[0:02]The voices of the people who wish to remain anonymous in this film have been overdubbed by those of voice actors.
[0:21]Montreal, September 2012. Walking through the city gives you no indication that just a few months ago, this was happening.
[0:33]And this...
[0:39]The students strike in opposition to a tuition hike rocked the streets of the city for over six months. Protests and militant street actions became part of the daily and nightly reality of this Canadian metropolis. Several times during this tumultuous spring, the numbers in the streets will reach over 100,000. Police routinely clubbed students and their allies and arrested them by the hundreds. Some were even banned from entering the city. But every time the cops struck, the student movement got bigger and angrier. There were rumors that the police budget was going bust and that many cops were taking leave due to the intensity of the situation. It's very hard for them to be there many hours and you always have to keep focus and make sure that you are professional. The Premier of Quebec enacted a draconian anti-protest law that would impose massive fines to individuals and student unions. The Mayor of Montreal pled with citizens to intervene and ask the students to abandon the streets and go back to school. But every day, people joined the strikers in the streets and the pressure would not cease. Then, an election was called.
[1:46]The sovereignist Party Québecois won with the promise of freezing the tuition increase and scrapping the anti-protest law. For many within the student movement, this was the victory that they were aiming for, and one that was obtained through the peaceful mobilization of thousands. But for anarchists, this was no triumph. They're trying to remove the pressure on the government at the moment and trying to lower the protest. But the thing is that capitalism is still ruling, and there's still a fucked up capitalist society that we need to abolish. This is a story about how the arrogance of a government underestimated a dedicated group of students who with their long-term organizing laid the foundation for some of the largest mass demonstrations in Canada's history. But it is also the story of how crews of determined anarchists educated a new generation of students in the importance of owning the streets.
[3:02]In Quebec, universities and junior colleges have federations that represent students when dealing with the school administration or the government. Of the three major federations, the ASSE stands out for its mandate to achieve free education for all, and for its affinity to radical politics. Specifically something called syndicalisme de combat, or combative syndicalism. Combative syndicalism is premise on establishing a power struggle with the state or boss through means of direct action, rather than negotiation or conciliation. In 2010, the liberal Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, announced he would increase tuition by $325 a year starting in 2012. This prompted the three major federations to issue a strike warning, but also led to the ASSE opening up its membership to any students who wanted to strike under its directive of free education. This new incarnation of the ASSE became known as CLASSE. The main difference between the Federation and the CLASSE is that CLASSE actually goes on strike for free education. So they don't want the increase of 75%. Cause they want free education. Meanwhile the Federation are going to advocate for freezing the tuition fees. The members inside the Federations were pushing the Federations to be closer to CLASSE or at least not to betray it.
[4:28]Charest ignored the ultimatum, and the strike officially kicked off in February of 2012. Students and their supporters started pinning red squares to their clothes. This was a symbol used in previous student strikes and it became a simple act for anyone to show solidarity with the students. Immediately following the strike vote at the Cégep du Vieux Montréal, students attempted to occupy the building. We were like thousands and thousands of people inside of the Cégep of like General Assembly and discussion about the occupation and we start to make the occupation maybe around like 6 or 7 o'clock.
[5:07]For the students on the other side, it was really important to be able to seize the space, to occupy the space because it's a central infrastructure for the strike, and it's important to be able to have a space where you can meet up and and cook food and sleep. So, it was like the first time that the media had a look on the strike. Dozens of people are facing charges after an overnight protest. They barricaded themselves inside Cégep du Vieux Montréal, and then police say some went on a vandalism rampage.
[6:04]Security cameras were blocked and vandalized, and the building was barricaded. The police reaction was forceful and blunt. Flashbang grenades were pitched, and students were beat with batons. They all charged us with their baton, and they hit us. The vicious way in which the cops handled the occupation gave the students a glimpse of the brutality to come. But the occupation also set the tone for the next six months that the strike would be a militant one, and that if the universities and the cops would not allow the students to take over school buildings, the students would take over the streets.
[6:46]A lot of people talk about this strike as a demonstration strike. In French it's a 'grève de manif' or something that happened in the street rather than in occupations or in some kind of production of critical theories or whatever.
