0:00:02.340,0:00:05.090 Greetings Troublemakers. Welcome to Trouble.... 0:00:05.090,0:00:06.890 my name is not important. 0:00:06.890,0:00:09.450 This year marks the 50th anniversary 0:00:09.450,0:00:12.160 of the tumultuous events of 1968, 0:00:12.160,0:00:14.440 when an unprecedented wave of revolt 0:00:14.440,0:00:16.450 broke out in multiple countries around the world, 0:00:16.450,0:00:17.900 sending a collective shiver 0:00:17.900,0:00:19.540 down the spines of the ruling class. 0:00:19.540,0:00:21.120 This was arguably the closest 0:00:21.120,0:00:24.060 that humanity has ever come to a global revolution, 0:00:24.060,0:00:26.030 and the reverberations of this shock 0:00:26.030,0:00:27.900 lasted well into the next decade, 0:00:27.900,0:00:29.290 as capitalists scrambled 0:00:29.290,0:00:31.190 to restructure the international economy 0:00:31.190,0:00:33.460 and states passed a series of reforms 0:00:33.460,0:00:36.040 aimed at desperately reasserting their legitimacy. 0:00:36.040,0:00:38.170 While there were many different local factors 0:00:38.170,0:00:41.760 and a wide cross-section of participants to the riots of '68, 0:00:41.760,0:00:44.020 a recurring theme was the leading role 0:00:44.020,0:00:46.210 played by a generation of insurgent youth, 0:00:46.210,0:00:48.070 fed up with the alienation and misery 0:00:48.070,0:00:50.220 of everyday life under capitalism. 0:00:50.220,0:00:53.680 Some of the most iconic scenes of '68 played out in Paris, 0:00:53.680,0:00:55.920 where tens of thousands of university 0:00:55.920,0:00:58.170 and high-school students took to the streets, 0:00:58.170,0:00:59.570 erected barricades 0:00:59.570,0:01:01.840 and fought pitched street battles with the cops. 0:01:01.840,0:01:03.240 Inspired by the bravery 0:01:03.240,0:01:05.680 and uncompromising militancy of these youth, 0:01:05.680,0:01:07.350 millions of workers joined the fray, 0:01:07.350,0:01:10.040 launching the biggest wildcat strike in history, 0:01:10.040,0:01:12.840 and nearly toppling the French state in the process. 0:01:12.840,0:01:14.490 Students also played a key role 0:01:14.490,0:01:16.180 in kicking-off protests that year in 0:01:16.180,0:01:18.800 Italy, Spain, West Germany, 0:01:18.800,0:01:22.000 Sweden, Poland, Yugoslavia, Mexico, 0:01:22.000,0:01:24.530 Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, 0:01:24.530,0:01:26.720 Jamaica, and the United States. 0:01:26.720,0:01:27.520 Five years later, 0:01:27.520,0:01:30.600 students at the Athens Polytechnic played a decisive role 0:01:30.600,0:01:33.240 in toppling the fascist military junta in Greece. 0:01:33.240,0:01:36.330 Sadly, the revolutionary upsurge of the 60's and 70's 0:01:36.330,0:01:37.680 was ultimately put down, 0:01:37.680,0:01:40.400 and is now confined to the annals of history. 0:01:40.640,0:01:42.880 But student unrest has persisted, 0:01:42.880,0:01:44.970 and today it continues to play a key role 0:01:44.970,0:01:46.680 in fomenting political crises 0:01:46.680,0:01:48.440 and articulating broader critiques 0:01:48.440,0:01:50.070 of capitalism and the state. 0:01:50.070,0:01:51.560 Over the next thirty minutes, 0:01:51.560,0:01:53.640 we'll explore contemporary student struggles 0:01:53.640,0:01:56.440 from so-called Puerto Rico, Montreal and Chile, 0:01:56.440,0:01:58.920 and speak with current and former student organizers 0:01:58.920,0:02:00.480 as they share their experiences 0:02:00.480,0:02:02.980 of launching strikes, occupying buildings, 0:02:02.980,0:02:04.190 taking to the streets 0:02:04.190,0:02:05.720 and making a whole lot of trouble. 0:02:34.380,0:02:36.460 Considering that the economic crisis 0:02:36.460,0:02:38.600 is not only seen in Puerto Rico, but globally, 0:02:38.600,0:02:40.700 universities as a whole 0:02:40.700,0:02:43.120 in almost all parts of the world are being affected. 0:02:43.600,0:02:45.960 The case of Puerto Rico 0:02:45.960,0:02:49.860 can be seen as more problematic 0:02:49.860,0:02:54.020 considering that this country is a colony of the USA. 0:02:54.020,0:02:56.160 The economic disaster, 0:02:56.160,0:02:59.580 both in the empire and in the colony 0:02:59.580,0:03:02.840 is exacerbated more in terms 0:03:02.840,0:03:04.980 of general education. 0:03:04.980,0:03:09.420 And mainly in the aspect of higher education, 0:03:09.420,0:03:13.500 which has led to seeing the future as 0:03:13.500,0:03:15.500 something very tragic. 0:03:15.500,0:03:17.730 Each year there are less students. 0:03:17.730,0:03:19.720 And obviously that’s because of the crisis. 0:03:19.720,0:03:21.940 Every year more people leave the country 0:03:21.940,0:03:23.640 - especially young people. 0:03:23.640,0:03:26.940 More youth join the army. 0:03:26.940,0:03:29.940 They go study at institutes. 0:03:29.940,0:03:31.640 They go study in the US. 0:03:31.640,0:03:35.340 Historically, the University of Puerto Rico, 0:03:35.340,0:03:37.340 which is the public university of the country, 0:03:37.340,0:03:39.000 is and continues to be, 0:03:39.000,0:03:41.000 generally speaking, 0:03:41.000,0:03:43.000 a bastion of critical thought. 0:03:43.000,0:03:45.220 To be able to talk about the 2010 strike 0:03:45.220,0:03:47.560 - or, specifically about how the strike began in 2010 - 0:03:47.560,0:03:51.360 we have to go back and talk about the 2005 strike. 0:03:52.200,0:03:57.130 In 2005, a new increase in tuition was taking place. 0:03:57.130,0:04:00.680 We're talking about a 33% tuition increase. 0:04:01.460,0:04:03.300 The strike was sparked because of that. 0:04:03.300,0:04:06.400 It was sparked so that education could stay accessible. 0:04:07.060,0:04:09.060 It was also the strike in which the campus was occupied 0:04:09.060,0:04:10.380 and shut down. 0:04:10.670,0:04:12.940 The organizing was typical 0:04:12.940,0:04:16.560 of traditional leftist socialist political organizations 0:04:16.560,0:04:18.179 - very centralized - 0:04:18.179,0:04:23.720 which created resentments and tensions. 0:04:24.480,0:04:26.280 We cannot call it a failure, 0:04:26.280,0:04:28.900 although the tuition freeze was not won. 0:04:28.900,0:04:30.620 Yes, the tuition hike was carried out... 0:04:30.620,0:04:33.560 the strike ended in a very chaotic way 0:04:33.560,0:04:37.120 But it led many to an awareness of what we want. 0:04:38.340,0:04:39.660 At the beginning of 2009 0:04:39.660,0:04:41.640 we started to re-organize the university. 0:04:41.640,0:04:44.480 We began to realize that we had to break down 0:04:44.480,0:04:50.620 these traditional centralized and hierarchical structures. 