Here it is.
Those godam thankless students...
After everything we've done for them!
Subsidized daycare!
The lowest tuition in the land!
How dare those ingrates disrupt the Bernie Ecclestone F-1 circus!
Don't they know the eyes of the world will be on Montreal this weekend?
Have they no idea that they'll be offending the biggest corporate sponsors in the land?
Canada will be bowed in shame if we allow those ingrates to cast a shadow over those corporate sponsors...
Showing posts with label occupy Quebec. Show all posts
Showing posts with label occupy Quebec. Show all posts
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Pot-addled blogger scoops Globe and Mail by two weeks
Today the Globe announced that the Quebec tuition brouhaha was about more than tuition.
Took up most of their front page, if I'm not mistaken.
And if I'm not mistaken, I think The View from Falling Downs was two or three weeks ago pondering the ramifications of the tuition tussle, because it was perfectly clear that this was not about tuition.
This is about asking questions.
This is about not being content with shutting up when you get the usual non-answers to your questions.
Never mind a tuition increase. Why is there tuition?
Why can we afford to drop bombs on Libya when we can't afford to staff our schools properly?
Why can we support human rights everywhere on the planet except at home, where the Indian people we stole the land from live in conditions that make Gaza look like paradise?
Hey, don't get me started...
But as the national newspaper of record, the Globe and Mail needs to spend more space on news and less on Harperite propaganda.
Took up most of their front page, if I'm not mistaken.
And if I'm not mistaken, I think The View from Falling Downs was two or three weeks ago pondering the ramifications of the tuition tussle, because it was perfectly clear that this was not about tuition.
This is about asking questions.
This is about not being content with shutting up when you get the usual non-answers to your questions.
Never mind a tuition increase. Why is there tuition?
Why can we afford to drop bombs on Libya when we can't afford to staff our schools properly?
Why can we support human rights everywhere on the planet except at home, where the Indian people we stole the land from live in conditions that make Gaza look like paradise?
Hey, don't get me started...
But as the national newspaper of record, the Globe and Mail needs to spend more space on news and less on Harperite propaganda.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Empire of Imbeciles
Jean Charest earned his political chops as a cabinet minister in the Conservative government of Lyin' Brian Mulroney.
For almost ten years he has been the Liberal premier of Quebec.
It says something about the opportunistic nature of Canadian politicians when Conservatives can so seamlessly morph into Liberals, or in the case of Bob Rae, a "socialist" can become a Liberal, or in the case of Thomas Mulcair, a member of Charest's Liberal government remakes himself as a "socialist".
One could be forgiven for dismissing the lot of them as unprincipled money-grubbing power-mongers.
Charest now has the distinction of being the Canadian politician guilty of the most egregious misreading of the Canadian public in recent memory.
When Charest imposed tuition increases on Quebec students more than three months ago he had the universal support of the opinion-making establishment across the country.
Over three months he has managed to fan a tuition protest into a full-fledged revolt that those same opinion-makers increasingly acknowledge is now about far more than tuition.
That's leadership!
This brave new wave of political awareness will eventually sweep the political old guard into the the dustbin.
Goodbye, ye carpet-baggers left and right!
It's finally 1968 in Canada.
For almost ten years he has been the Liberal premier of Quebec.
It says something about the opportunistic nature of Canadian politicians when Conservatives can so seamlessly morph into Liberals, or in the case of Bob Rae, a "socialist" can become a Liberal, or in the case of Thomas Mulcair, a member of Charest's Liberal government remakes himself as a "socialist".
One could be forgiven for dismissing the lot of them as unprincipled money-grubbing power-mongers.
Charest now has the distinction of being the Canadian politician guilty of the most egregious misreading of the Canadian public in recent memory.
When Charest imposed tuition increases on Quebec students more than three months ago he had the universal support of the opinion-making establishment across the country.
Over three months he has managed to fan a tuition protest into a full-fledged revolt that those same opinion-makers increasingly acknowledge is now about far more than tuition.
That's leadership!
This brave new wave of political awareness will eventually sweep the political old guard into the the dustbin.
Goodbye, ye carpet-baggers left and right!
It's finally 1968 in Canada.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Occupy Montreal
One of the back stories on Rex Murphy's program a couple of weeks ago, when he was busying himself with throwing mud at the spoiled children who are protesting their tuition increases, was about the value of a post-secondary education.
This might have made for a more interesting program than he actually had.
Post-secondary institutions (i.e. colleges and universities) are caught in a time warp.
As institutions, they no longer have a monopoly on knowledge.
While that has at some level always been the case, the internet has evolved to a place where universities are at risk of having on-line learning cut their grass.
The old canard about having those eager young minds gathered around a wise "teacher" doesn't hold much when those first year undergrads are sitting in lecture halls with 900 other students.
