We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Keeping the Student Strike Alive

Click here to access article by Alain Savard from Jacobin

The Quebec student movement centered in Montreal had very impressive victories in 2012 against the provincial government which was intent on raising tuition and outlawing student demonstrations. This article attempts to analyze why and how they succeeded in contrast to other campuses in the rest of Canada and the US. 

It appears to me that the basic ingredients are one-day strikes, general student assemblies which are limited in size, maintaining an activist core, and the hiring of more permanent key staff funded by student fees. You might glean other elements that contribute to their success. He concludes his article with this statement:
As the impact of the Great Recession drags on, the time is ripe for student unions across Canada, and the United States to take a page from the Quebec students’ playbook and take back their campuses.