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
Jean-Herman Guay August 20, 2012
Original French text: http://www.lapresse.ca/cpspecial/votre-opinion/201208/19/01-4566396-debat-des-chefs-la-gauche-a-un-nouveau-visage.php
Caption: Whether or not you agree with her ideas and proposals, it has to be said that Francoise David broke free from the other three politicians’ waffling language more than once during yesterday’s debate. Photo Credit: Robert Skinner, La Presse.
Francoise David had everything to gain by just being present. But she did more than that: she succeeded in embodying a modern, open left, which had never before been done so clearly in a leaders’ debate. Whether or not you agree with her ideas and proposals, it has to be said that Francoise David broke free from the other three politicians’ waffling language more than once during yesterday’s debate. Smiling, relaxed but confident, she successfully conveyed her message on multiple points. Although this is highly subjective, it is probable that a wave of sympathy has set in between her and certain segments of the electorate.
On matters of the environment, social policy, education and health, Francoise David clearly explained her party’s positions: free education at every level, against the privatization of healthcare. She tried to enlarge the debate more than once, beyond the strict question of the number of family doctors, for example. And she succeeded.
FEUQ Press Release August 11, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/1019661/congres-de-la-feuq-les-politiques-jeunesse-des-partis-politiques-a-l-avant-scene
Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), presently in congress in Montreal, has taken advantage of the electoral campaign now underway to invite politicians to present their party platforms and take questions from students. Representatives of each party were invited to meet members of the federation and to put forward their ideas, particularly those having to do with youth politics. ”We have heard very little talk about what matters to youth since the start of this election,” said Martine Desjardins, president of FEUQ. ”After the spring that we had, it is very disturbing to see the political parties pretend that nothing has happened, and ignore the legitimate concerns of Quebec citizens — it is a bigger concern than the tuition increase.”
Pierre Duchesnes, Parti Québécois candidate for Borduas, Françoise David, co-spokesperson for Quebec Solidaire and candidate for Gouin, and Simon-Pierre Bélanger, Option Nationale candidate for the riding of Viau, appeared before the FEUQ congress to deliver statements, followed by a question period. Each party’s platform was compared to FEUQ’s recommendations, particularly in the domains of education, the environment, and ethics in politics. ”Members of FEUQ are now better equipped to evaluate what each party is proposing in response to student demands,” says the president of FEUQ. ”Now, the federation and its members will share the information we have received to inform students about the interest each party takes in student affairs. It seems to us that young people will be more inclined to get out to the voting booths on September 4 if they know that parties are interested in what concerns them.”
La Presse Canadienne August 13, 2012
Original French Link: http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/dossiers/elections-quebecoises/201208/13/01-4564733-quebec-solidaire-propose-la-gratuite-scolaire-et-linterdiction-du-lock-out.php
As classes resume this week in some colleges and votes to resume classes continue to take place, Quebec Solidaire (QS) calls for free education from kindergarten to university.
In Gatineau, the co-spokesperson Françoise David also confirmed on Monday that his government would repeal Law 12, born out of bill 78, starting September 5. QS would also give amnesty to all persons charged in connection with this law.
According to Ms. David, there is no alternative to revolve the student conflict but to introduce free education.
August 9, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1018771/demission-de-gabriel-nadeau-dubois-quebec-solidaire-rend-hommage-au-porte-parole-etudiant-et-pourfend-l-attitude-meprisante-du-parti-liberal
Following the decision of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois to resign, Québec Solidaire commends the student spokesperson for the work he did as a symbol of a generation who rose up against injustice. The Solidaires denounce the arrogant and violent attitude of the Liberal party towards the student movement, which is being used to further electoral goals.
La Presse Canadienne August 2, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/elections-quebec-2012/201208/02/01-4561679-qs-consterne-detre-exclu-des-trois-debats-a-tva.php
Concerned by their exclusion from three televised leaders’ debates being organized by TVA, Québec Solitaire is reproaching Québecor for taking a position in the election campaign.
Le director of TVA announced on Wednesday that it would not be part of the traditional consortium of media broadcasters who organize the leaders’ debate for the electoral campaign. TVA will go at it alone with three debates. In each debate, two leaders of the three main political parties will go head to head — the Liberal party, the Parti Québecois and the Coalition Avenir Québec.
Valérian Mazataud August 2, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/elections-2012/355894/100e-manifestation-nocturne-a-montreal-place-aux-casseroles-electorales
For the first time in five weeks, the streets of Montréal were filled with the sounds of casseroles and slogans, as the start of the election campaign coincided with the hundredth night-time march.
Marching orders were given many hours earlier on social networks. Keywords like #manifencours and #casserolesencours began trending on Twitter. For this hundredth march, and for the first day of the election campaign, people would be armed… with their trusty casseroles, ready to restart the high times of last spring’s protests.
From 7:00 PM on, the most die-hard of casserolers, accompanied by protesters, hit the pavement at the corner of St-Denis and Jarry. At 7:15, the group of a few dozen started to move, quickly joined by students pushing a huge red cube. A few minutes later, in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a similar group started down Ontario street towards Place Emilie-Gamelin.
Renart Léveillé July 31, 2012
Original French Text: http://leglobe.ca/blog/2012/07/le-dilemme-electoral/
The coming electoral campaign will be marked by dilemma more than any other. Torn between their hearts and their heads, voters will have to make a difficult choice between voting for their deep convictions and, for those who really want the PLQ [Liberal Party of Québec] out of the government, voting strategically.
