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Upcoming Events MAY 25 The Crisis in Europe: Fred Weston speaking tour
MAY 26 The Crisis in Europe: Fred Weston speaking tour
Recent AnalysisAfter Mulcair's victory, build a mass left wing to save the NDP Drummond Report sees bleak capitalist future for Ontario A balance sheet of #Occupy Toronto: Lessons moving forward Fight back against Quebec tuition increases: For a united student movement
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Just one day after the largest demonstration in Canadian history, the police have moved towards a “hard application” of “special law” 78. Across Quebec, over 700 were arrested by the police. A new phenomenon, which clearly shows the depth of support for the students and the hatred for the heavy handedness of the government, has been the development of the “casserole protests”. Last night, hundreds of parents and children assembled in the streets in different neighbourhoods banging pots, pans, and casserole dishes to show their defiance of law 78 — recalling the protests in Chile and Argentina of the hated dictatorships of the 1970s.
On 23rd May, a group of approximately 50 people gathered on a Wednesday evening in downtown Toronto to hear Fred Weston, the managing editor of 
Some 300 students in Toronto came out in solidarity with the 250,000-strong demonstration in Montreal on Tuesday, 23rd May. The Toronto rally was spontaneously organized by a loose alliance of Ontario student activists who wished to demonstrate that Quebec students are not alone. This is a direct challenge to the attempts by the corporate-owned press and among pro-business politicians, especially in English Canada, to isolate Quebec students by labelling them as “entitled”. This point has been used to justify state repression. This demonstration served to cut across this isolation, and to show that students across Canada are willing to fight.
Fightback activists in English Canada have taken the initiative to spread the inspiring Quebec student strike across the country. In addition to launching an 
Tuesday, May 22nd saw the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Between 250,000 and 350,000 youth and workers came out onto the streets of Montreal and openly defied the emergency law that requires police approval of protest routes eight hours in advance. A widely publicized “official route” was broken; the crowd turned away, following an unannounced path. The crowd was enormous, and easily broke the previous records set by the demonstrations on March 22 and April 22, proving that this movement was beginning to penetrate into wider layers of Quebec society. Jean Charest’s gamble that the movement could be smashed with police batons and emergency powers had backfired, badly.
Over the past two weeks, the student strike in Quebec has entered a new stage. What originally began as a strike against a 75% increase in tuition fees has rapidly progressed into a movement against the Liberal government itself. Premier Jean Charest’s government has clumsily fallen over itself, trying to suppress or divide the movement, with little success. Instead of killing the movement, every action by the government has only given the movement new life. The Quebec student strike is no longer simply about tuition fees; it is now a question of who wields real power in society.
The elections in France and Greece represent a fundamental change in the situation. The crisis of European capitalism has entered a new and turbulent stage. A mood of anger is sweeping across Europe. Fightback (Canada) and La Riposte (Quebec) are pleased to bring Fred Weston, the managing editor of the popular 
