THE FRONT
Students begin the strike—Blocking commerce—CKUT’s decade on the street—Blacks and science
by MIRROR NEWS
February 16, 2012
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “If anything, it’s going to create a more confrontational atmosphere on campus.” —Joël Pedneault, external vice-president of the Students’ Society of McGill University, on McGill’s new protest guidelines following last week’s James administration building occupation. The guidelines state that the administration may call in police if demonstrations breach some conditions, including protesting past normal university working hours.
Strike wave 1
It’s been a long time coming, and this week, the first blow of the much-anticipated student strike against the Charest government’s tuition fee increases was struck. Protesting against the provincial government’s ongoing refusal to consider any changes to the hikes due to kick in next fall, associations representing some 11,000 students at UQÀM and the Université de Laval put down their laptops on Monday, Feb. 13. More associations are gearing up to follow this week and the next.
“There will be several waves of students going on strike,” says Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, a spokesperson for the CLASSE, the umbrella organization behind the planned actions. “Each week will have another wave of students joining the strikes.”
The Charest government has argued that the anticipated increase of $325 a year, beginning this fall and continuing for the next five years to bring the total to $3,793 a year for the 2016-2017 academic year, will still keep Quebec tuition the lowest in the country. The students aren’t buying it: at a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 14, representatives said they are planning weekly protests, the first taking place today, Thursday, Feb. 16 (see next story), until the government meets their demands. For more info on the students’ demands, see bloquonslahausse.com.
—PATRICK LEJTENYI
Budget blocking
Students aren’t the only ones hating the Charest administration’s 2011-12 budget, due out in the coming weeks. And they won’t be the only ones protesting it. Today, Thursday, Feb. 16, from 8 a.m., a group of demonstrators will picket the World Trade Centre on Square Victoria, saying they will no longer tolerate the provincial government’s attack on the Quebec social model. At issue are three sticking points: university tuition hikes, Hydro-Québec hikes and the provincial health tax.
“We want to send a message, that we are refusing the choices the Charest government has made, and that other choices are possible,” says Véronique Laflamme, a member of housing group FRAPRU. “We offered almost 20 different proposals to raise money without resorting to these measures. So our goal is to say that this will not stand.” The proposals include eliminating credits on capital gains, lowering retirement savings ceilings, fighting corporate fraud and increasing provincial royalties on natural resources. She calls the measures proposed in the budget “regressive.”
Behind the demonstration is a group calling itself the Coalition opposée à la tarification et la privatisation des services publics, made of 136 organizations ranging from students to public sector workers to greens to women’s groups. See le1602onbloque.com for more info.
—PATRICK LEJTENYI
Homeless decade
On Wednesday, Feb. 22, community radio station CKUT will be setting up shop outside the Native Friendship Centre at the corner of St-Laurent and Ontario for their 10th annual Homeless Marathon—a 14-hour live broadcast from the street, simulcast by 40 radio stations across the country, to highlight the struggles many folks face securing a warm place to hang their hat. According to coordinator Aaron Lakoff, as many as 30,000 people in Montreal find themselves homeless, while only around 720 shelter beds are available on a given night.
“[The broadcast] is an act of solidarity with those who are out on the street,” he says.
Lakoff adds they’ll be using the anniversary as an occasion to reflect on the housing crisis over the last decade. Hourly segments will deal with topics such as gentrification, police repression and the housing crisis in aboriginal communities. “That segment is prompted by what happened in Attawapiskat, Ontario,” he says. “But what we’re trying to highlight is that Attawapiskat is not the exception, it’s the rule. Aboriginal people in this country live in fourth world conditions.”
The Homeless Marathon will broadcast live on CKUT (90.3 FM) from 5 p.m. Feb. 22 until 7 a.m. the next morning. For more info, visit ckut.ca/homeless.
—HEATHER ROBB
Blacks for science
As part of this year’s Black History Month celebrations, Montreal’s Garvey Institute will be presenting a lecture by former Montrealer Dr. Frederic Bertley entitled “The Importance of Recognizing the Colour of Science.” The lecture will highlight the contributions of black scientists throughout the years while aiming to encourage young black Montrealers to pursue science as an academic discipline.
“There’s no question this is an important issue,” states Garvey Institute president Winston Nicholls. “It’s critical that the younger members of our community be aware of the accomplishments of black scientists in general and recognize the importance of these people as role models.”
Certainly Dr. Bertley himself is no slouch. Since scoring his PhD at McGill in 1999, he’s worked as a research scientist at both Harvard and MIT and is currently the vice president of Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, where he directs their Science and Innovation Division.
“It’s not like we’re overwhelmed with black scientists in Montreal,” quips Nicholls. “In this day and age, we have to encourage more people of colour to take up mathematics and science, or we risk being left behind.”
The lecture takes place Sunday, Feb. 19 at the Redpath Museum (859 Sherbrooke W., 2 p.m.).
—CHRIS BARRY
REAR-VIEW MIRROR
15 YEARS AGO – FEB. 20 – 27, 1997
On the cover: Local dancehall impresario DJ Prymtym, discussing the challenges with the genre. “People always point fingers at hip hop and reggae,” he says, blaming “certain journalists who think Shabba Ranks grabbing his genitals and being violent represents all people of my complexion.”
• Following some violent incidents at hip hop shows, venues are reluctant to host concerts drawing largely black audiences—striking local promoter Rickey D. as hypocritical. “When Guns ’n Roses caused a riot by telling the audience to wreck the place, you didn’t see the Olympic Stadium stop doing business with Donald K. Donald.”
• Lhasa de Sela’s “husky, velvet vox acts as a bridge of sighs between the cabarets of Paris and the countryside of Chihuahua” on her debut album La Llorona.
• 1996 numbers released by the city’s economic development department are grim: unemployment rose from 10.8 per cent to 12.6 (the highest unemployment rate of any large North American city), the number of jobs fell by 2.5 per cent and office vacancy rates rose to 25 per cent. ■
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