- photo-essay by Ion Etxebarria.
- Photo: Student gather in opposition to privatization in Montreal.
Throughout recent years social movements in Quebec have been locked in a political battle with the current Liberal government. A social struggle revolving around public control over key institutions in Quebec society. At the front-lines in this struggle has been the Quebec student movement, which in building on a long history of militant action has openly confronted government attempts to cut public funding from educational institutions and open doors to private corporations to Quebec’s public education systems.
In 2005 students organized a major student strike across Quebec in response to attempts by the Quebec government to cut over one-hundred million from funding to student bursaries. Over one-hundred student unions participated at the height of a strike which was initiated by L’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ), a major student union in Quebec including 42,000-members. After months of protest and direct action students in Quebec forced the government to rescind the cuts to student bursaries, a major victory for social movements.
Despite this victory for the student movement in 2005, government efforts to create openings for increased private interests within publicly funded institutions continue today. ASSÉ has recently launched a Quebec-wide campaign to fight government efforts to privatize social services and held a creative protest in November 2008, in the lead-up to the recent elections. Hundreds of students gathered in Montreal’s east-end for the protest, marching into the subway for a mass metro ride to the Centre de Commerce Mondial de Montréal where students posted anti-privatization stickers and held speeches inside the center.
- Quebec student gather in a downtown metro station.
- Protesters make creative use of a Quebec election sign in Montreal.
- Graffiti in the Centre de Commerce Mondial de Montréal.
Stickers against privatization inside the Centre de Commerce Mondial de Montréal.
L’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) is a critical political force in Quebec society and became the first major student union to support the international movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the Israeli government, an endorsement taken in solidarity with Palestinian students living and studying under Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.
Tadamon! works in active collaboration with L’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) to support the ongoing campaign against privatization in Quebec.
Ion Etxebarria studies photography and collaborates with The Link – Concordia’s Independent Newspaper, Ion has has participated in various media collectives both in North America and Europe.
a good worker, social figter and very good photograger, aurrera Ion. zaloa
تعليق ives laliberte — 29 juillet 2010 @ 14:47