Students and Joe Public seeing eye-to-eye?

The demonstrations (more recently tinged by violence) by students in Quebec over tuition fee hikes invoked by the Charest government is an interesting phenomenon. Irrespective of one's tendency to support one side or the other, the thing that strikes us as interesting is that for once, Canadians, albeit primarily Quebecers, are standing up and saying "we aren't going to take it anymore!" For sure Quebec has been more associated with political unrest than most other provinces, and also for sure, there are more issues at stake here than just the fee hikes, per se. It might be as much to do with the socioeconomic situation generally, where young people are feeling like they now graduate into a world that has little to offer them, particularly outside the few key subject areas where a degree is a passport to a job. But, still. 

It has always amazed us how people accept ever-higher taxation rates, municipal taxes doubling over five years (downtown Montreal), the Mayor introducing never-ending new charges for living in the city, even when it is to cover all the traffic that drives in each day, from outside the city, or admission of fixing of gas prices on the island, etc. - but apart from an irate driver or two at a gas station on the early evening news complaining, the matter evaporates. Canadians are so nice that it is somehow not seen as acceptable to scream out one's opposition? Suck it up, and get on with it, we have no choice. In places like even the UK, there would be massive demonstrations and clashes with the police over such never-ending screwing of Joe Public. 

These people, the government included, or especially, are democratically elected, by us, and strictly, they are answerable to Joe Public: he/she who pays for their cushy little jobs, their bigger pied-a-terres and their huge expense accounts. It is not because they were elected two years ago that we somehow lose the right to make them answerable to us, because they still work for us. Theoretically. So, we have to say that we think that it is a really good thing that the students stood up for their rights, and even if the outcome is an inevitable one, it will be on the record that they screamed out their disapproval, collectively. Way to go, people!

As a footnote, it goes without saying that once violence did tinge the proceedings, this is where the line has to be drawn. The credibility and underlying reasons for demonstration are undermined by the introduction of violence, and support begins to drain away. It must be kept in perspective, especially as this is not some primitive country where basic human rights, starvation, or genocide are the main issue or where crimes against humanity are being committed. It is Canada, and it is over being asked to pay more to attend a great university. Demonstration, yes, violence, no. There is no excuse for it. But there is a perfect excuse to stand up and let elected officials know they do in the end answer to Joe Public, or should.  EU