0:04:50.620,0:04:51.900 We began to decentralize. 0:04:51.900,0:04:55.040 We began to form affinity groups 0:04:55.040,0:04:56.620 - they were called action committees. 0:04:56.620,0:05:00.700 From there came the idea of creating a university union. 0:05:01.340,0:05:05.310 Action committees were organized by faculty, 0:05:05.310,0:05:06.760 in the case of the Rio Piedras campus. 0:05:06.760,0:05:09.080 And they allowed us to have a strike committee 0:05:09.080,0:05:11.760 overnight, without even having a strike. 0:05:12.800,0:05:15.060 Then we started to push the assembly to strike. 0:05:15.060,0:05:16.940 And in the assembly, it was already organic. 0:05:16.940,0:05:19.300 We were no longer going with the purpose 0:05:19.300,0:05:20.580 of convincing people. 0:05:21.220,0:05:23.220 We were going to vote for the strike. 0:05:23.220,0:05:25.220 And so the strike started. 0:05:25.960,0:05:27.910 And the strike was like a snowball. 0:05:27.910,0:05:30.000 As the snowball kept rolling, it kept growing. 0:05:31.960,0:05:35.340 And from there 11 campuses were occupied. 0:05:36.190,0:05:38.980 To be able to carry out the strike and be successful, 0:05:38.980,0:05:40.660 we had to sacrifice our studies. 0:05:40.660,0:05:42.660 So the occupation of the campuses, 0:05:42.660,0:05:44.660 of each of the faculties, was that. 0:05:44.660,0:05:48.000 To create the impossibility for normality. 0:05:48.000,0:05:50.140 We're on strike... therefore there are no classes. 0:05:50.680,0:05:54.100 Making a fortress of the Rio Piedras campus 0:05:54.100,0:05:57.280 - as did our comrades did in the other campuses - 0:05:57.280,0:06:00.960 was done to avoid a confrontation with the cops 0:06:00.960,0:06:02.040 That would have kicked us out, 0:06:02.040,0:06:03.600 and then the strike would have ended. 0:06:05.140,0:06:06.890 That still happened. 0:06:06.890,0:06:09.380 But inside, there was an atmosphere of freedom. 0:06:09.380,0:06:10.900 An atmosphere of coexistence 0:06:10.900,0:06:12.990 and social transformation. 0:06:12.990,0:06:14.400 That's where that idea comes in. 0:06:14.400,0:06:16.180 We learned to make barricades. 0:06:16.180,0:06:19.080 We learned to confront the police like never before. 0:06:19.540,0:06:22.840 "Out! Out! Cops get out!" 0:06:22.840,0:06:25.320 We learned to think strategically. 0:06:25.320,0:06:28.260 We learned to attract the people, the public. 0:06:28.260,0:06:30.260 Not only was the campus taken, 0:06:30.260,0:06:32.110 the streets were taken too. 0:06:32.110,0:06:34.260 I think that 2010 and 2011 transformed people. 0:06:34.260,0:06:37.540 It allowed the strike of 2017 0:06:37.540,0:06:39.540 to be a different strike. 0:06:39.540,0:06:41.540 There was a consciousness, 0:06:41.540,0:06:43.360 and the genie was out of the bottle. 0:06:43.860,0:06:46.340 < 0:06:46.340,0:06:48.340 on the so-called ‘PROMESA’ bill, 0:06:48.340,0:06:51.000 which would establish a means for Puerto Rico 0:06:51.000,0:06:53.840 to restructure its 72 billion dollars in debt 0:06:53.840,0:06:57.760 but would also impose a Financial Control Board 0:06:57.760,0:06:59.350 - or what I and other people call it - 0:06:59.350,0:07:00.820 a colonial control board 0:07:00.820,0:07:02.740 over the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.>> 0:07:03.180,0:07:05.180 The Fiscal Control Board 0:07:05.180,0:07:08.120 overrules the government of Puerto Rico 0:07:08.120,0:07:11.120 and decides the austerity measures to be imposed 0:07:11.120,0:07:12.630 on the people. 0:07:12.630,0:07:14.750 And one of the first things it did 0:07:14.750,0:07:18.420 was propose cuts to the University of Puerto Rico. 0:07:18.980,0:07:21.960 The cuts - first they were $300 million 0:07:21.960,0:07:24.300 now they are $450 million. 0:07:24.300,0:07:27.060 One of the things that was discussed in the fiscal plan 0:07:27.060,0:07:28.820 was a tuition increase. 0:07:28.820,0:07:32.680 In 2016, when us students found this out, 0:07:32.680,0:07:35.160 we began to organize. 0:07:35.160,0:07:37.160 And we went on strike 0:07:38.240,0:07:42.260 in 2010-11 committees were organized by faculty. 0:07:42.260,0:07:45.180 In 2017, we did the same thing. 0:07:45.180,0:07:46.800 But new committees were created, 0:07:46.800,0:07:48.800 such as the athlete's committee, 0:07:48.800,0:07:51.400 the seed-garden committee, 0:07:51.400,0:07:53.880 and other committees and working groups, 0:07:53.880,0:07:55.910 such as the gender working group. 0:07:55.910,0:08:00.540 The strike was also connected to the crisis 0:08:00.540,0:08:01.960 that the country was going through. 0:08:01.960,0:08:04.860 it was tied to the fight against the Fiscal Control Board, 0:08:04.860,0:08:07.840 to the struggle for independence. 0:08:07.840,0:08:10.320 The majority of our protests 0:08:10.320,0:08:12.320 were outside the university. 0:08:15.820,0:08:18.940 The fact that we were on strike 0:08:18.940,0:08:22.300 helped a lot with organizing May Day, 0:08:22.300,0:08:25.200 and the tactics that were used. 0:08:25.200,0:08:27.380 Black bloc tactics were used, 0:08:27.380,0:08:30.340 and striking students were able to 0:08:30.340,0:08:32.760 organize that black bloc. 0:08:32.760,0:08:36.140 They were able to make contacts with other people 0:08:36.140,0:08:38.140 who were not students, 0:08:38.140,0:08:40.320 but who could participate in the strike, because 0:08:40.320,0:08:42.440 even though it was a student strike 0:08:42.480,0:08:44.480 it was open to the people. 0:08:47.970,0:08:50.070 On May 22nd 2012, 0:08:50.070,0:08:53.160 over 200,000 people took to the streets of Montreal, 0:08:53.160,0:08:55.390 in the largest act of civil disobedience 0:08:55.390,0:08:57.230 to ever occur in the territories ruled 0:08:57.230,0:08:58.520 by the Canadian state. 0:08:58.520,0:09:01.360 This demonstration was part of the so-called Maple Spring, 0:09:01.360,0:09:04.960 a massive general strike involving over 300,000 students 0:09:04.960,0:09:07.070 of Quebec's universities and CEGEP's, 0:09:07.070,0:09:10.400 or Collèges d'enseignement général et professionnel, 0:09:10.400,0:09:11.800 a province-wide network 0:09:11.800,0:09:13.960 of publicly-funded vocational colleges. 0:09:13.960,0:09:15.430 Like many other demos that occurred 0:09:15.430,0:09:17.360 in the weeks and months that followed, 0:09:17.360,0:09:19.280 the May 22 manif was illegal. 