Translating the printemps érable

Daphnée Dion-Viens         August 14, 2012

Original French text: http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/education/201208/14/01-4565131-conflit-etudiant-les-associations-refusent-de-rendre-les-armes.php 

 “Yes, we would have liked to continue the strike,” says CLASSE co-spokesperson Jeanne Reynolds.  ”But we can see that people want to continue to mobilize for the march on August 22nd and strike votes will be taken up again after the election.”

 Student associations are refusing to admit defeat even though most cégep students have decided to return to classes. Far from being out of steam, student leaders are talking about a change of strategy in light of the September 4th election.  

As of today [August 15, 2012], striking students at 8 out of the 14 cégeps have voted to return to classes.  Only two colleges have voted to continue the strike.  The letdown was palpable among the ranks of the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (CLASSE), who called for the continuation of the strike.   

 “Yes, we would have liked to continue the strike,” says CLASSE co-spokesperson Jeanne Reynolds.  ”But we can see that people want to continue to mobilize for the march on August 22^nd and strike votes will be taken up again after the election.”

 “Yes, students of several cégeps have returned to class, but there are still tens of thousands of students to vote,” Reynolds says.  ”It is too soon to tell.”  According to her, fear of losing the semester is the main reason behind the votes to date in favour of returning to classes.  

Threat of Cancellation

 “The threats from the Federation of Cégeps have had an impact,” she says.  Over the last few days, the president of the Federation of Cégeps, Jean Beauchesne, has confirmed that the semester could be cancelled if students do not return to class.  

 For its part, the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) refuses to say it has been beaten.  ”We have not been beaten because there is still a way to block the tuition fee increase,” says its president, Éliane Laberge.  ”We have to get people out to vote on September 4th.”

 She does not see the movement running out of steam either.  ”Don’t confuse the means and the end,” she says.  ”In March, the only means was to strike: we tried everything else.  Now, the elections have brought a new way for us to achieve our ends.  We see many young people getting involved in the campaign.”

 There are similar feelings at the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ).  Contrary to CLASSE, FECQ and FEUQ have not given word to their members about whether or not to pursue the strike.  

Different Context

 “The strike was very effective this winter, but it was always a means and never an end,” says FEUQ president Martine Desjardins.  ”There are not the same reasons for having a strike in the context of an election.  Students think that the present context suggests other kinds of action.”  

 The penalties set out in Law 12 (formerly Bill 78) have certainly spooked many students, adds Desjardins.  ”We can’t deny it, the fines are stiff for individuals as well as for associations.”  FEUQ, who along with FECQ are campaigning to get young people out to vote, believe that there is more value in concentrating on the September 4th general election.  

 And what should happen if the Liberals are re-elected?  The three student leaders refused to speculate, but they agreed on one thing: the struggle would be far from over.  

A Tough Choice

 “I support those who have decided to continue the strike.  But, personally, I would find it hard to put myself on the line a second time.”

 So says Anne-Florence Bisson, a master’s student in ethnology at Université de Laval, who still wears a red square and is firmly opposed to the tuition fee increase.

 But she is torn between pursuing the strike and going back to classes.  

 Between now and the return to classes (scheduled for September 5), many students at Université de Laval will have to decide whether or not to continue to strike.  Quebec students have closely followed votes at other Cégeps throughout the province.  The choice was difficult.  Why risk losing a semester, given that the government of Jean Charest might not be re-elected on September 4?

 Rosalie Readman, a master’s student in political science, goes back and forth between an electoral truce and the strike.  ”It may not be sound strategy to continue the strike during the election,” she says.  ”The focus must be on the Liberal government’s record,” she says, regarding corruption and collusion, rather than on the student strike.  

Sitting at the same table, Benjamin Ducol says he will vote to continue the strike “while waiting” for the results of the election.  He is convinced that it would be too difficult to restart the strike if the government of Jean Charest were to be re-elected.  ”But there will need to be a second vote after the elections,” he added.

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Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.

*Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective attempting to balance the English media’s extremely poor coverage of the student conflict in Québec by translating media that has been published in French into English. These are amateur translations; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may still leave something to be desired. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us at translatingtheprintempsderable@gmail.com. Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.