Education is not something that should be bought, said Canadian student activist Guillaume Legault, who earlier this year led a strike of hundreds of thousands of students who took to Quebec's streets to protest a hike in college tuition. Legault spoke about these efforts and encouraged students to take action on social issues Tuesday night in Salomon 001.
"People from all different classes, all different situations and origins were there, and it was beautiful to see the diversity of people getting involved," Legault said of the strike.
The struggle began when the Quebec government warned student activist groups of an upcoming bill that would lift regulations on tuition increases, allowing a 70 percent rise in tuition. The government offered to discuss the terms of the bill, but when the student groups realized the government was not going to listen to their complaints a large demonstration began outside, Legault said.
"We decided to get organized on a national level," Legault said. "We decided to focus on what we shared, and these were the student issues."
Legault's group holds the belief that "education is not a commodity - it's supposed to be for the people," he said. This ideology lies behind their objection to the tuition hikes and current fight for universal free higher education, he said.
As the campaign progressed, Legault and his fellow activists began to run workshops and use the Internet, videos and posters to maximize student involvement. As the year went on, CLASSE, the now-formed coalition of various student activist groups against tuition hikes, grew vastly in number.
"The government's response was brutal and arrogant," Legault said. "It convinced lots of people a student strike was the only option." Eventually, 105,000 of the 400,000 college students in Quebec were members, he said.
The strikers had a major victory when a new government was elected earlier this year and revoked the bill responsible for the tuition hike. Legault said he still hopes to push toward free higher education, and he will meet with his fellow activists this Saturday to discuss the future for his group.
"I really hope people realize it's possible to do something," Legault said. "If you don't fight, you're never going to win."
