Student Commission, YCL-LJC

March, 2015

The Young Communist League of Canada stands in solidarity with all students struggling for free, accessible, emancipatory education and against the commodification of education. This March will see important struggles develop across Canada and we call on all students to use this opportunity to build a united and militant student movement.

Student debt and tuition fees continue to rise across the country as governments across Canada ramp up their attacks on public post-secondary education. This is directly related to the capitalist pursuit to make education a commodity designed to produce an exploitable and profitable workforce. Simply put, big business and their governments have decided they are paying too much for education, and must cut funding and better integrate education with the labour market. This means a multi-tiered, inaccessible, privatized system, corporatization of campuses, and re-framing curriculum to be tailored to employer’s interests.

However, students are fighting back! Students in Quebec are organizing towards large-scale actions to take place later this month against cuts to education and the broader austerity attacks of the Couillard Liberal government. Strike votes are occurring across Quebec leading up to the end of March when many student unions are set to go on strike. Public sector workers, women’s groups, and environmentalists are also fighting back and are allies of students.

There has also been an upsurge in student action in English-speaking Canada! Some of the diverse actions that have taken place recently are:

• Students at UOIT are organizing a walkout on March 24.
• Ryerson students are organizing an alternative budget for a freeze in tuition fees, after a ‘tent city’ occupation in November .
• Students in Nova Scotia mobilized for day of action through the Canadian Federation of Students in January to reduce tuition fees.
• Students are fighting against budget cuts at the University of Guelph and the University of Manitoba.
• The “I Am A Student” Movement at UBC is mobilizing against increases in international tuition fees and residence fees.
• The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario has called for student actions during the month of March, with some student unions such as York, Ryerson and Carleton participating in actions targeting Boards of Governors intent on increasing tuition fees.
• There has also been a call for a Pan-Canadian Day of Action on March 24th in solidarity with Quebec students, many of whom will be on strike at the same time. Local student activists have picked up this call, inspired by student organizing in Quebec.

The YCL-LJC stands in solidarity with students organizing actions in March. We see an urgent need to organize across nations within Canada, with English-Canada standing in solidarity with Quebec actions. We need to ensure there is a united fightback against governments.

We support the strategy of organizing mobilization committees across Canada. The Quebec student strike taught us that the student movement needs meaningful democratic participation and the empowerment of all students. Wherever possible student unions can play a very important role in the formation of these committees. These committees can take a variety of forms, but must involve much more participation than just a student union executive. On campuses where the student union is dominated by the right-wing and is not independent from the university, mobilization committees can also be formed effectively. Individual student activists, campus labour unions, and progressive student groups can unite to build student actions, which focus on mobilizing broader groups of students through campaigns, general meetings, direct actions, rallies, and eventually strikes.

Student struggle in English-speaking Canada is currently mostly limited to local actions. However, in order to win we need renewal at the base of the student movement through bigger and broader local actions and unity in action across campuses. Mobilization committees and grassroots activists have a role to play in strengthening the student movement through breaking out of a defensive ‘bunker mentality’, which has developed from years of government assaults on post-secondary education and inner-movement attacks from right-wing students. Progressive activists in the Canadian Federation Students and outside should explore united actions, organizational formations and left coalitions that build on this vision of pushing a combative, united, student movement towards a higher level of mobilization. Part of the way forward is a Canadian Federation of Students that provides bold political leadership and that develops an escalating action plan including provincial and cross-Canada days of action.

Struggles internationally show that students have a role to play in building our collective struggle against austerity and ultimately, for socialism. Chilean students have recently won the battle for free education in their country, from years of student struggle. We can do this too! We can all gain strength from realizing our collective potential as the student movement continues to heat up and we win victories in Quebec and the rest of Canada.