when the protest stopped being about the specific amount of the specific tuition hike and proposed slogans about the evilness of capitalism and other non -specific issues, it lost.
The only political activism that can win is the one that fights for one small specific thing. Fights and fights until it wins. And then starts on another small specific thing.
Look at the Occupy protests. I said they will be a massive failure because protesting lack of empathy on Wall Street is egregiously stupid. So did they fail.
Then the protests in Russia collapsed tor the same reason.
Now the protests in Quebec are fizzling out because, nowadays, every attempt at actual action drowns in this syrupy verbiage of Miss Universe contests .
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I removed the word “student” from the title, though.
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I have little time to answer unfortunately, but this is probably the biggest disagrement we have ever had, even morethat the language Bill 101 polemic. But I am so outraged that I have to answer now, regardless of the time.
Nobody is going to make the distinction between these alphabet soup organizations. Also nobody will ask who’s a student and who’s simply an idiot. Have the student protesters repudiated publicly and severely these anti Grand Pris and pseudo feminist folks? If not, then what is there to talk about?
Why would the student organization start policing other groups, other protesters? They are student oprganizations and they care about students + the social crisis caused by the government. Period. Now student organizations want a mediation as a solution. What is wrong with that, may I ask? Student organizations said that they did not organize these events and that is enough. Freedom of speech, and allowing people to make level-headed judgments about different organizations: I think that this is healthy.
And yes, people are clever enough to make a distinction between student protesters and other protesters with there sometimes poorly articulated demands. Talking about alphabet soup like you do only show either contempt or ignorance from your part… which is very surprising. ABCDEFG…
The moment when the protest stopped being about the specific amount of the specific tuition hike and proposed slogans about the evilness of capitalism and other non -specific issues, it lost.
The strike has become a social crisis with bigger issues than tuition fees. I know your love of capitalism and I almost understand it, but your reasoning sounds like the one-little-step-at-a-time, one-little gesture politic that I have never understood. Trust me, students are protesting about the very specific issue oftuition rates. They want a mediation now, which makes sense at this point. The government will never accept that, unfortunately.
It is easy to make a paralel between the students and Occupy Wall St mvmt,but I think they are different fights.
Try to find another way to dismiss the student organizations if you want, I am always open to change my mind… but it is not working with me this time. Some of your readers will be soooo happy to read your post and think that progressives have failed, again. All in all, I think that the students who are protesting have been increibly efficient and I admire them profoundly. I wish more of my students were like that.
I hope that the student movement will not collapse. If it does, blame it on the disgusting Liberals and the very stupid people who have voted for them and will vote for them again in the future.
I am really upset right now, as you can see.
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“And yes, people are clever enough to make a distinction between student protesters and other protesters with there sometimes poorly articulated demands.”
– I need to start meeting these people. People I know in Canada don’t see a difference. I’m not finding any popular information sources that see a difference.
“The strike has become a social crisis with bigger issues than tuition fees. ”
– I would love to hear what those bigger issues are. I know about the right to assemble and protest and, obviously, I support this fight. What else?
“I almost understand it, but your reasoning sounds like the one-little-step-at-a-time, one-little gesture politic that I have never understood”
– It’s better, in my mind, than protesting F-1 because rich people something something very rich people. Especially since every single fan of F-1 that I know is quite poor.
“I hope that the student movement will not collapse.”
– I hope so, too. How do you think it makes me feel to see the woman in the photo in this post who pretends to be a feminist? It’s like you work for years to advance a certain agenda and then one stupid clown with nothing better to do comes to the stage and destroys your entire movement because she has found a way to make herself more scandalous and photographable than you ever could. Yes, it;s boring to achieve feminist goals with plodding everyday work. Wouldn’t it be grand if we could make one huge gesture and get it all done in one fell swoop? Is doesn’t work this way any more, though.
Let’s say we have all agreed collectively that feminism is good and capitalism is bad. Then what? Really, after we have all agreed on this, what happens?
