Translating the printemps érable
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For more useful English-language sources on the conflict, see:
CUTV - broadcasting live from the protests nightly
Rouge Squad - Tactical Translation Team
Rabble.ca's Maple Spring Coverage
Marc Allard and Annie Mathieu July 3, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/dossiers/forum-de-la-langue-francaise/201207/03/01-4540358-carre-rouge-des-belges-disent-avoir-ete-intimides-par-lentourage-de-charest.php
Caption: Belgian student Thomas Prédour tried to approach Jean Charest to offer him a red square at the reception Monday night. Photo: Le Soleil, Yan Doublet
(Quebec City) Two Belgian participants at the international Forum on French language were pushed by one of Jean Charest’s bodyguards Monday night.
During a reception, around 7 p.m., Mathias Bressan was blocked by a bodyguard when he tried to offer a red square to the Premier. His colleague, Thomas Prédour, told the media yesterday that he then took back the red square and attempted to “discuss” with the Premier.
Annie Mathieu July 3, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/dossiers/forum-de-la-langue-francaise/201207/03/01-4540141-des-belges-distribuent-des-carres-rouges.php
CAPTION: Thomas Prédour is one of the two Belgians who, called by the student conflict, distributed red squares at the International forum for the French language (Forum mondial de la langue française). Photo: LE SOLEIL, ERICK LABBÉ
(Québec) In addition to wearing it, two members of the Belgian delegation to the International forum for the French language undertook the distribution of the felted red square, the symbol of the student struggle in the province, to the delegates participating in the event. The young residents of Brussels also want to show their solidarity with Quebeckers “in a peaceful manner”.
Aged 30 and 32 respectively, Thomas Prédour and Mathias Bressan were called to by the student conflict and the echoes that they had in their country. But it’s when they met the spokesperson for the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec, Éliane Laberge, on Monday that they had the idea of pinning a red square to their clothing and to have them distributed.
By Michel Lambert, Executive Director, ALTERNATIVES June 3, 2012
Original French Text: http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/michel-lambert/greve-etudiante_b_1561346.html?ref=canada-quebec
At the time of writing these lines, the very predictable and unilateral rupture of negotiations by the Charest government has just been announced. The faint glimmer of hope brought on by a few days of discussions has vanished. Student negotiators had accepted the government’s financial frame. In the name of social peace, they had also considered financing university-funding increases in part by accepting a loss in personal fiscal advantages for students.
However, the government refuses any ending whereby the student associations will not submit completely. The compromise is judged insufficient and Michèle Courchesne must slam the door. Later, Jean Charest repeats that any “solution” to the crisis will need to maintain its initial problematic premise! Arrogance and contempt once more, and since day one. Clearly, the students will not give in.
Open letter on the part of university professors in Quebec and France May 30, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2012/05/30/le-quebec-entre-colere-et-espoir_1709331_3232.html
As university teachers and researchers in Quebec and France, we have a close rapport with our universities and our students, whose education we contribute to on both sides of the Atlantic. Faced with the current situation in Quebec, we are torn between anger and hope. Anger at the cynicism of a government that has repressed dialogue and let the situation deteriorate for too long. Hope in response to a blossoming movement that is sowing the seeds of irreversible change in its path.
Let’s start with the anger. Over the past three months, Premier Jean Charest and his government have plunged Quebec into one of the worst social crises in its history.
Nicolas Bérubé May 26th, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/international/etats-unis/201205/26/01-4528981-manifestation-a-hollywood-en-appui-aux-etudiants-quebecois.php
(Los Angeles) They shouted and hit their pots and pans under the surprised looks of onlookers. Saturday, in a park in Hollywood, protesters chanted their support for Québec students and conveyed their concerns in the face of law 78.
The festive protest marked one of the rare incursions in California into issues linked to Québec politics.
Shaun Arora, Los Angeles native married to a Quebecker, said that it’s law 78, adopted earlier this month, which pushed him to come protest.