0:09:19.280,0:09:21.230 Those marching that day were doing so 0:09:21.230,0:09:23.680 in open defiance of the so-called Special Law, 0:09:23.680,0:09:26.720 Bill 78, a repressive piece of legislation 0:09:26.720,0:09:29.200 that had recently been passed by the Liberal government, 0:09:29.200,0:09:31.850 and which had sought to criminalize all demonstrations 0:09:31.850,0:09:34.560 whose routes were not submitted to the police in advance. 0:09:34.560,0:09:37.880 Quebec has a long and storied history of student radicalism, 0:09:37.880,0:09:39.930 and the province has seen no less than ten 0:09:39.930,0:09:42.760 student-led general strikes in the past fifty years. 0:09:42.760,0:09:45.760 But the 2012 strike lasted nearly eight months, 0:09:45.760,0:09:47.480 making it by far the longest, 0:09:47.480,0:09:49.680 and largest such strike in Quebec history. 0:09:49.680,0:09:51.950 The social upheaval provoked by this movement 0:09:51.950,0:09:54.680 ended up toppling the provincial government of Jean Charest, 0:09:54.680,0:09:56.880 and rolling back the proposed tuition increase 0:09:56.880,0:09:58.960 that it had originally been launched to oppose. 0:09:58.960,0:10:01.130 And yet... the fact that the end of the strike 0:10:01.130,0:10:02.600 still felt like a crushing defeat, 0:10:02.600,0:10:04.840 despite ostensibly achieving its goals, 0:10:04.840,0:10:06.490 is a testament to the conviction 0:10:06.490,0:10:08.280 it had inspired in its participants 0:10:08.280,0:10:11.080 that an entirely new world was within their grasp. 0:10:12.608,0:10:13.848 In Quebec specifically, 0:10:13.848,0:10:16.820 the student movement is a big political force 0:10:16.820,0:10:19.835 and it has a continuity through history 0:10:19.835,0:10:21.725 of social and political organizing. 0:10:21.725,0:10:23.345 The francophone student movement in Quebec 0:10:23.345,0:10:24.718 goes back to the 60's, 0:10:24.718,0:10:26.598 where in Quebec we had this movement 0:10:26.598,0:10:28.433 called “the Quiet Revolution”. 0:10:28.433,0:10:30.431 Because most of the universities were controlled 0:10:30.431,0:10:31.669 either by the Church, 0:10:31.669,0:10:33.048 or by the anglophones. 0:10:33.048,0:10:35.488 So only really rich francophones could go 0:10:35.491,0:10:36.859 to universities and colleges. 0:10:36.859,0:10:41.625 The CEGEPs were founded by actual occupations of colleges 0:10:41.625,0:10:43.848 demanding for accessible schooling. 0:10:43.848,0:10:49.208 And it led to a huge wave of francophones and poor people 0:10:49.208,0:10:52.382 getting access to so-called higher education. 0:10:52.382,0:10:53.852 One of the interesting aspects 0:10:53.852,0:10:55.342 about the Quebec student movement 0:10:55.342,0:10:58.893 is that there's a certain level of institutionalization 0:10:58.893,0:11:00.255 of student unions. 0:11:00.255,0:11:02.575 Students are able to follow through 0:11:02.575,0:11:04.188 from struggle to struggle. 0:11:04.188,0:11:06.126 So for example in 2005, 0:11:06.126,0:11:07.810 where students might have been involved 0:11:07.810,0:11:09.983 at the CGEP level, at the college level 0:11:09.983,0:11:13.503 – in 2012 they would have been at the university level 0:11:13.503,0:11:14.843 and they could have been involved 0:11:14.843,0:11:16.498 in transferring their experience 0:11:16.498,0:11:19.701 and their knowledge to younger generations of activists. 0:11:19.863,0:11:24.443 It has had a lot of impact on the youth in general, 0:11:24.456,0:11:27.705 and the way school is held in Quebec. 0:11:30.067,0:11:33.543 ASSE is a federation of local student unions 0:11:33.543,0:11:36.418 that was created in 2001 to fight off the influence 0:11:36.418,0:11:39.982 of the two other main student union federations, 0:11:39.982,0:11:42.404 that were more on the political lobbying scene. 0:11:42.416,0:11:45.709 ASSE has always seen the government as an enemy 0:11:45.709,0:11:46.855 that needs to be combated. 0:11:46.855,0:11:48.398 We don't wanna negotiate with these people. 0:11:48.398,0:11:49.845 We wanna force them to act. 0:11:49.845,0:11:53.607 What ASSE is about is really grouping together 0:11:53.607,0:11:56.179 local student unions and providing spaces 0:11:56.179,0:11:58.264 in which these local student unions 0:11:58.268,0:12:02.534 are able to interact with each other, exchange information 0:12:02.534,0:12:04.901 — and most importantly, take collective action. 0:12:04.901,0:12:06.827 So how it works is that 0:12:06.827,0:12:09.576 you've got many different colleges and universities 0:12:09.576,0:12:12.310 that are members of the ASSE, and in between 0:12:12.310,0:12:15.653 – like in colleges and universities specifically – 0:12:15.665,0:12:19.325 the unions are separated by faculties. 0:12:19.327,0:12:22.633 If a student union wants to become a member of ASSE, 0:12:22.633,0:12:26.541 it has to organize on the principle of direct democracy. 0:12:26.543,0:12:30.097 There is no talk of doing lobby work with politicians, 0:12:30.097,0:12:31.111 for example, 0:12:31.111,0:12:33.560 there's no talk of even doing a demo 0:12:33.560,0:12:36.724 without it being voted in a GA. 0:12:36.724,0:12:39.083 I don't think striking would have been possible 0:12:39.087,0:12:40.857 without this kind of organization. 0:12:40.857,0:12:42.942 A general assembly, or a GA, 0:12:42.942,0:12:45.959 is just the practice of getting together as a group 0:12:45.959,0:12:48.624 to discuss matters at hand that concern you. 0:12:48.624,0:12:50.810 Everybody can come in and can vote 0:12:50.810,0:12:52.274 and propose whatever they want. 0:12:52.274,0:12:54.080 There has to be some procedures, 0:12:54.080,0:12:58.136 but the idea is to have the structure as open as possible 0:12:58.136,0:12:59.883 for everybody to be able to speak 0:12:59.883,0:13:01.303 on different subjects and matters 0:13:01.303,0:13:02.377 and propose what they want. 0:13:02.377,0:13:06.198 It's so important that students have this space 0:13:06.198,0:13:08.736 to meet and organize together. 0:13:08.736,0:13:11.054 Having a general assembly go on strike 0:13:11.054,0:13:13.055 means that the whole faculty goes on strike. 0:13:13.055,0:13:14.991 The whole collective is bound to that decision. 0:13:14.991,0:13:17.037 And that meant we could block the whole campus. 0:13:20.064,0:13:22.182 I was one of the people you could say 0:13:22.182,0:13:24.757 was politically born in 2012. 0:13:24.757,0:13:28.093 As was the case for thousands of people in Quebec. 0:13:28.093,0:13:30.266 What happened then was magical. 