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THANK YOU FOR REMOVING THE WORD STUDENT FROM YOUR POST. I will not need another glass of whisky:)
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My friend, I’ll gladly remove the entire post if it makes you unhappy. I care more about you than this post. So really, just say the word and I’ll kill the post. I don;t want you to end up intoxicated on my account. 🙂
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Why would you kill the post? I love lively discussions as much as you do! I am just much more outraged by the violence of the government and the police forces than by some small anti-capitalist or feminist groups. You know that according to the government people wearing the read square and banging on pots encourage violence?
FYI, in French:
http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/352102/recit-d-un-petit-voyage-en-metro-avec-un-carre-rouge
Some people have argued that the F1 GP is a sexist and polluting event. It is hard no to agree with that. Without falling into the anti-capitalist argument I would organize an electric car race or a solar car race or whatever instead.
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Since you today write link encyclopedia and wrote about Egypt in the past, I wanted to share what I read today in newspaper about the attempt at women’s demonstration on Tahrir:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/women-egypt-anti-sex-assault-rally-molested-groped-mob-article-1.1092453
Also formerly more secure Turkey is going into bad direction: away from Israel and Western values of democracy in general. I know those can be 2 different things, but here there is a connection of general movement away from West & secular democracy. Latest news:
Since 1983, abortion has been legal in Turkey until 10 weeks after conception. Yet last week, with a speech in Istanbul, the country’s deeply religious prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched his government’s plan to prohibit all abortions four weeks after a child is conceived.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/06/in-turkey-abortion-law-sparks-new-battle-over-mosque-versus-state.html
Btw, Islamist, a word you don’t like, simply means a Muslim person /group /government, who wants Sharia laws to be the laws of the state. Insert this long definition in stead of -ist word and may be you’ll partly agree too with analysis. (Not of this specific article, but in general).
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Of course, it is well -known that, for now, religious fanaticism and barbarity have won the day in Turkey. It’s a shame because the country had a chance to do so well. I have very warm feelings for the Turkish people and their culture, so this is upsetting to me.
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RE Erdogan, he recently said:
http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/58805
Bold – mine. A pity, we had good relationship with Turkey, but then it decided to change direction for its’ own reasons. As if Israel doesn’t have enough bad neighbors already. In practice, Erdogan’s conditions mean Never, which everybody understands.
Re US, in case you missed the fight to continue discrimination against gays:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2012/06/08/putting-the-money-where-their-hearts-are/
Is it OK to sometimes put links here? Or in previous week’s encyclopedia? Or in this week’s?
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I don’t mind the links at all. Just put them wherever is more convenient. I see all comments on my phone in the order they are posted anyways, so it isn’t like I will miss any comments.
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Surprise, surprise……………not really. 🙂
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Ol: I just came from crescent and witnessed a pretty disturbing scene of a group of protesters colliding with the police. The protesters all looked very young and many carried pots with them. Is this one of the other groups, pretending to be associated with the student movement? Or are student organizations indeed trying to make a point about the grand prix? If the latter is the case, I agree with Clarissa in that the message of the movement is becoming diluted.
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“Ol: I just came from crescent and witnessed a pretty disturbing scene of a group of protesters colliding with the police. The protesters all looked very young and many carried pots with them. Is this one of the other groups, pretending to be associated with the student movement? Or are student organizations indeed trying to make a point about the grand prix? If the latter is the case, I agree with Clarissa in that the message of the movement is becoming diluted.”
– I think it’s significant that an actual resident of Montreal who is permanently in Montreal has no idea who these protesters are or whether they are linked to the student protests.
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The student organizations did not want to disturb the GP. They wanted to use the event as an opportunity to distribute information about the strike if I remember well. That is completely legitimate, in my view. But hey, students wearing a red square cannot walk freely in public spaces anymore… so how can they inform people about their demands?
