As I remain astounded by both the lack of English language coverage of the Quebec student movement and the erroneous and misguided quality of the English language reports that do exist, I am becoming more convinced that the only way to understand the big picture of the situation is to have enough French knowledge to be able to access French language media. Practically speaking, there are simply more francophone journalists out there producing a diversity of works from varying perspectives, which is always a good thing to have when attempting to understand any historical event.
BUT, that said, I am thrilled that at least anglophones have the volunteer initiative, Translating the printemps érable (or Translating the Maple Spring), which continues to churn out translations of selected French language media for the noble purpose of better informing the English-reading public. Meanwhile, I am still maintaining my own running list of works in English that fairly portray the current situation in Quebec, so please check it out to add more dimensions to your understanding of what is really going on. Remember, mainstream journalism is sometimes not a representation of what is real, but rather a vehicle with which organizations make lots of money. Somewhere along the way, the pursuit of capitalism trumped that of truth. Sadly these days, we really need to pose not just one, but several questions about all the “news” we read. Otherwise, as with politics, there is a good chance we are being manipulated for reasons that have nothing to do with being accurately informed.
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