0:13:30.266,0:13:33.562 It was a social upheaval like you don't see very often, 0:13:33.562,0:13:36.618 and it schooled us to street politics, 0:13:36.618,0:13:38.920 to radical democracy, 0:13:38.920,0:13:41.022 to what can really be obtained 0:13:41.022,0:13:44.155 by making strong bonds and fighting together. 0:13:44.155,0:13:47.549 The 2012 strike was a result of, I would say, 0:13:47.549,0:13:50.121 at least three years of grassroots organizing. 0:13:50.121,0:13:52.265 We knew in 2009 0:13:52.265,0:13:55.441 that the government was planning to raise up tuition fees. 0:13:55.441,0:13:57.018 So we had time to prepare. 0:13:57.018,0:13:59.260 Our goal was to go step-by-step, 0:13:59.260,0:14:03.486 and then to have increasingly radical actions. 0:14:03.486,0:14:05.166 And eventually, 0:14:05.166,0:14:07.342 when the government decided to raise the tuition, 0:14:07.342,0:14:08.464 we were able to tell the people 0:14:08.464,0:14:09.843 “we've done everything.” 0:14:09.843,0:14:12.023 Y'know, we've done petitions. We've sent letters. 0:14:12.023,0:14:13.673 We called everybody. 0:14:13.674,0:14:16.019 We did all these things that we knew wouldn't work. 0:14:16.019,0:14:17.886 And now the only thing we have left to do 0:14:17.886,0:14:19.282 is to go on a general strike. 0:14:19.282,0:14:20.577 So there's this whole build up 0:14:20.577,0:14:24.072 that was really important to the success of that strike. 0:14:24.263,0:14:26.059 What the student strike does, 0:14:26.059,0:14:28.855 by massively shutting down campuses 0:14:28.855,0:14:30.855 in universities and colleges 0:14:30.855,0:14:32.621 is it frees up students to 0:14:32.621,0:14:35.518 not only organize within the struggle, 0:14:35.518,0:14:37.998 but also think about the issues that are outside. 0:14:38.550,0:14:40.375 And at the beginning, people were saying 0:14:40.375,0:14:43.295 “oh, y'know... these people are striking against tuition fees. 0:14:43.295,0:14:45.638 It's a very student-centric struggle. 0:14:45.638,0:14:47.309 They only want to protect themselves.” 0:14:47.309,0:14:49.540 But eventually they saw that what we wanted 0:14:49.540,0:14:53.306 was more radical than just striking against tuition hikes. 0:14:53.306,0:14:55.640 We were for a really different society. 0:14:55.640,0:14:58.680 And the strike was only a representation of that. 0:14:58.883,0:15:01.301 The context of 2012 really opened space, 0:15:01.301,0:15:04.217 opened cracks within people's daily lives 0:15:04.217,0:15:07.008 to consider other methods of struggle, 0:15:07.008,0:15:08.616 other methods of organizing. 0:15:08.616,0:15:11.565 The 2012 strike was about student debt, 0:15:11.565,0:15:14.817 which is incredibly high for everybody. 0:15:14.817,0:15:16.687 But then it also gave us a chance 0:15:16.687,0:15:18.257 to touch on debt in general. 0:15:18.257,0:15:19.769 Why is everybody so in debt? 0:15:19.769,0:15:21.024 Why is everybody so poor, 0:15:21.024,0:15:22.998 when they're working all their lives away? 0:15:23.160,0:15:24.970 During the summer of 2012 0:15:24.970,0:15:27.159 we saw the emergence of assemblies, 0:15:27.159,0:15:28.813 of, like, neighbourhood assemblies, 0:15:28.813,0:15:30.196 which were called APAQs 0:15:30.196,0:15:32.451 – Assemblées Populaire Autonome de Quartier. 0:15:32.451,0:15:35.423 So basically autonomous neighbourhood assemblies. 0:15:35.423,0:15:37.284 I think it was a gateway for 0:15:37.284,0:15:39.803 a lot of more in-depth thinking 0:15:39.803,0:15:41.413 about the current situation, 0:15:41.413,0:15:42.548 which everybody shares. 0:15:42.700,0:15:45.597 Everybody can realize, y'know, we're being fucked over. 0:15:45.597,0:15:46.643 And eventually, 0:15:46.643,0:15:49.609 after maybe five months of all the universities 0:15:49.609,0:15:51.634 and the colleges being paralyzed, 0:15:51.635,0:15:54.562 the government decided to pass a special law 0:15:54.562,0:15:56.555 banning public demonstrations. 0:15:56.557,0:15:59.571 And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. 0:15:59.571,0:16:02.931 People started banging pots on their balconies one night, 0:16:02.931,0:16:04.990 and then the night afterwards, 0:16:04.992,0:16:06.965 everybody was in the streets banging pots 0:16:06.965,0:16:08.355 against the general law. 0:16:08.516,0:16:11.723 So Jean Charest is sending Quebeckers to the polls. 0:16:11.723,0:16:14.174 We really faced a wall when the government decided 0:16:14.174,0:16:15.551 that they couldn't go on, 0:16:15.551,0:16:17.173 and decided to call an election. 0:16:17.173,0:16:20.345 It was taken back from us by sold-out politicians 0:16:20.345,0:16:23.731 that gained capital on our struggle. 0:16:23.731,0:16:26.481 A lot of people just thought... we had won. 0:16:26.481,0:16:29.554 Because everybody was gonna vote on something, 0:16:29.554,0:16:31.119 and elections would solve everything. 0:16:31.119,0:16:35.686 We have to beware of elections as a way to solve struggles. 0:16:35.686,0:16:36.953 Because it didn't solve anything. 0:16:36.953,0:16:39.582 Following 2012 there was three years 0:16:39.582,0:16:41.664 of very brutal repression in the streets, 0:16:41.664,0:16:44.881 specifically targeting student organization, 0:16:44.881,0:16:47.019 in the hopes of breaking down the student movement. 0:16:47.019,0:16:48.202 And so in 2015, 0:16:48.202,0:16:50.404 there was an independent group that formed 0:16:50.404,0:16:52.050 within the walls of UQAM 0:16:52.050,0:16:53.893 – Université du Québec à Montréal – 0:16:53.893,0:16:56.460 to start organizing again and fight back. 0:16:56.460,0:16:57.999 It was an anarchist strike, 0:16:57.999,0:17:02.089 in the sense that it was a refusal to let the institutions 0:17:02.089,0:17:04.961 and the corporations instrumentalize us 0:17:04.961,0:17:06.889 and put words in our mouth. 0:17:06.889,0:17:11.123 So 2015 was really about the heritage of 2012. 0:17:11.126,0:17:14.187 But it was also a message to the ones coming up 0:17:14.187,0:17:15.542 that it was still possible. 0:17:15.542,0:17:18.672 We still have the structures to get up and fight together. 0:17:22.215,0:17:23.285 Without a doubt 0:17:23.285,0:17:24.835 the most sustained student movement 0:17:24.835,0:17:26.240 in the so-called Americas 0:17:26.240,0:17:29.400 can be found in the territories ruled by the Chilean state. 