#004
-
From general assemblies to strikes, from anger to hope, and from struggles to victories
Cynicism has become one of the greatest political forces of our time. We are constantly told that nothing will change, and after hearing it so often, we almost end up believing it. Faced with a world ravaged by economic, political, and ecological crises, where imperialist wars are multiplying and becoming normalized, in a context of growing precariousness where surveillance and repression of protest movements are intensifying, where every attempt at…
-
3 Ways the AFE Is Making You Poor
Insufficient protected income Are you working hard over the summer so you can afford to focus on your studies during the semester? That seems like the best strategy, especially if your school doesn’t offer classes during the summer. But you need to be careful not to earn too much and exceed the protected income limit, or else your loans and grants will be affected. Currently, the maximum protected income is…
-
The parental contribution: a fake good idea
Jeanne is struggling to make ends meet. Her rent, groceries, tuition—the bills are piling up. She’s worried she’ll have to drop out of college. Between her full-time studies and her job, she’s working 65-hour weeks. Yet she thought she’d be eligible for some form of government assistance so she wouldn’t have to work such long hours and neglect her studies. The catch? The government believes Jeanne should be receiving support…
-
Palestine as a Testing Ground, Quebec as a Link
Militarization, Imperialism, and Austerity Palestine, and Gaza in particular, is today one of the main testing grounds for global military-capitalist imperialism. The repeated offensives against the Palestinian population are not merely part of a colonial project, but are at the heart of a war economy structured by global capitalism. The genocide still underway in Gaza—despite the so-called “ceasefire” decree that has yet to materialize—serves as a testing ground for weapons,…
-
No pleasure.
The effects of austerity on our living and studying conditions As a child, I imagined college and university as places where a scientific community worked collectively on difficult problems. Growing up in the rural town of Huberdeau, even before I could put it into words, I dreamed of collegiality and a rich student life that would nourish this intellectual work. However, collegiality and student life do not spontaneously spring from…
-
Relations Between Associations and Administration: The Smile Offensive and Pacification
Reader’s Mail It is widely acknowledged that at Cégep de Saint-Laurent, the door to the Student Life Office is always open. Indeed, the message has been repeated time and again: members and executives of the student association can access these resources at any time and be heard in a collaborative and empathetic atmosphere. At least, that is the official line. Given the punitive climate and repressive measures faced by student…
-
Faced with commodified education, there is one solution: Free education!
Reader’s Mail Treating higher education as a right is not in vogue in Quebec. The last few years have given us a few examples of this, notably with the indexation of tuition fees in 2013, the sharp increase in fees for non-resident students in 2023, and their dizzying rise as a source of revenue in university institutional budgets since 2011. All these measures, coupled with government budgetary austerity, indicate that…
-
To pay or not to pay: that is the question
Reader’s Mail One debate that persists among student activists is that of remuneration for general assembly presidiums. It is time to face the truth: this practice should be banned. Here is a response to common arguments and questions on the issue. «The presi-what?» Assuming that your student union is based on a horizontal organization, you have probably already seen presidiums in your life. A presidium is a group of people…