Organize to strike, fight to win! Quebec's 2012 student strike

In February 2012, students in Quebec launched an unlimited general strike to fight back against a 75% hike in university tuition fees. Contrary to the expectations of many, the strike movement lasted more than six months, morphing into one of the largest periods of social unrest the province had ever seen.

In the global context of the commodification of education, youth and students everywhere are becoming increasingly conscious of the need to organize as a means to defend education as a social right. This text was written in the aftermath of the strike by a few students who were involved in various official and unofficial capacities during the strike and the months and years leading up to it.

Having travelled outside of the province to speak to students and activists about the strike, some of us were struck by the need for deeper analysis as well as practical pointers for those wishing to draw inspiration for their own struggles.

This pamphlet, which addresses the history of the 2012 Quebec student strike, as well as many related topics, is our humble attempt to contribute to the efforts of those wanting to build democratic and combative social movements, with a strong potential to win.

Originally posted at www.studentstrike.net

How we won the tuition fight is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.