0:17:29.400,0:17:31.160 Since the 2006 protests 0:17:31.160,0:17:33.780 popularly known as the Penguin's Revolution, 0:17:33.780,0:17:36.960 through the Chilean Winter of 2011-2013, 0:17:36.960,0:17:38.520 and continuing to today, 0:17:38.520,0:17:39.870 the Chilean student movement 0:17:39.870,0:17:42.810 has represented a consistent pole of radical activity 0:17:42.810,0:17:44.320 in the southern Andean country, 0:17:44.320,0:17:46.640 drawing in hundreds of thousands of participants 0:17:46.640,0:17:48.450 and helping to topple multiple governments, 0:17:48.450,0:17:50.200 seemingly without breaking stride. 0:17:50.200,0:17:51.370 While its roots lie 0:17:51.370,0:17:52.800 in the militant youth wings 0:17:52.800,0:17:55.000 of the socialist and communist parties 0:17:55.000,0:17:57.360 that once formed an important pillar of support 0:17:57.360,0:17:59.520 for former president Salvador Allende, 0:17:59.520,0:18:02.420 student radicalism was effectively suppressed in Chile 0:18:02.420,0:18:04.960 during the long years of the Pinochet dictatorship. 0:18:04.960,0:18:06.900 Today's student movement is still struggling 0:18:06.900,0:18:09.040 against the economic legacies of this period, 0:18:09.040,0:18:11.860 in which the regime embraced neoliberal shock doctrines 0:18:11.860,0:18:13.760 that led to one of the most heavily privatized 0:18:13.760,0:18:15.760 education systems in the world. 0:18:15.760,0:18:18.680 While the demands of today's reconstituted student movement 0:18:18.680,0:18:20.720 began with relatively humble requests, 0:18:20.720,0:18:22.440 such as free bus passes 0:18:22.440,0:18:23.970 and the waiving of onerous fees 0:18:23.970,0:18:25.540 for university admission tests, 0:18:25.540,0:18:27.630 they have since evolved into militant calls 0:18:27.630,0:18:29.520 for free post-secondary education 0:18:29.520,0:18:32.440 that have brought the entire capitalist system into question. 0:18:34.920,0:18:37.340 Education in Chile is deeply segregated by class. 0:18:38.820,0:18:44.240 The level of privatization caused students to go into debt. 0:18:44.240,0:18:48.720 Families would be spending such a large portion 0:18:48.720,0:18:51.720 of their earnings to pay for education 0:18:51.720,0:18:54.490 that people started to realize that it was a right 0:18:54.490,0:18:56.260 that they were being deprived of 0:18:56.260,0:18:58.040 and that they had to begin to mobilize. 0:18:58.580,0:19:02.440 Traditional universities, especially state universities, 0:19:02.440,0:19:06.280 have a long tradition of student organizing and mobilizing, 0:19:06.280,0:19:10.730 where student federations are established organizations 0:19:10.730,0:19:14.140 and are “accepted” by the rectories 0:19:14.140,0:19:16.470 and the government as a valid interlocutor 0:19:16.470,0:19:18.920 when discussing student issues. 0:19:18.920,0:19:22.860 The private universities that were established in 1981 0:19:22.860,0:19:24.360 are institutions that, 0:19:24.360,0:19:25.840 generally speaking, 0:19:25.840,0:19:29.420 have only had university federations since the 2000s. 0:19:29.420,0:19:31.030 It was at that moment that the students began 0:19:31.030,0:19:32.860 to demand their right to organize 0:19:32.860,0:19:35.280 in a federation that was legitimized 0:19:35.280,0:19:37.180 by the rectories of those institutions. 0:19:37.180,0:19:39.860 The university federations are grouped in CONFECH. 0:19:40.860,0:19:44.120 The CONFECH is the federation of Chilean students 0:19:44.120,0:19:46.370 and is like the main body 0:19:46.370,0:19:49.790 bringing together the different university federations 0:19:49.790,0:19:52.650 of the majority of Chilean universities, 0:19:52.650,0:19:55.260 whether they be private or public. 0:19:56.240,0:20:00.300 The movement of 2011 was a really defining moment. 0:20:00.300,0:20:04.420 People felt and believed in a struggle of their own, 0:20:04.420,0:20:06.590 and seeing that the demonstrations 0:20:06.590,0:20:08.680 began to attract many students, 0:20:08.680,0:20:11.160 a much deeper analysis began to take form 0:20:11.160,0:20:12.470 with regards to education. 0:20:13.560,0:20:16.330 The main slogans that guided the mobilization 0:20:16.330,0:20:18.300 cover different areas. 0:20:18.300,0:20:20.300 The first has to do with free education, 0:20:20.300,0:20:22.600 the demand that higher education 0:20:22.600,0:20:25.400 be free and accessible for all students, 0:20:25.400,0:20:28.700 regardless of the socio-economic level of their families. 0:20:28.700,0:20:30.000 The second has to do 0:20:30.000,0:20:33.440 with the forgiveness of debts incurred by Chilean families 0:20:33.440,0:20:35.440 during the process of educating their children. 0:20:35.440,0:20:37.470 The third has to do with the orientation 0:20:37.470,0:20:39.580 that education has in our country. 0:20:39.580,0:20:42.480 And there, the CONFECH’s demand 0:20:42.480,0:20:44.440 is to advance the creation 0:20:44.440,0:20:46.460 of a national development project, 0:20:46.460,0:20:48.300 in which the universities 0:20:48.300,0:20:50.980 – and in particular the public and state universities – 0:20:50.980,0:20:55.180 play a strategic role in the design of public policies, 0:20:55.180,0:20:56.670 in conjunction with the state. 0:21:02.840,0:21:05.820 It was at that point that secondary students 0:21:05.820,0:21:08.460 also came together with their own demands, 0:21:08.460,0:21:11.170 and the need to coordinate 0:21:11.170,0:21:13.500 with high school students was sparked, 0:21:13.500,0:21:17.370 since they also had been resisting, since 2006 0:21:17.370,0:21:19.340 – which was known as the Penguin's Revolution. 0:21:19.340,0:21:20.930 We could see a level of support 0:21:20.930,0:21:22.880 that no other kind of social movement 0:21:22.880,0:21:23.880 during the last decades had seen, 0:21:23.880,0:21:25.760 since the end of the dictatorship. 0:21:25.760,0:21:28.000 There were even polls that pointed to 0:21:28.000,0:21:31.640 over 80% of the population supporting student demands. 0:21:32.060,0:21:33.380 We saw demonstrations 0:21:33.380,0:21:36.140 of up to one million people in the capital, 0:21:36.140,0:21:38.230 with entire families participating, 0:21:38.230,0:21:40.360 with workers' unions participating, 0:21:40.360,0:21:41.840 with people in the streets 0:21:41.840,0:21:42.840 who were not affiliated 0:21:42.840,0:21:44.340 with any political organization supporting. 0:21:44.340,0:21:45.820 The student demands 0:21:45.820,0:21:48.820 had resonated with a great majority of the country. 0:21:48.820,0:21:51.800 For example, the fight against indebtedness, 0:21:51.800,0:21:55.820 but also the struggle for a less classist educational system 0:21:55.820,0:21:58.360 that contributes to the development of the country, 0:21:58.360,0:22:01.240 and not just to the profits of the ruling class. 