The 2012 Quebec Student Protests (for which an adequate informational summary may be obtained on Wikipedia) are in essence an event reminiscient of 1960s social unrest. There is no rational connection between the dominant activities of these “protestors” and the facts of reality.

Consider the following:

• Quebec students pay the lowest levels of tuition in North America.
• the key issue in the protests is a tuition fee increase to be phased in over a period of time.
• like all welfare states, education costs in Quebec and the rest of Canada are subsidized in excess of 50 percent by taxpayers.
• the “protests” have been going on for 3 months.
• the student leaders show no inclination to negotiate; they seem to be demanding totally “free” education in some instances.
• a government minister responsible for the education portfolio has resigned in apparent exasperation.
• the protests have ended in violence on many occasions.
• there has been property damage and more than a little inconvenience caused to the general population.
• students who want to continue attending classes—a majority it seems—have been disrupted in classrooms by the “protestors” in a wave of intimidating tactics.
• student spokespersons have intimated that people may be hurt or killed if the government continues in recent efforts to get control of the demonstrations.
• the “protestors” are a minority of the student body.
• the “protestors” have been supplemented in their efforts with financial resources and the services of professional activists, according to some coverage.
• a significant number of the protestors have been wearing masks, and in some instances little else, in apparent efforts to hide their identity.

There is more than this list reveals of course. A legitimate case for protest has not been made however, since no student spokesperson has come forward with a reasoned argument. The preferred action is to demonstrate, trespass, intimidate, riot, cause damage and bring force to bear on anyone who gets in the way.

This is the method of felons, convicted or not, rather than serious students. They should be treated as such and arrested with as peaceful a means as is possible in the riotous circumstances. I might have more respect for these protestors if they arranged for a venue rental to make their case to anyone who wanted to listen or debate them.

Felons however, are an impediment to reasoned argument as they raise their clenched fists in our faces.

©Copyright 2012 Edward Podritske