AUDIO about Solidarity posted on mars 22, 2012 by Stefan Christoff

CKUT radio: Mass Montréal protest for accessible education

audio report recorded on the streets of downtown Montreal 22/03

by Stefan Christoff

» Download file 'ckutstrike2203christoff.mp3' (17.3MB)

Mass protest for accessible education in downtown Montreal.

Listen to a radio report on the massive student protest today in downtown Montreal, a demonstration that completely filled large parts of the downtown area.

Many estimate that upwards of 200 000 people participated in the demonstration, one of the largest streets protests in Canada over the past decade.

Over recent weeks students in Quebec have been building a major student strike, to reject moves by the Quebec government to hike tuition fees $1625 over the next five years.

L'Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) is leading the current student strike, via Coalition large de l’ASSÉ (CLASSE).

Now the student strike is clearly turning into a social movement, involving major union federations, artist networks and many community organizations across Montreal and throughout Quebec.

Students are fighting to accessible education, a long standing tradition in Quebec, the last major student strike taking place in 2005 and previously in the late 1990s, previous strikes that lead Quebec to having relatively low tuition fees.

Deep red, the color representing the student strike movement, filled downtown as students wore red, carried massive red banners representing student unions and associations from all over Montreal.

In this report you will hear from Pierre-Antoine Harvey economist at Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), student activist Myriam Zaidi, UQAM student Kawthar, Concordia student activist Doug Smith and Concordia professor / Immigrant Workers Centre community activist Eric Shragge.

This segment is part of the Red Square Report, a series of ongoing interviews, analysis, and updates on the student strike in Quebec, brought to you by CKUT's news collective.

For more information on the ongoing student strike visit www.stopthehike.ca

This report was produced at CKUT radio for broadcast on community radio stations by community activist/journalist Stefan Christoff who is at www.twitter.com/spirodon