0:22:03.440,0:22:06.700 Within what was called the anarchist movement, 0:22:06.700,0:22:09.080 it was thought that the participation of anarchists 0:22:09.080,0:22:10.900 within the dynamics of the student movement 0:22:10.900,0:22:12.890 – for example in the election leaders, 0:22:12.890,0:22:15.160 participation in voting, 0:22:15.160,0:22:17.160 participation in assemblies, etc – 0:22:17.160,0:22:18.850 was something that did not correspond 0:22:18.850,0:22:21.180 to the principles of the anarchist movement. 0:22:21.180,0:22:23.930 As of 2003, we decided that it was something 0:22:23.930,0:22:25.920 that did not correspond to our current reality, 0:22:25.920,0:22:27.610 that as a libertarian movement 0:22:27.610,0:22:30.880 we had the responsibility to nourish the student movement 0:22:30.880,0:22:32.880 with our political perspective. 0:22:32.880,0:22:35.820 And that if it meant that our comrades 0:22:35.820,0:22:38.000 had to take on representational roles 0:22:38.000,0:22:40.660 in an attempt to to democratize those spaces, 0:22:40.660,0:22:41.650 it had to be done. 0:22:42.820,0:22:44.820 There were different visions. 0:22:44.820,0:22:45.900 On the one hand, 0:22:45.900,0:22:48.460 there were groups that were very, like, platform based, 0:22:48.460,0:22:49.940 and who called themselves anarchists. 0:22:49.940,0:22:51.880 But they were groups that, after all, 0:22:51.880,0:22:54.950 also sought leadership positions. 0:22:55.330,0:22:56.520 And on the other hand, 0:22:56.520,0:22:58.340 there were young people who were looking 0:22:58.340,0:23:00.540 for a much more horizontal organization, 0:23:00.540,0:23:04.760 a much more direct manifestation, or, direct action. 0:23:04.760,0:23:07.620 Beginning with small affinity groups, 0:23:07.620,0:23:11.560 a movement that unites from below. 0:23:11.560,0:23:13.840 I think it served to effectively keep up the pressure. 0:23:13.840,0:23:16.940 So that it wasn’t so easy to impose the direction 0:23:16.940,0:23:19.100 that this movement could take. 0:23:19.100,0:23:21.300 It was already super distorted 0:23:21.300,0:23:24.140 by the filters of the political parties 0:23:24.140,0:23:27.160 that directed the assemblies in some way. 0:23:27.160,0:23:29.270 f we did not resist in some way, 0:23:29.270,0:23:31.300 we were going to let it be much easier 0:23:31.300,0:23:32.340 for them to control things. 0:23:32.340,0:23:33.620 At the end of the day, 0:23:33.620,0:23:37.020 you realized that it served to link you with other people 0:23:37.020,0:23:40.620 who were not even part of your student organizations. 0:23:40.620,0:23:42.620 But who also had their own networks. 0:23:42.620,0:23:45.090 And it allowed you to see what the mistakes were, 0:23:45.090,0:23:47.860 or the things that don't really make sense 0:23:47.860,0:23:50.680 in the spaces in which people were mobilizing. 0:23:51.370,0:23:54.680 I think it's possible to draw several lessons 0:23:54.680,0:23:57.940 from the experience the Chilean student movement 0:23:57.940,0:23:59.840 has accumulated during the last decade and a half. 0:23:59.840,0:24:02.640 One of them has to do with the ability 0:24:02.640,0:24:05.400 of the student movement and its political organizations 0:24:05.400,0:24:08.000 to protect its internal democratic structures. 0:24:08.000,0:24:11.430 That allows students in the country 0:24:11.430,0:24:13.440 to be represented democratically, 0:24:13.440,0:24:16.800 and grants legitimacy to their spaces of representation. 0:24:16.800,0:24:20.560 The other lesson has to do with the need to move 0:24:20.560,0:24:23.160 from economic demands to political demands. 0:24:23.160,0:24:28.300 Questioning not only the way in which neoliberalism 0:24:28.300,0:24:30.480 expresses itself concretely in terms of education, 0:24:30.480,0:24:32.900 but by questioning the foundations 0:24:32.900,0:24:34.800 of neoliberal educational policy. 0:24:34.800,0:24:36.880 And what that means, is questioning, for example, 0:24:36.880,0:24:40.010 the role that banks and the private sector 0:24:40.010,0:24:43.140 play in education to the detriment of the public sector. 0:24:43.140,0:24:45.030 Another lesson has to do with the ability 0:24:45.030,0:24:46.760 of the student movement to exercise, 0:24:46.760,0:24:50.400 or establish ties of solidarity with other social movements. 0:24:50.400,0:24:52.180 During 2011-2012, 0:24:52.180,0:24:55.640 we forged a process of coordination 0:24:55.640,0:24:58.160 and relationship with labour unions, 0:24:58.160,0:25:00.160 with neighbourhood organizations, 0:25:00.160,0:25:02.500 with environmental organizations, 0:25:02.500,0:25:04.860 with organizations that fought for 0:25:04.860,0:25:06.760 and demanded gender equality, 0:25:06.760,0:25:09.000 and with an endless number of other social groups 0:25:09.000,0:25:11.120 within Chilean society 0:25:11.120,0:25:15.680 that share with us a critique of neoliberal society. 0:25:15.680,0:25:17.660 Because that allows their political demand 0:25:17.660,0:25:20.470 not to be exhausted within the educational demand, 0:25:20.470,0:25:22.510 but rather to be projected into a political project 0:25:22.510,0:25:25.180 that overcomes the student struggle, 0:25:25.180,0:25:27.210 and that is ultimately related to 0:25:27.210,0:25:29.380 the struggle against the neoliberal model 0:25:29.380,0:25:31.220 – and therefore to the construction 0:25:31.220,0:25:33.470 of a different political alternative. 0:25:39.360,0:25:41.180 Students that go to school in areas without 0:25:41.180,0:25:42.960 an established radical student movement 0:25:42.960,0:25:45.410 often face structural and political obstacles 0:25:45.410,0:25:47.690 to the types of grassroots organizing required 0:25:47.690,0:25:49.200 to call general strikes, 0:25:49.200,0:25:51.680 or otherwise coordinate mass mobilizations 0:25:51.680,0:25:52.840 of thousands of rowdy youth 0:25:52.840,0:25:54.840 eager to throw down against the cops. 0:25:54.840,0:25:55.890 In so-called Canada, 0:25:55.890,0:25:57.830 student unions outside of Quebec 0:25:57.830,0:26:00.720 are run according to the logic of representative democracy, 0:26:00.720,0:26:03.300 whereby decision-making is heavily concentrated 0:26:03.300,0:26:05.480 in the hands of a small executive body, 0:26:05.480,0:26:07.720 whose members are elected to annual terms. 