This ain't Socrates sitting under the olive tree.
And good for those Quebec students for making this an issue. Education is a commodity, and why should it be withheld from some and bestowed on others?
Why does there need to be "tuition"?
The Quebec students have put to shame their contemporaries around the world who have simply swallowed tuition increases.
Britain had a few protests but nothing noteworthy when their students saw their tuition more than doubled.
Let's get real. A higher education is the right of everyone bright enough to earn one, if that's what they choose.
This might have made for a more interesting program than he actually had.
Post-secondary institutions (i.e. colleges and universities) are caught in a time warp.
As institutions, they no longer have a monopoly on knowledge.
While that has at some level always been the case, the internet has evolved to a place where universities are at risk of having on-line learning cut their grass.
The old canard about having those eager young minds gathered around a wise "teacher" doesn't hold much when those first year undergrads are sitting in lecture halls with 900 other students.
This ain't Socrates sitting under the olive tree.
And good for those Quebec students for making this an issue. Education is a commodity, and why should it be withheld from some and bestowed on others?
Why does there need to be "tuition"?
The Quebec students have put to shame their contemporaries around the world who have simply swallowed tuition increases.
Britain had a few protests but nothing noteworthy when their students saw their tuition more than doubled.
Let's get real. A higher education is the right of everyone bright enough to earn one, if that's what they choose.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Montreal cops go wild with pepper spray
Video has emerged of Montreal police pepper spraying peaceful tourist types sitting on the patio of a downtown bar.
That's why there's violence in these protests. The undercover-cop "anarchists" infiltrate a peaceful demo and start the violence. The cops use that as an excuse to run wild.
It's exactly the formula that was used in Toronto at the G20 fiasco two years ago, and it's being dusted off and recycled in Montreal right now.
That's why there's violence in these protests. The undercover-cop "anarchists" infiltrate a peaceful demo and start the violence. The cops use that as an excuse to run wild.
It's exactly the formula that was used in Toronto at the G20 fiasco two years ago, and it's being dusted off and recycled in Montreal right now.
Montreal in flames; it's not about tuition, stupid!
Two weeks ago I was listening to the vexingly verbose Rex Murphy rant about the spoiled brats who were rioting in the streets of Quebec over a tuition increase.
Don't they know how lucky they are?.. they'll still have the lowest tuition in the land!... Ingrates, every one of them!
The opprobrium was palpable, even over the car radio.
Two weeks have passed and those spoiled brats are still in the streets. The ever-inept Charest government has now poured gasoline on the bonfires by passing the most draconian anti-protest laws since the FLQ crisis.
The long and the short of it is that any protest gathering must be approved in advance by the police. In other words, protest will be tolerated at the discretion of your local police chief and his or her political bosses.
Is that not the very definition of a police state?
These protests have only peripherally been about tuition hikes. Rather, they are about a host of grievances with the status quo of which tuition hikes were merely a symptom.
These protests are a promising sign that a new generation is shaking off their media-induced stupor and telling the power elite that things will have to change.
This is Quebec Spring.
Don't they know how lucky they are?.. they'll still have the lowest tuition in the land!... Ingrates, every one of them!
The opprobrium was palpable, even over the car radio.
Two weeks have passed and those spoiled brats are still in the streets. The ever-inept Charest government has now poured gasoline on the bonfires by passing the most draconian anti-protest laws since the FLQ crisis.
The long and the short of it is that any protest gathering must be approved in advance by the police. In other words, protest will be tolerated at the discretion of your local police chief and his or her political bosses.
Is that not the very definition of a police state?
These protests have only peripherally been about tuition hikes. Rather, they are about a host of grievances with the status quo of which tuition hikes were merely a symptom.
These protests are a promising sign that a new generation is shaking off their media-induced stupor and telling the power elite that things will have to change.
This is Quebec Spring.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Quebec spring
Quebec spring, occupy Quebec, call it what you want, but it's about a lot more than a tuition increase.
Of course, that's not how the media paint it.
According to mainstream news outlets this is all about and only about a bunch of spoiled middle class kids who have no idea how good they have it.
The usual undercover cops posing as "violent anarchists" have of course been getting more than their share of headlines.
Without that "violent anarchist" element it would be so much harder to make excuses for the police violence.
And so much harder to justify the draconian anti-protest legislation coming our way.
Of course, that's not how the media paint it.
According to mainstream news outlets this is all about and only about a bunch of spoiled middle class kids who have no idea how good they have it.
The usual undercover cops posing as "violent anarchists" have of course been getting more than their share of headlines.
Without that "violent anarchist" element it would be so much harder to make excuses for the police violence.
And so much harder to justify the draconian anti-protest legislation coming our way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)