[7:08]There was a lot of mobilization actions, everyday demonstrations everyday and blockades and economic disruptions. On March 7th, students blockaded the Quebec lottery building, which houses the conference of rectors and principals of Quebec Universities. By this time, you can see students wearing masks to cover their faces, and the masses seemed less intimidated by police batons. The police response was very harsh and a grenade exploded in the face of one of the student protesters there, and that marked the imagination of a lot of people. And it was like one of the first times for many, many people that they saw like how far it can go with the repression and all the results of like a demonstration and stuff. So it was really a shock. The student was Francis Grenier, and he lost vision on his left eye permanently. That night, the anger on the streets was palpable, and the students were calling for revenge. The people were more angry than before, and also the other people like parents, the old people, and the younger, they too, they come to support more the students, and they saw what was the brutality from the police.
[8:29]And I think the students and other social society, they mobilize more hardly after this situation.
[8:38]The timing of this unfortunate event couldn't have been worse for the Montreal police. That was maybe 10 days before the March 15th demo, the International Day Against Police Brutality demo. It really created the context where all the pieces of the puzzle were there to make something happen.
[9:01]Anarchists had been organizing this demonstration for the past 16 years, but this is the first time a massive influx of students took part. This is partly due to the membership of the CLASSE voting to endorse the rally. This was also the first time during the student strike that other issues were highlighted, not just the tuition increase. Maybe for the first time for a lot of people, they realize that police brutality is not an abstract concept. It's not just something that we raise every March 15th to make a ruckus or whatever. It's a constant fact that people have to deal with in their lives. Most vulnerable people, marginalized people, have to deal with police brutality and police repression. The Mayor pled with students not to join the anarchists this day, but the event was heavily promoted, and a publication entitled Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back was widely distributed. The zine was a practical guide for militant actions and occupations, which included tips on masking up, building barricades and security. From the beginning of the strike, we saw the use of masks go from being an isolated practice, to being a thing that became normal for hundreds of people to do. Which helps to open the space for conflictuality because people feel they can fight back and get away with it. This explosion and the use of masks wasn't magical. It took anarchists consistently masking up and explaining why they mask up in flyers and conversations.
[10:37]It kind of gave a new tone to the student strike. It was important to show that we won't let the police beat us and just do what they want with us, and that we'll stand together and we'll fight back.
[11:09]A week later, one of the largest mass demonstrations in the history of Quebec took place. Over 200,000 people filled the streets of the city. But even this impressive turnout did not have the desired effect. So this was a turning point for many people inside the student movement and outside of like, well, if we want the government to back off, we'll need more. This more came in the form of manifestations or demo actions, a campaign of economic disruption endorsed by CLASSE.
[11:47]They were typically happening a lot all over the place, and the actual content of the plan of a manifestation would often be kept secret. There would be a flyer handed out saying usually something funny. There would be like, you know, a funny image and manifestation and the time and the place. And people would show up, not necessarily all knowing what was going to happen, but then they would proceed to the target and begin linking arms and forming human blockades, or, you know, other kinds of blockades or barricades around a skyscraper or going onto a bridge or what have you. The unpredictable and relentless application of this tactic overwhelmed the police and frustrated the mayor and the premier. The next three weeks saw dozens of autonomous actions from blockades of bridges and ports to destruction of corporate property to attacks on police infrastructure. Factions within CLASSE encouraged students to mask up and remain anonymous. By this point, it was clear that the fear threshold had been crossed and that the student movement owned the streets of Montreal. Any doubts that this statement was true were shattered on April 20th, on the Plan Nord Job Fair.
[13:13]The students were not afraid to stand their ground and were not afraid to fight back. And they knew that they were legitimate. They knew they were right. They knew they were legitimate, and they knew that the cops fighting them and pepper spraying them and beating them up were not legitimate. So, so they sort of eventually just almost right away lost all fear, and that was amazing to see, that was very inspiring. It's okay to have fear. You're putting your life in danger and it's a collective thing. But people were really more alert, and they were really more aware of the police tactics and the repressive patterns. We want to live in a society where we respect each other, we respect our laws and we respect democracy. As Premier of Quebec, I believe in our social programs, I believe in our healthcare system, I believe in our education system. Because I believe in all of this, I also know we need an economy able to support our healthcare system, our education system. That's why the Plan Nord, as a wealth creation project, is so important for the future of our social programs. Plan Nord was some kind of turning point in the strike too, because there were people organizing against the Plan Nord Fair and the Plan Nord in general since for some months or years.
