Gawd. What a week. I'm working like a dog, all I want to do is sleep, Spring STILL hasn't arrived !!#@!!And of course, because it's still Harperland, the stench of rancid pork hangs heavily in the air.As Great Hoggy Leader sets out to try to buy the votes of some Canadians
Continue readingTag: Quebec student strike
Montreal Simon: Saving Our Democracy: When the People Awaken
As Stephen Harper drags our parliament into the pit of democratic depravity, by accusing the NDP of supporting an imaginary carbon tax only he can see. Repeating a Big Lie over and over again like a shameless con man, or a desperate maniac. Going after Tom Mulcair, as one pundit
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Occupy Movement and the Quebec Students
It's been almost a year since the Occupy Wall Street movement was born, and in this very gloomy article Gerald Caplan wonders where it went. It flashed through our lives like a comet in the sky, illuminating the most insidious development of our time. Then just as suddenly it flamed
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Election and the Angry Canadians
On a sunny afternoon, in my favourite Montreal neighbourhood, both the Quebec election and the hysterical reaction in English Canada, seemed very far away.Which was a good thing eh?Because following the election campaign from Toronto and a beach in Maine, has been very exhausting. And the reaction in English Canada
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Big Daddy and the Quebec Election
Well there he was the old smoothie, on day one of the campaign, sitting in his comfy chair in his big blue bus. The one with the slogan For Quebec. Trying to explain in his Big Daddy knows best way, why he called a summer election. Because you know, he's
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Students and the Occupy Movement
It was such an awesome sight. Tens of thousands of people marching through the street on a muggy Montreal afternoon. To show their support for the student movement, denounce a fascist bill. And show Jean Charest and his corrupt government that they are still THERE. Read more »
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Students and the Road Ahead
There are fewer of them these days. The long hot days of July have quietened things down. But the Quebec students are still marching through the streets of Montreal. Tonight was their 83rd nightly demo in a row. And next month they will have to make a choice that could
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec and the Movement That Will Not Die
In the last few days right-wingers in the media and the twittersphere have been going around claiming that the Quebec student movement is running out of steam. And if you read this story you might think that was true. Large daytime protests are being held in Quebec today, just as
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec and the Betrayal of the Young
I like the words on this mural at the East side gallery in Berlin. "If they don't let us dream, then we don't let them sleep." Because the day we stop dreaming about a better world, is the day that we start dying eh? And those who would betray the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Students and the Magic Moment
Like so many things in Quebec these days it was an amazing sight. Eighty thousand people in downtown Montreal watching an outdoor show by Loco Locass, a very popular and very political hip hop group. The group was dressed in red and waving a Quebec flag with a red square
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Students and the Little Red Square
The Grand Prix of Montreal is finally over, and sadly my favourite driver Anarcho Panda, the gentle mascot of the student movement, didn't win. And although there were a lot of red squares and red Ferrari shirts at the race. If you wore a red square anywhere near the Grand Prix
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Montreal and the Grand Prix Circus
It's Saturday night in Montreal, and the Grand Prix party is just warming up. Thousands of people are milling around on Ste Catherine street. Demonstrators, racing fans, tourists, party kids, riot police. And I'm watching the live feed on CUTV and can't believe what I'm seeing. So I can understand
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jean Charest and the Grand Prix Panic
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
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec: When a Society Wakes Up
It was wet and miserable in Montreal today. But that didn't stop thousands of people from attending a rally to support the Quebec students. Thousands of people clad in raincoats and carrying umbrellas gathered in Montreal's Jeanne-Mance park Saturday afternoon for what was billed as a family-friendly protest in support
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec’s Mad Emperor Strikes Again
They don't call Jean Charest the Mad Emperor of Quebec for nothing eh? For this is madness. Four days of negotiations ended in an impasse on Thursday when Premier Jean Charest’s government refused to budge on its plan to increase tuition fees. It was likely the last chance for an
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Casserole Protest and the Two Solitudes
As a guy who has one foot in each solitude, I know that the Québécois tend to be a little more exuberant than Canadians in the rest of the country. Especially when it comes to sex, or standing up for their rights. Or beating casseroles in the street in the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Quebec Students and the Occupy Movement
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
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec, the Con Media, and the Greek Obsession
It's funny eh? When I see pictures like this one I see people standing up for their rights, telling a corrupt government to take their fascist bill and shove it, or just joining others to demand a better world. But most of the Con media only seem to see a
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec and the Not So Quiet Revolution
There was another amazing freedom party in Montreal tonight. 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
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Quebec and the Spirit of Resistance
A massive thunderstorm hit Montreal this evening. The heavens really opened up. But that didn't stop thousands of people from parading through the streets, beating their pots and pans. Even though in a city full of riot cops armed with a fascist bill, anything could happen. More than 2,500 people have
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