raw quebec stands up

 Raw- wagery 
action  alliances are 
      maybe coming alive in quebec 

as often happens 
raw students fire off 
the first wild salvos

  then on occasion
  with the taste of 
   plutonic blood 
in the air 
  a too long languid wagery
     erupts ....

" Between 60,000 and 100,000 
militant students marched in Montréal
 on March 16
 Thousands more marched 
in Québec City,
 Sherbrooke,
 Trois-Rivière, 
and just about every other Québec locality
 with a  community college
 or University 

Students blocked the Port of Montréal
 closed down the lucrative Montréal casino
 blocked Federal Highway 40
 and occupied various government
 and Liberal party offices 
in Québec City and Montréal
often for days at a time

 In all, close to 300,000 students
 went on strike
 closing almost all public higher education
 in Quebec for up to seven weeks
 (and continuing on many campuses)

 Up to 15,000 secondary school students 
joined demonstrations in solidarity
with backing from teacher's unions

 Many University and comm-col
 professors' and administrators' associations 
also endorsed the strike
as did a wide range 
of Quebec's other labor unions

The strike began February 23
 with a walkout by 30,000 comm-col and University students
 organized by the  student association CASSÉÉ 

 The motivating grievance 
was a drastic cut 
in student stipends 
from the Quebec government

 beginning with this academic year's 
promised amount
 ASSÉÉ included in its demands
 an end to the Liberal government's
 planned privatization and decentralization 
of some comm-cols
 and other higher education programs
 as well as a call for free tuition
 and "humanistic curricula."

 Among the French-speaking
 working-class students
 CASSÉÉ itself grew rapidly 
in membership
now up to about 60,000.

All during March
 the cities of Montréal and Québec
 were swarming with student militants

 hunger strikes,
 streets barricaded with tires and garbage,
 teach ins
and bed-ins
 
 Everywhere
 from the fashionable cafés 
of St. Denis 
to the gay village
 the tourist-filled Old City
 and the Parc LaFontaine 
 the red felt patch 
symbolizing resistance was visible
 not only on students
 but on many sympathizers 
among the gentry of the Plateau
 and the queens along St. Catherine's

 Drivers in cars blocked by demonstrators 
waited patiently and smiled 
or waved at the students
 Call-in shows 
were full of supportive comments
and opinion polls showed
 more than 70% of Québecers 
still supported the strike 
at the end of March
 after all the disruptions

The provincial Liberal government of Jean Charest
hads
the highest disapproval rating 
of any sitting governmentin canada 
   about 70%. 


 On April 3, the Liberal government 
caved almost completely 
on the student stipends-p
romising to restore immediately 
70% this year, and 100 %
in  coming years
 They also shelved immediate plans 
for privatization and decentralization 

 Campus by campus votes were taken
 and some already began to reopen by April 6
 Others
--including the largest unit
 at UQAM in Montréal--
extended the strike at least until April 15

 The elite campus 
of the University of Montréal
 voted April 8 for its 40,000 students 
to remain on strike

 CASSÉÉ took the lead in attempting 
to broaden the student strike 
toward a more general protest 
against Liberal cutbacks
 They declared a second round 
of so-called "echo" demonstrations 
in solidarity with all workers
 and social services 
against the "neo-liberal" platform 
of Charest--"

========================================