{"id":1240,"date":"2026-04-03T08:33:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T12:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/?p=1240"},"modified":"2026-04-08T08:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:35:10","slug":"relations-between-associations-and-administration-the-smile-offensive-and-pacification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/2026\/04\/03\/relations-between-associations-and-administration-the-smile-offensive-and-pacification\/","title":{"rendered":"Relations Between Associations and Administration: The Smile Offensive and Pacification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reader’s Mail <\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n
By <\/span>Fares Fares<\/a>, <\/span>Paul Desmarais<\/a><\/div>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

It is widely acknowledged that at C\u00e9gep 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 associations, such as that of C\u00e9gep de Maisonneuve (SOG\u00c9\u00c9COM), one might be tempted to think that the members of the AECSL (Association \u00c9tudiante du C\u00e9gep Saint-Laurent) enjoy a harmonious relationship with the administration, despite the climate of savage austerity descending upon higher education institutions in a Quebec under the thumb of corporatist parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \u201csmile offensive\u201d launched by the administration masks a less commendable agenda. While this agenda is likely not consciously planned, it stems from a structural dynamic: the institution remains subject to a political will that shapes its priorities. In other words, it arises from a systemic phenomenon that goes far beyond any potential accusations of careerism leveled at members of the administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The co-optation of strike committees remains the most blatant measure characterizing the subversive maneuvers directed against the association. As people leave the General Assemblies, Student Services thugs position themselves almost as if lying in wait: they target the most impressionable members in order to outmaneuver the more seasoned ones who might form a more demanding strike committee. By doing so, they hijack the process and impose their terms on the mobilizations. The activists recruited in this way are immediately presented with a supposedly administrative document to sign\u2014a document that \u201cregulates\u201d the strike but, in reality, reduces it to a largely symbolic gesture rather than a means of actual disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to see that the gradual erosion of our means of pressure has only led to a decline in engagement and a pacification of the student movement. The AECSL has been reduced to nothing more than a body of symbolic activism that maintains the unfortunate compulsion to constantly seek permission to organize even the smallest event, and that accepts being neutralized according to the whims of the fake smiles serving the administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that, at present, the association\u2014compared to its sister organization, SOG\u00c9\u00c9COM\u2014no longer effectively fulfills its role in political mobilization. It struggles to channel student discontent into structured collective action, as well as to ensure the transmission of activist experience within its own executive committee. It is therefore necessary to reclaim our spaces and initiative and to stop appeasing the whims of a structure subject to the antisocial interests of corporatist governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We urgently need a mandate of no confidence against these bodies that are undermining student democracy!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reader’s Mail It is widely acknowledged that at C\u00e9gep 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[92,91],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-84","tag-fares-fares","tag-paul-desmarais"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1243,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions\/1243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debordement.crues.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}