[14:42]It was a job fair, so people were invited to bring their CVs and try to find employers and all that. So it was a big, big thing around that. And grafted on top of that, Charest and the Liberals started did this, this big PR event for the business community in Montreal, actually to promote their Plan Nord. Plan Nord is a scheme devised by the liberal government of Quebec to displace indigenous people in the north of the province and open up their land for mining, logging, and hydroelectric projects. Anarchists have been concerned about Plan Nord for some time, but the strike provided a much needed springboard to spotlight this blueprint of ecological destruction. The fact that the Premier would be in attendance caught the eye of the student movement, and CLASSE planned a march for that day. But so did anarchists and indigenous folks. The CLASSE demo was large and was able to breach the security of the convention center.
[16:02]From inside the job fair, the Premier poked fun at the demonstrators. The Plan Nord Job Fair is already so popular. People are coming from everywhere to get in. The Plan Nord represents a chance for job seekers. And so to those who knocked on our door this morning, we could offer them a job in the north, as far north as possible.
[16:33]And during the same, like, that news came to the street. Like people start to say, oh, like, he's laughing about us. So over the course of the next three, four hours, in the street around the Palais des Congrès, you know, engaged in almost urban guerilla. People fighting back, and quite a few times the cops had to retreat.
[16:56]What was interesting about that day is that there were simply not enough police to be able to repel the demonstrators.
[17:10]Just in general, the people on the street were like, really beautiful. It was like barricade. Everyone was helping each other. A lot of people just saw that it was that it was easy to attack the police when you were in a lot of time in numbers, and it was also fun.
[17:54]Even though the focus of the students was to embarrass the Premier at the Plan Nord Job Fair, the issues that indigenous peoples and anarchists were highlighting could not be ignored by the movement.
[19:51]Around this time, anarchists were aggressively promoting the upcoming Mayday action. Anti-capitalist Mayday has been more and more visible and more and more militant over the years. There was an anarchist call out that was quite explicit about the fact that people should come dressed in black and be prepared for a confrontation. I've never seen a black block like this. That's for sure.
[20:24]This is the biggest black block I've ever seen in Montreal. That's for sure.
[21:03]While these nightly protests and raucous protests continued to embarrass the government of Jean Charest, they've garnered international media attention, and there's no sign of them slowing down any time. I think people will come to the conclusion that now is the time to to bring this to an end and to return to classes.
[27:21]Students and their supporters accepted the call from CLASSE, and the threat of interference put a dent on the Grand Prix's ticket sales. Thousands, many of them naked, marched on the eve of this racing event, while others confronted the security and police, disrupting the pre-race street parties. We lost in a fog, fake Semaphor. Hollywood stars and their entourage. Security guards and adopted daughters, or fake, like that, flavored water to taste, and they had high-stake lives.
[29:27]Pacifist! When they cut social programs, requiring the poor to work more so that the rich can pay less taxes. We crowd together in the offices of the lotto. We chant nice slogans, we're nice and cute. Yet we remain, remain, remain pacifist. When the riot cops arrive to protect us from evil. They bang their shields. They are not really down with our slogans, and we get down on our knees. The media will take pictures. Then we make peace signs. We're rebels and we're not nice.
[30:41]Yet we remain, remain, remain pacifist. They throw flash bombs at us that explode in our faces. Our friends limbs get beaten. Some even lose their eyes. We don't disrupt anything. We remain pacifist. We don't break anything. Must not harm public opinion. We don't disrupt anything. We remain pacifist.
[31:50]When they shoot at CEGEP students, who are a bit too idealistic, we might not say anything. When it comes time to react, but they remain, remain, remain fucking cops, at the service of the rich and fascists. But they remain, remain, remain fucking cops, at the service of the rich and fascists. It's not pacifists who will change history. We throw rocks and burn their cars! Grassy Ass!
[32:38]A submedia.tv production. This has been a crowdfunded project. No corporate or government money was used in this production. To continue to support our work, please donate money, materials, equipment or tacos. For details visit submedia.tv. Anti copyright 2013, no rights reserved. Free to copy and distribute for non-commercial purposes.
