By Marilyne Veilleix This Sunday, June 10, 2012, I attempted to take part in a protest-action: over the course of a few hours, I would take the metro back and forth from Berri to Jean-Drapeau station to peacefully protest my disagreement with the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which in my opinion promotes sexism. Dressed in […]
Long live Jean Charest, says Amir Khadir
A BoB short: Amir Khadir says he has no desire to see Jean Charest dead. “Mr. Charest is quite alive and I wish he stays that way for a long time,” the Quebec MNA told reporters on Tuesday. The remarks came after artwork depicting a partially nude, fully deceased Jean Charest, lying at the feet […]
Twitter tale: Civil liberties at the Grand Prix
Wearing a red square was enough to get you turned away from the site of the Montreal Grand Prix on Sunday, and perhaps forced back into a nearby Metro station. Police also conducted random searches on subway platforms, and some riders were not even allowed to exit the trains. One who managed to do so […]
Jean Charest’s Grand Prix panic
By Montreal Simon Oh no. Somebody please stop him. It looks as if Jean Charest has finally, as we say in Québec, perdu ses pédales, or lost his pedals. He’s so eager to discredit the students, so he can run against them in a snap election, he’s accusing them of plotting to sabotage the Montreal […]
Occupy, the Quebec strike, and Canada’s tilt left
By Montreal Simon On my way home today I visited the park where Occupy Toronto once lived. And I could hardly recognize the place. The old gazebo where so many passionate speeches were made, and so many dreamed of a better world, was quiet now. And where there were once tents huddled together in the […]
Quebec: No longer just a student protest
By Montreal Simon There was another amazing freedom party in Montreal on Saturday night. Thousands and thousands of people marched peacefully through the streets, beating pots and pans. Defying the police to arrest them for taking part in an illegal demonstration. And what struck me the most, apart from the incredible energy, was the diversity of […]
Quebec: The Casserole Symphony
By Montreal Simon In many Montreal neighbourhoods last night people were banging pots and pans in another casserole symphony of protest. The latest tactic in this awesome struggle. “It’s a nightly ritual known as les manifs aux casseroles, that sees hundreds of people step out of their homes, armed with pots and pans. At the […]
Quebec students: If you can’t beat them, cane them
By Montreal Simon Well I suppose it was inevitable eh? Ever since the Quebec students began marching, the Con media has been attacking them like a pack of rabid hyenas. The Con liberal Andrew Coyne called them a violent mob. The windy little teabagger Rex Murphy called their protest a self-indulgent parody. The petty-bourgeois hack […]
The student strike and the savage state
By Montreal Simon Uh oh. It looks like my Quebec student’s victory celebration party, from which I’m still recovering, was a little premature. Students in a half dozen colleges and 10 university faculties and departments voted to reject the agreement on Monday after the Charest government boasted of having won the battle. Students at other […]