Today the economic forum of the Americas opens in Montreal. Are the student organizations massively protesting against capitalism in front of the hotel were the event took place? I do not think so. Some 50 people associated with CLAC are protesting today, surrounded by twice as much policemen.
I hope that the same people who deem superficial or ridiculous the students protesting against the GP will not argue that the absence of students manifesting against the economic forum of the Americas is a sign of weakness and that the student movement is falling apart.
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I think “protesting against capitalism” (or socialism, or the patriarchy, or inequality, or bad weather) is a bizarre way to spend time, no matter who engages in it.
As for the pollution caused by GP, in the past 15 years, traffic in downtown Montreal has grown horribly. I’m sure you’ve noticed. It’s an insanity how bad things are getting. It seems to me that in terms of pollution, that is a pretty bad thing. Which is why I’m surprised at the suggestion to boycott the polluting F1 with closing down the subway.
And we all know how I feel about protesting sexism by stripping naked.
This all has started looking like a series of childish pranks aimed at getting across the message of “let everything be good and nothing be bad.”
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No, it’s because protest, like everything else (EVERYTHING else) follows the path of least resistance.
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I am really outraged right now and not sure if I should comment here on in your latest post about students’ dumb ass beliefs.
So, the student protestors stood in front of police today doing a nazi salute. I am beyond disgusted and insulted. What is the connection between tuition hikes and insulting those who actually suffered through one of history’s most tragic times?
I have lost all interest in understanding these protests. My initial impression was right – a bunch of self-entitled and ignorant jerks who have no interest in achieving anything.
Sorry to rant but one has to be really moronic to have the audacity to compare the situation in Montreal to nazism. This is preposterous.
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Did you see this?
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Yep, it’s on the evening news. And the Jewish community is now demanding an apology.
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I’m researching this now. It seems like these are just a few Neo-Nazis who always appear at any massive public occasion. I don’t think they are massive in Montreal.
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You might be right – it is now difficult to understand who is who. Seeing as these people were wearing red squares associated with the student protestors, however, I guess we will see an official statement from the student organizations by tomorrow denouncing them. (something tells me we won’t though)
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From the Montreal Gazette:
“The province’s more hardline student group, which has rarely been critical of protesters, implored people late Tuesday to cut it out: “Even if they are jokes, references to the Nazis during (protests) must stop,” the CLASSE said on Twitter.
Dimant said in a statement Tuesday evening that Martine Desjardins, head of the Quebec federation of university students, contacted him and “formally apologized on behalf of her organization for any distress the student group had caused.”
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Jewish+groups+decry+Nazi+salutes+Quebec+student+protests/6771041/story.html#ixzz1xhNVnNE5
I would not judge the whole based on the few. But some people are always prone to condemn a [progressive] movement based on some ignorant or violent people, whom, I repeat, do not form the majority of the movement.
Meanwhile…
Violence, ignorance, and stupidity are on the side of the Quebec government. The decisions and the comments Liberals have made in the last couple of weeks are absolutely scandalous.
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I am honestly relieved that they came out with an official statement and hope that it makes the evening news. The situation has gotten out of control and it is really hard to make sense of it at this point.
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As I said on the phone, I’m afraid that in all this hullabaloo over F1, nazi salutes, warring political parties, etc. the real and the very important issue of tuition hikes will be forgotten.
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A Facebook friend posted something on this, and I posted a link to your blog. A later commenter explained the link to the Grand Prix thus:
“Every year after the Grand Prix is over the principle organizer billionaire, Bernie Ecclestone receives a $75 million gift of tax payer money. This is a gift, not related in infrastructure costs. And yet there isn’t money for schools.”
I don’t know if that is true or not, but apparently that is what they were protesting about.
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Thank you, Steve! The idea that it makes sense to protest the receiver of the money rather the giver is beyond strange. I’m getting more and more disappointed in the protest movement that thinks the cancellation of a sporting event will end such abuses on the part of the corrupt government. As if the government couldn’t find 1,000,000 other ways to waste taxpayers’ money.
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