Comments on: Yes, it is Cairo that’s come to Montreal

By: Ruth

Ruth — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:44:12 +0000

Nizo,

Good analysis. You need to reactivate your blog! I miss your informative yet funny voice! I learned and laughed when I visited your blog.

By: delia ruhe

delia ruhe — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:13:39 +0000

Don’t take Rex Murphy too seriously. Canadians don’t. He’s something of a joke — an entertaining one who gets 5 minutes a week on CBC television to lighten up the mood following a deeply serious analysis of political issues featuring 3 or 4 of Canada’s most astute analysts.

By: Dimi Reider

Dimi Reider — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:03:55 +0000

Nizo – first off welcome, I’m quite the fan of your own blog Second – you’re right, of course, that there are vast differences between the situation and that the resolutions that these processes might eventually arrive it will be different. In some places it’ll be internal reform, in others, very possibly Quebec, secession, in some places – maybe both (some noises coming from the Kurdish direction in Syria spring to mind, although an actual secession there right now appears unlikely). But from what I can pick up from the distance and from conversations with Quebecois friends, I still think that the four components valid in many other venues of the Spring are valid in Montreal: 1. A young generation increasingly alienated from the ruling system 2. Realisation it doesn’t have to be that way 3. Direct and powerful inspiration from young people in other country’s who’ve realised the same and acted on it, in a largely non-partisan manner. I could be wrong, but it still seems all are closely related, even if the desired outcomes are different in many ways.

By: Nizo

Nizo — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:47:08 +0000

Palestinian and Montrealer (for 20 years now) and I tell you that it’s not Cairo that came to Montreal. Cairo could have been the catalyst, but what’s going on here has deeper roots.

Access to higher education for the Quebecois (French-Canadians) has been one of the major accomplishments of the Quiet Revolution. Higher education in Quebec was previously an Anglo privilege. This is why when Quebec premier Jean Charest increased tuition he touched a raw nerve and provoked a very particular segment of the population.

In the same vein, the protests (which I get to watch every day because of where I live and work) have a very strong separatist flavour. A Bush-like right wing government in Ottawa has helped alienate a large contingent of Quebec’s population which is now expressing itself.

Canada’s dollar, strong because of Albertan oil has killed off the manufacturing sector in Quebec (and Ontario). While Alberta is sitting pretty and booming, Quebec is going through a rough patch and many of these kids will likely have to leave the province for jobs.

This is merely the surface. It’s a complex situation which you (inadvertently/carelessly) simplified when you lumped everyone in the same boat:

“Quebec, Wall Street, London, Tel Aviv, Madrid, Cairo, Tunisia, Syria, Bahrain are all part of the same Spring”

By: Lise Ravary

Lise Ravary — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:50:56 +0000

How can one compare the sufferings of Egypt, Syria, Bahrain to a university fees hike representing 50 cents a day in a place where tuition fees are already the lowest in the entire continent !

By: Dimi Reider

Dimi Reider — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:53:23 +0000

Cheers andrea – that came out a bit muddled, but I actually said he’s a conservative using a pseudo-liberal argument. Although I”m sure he thinks of himself as quite enlightened and forward-thinking.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:50:32 +0000

Good piece, Dimi. However, it’s a stretch to call Rex Murphy a liberal. He’s more of an equal opportunity hater and snob. He applauded the protester in Tahrir Square, not out of genuine concern, but to add a patina of liberalism to cover his reactionary heart.

By: XYZ

XYZ — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:27:15 +0000

Philos-
What sort of government do you recommend for the Egyptians and everyone else, if not “liberal capitalist democracy”?

By: harvey stein

harvey stein — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 09:02:49 +0000

@Caden: if you work in employ of the devil for long enough, your permanent address is Hell…..

More generally: No two phenomena are identical! But there is clearly a morphic resonance happening around the world, due in large part to instant communication, TV, the internet, etc. People SEE what is possible, that there are others in distant and different cultures who are taking the future in their own hands, and they want to too.

The status quos are of course not identical though. No one knows exactly how to dismantle the Occupation, let alone capitalism. But the democratic instinct (the answer will become known when XXXX people join forces to find it) is expressing itself. It’s crowdsourcing, and it’s new to the 21st century.

One more bit: just as in any successful social change movement (Civil Rights, feminism), real change only happens when coalitions across various groups happen. With the Occupation, I think if enough Israelis made common cause with enough West Bank Palestinians, with mass West Bank non-violent demonstrations that were at least 5-10% Israelis, shit would happen. Conversely, if coalitions don’t happen (social change people in Israel terrified of “alienating the masses” by not connecting with anti-Occupation people), nada…..

By: Kolumn9

Kolumn9 — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 05:56:37 +0000

There is no possible form of government that doesn’t exercise some form of repression. Are then any and all protests against any government the same as Tahrir? That is a pretty low bar.