At first glance they are two very different stories. Quebec students stripping down to their underwear, and then meeting with the government.
Hoping that they can also make the Education Minister an offer she can't refuse.
And the British criminal Conrad Black cavorting on the grounds of his massive mansion, after being released from the Big House.
But both are really part of the same story. The battle of the 99% to overcome the tyranny of the corrupt 1% who are trying to turn our society into a capitalist jungle. And the coming together of the worldwide Occupy Movement and Quebec's Printemps érable or Maple Spring.
Who would have thought that the Quebec branch of this worldwide mobilization, with 300,000 people in the streets, would have become the most stupendous of all? Quebecers in the streets are united, with the world marching. Everyone knows something is profoundly wrong – with the economy, with the environment, with the political system, corrupted with cash.
Which is attracting attention all over the world.
And making a lot of older Canadians really angry.
For 40 years, older people have lamented self-absorbed, apolitical youth. Now that so many have taken their ideas to the streets, many of those same observers are outraged, calling them spoiled, pointing to their iPads and Starbucks coffees as evidence.
Even in a grim, aging country where so many seem to get their kicks beating up on the young, I've never seen such a gnashing of teeth, or such a media hate-on.
Even though young Canadians are struggling to survive. Their unemployment rate is twice the national average. Many of them are already drowning in debt. Many of them will never be able to afford a home like their parents did. Most of them will have no permanent jobs, benefits or pensions. And all of them have been forced to look on helplessly as Big Oil and the Harper gang torch their future.
So do these angry old Canadians REALLY think that young people are just going to roll over, as so many others have in Harper's foul Canada?
I don't think so eh? Nobody wants this.
But the lesson is really simple. We must change the world. So we WILL change it.
I believe in a world where young and old help each other.
But the violence in Victoriaville is also part of the same old story.
Or there will be justice.
Or there will be trouble...
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Hopefully we get this any people at our protest here in Fort McMurray to send a message to the PC's to twin our damned highway so no more innocent people are killed.
ReplyDeletehi Way Way Up...I wish you luck for it does sound like a horrible situation.But unfortunately getting most Canadians off their asses an into the streets really is harder than raising the dead. But don't give up, because if you do nothing will change...
DeleteYes, that generation who calls the youth spoiled at the same time they destroy their planet and society for tax cuts and Timmies.
ReplyDeletehi Boris...yes, it's a depressing situation isn't it? You can criticize young Canadians for a lot of things, for they are certainly not perfect. But if you look at the economic situation, and the future they face, the last thing I'd call them is spoiled...
DeleteI've noticed the attitude seems (more?) negative in the ROC. Is because of a Charlie Brown rule following type of attitude in ROC or is it really generational? My Mom who still lives in QC surprised me with her reaction to the protests. Her first comments about the violence was that it was because of agents provocateurs.
ReplyDeletehi anonymous...I don't know why so many in the ROC are so negative. They should be inspired by what they see in Quebec, because they are standing up for our traditional Canadian values, and against everything Harper and his Cons stand for. The only thing I can think of is that in Quebec the notion of community is greater in Quebec for all kinds of reasons. So even when the kids exasperate their elders, they remain part of the family...
DeleteHi Simon I for one am ecstatic over the student protests and hope they spread across the land like wild fire. It is long past time that we have universal post secondary debt free education in this country, so to that extent I believe the students haven't gone far enough in their demands.
ReplyDeleteHi Kev...why am I not surprised? Thank goodness for you. And yes if they can have free university education in poor little Scotland we can have it here. It's just a matter of priorities. Many Quebec students believe in free education, but because of the economic times we live in, they are willing to moderate their demands and look for a compromise.
DeleteBut hopefully they won't abandon the idea and will make it happen one day...
I have no time for people asking Quebec students to meekly accept the same stupidity and injustice that the ROC endures.
ReplyDeleteMore power to the Quebec Students!
hi Thwap...I hope the best result of this student strike will be to make other Canadians reevaluate their priorities. But clearly the Con media feels the kids are challenging The System, so getting people to stop the insane race to the bottom definitely won't be easy. But we do have to build a better world, so it WILL happen...
DeleteTell me what you think.
ReplyDeleteLook at the attitude the GOP and Tea Party has towards Obama. He is snobbish, uppity, a communist, not a Christian. He was depicted as an African warlock, a monkey... Michelle has a big behind, she is bossy...
And look at the attitude SOME people in the ROC have. No matter how many statistics you present, Québécois are lazy immoral communists, traitors who should be jailed or worse (sometimes it is the first thing people tell me when they find out I am from Quebec), who are profiteering (though Qc individuals pay the highest taxes in North America... and companies the lowest...Charest is a neocon). I am told I am a separatist bla bla from the word go.
Am I wrong in thinking this is a form of xenophobia?
They don't realize that some Québécois become separatists after years of that treatment. (I am serious!) Of course we have our "bluenecks" but a little less hatred would help... Except some people profit from fanning the flames.