0:26:07.720,0:26:09.870 These schools also lack institutions 0:26:09.870,0:26:12.400 of popular participation and direct democracy, 0:26:12.400,0:26:13.650 such as the general assemblies 0:26:13.650,0:26:15.590 that proved so crucial to helping to kick off 0:26:15.590,0:26:17.840 the 2012 student strike in Quebec. 0:26:17.840,0:26:19.440 Making matters even worse, 0:26:19.440,0:26:22.280 many of these local student unions are grouped into large, 0:26:22.280,0:26:24.530 reformist student blocks like the CFS, 0:26:24.530,0:26:26.630 or Canadian Federation of Students, 0:26:26.630,0:26:29.040 who are heavily invested in the status quo. 0:26:29.040,0:26:31.410 Each year, the CFS national executive 0:26:31.410,0:26:34.200 collects millions of dollars out of students' tuition fees, 0:26:34.200,0:26:37.220 which they then funnel into harmlessly lobbying politicians 0:26:37.220,0:26:39.320 and paying their own bloated salaries. 0:26:39.320,0:26:40.930 Not only do groups like the CFS 0:26:40.930,0:26:43.750 occupy a space where a potentially revolutionary 0:26:43.750,0:26:45.810 national student federation could exist, 0:26:45.810,0:26:48.180 but they often employ a ruthless mix of lawyers, 0:26:48.180,0:26:49.720 fear-mongering campaigns 0:26:49.720,0:26:52.640 and procedural red tape in order to maintain their control 0:26:52.640,0:26:54.900 and ensure that no radical threats to their position 0:26:54.900,0:26:56.000 are allowed to emerge. 0:26:56.000,0:26:58.040 But resistance has to start somewhere. 0:26:58.040,0:27:00.240 The secret is discovering where to begin. 0:27:01.743,0:27:05.684 These are very transforming times in one's life. 0:27:05.684,0:27:08.244 So it's a time to learn how to act together 0:27:08.244,0:27:09.898 and take control on the world, 0:27:09.898,0:27:11.265 which needs you. 0:27:11.265,0:27:13.639 It's going bad out there. 0:27:13.639,0:27:17.852 And there is such poor political culture. 0:27:17.855,0:27:19.610 And the only way to break that 0:27:19.610,0:27:22.504 is to learn to speak to one another on common grounds 0:27:22.504,0:27:26.203 and find what can spur us towards action. 0:27:26.654,0:27:28.772 There's really a deep interconnection 0:27:28.772,0:27:30.322 between student organizing 0:27:30.322,0:27:33.718 and anti-capitalist and anarchist organizing in Montreal. 0:27:33.720,0:27:35.127 The student movement in Quebec 0:27:35.127,0:27:38.636 has existed and has organized grassroots struggles 0:27:38.636,0:27:41.928 long before student unions were officially recognized. 0:27:41.928,0:27:44.978 And certainly within the student movement, 0:27:44.978,0:27:47.859 these ideas of direct democracy 0:27:47.859,0:27:49.687 – they don't come out of the ether. 0:27:50.612,0:27:51.882 In the coming years, 0:27:51.882,0:27:56.420 we will confront the austerity measures 0:27:56.420,0:27:58.420 of the Fiscal Control Board 0:27:58.420,0:28:00.330 and US Congress. 0:28:00.330,0:28:02.760 But I think that we're stronger now 0:28:02.760,0:28:06.240 because students are more organized. 0:28:07.007,0:28:08.507 I think one of the things, also, 0:28:08.507,0:28:11.312 that anti-capitalists can bring to the student movement 0:28:11.312,0:28:14.051 – and they have brought it, and it's been welcomed, also – 0:28:14.051,0:28:17.155 is this analysis that striking for student issues 0:28:17.155,0:28:18.552 is really important. 0:28:18.552,0:28:21.087 But ultimately, blocking a tuition hike 0:28:21.087,0:28:23.607 isn't going to overthrow society. 0:28:23.607,0:28:26.114 It's not going to overthrow capitalism 0:28:26.114,0:28:28.492 and it's not gonna really solve 0:28:28.492,0:28:31.179 the day-to-day problems that students face. 0:28:31.179,0:28:32.732 What the student movement does, 0:28:32.734,0:28:35.050 by organizing a political struggle, 0:28:35.050,0:28:38.766 is that it exposes the state, and its policies 0:28:38.766,0:28:40.802 and the government for what they really are. 0:28:42.474,0:28:44.960 To be able to defend the right to mobilize, 0:28:44.960,0:28:47.920 we have to be capable of formulating a political discourse 0:28:47.920,0:28:49.780 that allows us to count on 0:28:49.780,0:28:51.080 the substantial support of the people, 0:28:51.080,0:28:53.080 so that our demands are understood. 0:28:53.080,0:28:55.080 So that the tactics utilized 0:28:55.080,0:28:56.700 - be they street battles, 0:28:56.700,0:28:58.090 street demonstrations, 0:28:58.090,0:29:00.640 or university building occupations, 0:29:00.640,0:29:02.780 is understood by the citizens. 0:29:02.780,0:29:04.780 To achieve that, it's important to 0:29:04.780,0:29:06.780 publicize our objectives. 0:29:06.780,0:29:10.340 To publish videos explaining why we are mobilizing 0:29:10.340,0:29:13.320 - the reasons why we are mobilizing - 0:29:13.320,0:29:16.300 and connect the demands of the students 0:29:16.300,0:29:20.700 with the hardships that workers endure every day. 0:29:23.200,0:29:25.870 If we don't fight to transform our country, 0:29:25.870,0:29:28.660 we won't be able to fight for a real education. 0:29:28.880,0:29:30.880 The independence of Puerto Rico would be 0:29:30.880,0:29:33.220 one aspect of our success. 0:29:33.220,0:29:35.220 Quality public education is 0:29:35.220,0:29:37.220 one aspect of our struggle. 0:29:37.220,0:29:39.220 The education of the street is 0:29:39.220,0:29:41.220 another aspect of our struggle. 0:29:41.220,0:29:43.690 I can say that many of the comrades who 0:29:43.690,0:29:46.940 were involved in the 2010-11 strike, 0:29:46.940,0:29:48.940 and the one in 2017, 0:29:48.940,0:29:50.158 understood that. 0:29:50.158,0:29:52.063 That's why they are organizing alternative projects. 0:29:52.660,0:29:54.660 New organizations emerge 0:29:54.660,0:29:58.230 that were not tied to past political groups. 0:29:58.230,0:30:00.860 These new organizations emerge 0:30:00.860,0:30:03.820 to meet the needs of the students. 0:30:05.720,0:30:08.980 Give priority to grassroots organizing more than 0:30:08.980,0:30:12.120 groups that direct from the top. 0:30:12.120,0:30:19.060 Otherwise it becomes an imaginary mobilization. 0:30:20.501,0:30:22.928 One of the big stumbling blocks, I think, 0:30:22.928,0:30:25.991 that has to be broken down elsewhere 0:30:25.991,0:30:28.787 is that representative student democracy 0:30:28.787,0:30:31.911 is really just a breeding ground for politicians. 0:30:31.911,0:30:35.232 And we know, like, what politicians are about. 