Getting to the HEART of the Quebec Student Movement, andmobilization in general

Keynote address byRushdia Mehreen

At the North Carolina State-wide student convergence, February 2013.http://studentpowernc.org/conference/

posted on http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/

What you might know about the Quebec student movement…

75%increase of university tuition fees

$1625 over 5 years

Government announces

Bill 78

7 months of strike

Up to 300K students on strike

Hundreds of protests: Monthly, weekly, daily

TWO years of escalationUnprecedented civil society mobilization

Over 3,000 arrests

and

One election later…

Newly elected government cancels the tuition hike

How did we get there?

• Mass demos• Other strike

actions• Economic

Disruption• CLASSE

Congress• General

Assemblies• Mobilization• Mobilization

Committees (mob squad)• Building

Relationships

Background image credit: awatercolouraday.tumblr.com

Keeping the momentum throughcreative and visibility actions

Disrupt the economy

Build large state-wide coalitions

Empower students through direct democracy

Image design by H. Bonin; inspired by Cegep St-Laurent student association (l’Association étudiante du cégep de Saint-Laurent (AECSL))

Image design by H. Bonin; inspired by Cegep St-Laurent student association (l’Association étudiante du cégep de Saint-Laurent (AECSL))

Do the ground workGet the word out!

Setup mobilization groups and committees

Build support and solidarity

One person at a time

• Mass demos• Smaller actions• Economic

Disruption• Coalitions• General

Assemblies• Mobilization• Mobilization

Committees (mob squad)

• Building Relationships

Background image credit: awatercolouraday.tumblr.com

Recapping referencesThis presentation is posted on http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/category/qcstudentmovement/

In the order of appearance in the presentation (all accessed on 2nd April 2013):• http://freeeducationmontreal.org/movement-grows/• http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/2012/08/14/the-2012-strike-in-quebec-full-report/ • http://mailleapart.blogspot.ca/• http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/category/concordia-mobilization/• http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/from-the-classroom-to-the-boardroom• http://freeeducationmontreal.org/on-general-assembly• http://geograds.wordpress.com/• http://gsaconcordia.ca/information-2/rights-and-history/ (on the student movement, very well presented, unlike the URL ;)• http://geographyonstrike.wordpress.com/• http://geoggingclub.wordpress.com/• http://www.stopthehike.ca/ (See Materials link on top)• http://www.bloquonslahausse.com/ (See Materiel d'Information link on top) • http://freeeducationmontreal.org/library/ (a bunch of research material, in particular, see the now famour brochure - Eight misleading arguments for the hike.• http://www.gratuitescolaire.info/mobilisation • http://www.afesh.uqam.ca/• http://freeeducationmontreal.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Creating-Departmental-or-Faculty-Associations_v1.0.1.pdf)• http://rushdia.virtualstack.com/mobilization-at-concordia-a-retrospect/• http://www.tuitiontruth.ca/• http://psastrike.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/department-of-philosophy-is-on-strike/• http://mcgillgradmobilization.wordpress.com/• http://socialpolicy.org/index.php/spring-2013/602-the-2012-student-strike-many-lessons-were-learned-and-taught

Videos: • Labour solidarity demo: http://www.cutvmontreal.ca/videos/1060• WHALE / flash mob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwnyri6XYCY• Various Concordia related videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/freedmconcordia• Angry Week at Concordia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_54TX6etqE• Results of the on the go “training” of tabling/one-on-one mob, in Brazil, June 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuIgVxr3Ibw