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
Lisa-Marie Gervais August 23, 2012
Original French text: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/357562/la-chasse-au-carre-rouge-fait-des-victimes
The hunt for the red squares continues with public service employees. Six markers employed by the Ministry of Education were suspended from its Montreal offices on Fullum Street after wearing the symbol associated with the student movement against rising tuition, learned Le Devoir.
Wednesday, two markers were notified by the Human Resources Division that they could not return to work if they wore the red square. On Thursday, four other markers who wore the square in solidarity experienced the same fate.
Patrick Bellerose June 20, 2012
Original French Text: http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/20/pauline-marois-ne-portera-plus-le-carre-rouge_n_1612264.html
The leader of the Parti Quebecois,Pauline Marois, has put her red square away for good.
She said so Wednesday morning on the show, “Puisqu’il faut se lever,” hosted by Paul Arcand on the radio at 98.5 FM.
“I will no longer wear the red square, but I will continue to support the student cause. I wore it in the National Assembly each day we say, to clearly show our support [for the students].”
Rima Elkouri June 12, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/debats/chroniques/rima-elkouri/201206/12/01-4534009-deni-policier.php
“Charged with driving while black.” This is what black Americans call it when they are victims of profiling while driving, with no other reasonable motive. Rather than being accused of driving while intoxicated, they get a veiled accusation of “driving while black.”
Should we now talk, however ironically, of being accused of riding the metro with a red square? After the so-called “preventative” searches and arrests reported during the Grand Prix, after a minister wrongfully associated the red square to violence and intimidation, the question deserves a fair hearing.
CLASSE co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois exaggerates when he suggests that the police at arresting people “everywhere in the city” for wearing a red square. That is not true. Yet you have to paint on the denial pretty thick to pretend, like the SPVM do, that there was not political profiling done during the Grand Prix.
The Attack of the Killer Carré Rouge (C’est bien meilleur le matin, Radio Canada)
Jean-René Dufort with René Homier-Roy
June 15, 2012
Original French Video: http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/cest_bien_meilleur_le_matin/2011-2012/chronique.asp?idChronique=227748
Transcript:
René Homier-Roy: …about all that’s going on.
Jean-René Dufort is going to save the day.
JRD: Yeah, well, while watching the current debate degenerate here in Quebec, I asked myself if the social crisis were not just an aqueduct problem.
RHR: Aqueducts?
JRD: Yeah someone put something hallucinogenic in the water…
RHR: That could be, that could be…
JRD: … and now everyone is collectively hallucinating. And the premier, Jean Charest, seems to be drinking lots and lots of water.
RHR: Oh yes, oh yes. He’s floundering.
JRD: Because our premier is in the middle of a fear campaign. He’s cultivating it. He couldn’t be cultivating it more. In his view, and this is what’s interesting, everything appears radical. He’s like an extreme-centre politician, an old man who thinks the music is always too loud. Everything is radical. The PQ are extremists, the CAQ is a waiting room for sovereignty, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is a 130-pound Taliban, the casseroles are a threat to the government, the red square is a diabolical symbol of intimidation and violence.
RHR: That wasn’t the minister of Culture who said that? Mr Charest also said that?
JRD: Everyone at the Liberal government. If we add up, if a premier considers that half of the population he’s leading is composed of violent extremists, if you add up the péquistes, those who wear the red squares, those who play the casseroles, well, it may be clear that it’s time for you to go take a rest, when you’re afraid of half of the population like that.
Nicole Moreau, M.A. in Political Science, Université Laval June 10, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/debats/le-cercle-la-presse/actualites/201206/10/48-487-un-incident-revelateur-de-la-reelle-position-du-gouvernement-charest.php
The Minister of Culture, Communications, and the Status of Women, Mrs. Christine St-Pierre responded to Fred Pellerin, the red-square toting storyteller, who turned down the National Order of Québec. According to St-Pierre, the red square symbolizes violence and intimidation.
Yet since the beginning of the strike, the square has been the symbol of resistance on the part of students against the strong-armed hike in tuition fees, imposed by the government of which she is a member. This hike was initially of 1625$ over five years, or a 75% increase over current fees.
St-Pierre’s public affirmation that there is a link between the red square and violence sends the loud and clear message that all those who have spoken out against the tuition hikes are potentially behind the universally condemned actions that have taken place at certain protests. The government is effectively saying that all those who wear the square could even be responsible. It charges anyone who wears the red square of guilt-by-association with the few that have committed some reprehensible acts. It also says that violent incidents are more than just the actions of a fraction of those present.
Jean-François Lisée June 10, 2012
Original French Text: http://www2.lactualite.com/jean-francois-lisee/carre-rouge-et-ministre-de-linculture/13507/
PHOTO CAPTION: Do you feel intimidated by this artist who promotes violence?
Assuredly, we don’t hear much of value from the members Charest’s government, especially these days. But we can’t silently let pass the recent diatribe from the Minister of Culture — of Culture! — against one of the most remarkable talents contemporary Quebec has produced: Fred Pellerin. In addition to being a storyteller, poet and songwriter, Pellerin is able to translate his imaginary into images and export the extreme québécois singularity that he incarnates to the whole of La Francophonie. What’s more, he is a progressive, ecologist, indépendentiste and has leant his name and renown to many causes, whose common denominator is at odds with the Charest government. That is why he made clear, without a trace of aggressivity, that he prefered not to accept the Order of Quebec in the current climate:
Marie-Fortin Théberge June 7, 2012
Original French text: http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2012/06/07/une-vision-de-la-societe-2
The red square represents a vision of society in which education is not a commodity. It is the transmission of humanity’s accumulated knowledge to a generation which in turn will pass it on to the next. That said, we live in a capitalist world. Seen through this lens, Quebec’s exportable raw material is its grey matter. What’s more, statistically speaking, educated people pay more taxes and rely less on the social safety net and health services. Whether a question of economy or philosophy, free tuition is a great advantage to a small community like ours. That people should insist — in electoral fashion — on sullying the carré rouge should not make us lose sight of its meaning. “Propaganda is to democracy what prostitution is to love.” I proudly wear it. And courageously. With pacifism. Because contempt kills Quebec’s potential.
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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.
Geneviève Lajoie June 8, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.journaldequebec.com/2012/06/08/symbole-de-violence-et-dintimidation
The red square symbolizes “intimidation” and “violence” in the eyes of minister Christine St-Pierre.
Storyteller Fred Pellerin refused to be consecrated Knight of the National Order of Quebec. The artist did not feel comfortable receiving this honour in the midst of a “social crisis”. The minister of Culture said that she respected Fred Pellerin’s decision, but noted that it was a “bit of a shame” nonetheless. “He has the right to wear the red square, we are within freedom of expression, but us, we know what the red square means. It means intimidation, violence; it also means that people are kept from attending school. For us, that’s what it means and for a large large portion of Quebeckers, that’s what it means”, Mme St-Pierre said yesterday morning.
The minister added that Fred Pellerin could still be decorated at a later date.
These comments incited the ire of the péquiste (Parti Québécois) opposition, the majority of whom have worn the red square since the beginning of the conflict.
June 2, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.journaldequebec.com/2012/06/02/suspendus-pour-leur-carre-rouge
Canada Post suspended two Montreal employees on Friday for wearing the red square in support of the student movement.
Management previously advised some employees verbally that it was not desirable to show support to the student cause. For the past few weeks several employees had been wearing the red square but Canada Post decided to clamp down on Friday.
According to the Union, the two suspended employees ignored the verbal notice and continued to wear the piece of cloth.