0:30:35.232,0:30:37.822 And they're not about defending students 0:30:37.822,0:30:39.513 and defending student issues. 0:30:40.820,0:30:42.498 It's hard to bring a new student union 0:30:42.498,0:30:46.537 that was used to the more lobbying sphere, 0:30:46.537,0:30:48.322 to a more grassroots organizing. 0:30:48.322,0:30:50.016 Because you have to organize. 0:30:50.016,0:30:51.531 You have to mobilize people. 0:30:51.531,0:30:53.749 It's a lot of work, but it's also very rewarding. 0:30:53.749,0:30:55.811 You talk to people, you politicize them, 0:30:55.811,0:30:58.533 and you have the impression you're really changing things. 0:30:58.533,0:31:00.823 This mindset is very different from 0:31:00.823,0:31:04.548 the other big student federations in Canada and Quebec 0:31:04.548,0:31:06.512 that tends to see the government as, 0:31:06.512,0:31:10.052 not an ally, but something that can be reasoned with. 0:31:10.823,0:31:15.129 We've heard about how CFS has used legal devices 0:31:15.129,0:31:17.111 and lawyers and courts 0:31:17.111,0:31:20.833 to try and keep student unions under control. 0:31:20.836,0:31:23.054 But I think it's becoming more and more clear 0:31:23.054,0:31:27.162 to students across Canada that the CFS is really 0:31:27.162,0:31:30.114 more about control and money 0:31:30.114,0:31:32.463 than actual student organizing. 0:31:33.894,0:31:35.454 Organizing with the people, 0:31:35.454,0:31:37.643 and having a broad movement 0:31:37.643,0:31:39.430 is a really strong thing. 0:31:39.430,0:31:41.697 It might sound cheesy, 0:31:41.697,0:31:46.324 but I truly believe that it can be a gateway 0:31:46.324,0:31:48.188 for better friendships, 0:31:48.188,0:31:49.852 deeper relationships 0:31:49.852,0:31:52.292 with the people you share your life with, 0:31:52.292,0:31:55.621 your spaces with... your neighbourhood with. 0:31:56.278,0:31:59.340 It was the massive student movement, 0:31:59.340,0:32:02.380 plus the support of the people for our political demands 0:32:02.380,0:32:05.240 that allowed us to confront the repression 0:32:05.240,0:32:07.740 with a violence of self-defense 0:32:07.740,0:32:09.630 that was legitimized 0:32:09.630,0:32:12.720 by a large group of the population. 0:32:13.980,0:32:16.440 Police and state repression 0:32:16.440,0:32:19.140 transformed us. 0:32:19.140,0:32:21.140 It radicalized us. 0:32:21.140,0:32:23.840 Changing us from student fighters 0:32:23.840,0:32:25.465 into street fighters. 0:32:25.465,0:32:26.330 Do it! 0:32:26.330,0:32:28.644 You guys are what's coming. 0:32:34.017,0:32:35.607 As the global political climate 0:32:35.607,0:32:38.030 continues to accelerate from bad to worse, 0:32:38.030,0:32:39.460 prospects for our collective future 0:32:39.460,0:32:40.910 are looking pretty bleak. 0:32:40.910,0:32:42.790 Today's generations are faced 0:32:42.790,0:32:45.810 with a myriad of seemingly intractable problems, 0:32:45.810,0:32:47.960 rooted in an increasingly authoritarian 0:32:47.960,0:32:50.360 and repressive international capitalist regime, 0:32:50.360,0:32:52.090 and whose dire consequences 0:32:52.090,0:32:53.970 pose existential threats to the planet 0:32:53.970,0:32:55.600 and even humanity itself. 0:32:55.600,0:32:57.380 Many of the radicals of '68 0:32:57.380,0:33:00.250 have now been incorporated into the very systems of control 0:33:00.250,0:33:01.680 they once rose up to oppose. 0:33:01.680,0:33:03.640 If we hope to alter the dangerous trajectory 0:33:03.640,0:33:04.980 we now find ourselves on, 0:33:04.980,0:33:07.530 it is vital that a new generation of revolutionaries 0:33:07.530,0:33:09.580 rise up to address these challenges head-on. 0:33:09.580,0:33:11.410 So at this point, we’d like to remind you 0:33:11.410,0:33:13.440 that Trouble is intended to be watched in groups, 0:33:13.440,0:33:14.860 and to be used as a resource 0:33:14.860,0:33:17.320 to promote discussion and collective organizing. 0:33:17.320,0:33:19.120 Are you a student that's interested in carrying out 0:33:19.120,0:33:21.190 revolutionary anti-capitalist organizing 0:33:21.190,0:33:23.130 on your university or college campus, 0:33:23.130,0:33:24.360 or even in your high school? 0:33:24.360,0:33:26.190 Consider getting together with some comrades, 0:33:26.190,0:33:27.960 organizing a screening of this film, 0:33:27.960,0:33:30.560 and discussing a strategy for where you might get started. 0:33:30.560,0:33:32.830 Interested in running regular screenings of Trouble 0:33:32.830,0:33:35.190 at your campus, infoshop, community center, 0:33:35.190,0:33:36.760 or even just at home with friends? 0:33:36.760,0:33:38.020 Become a Trouble-Maker! 0:33:38.020,0:33:39.400 For 10 bucks a month, 0:33:39.400,0:33:41.360 we’ll hook you up with an advanced copy of the show, 0:33:41.360,0:33:43.730 and a screening kit featuring additional resources 0:33:43.730,0:33:46.160 and some questions you can use to get a discussion going. 0:33:46.160,0:33:49.000 If you can’t afford to support us financially, no worries! 0:33:49.000,0:33:50.440 You can stream and/or download 0:33:50.440,0:33:52.390 all our content for free off our website: 0:33:54.450,0:33:56.680 If you’ve got any suggestions for show topics, 0:33:56.680,0:33:58.380 or just want to get in touch, 0:33:58.380,0:34:01.640 drop us a line at trouble@sub.media. 0:34:01.640,0:34:02.640 We're stoked to announce 0:34:02.640,0:34:03.870 that we reached our fundraising goals 0:34:03.870,0:34:05.040 for the upcoming year, 0:34:05.040,0:34:07.520 meaning that we've been able to grow the subMedia team. 0:34:07.520,0:34:08.510 The next couple of months 0:34:08.510,0:34:10.040 will be a bit of an adjustment period, 0:34:10.040,0:34:11.240 but you can all look forward 0:34:11.240,0:34:13.250 to Stim's return with a brand new show 0:34:13.250,0:34:15.360 sometime in the not-too-distant future, 0:34:15.360,0:34:17.550 as well as an increased output of videos 0:34:17.550,0:34:19.440 throughout 2018 and beyond. 0:34:19.440,0:34:21.000 We're really excited about it, 0:34:21.000,0:34:22.110 and wanna give a big shout-out 0:34:22.110,0:34:24.080 to all those who kicked in to make it possible. 0:34:24.080,0:34:26.269 Stay tuned for part two of this series next month, 0:34:26.269,0:34:28.179 as we take a closer look at another batch 0:34:28.179,0:34:29.679 of student movements from around the globe. 0:34:29.679,0:34:31.600 This episode would not have been possible 0:34:31.600,0:34:34.280 without the generous support of Josh and Christian. 0:34:34.280,0:34:36.360 Now get out there... and make some trouble!