The events of recent weeks belie a larger problem. I'm not at all sure that the students in Quebec really know why they are marching. It resembles a tantrum by a toddler that escalates beyond an attempts at reason. A total meltdown. The students have come off as big winners. Tuition increases have been stretched out beyond the time when they are in school and bursaries have been increased so that most will not leave university with crippling debt. They have claimed the scalp of a Quebec cabinet minister. They only place they are not winners are with the public where only about 12% of whom support the students. So, what's it all about?
A panelist on a recent CBC newscast may have put her finger right on the problem. The protestors no longer trust parliament or any other elected body to act in their interests. The protestors have been joined by anarchists, 1 percenters, occupy (fill in the blank) and other social malcontents to demonstrate that they believe that the whole system is rigged against them. From corrupt politicians in Quebec (and I suspect elsewhere) to corrupt corporations in Quebec (Lavalin) to the inability of young people who do graduate to get any kind of meaningful job, the list of grievances are long and the list of answers are short. While in previous generations the grievances may have been just as germane, the frustration with the establishment and recent successes in empowerment are relatively new. Someone has suggested that these students have roots in the Arab spring.
I believe that it all goes back to empowerment. Even 10 years ago the average citizen had no easy venue to vent his or her anger or frustration. The best one could do was write a letter to the editor. Today, a Facebook page can generate 100,000 signatures in days. A flash mob can be generated in hours. Everyone can have his or her say and each say is equal to every other say. The ultimate in democratization. When I was in university it was taken as a given the university students were going to be socially conscious or even radical but given time, a good job and a stake in society these same students would migrate to a more centrist political position. The closest we came to the current demonstrations were in opposition to the Vietnam war where it was clear the politicians had lied to the electorate. Flower children were a response to over materialism but the movement never went mainstream. Today's social media allows the socially conscious young to have a platform and a kind of center of operations that will allow for serious social action.
There are two other curios observations. Notwithstanding the social activism, young adults do not, generally, vote in any kind of election whether it be civic, provincial or federal. Also, the social activism has not spread to other cities. No one is marching in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary or Vancouver. The seed has not germinated in these other cities. Students are generally stoic about their college tuition level. The situation in Quebec is symbiotic. Once the core objection took to the streets the others who believe that they have serious social issues piled on. The others not associated with the student movement attracted most of the attention by breaking windows and torching cars. It took some time before the student movement and the other malcontents joined forces. What is to be learned is that time is the enemy of political inaction.
Today's political and social environment for young people is almost toxic. Tens of thousands of civil servants are getting their pink slip, the unemployment rate among young adults is unacceptably high, older workers need to keep working to make ends meet thereby not creating any space for new hires and the world economy is generally in a mess. Add to this a cadre of 25-30 year olds who are still living in his or her parent's basement and you have a pretty dismal picture of what it is to be a young adult. Our granddaughter graduated near top of her class as a teacher and has no, repeat no, prospects of employment in her field. It is not unreasonable to expect that these grievances and frustrations will not bubble to the top in the form of social action. The only surprise is that it's not come sooner.
Berne.
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