When you can’t send the kids to their rooms without dessert
When you have thousands of protesters, you can’t act like a parent who has had enough. The threat that you will be sent to your room without dessert isn’t enough. Let’s look at some of the odd reactions we are getting, here in Quebec.
In this city, police have warned marchers that unless they announce the “trajectory” of any given demonstration, police escorts will no longer be provided. In paraphrase: “If you want to go play in the traffic, then do so”.
In Montreal, the Grand Prix circus is about to begin, and the “free opening day” has been cancelled. I guess the price was right.
Wearing a square of cloth allows one to join the section of protest that best fits personal belief. Red, for the students against the tuition hike. Green, for those in favour. White, in some sort of solidarity. The colour that many seek is Brown. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion about the symbolism.
Talks are on hold, one of the trimumvirate of students leaders has retired and we’re heading into a long (hopefully hot) summer of evening pan banging. Come late August, schools will reopen, little progress will be made, and the youth will join the previous generations who have found government to be a poor partner for any sort of discussion.
At least we’re not like Toronto, with flooding in the train station and shooting in the food court. I admit, the shooting was a one in a million (or is it now two million?) incident.
Or like Montreal, with someone who wants to be a butcher. In passing, authorities now believe the “person of interest” is in France. So much for airport security.