The PQ [Parti québécois] has everything to gain from promoting strategic voting because, according to its surveys, its party is the most likely to defeat the liberals. Additionally, according to the section “Who should I vote for?” on the site liberaux.net, of the 47 ridings “where the race could be close” there are 21 where the PQ could be at the PLQ’s heels, while the CAQ finds itself with only 4.
Response to Pierre Dubuc and Marc Laviolette
Benoit Renaud – Gatineau teacher, member of the national coordinating committee of Québec solidaire
June 12, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/actualites-en-societe/352176/titre
Having evidently crossed over to the other side of Alice’s looking glass and entered the upside-down world of wonderland, Mr. Dubuc and Mr. Laviolette, leaders of the SPQ Libre, a club now banned in the PQ, argue that social movements lead to right-wing governments and politics is the privileged domain of politicians negotiating amongst themselves. (“Pour éviter le piège à ours de Charest ,” Le Devoir, 4 June 2012).
Such a view of society and democracy not only fosters despair and passivity but also feeds the general cynicism that alienates so many citizens from public affairs. Luckily, it is unfounded. To support their case against the idea of a social strike, Dubuc and Laviolette refer to three historic examples: the election of the Bourassa government in 1970, its re-election in 1973, and the victory of the Gaullist right in France in June 1968.
Successful movements
The two first examples can be addressed together. For trade unionists determined to rally everyone behind the Parti Québécois, it’s rather shocking to regard the entire period of the late 1960s and early 1970s as a negative example of social radicalism leading to right-wing governments.
Is it not in the wake of these same movements that the Parti Québécois itself succeeded in taking power only eight years after its founding? According to Dubuc and Laviolette’s version, the PQ victory in 1976 came out of a period of calm. (For Québec solidaire, that would mean taking power in 2014!) Qualifying this historic phenomenon as a failure and proof of the counter-productive nature of social strikes is, at the very least, debatable from a historical point of view.
Françoise David, Amir Khadir - Spokesperson of Quebec solidaire
June 14, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/352379/le-declencheur
PHOTO CAPTION: According to Amir Khadir and Françoise David, no alliance is possible without a common vision of the recent months’ social crisis and of its potential for profound and lasting change.
Of Note:
The trigger
“The goal of this call is to unite all forces to encourage the election of a progressive and democratic government. Why unite all forces? Because the splitting of votes, particularly amongst francophones, would enable the reelection of the Liberal Party. An ultradynamic common front would allow for abstainers to vote, the only ones who have the power to put the Liberals in the opposition.”
-Pierre Curzi, Independent MNA for Borduas, from the Devoir, June 5, 2012
On June 5th, in this paper, Pierre Curzi, MNA for Borduas, called for sovereignist forces to unite to prevent the reelection of the Liberal Party. According to him, only this approach, “anything but Charest”, could stimulate the abstainers to vote and enable the election of a progressive government led by the Parti Québécois.
Québec solidaire salutes the efforts of the Borduas MNA that point to the legitimate preoccupations and to a sincere volition to rescue Quebec from an enduring political disaster. Others are asking just now the same question about a sovereignist alliance, being the only way in their opinion to “liberate Quebec from the Liberals”. But which alliance, on what basis? Should we grant faith in those who are claiming that the Parti Québécois is this very progressive party many claim as an answer to their wishes?
The student and social crisis that we’ve now been living for several months is an eloquent example of the ambiguities and contradictions in which the Parti Québécois is enclosed. It took 11 weeks for Mme Marois’ to define her party’s stance with regards to tuition fees. Since February, the PQ has been seeking to reconcile itself to the student movement all while courting potential centre-right voters. Let us not forget also the motion introduced by PQ MNA Véronique Hivon requesting the respect of the injunctions, at the very same time when students were resisting the individual attempts to force a return to classes in CEGEPs that had democratically voted in favor of the strike!
Antoine Robitaille June 12, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/352247/le-plq-perd-son-fief-d-argenteuil
The PLQ won an easy victory in La Fontaine, but the PQ scores an unexpected win as Roland Richer is elected.
CAPTION: Liberal Party leader Jean Charest addressed his followers last night in Argenteuil: “Here in Argenteuil, (victory) is postponed.”
Québec – The Parti Québecois won the riding of Argenteuil in an upset for the first time in its history, dislodging the Liberals, whose candidates had held the riding since 1962. “For the Liberal government, tonight marks the beginning of the end,” trumpeted PQ leader Pauline Marois just after 11:15 PM. She declared that the “corrupt” Liberal government would face the same fate in the coming weeks. Minutes later, after emphasizing his victory in LaFontaine, the Liberal Party Leader Jean Charest declared, “Here in Argenteuil, (victory) is postponed.”
In Argenteuil, PQ candidate Roland Richard trailed behind as the results were coming in, until 10 PM, at which point he began climb up close to PLQ candidate Lise Proulx. From this point onwards, the 70-year old Mr. Richer, a retired special needs educator and elementary school principal, took the lead and held on to it. He finally won with a 501-vote majority. Argenteuil’s former Liberal MNA, David Whissell, had difficulty holding the riding in 1998, winning by less than 200 votes. However in 2008, Whissell won handily (49.58%of the vote, a majority by 3490 votes). As for Mr. Richer, he saw his victory as the result of the “anti-corruption,” and, “discontent,” vote, but he insisted that it also represented, “a great gesture of hope.”
