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Around the world in over a hundred different communities, thousands of protesters have been taking to the streets every night over the past week, in actions they have called the \u201cCasseroles Protests.\u201d Activists are banging pots and pans in solidarity with student strikers in Quebec Province, Canada. Up until recently, the Quebec student movement was being minimally reported in the news, and most activists on the outside were relegated to being on-lookers. The Casseroles protesters, in expressing their solidarity, are pinning red felt squares to their shirts and jackets, as a visible expression of their support of the Quebec movement known as the Red Square movement. <\/p>\nThe Quebec student strike began earlier this year, when a number of student associations led a strike over proposed tuition hikes by the government. The hikes would amount to a 75% increase in existing fees over 5 years, and are being justified by the government as necessary to closing the province\u2019s budget gap. Hundreds of thousands of students have been on strike in Montreal since March, leading to the cancellation of some classes and an early end to the semester at Universitit\u00e9 du Montr\u00e9al, one of the largest universities in Canada. <\/p>\n
In late May, students upped the ante, clanging pots and pans on the streets of Montreal, in actions reminiscent of Chilean anti-government protests from the 1970s and 80s. <\/p>\n
GUEST: Derrick O\u2019Keefe is an activist, author and editor of rabble.ca, Canada’s leading source of progressive news and analysis. <\/em><\/p>\n