“In my mind, Canada is a progressive country,” he said, his voice buried under the songs of Loco Locass and Mes Aïeux that resonated in the loudspeakers. You have legalized gay marriage, you have a universal health care system… to vote in a law that tells people when to protest, that doesn’t work in a democracy.”
The protest unfolded in good spirits and joined together 20 people. The assembly, which took place at Lake Hollywood Park was organized by Mukta Cholette, a Montrealer who settled in Los Angeles four years ago.
“Normally, I am not very close to current Québec politics, but since the strike I inform myself every day,” she said. “It was the images of police violence transmitted by CUTV and the insolent commentaries of Jean Charest toward that protesters that pushed me to organize a protest.”
Protests in Quebec: A veritable “May ‘68”* is rising in la Belle Province. The reach of the movement seems more and more spectacular.
Source: http://www.rts.ch/video/info/journal-19h30/4015828-manifestations-au-quebec-un-veritable-mai-68-est-en-train-de-se-lever-dans-la-belle-province-l-etendue-du-mouvement-semble-de-plus-en-plus-spectaculaire.html
May 23, 2012
The movement has many ramifications, be it on the internet or in Switzerland, amongst those who support the student revolt.
TRANSCRIPT:
News anchor: People are evoking a sort of “May ‘68”* in Quebec and the scope of the movement is becoming quite spectacular. There are many ramifications on the internet and here in Swtizerland amongst those who support this student revolt, notably against tuition fee increases and the right to protest.
Reporter: Montreal hasn’t been acquainted with this since the great protests for independence. It’s as though a fragrance of May ‘68 is wafting across the province. For one hundred days now, students have taken to the streets to contest the spectacular tuition fee increases. The movement is not losing strength. It is even gaining international momentum.
Martine Desjardins, head of the FEUQ: “There are protests in New York, there are protests in Paris, there are protests in Vancouver. Tonight, I’m talking with people from Russia, at noon I was with Switzerland.”
Reporter: The movement is growing more acrimonious. Very violently repressed, it is profoundly dividing public opinion, revealing social and political fractures. Hard-nosed, the government has chosen a strong remedy – the passing of a liberty-killing law [translator’s note: the term liberticide is commonly used in reference to this law in the french press] has added oil to the fire. An inflexible premier is denouncing an indignant movement he accuses of being the outcome of a generation of spoiled children.
Premier Jean Charest: “We have taken a position that is very very very reasonable. We are requiring 17% of the tuition that costs around 12 500$ per year per student, I think it’s very reasonable. It’s a lot less than the 25% their parents paid in the sixties.”
Reporter: Borne from the fee increase, the movement could spread beyond students unions and result in a social discontent that goes much deeper. April 22, there were nearly 300 000 to hit the Montreal streets, a site unseen in Canada for decades.
[*Translator’s note: To know about May ‘68, consult Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_in_France]
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.
May 20th, 2012 l’Humanité
Originally published in French here: http://www.humanite.fr/fil-rouge/le-22-mai-a-paris-rassemblement-de-soutien-au-mouvement-des-etudiants-quebecois
This Tuesday May 22 at 6pm in Paris in front of the monumental fountain at Place Saint-Michel, an assembly in support of the Quebec student movement will be held. The date and time are based on the desire to be synchronized with numerous protests occurring throughout Quebec at the very same time, just across the ocean.
Our support beyond borders will be a strong symbol for these students who are seeking to legitimately express their defense of their right to education. Remember that this conflict began following the proposed increase of tuition fees, already extremely high compared to our own standards, of 75% over 5 years. Such a measure would not only increase the number of indebted students after their studies, but would also restrict access to higher education for others.
The government’s sole response, in light of the greatest protest movement in this region’s history, seeks to trample the student movement instead of opening honest and serious negotiations. A special law was even urgently passed last week to frame and thereby restrict the right to protest. Yet an advanced democracy cannot flout 200 000 of its youth, mobilized for their future since March, with complete impunity.
We therefore invite all the citizens of Paris and friends of Quebec to join this assembly to display our democratic solidarity to the whole planet.
SoDé-Québec Collective
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.
