by GEORGINA ALONSO
Students in Quebec have been on strike for over three months in response to the provincial government’s decision to raise tuition fees by seventy-five per cent, reflecting a lack of support for low- and middle-income families and students. In the wake of the 2008 economic crisis, the Quebec government, along with governments around the world, is putting the politics of austerity above public services and thereby further indebting the poor and future generations. Students and their supporters in various parts of the world are flexing their democratic muscles in opposition to government priorities that penalize the most vulnerable populations—such as students—in the name of austerity.
Conservatives everywhere have responded with the same condescending rhetoric. In Chile, President Sebastián Piñera has repeatedly reminded angry students that “Nothing is free in this life. Someone has to pay.” In Quebec, students are reminded of the province’s massive debt. It is not, however, the students who are responsible for the global economic crisis of 2008. It is not the students who run the banks, corporations, or governments that have wasted taxpayer money and failed the majority of citizens for the benefit of the few. Why should students be the ones who bear the economic burden rather than those responsible?
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(Thanks to Feroz Mehdi)