Via The Globe and Mail, a right-wing newspaper, an editorial that supports Chilean student protesters—as a way to criticize Canadian protesters: Quebec student protesters should look to Chile for a little perspective. Excerpt:
What is the fight in Chile about? The students demand wider access to education as a means of creating a more meritocratic society. What is the fight in Quebec about? A group of students refuses to contribute a small extra share to their own education – though wide access isn’t threatened. It is a fight over a symbol.
The Quebec government’s planned increase of $325 a year for five years, later amended to $219 a year for seven years, is neither large enough to affect access nor – let’s face it – to give a substantial boost to university revenues. The fight in Chile is over real access and equity.
Now, talks have collapsed between the Quebec government and students. The students insist that their four-month “strike” has won them the right to have their own way. Quebec students should look to Chile for a little perspective.
The editorial fails to mention the support Chilean students have given to those in Quebec.
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