Three teachers at the CSDM have taken off religious symbols to work.
Update: The education minister says this action proves Bill 21 is a good law.
Updates from September, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
At Jean-Talon station the orange line platform is accessible via elevator, but the station is still waiting for elevators to the blue line. The construction boom here has apparently meant that the hardware they need is back-ordered.
The STM also announced that they’ve been able to reopen Jean-Talon Street to traffic although the nearby dig continues to replace the waterproofing membrane and other measures to reinforce the station.
-
Kate
Municipal judge Gaétan Plouffe threw out 264 charges on Friday because they were delayed and mostly handed out to homeless people who couldn’t pay the fines anyway.
-
Kate
School boards, as well as Concordia and Dawson, probably more to come, will be cancelling classes September 27 for the climate protest.
The rallying point is the Cartier monument at noon. Has anyone heard yet if it’s to be a march, and if so, what the endpoint is?
SMD
It will be a march, but the organizers are planning an XR disruption (probably blocking a major road, like last time) so they aren’t sharing the itinerary.
Kate
Thank you, SMD. (I’m relieved. I was getting annoyed with myself for not being able to find that piece of information anywhere.)
Faiz Imam
Ya know, I first heard a presentation by an Extinction Rebellion person only a couple months ago. I was taken aback by their focus on disruptive direct action.
But they are all over the news these days and I can’t help but agree.
We seem to have almost unanimous agreement that small measured changes in technology will solve this problem without anyone making any major sacrifices. But that’s delusional, and Its good that those folks are out there making a louder point.
Chris
“We seem to have almost unanimous agreement that small measured changes in technology will solve this problem without anyone making any major sacrifices.” We do? That’s the exact opposite of the consensus I’m aware of.
Su
Faiz, It is my understanding that officially, Extinction Rebellion uses Civil Disobedience . Direct Action is not the same thing.
Michael Black
The terms are often used interchangeably, so it’s go’s hard to follow.
If it’s just hit and run disruption, I woukdn’t call it civil disobedience. Though there was the time in October 1979 when the Clamshell Alliance decided to call it “direct action” and it seemed like an escalation. Annie said afterwards that the woman she was with got her head bashed. And while there was a call later to return to Seabrook, nothing much happened there afterwards, while previously Seabrook had been the model for civil disobedience at nuclear power plants.
Most people don’t understand civil disobedience. They think of it as firce, when really it’s about changing people’s minds. Gandhi didn’t fast as a threat, he wanted people to know how serious he was. The Montgomery Bus Boycott wasn’t about disruption, people just stopped using the bus, either walking or carpooling. The Freedom Rides were about changing the law, either they’d have no trouble or being arrested would show the world the reality of segregation.
The students in 2012 weren’t prepared for arrest, they wanted to be loud and inconvenient. And when they did get arrested, for being disruptive, they got lost in side issues about “right to protest”.
One mistake is to decide the end justifies the means. That happened during the anti Vietnam era, going as far as the Weathermen bombings. That was force, rather than trying to convince people.
Other than the Vancouver Five with the bombing at Litton in Toronto, the nuclear disarmament movement forty years ago wasn’t violent or disruptive. Nobody talked about how it was so important that anything was acceptable. Causes come and go, all want to believe that their cause is the most important thing. But it’s through other means that that us conveyed. Being disruptive doesn’t explain how important this is, it just annoys peop!e.
There was a story at the CBC this week about young women making a pledge to not have children. Time will tell, but that seems to convey something more than blocking traffic.
Michael
Tee Owe
Michael – that’s very insightful – thank you!
Meezly
According to: https://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/counterculture/civildisobedience/disobedience.html
“Advocates of civil disobedience argue that small crimes, such as the disruption of roads and public spaces, are justified when they are against far greater crimes such as massive environmental damage or war.”
Disruption is a form of civil disobedience, which is why they are indeed used interchangeably. I’m learning this myself as I observe the Hong Kong protests this past year, which completely relied on disruption (of major roads, public spaces, airports) to force the authorities to meet their original demand, which was to withdraw a proposal that would extradite dissidents to mainland China. For them, the right to protest is not a side issue – they know firsthand how fragile and valuable democratic rights are. Perhaps they seem desperate to hold onto what little rights they have in their so-called two systems.
The ends justify the means can go both ways for each ‘side’. The HK authorities were prepared to use any means necessary to dampen the protests, which had the opposite effect and further escalated the situation (to put it mildly).
-
Kate
A plume of thick black smoke rose from a tire fire in the Plateau Tuesday afternoon.
-
Kate
Well, he’s losing it. Ensemble’s Lionel Perez claimed Tuesday that traffic congestion is a deliberate ploy by the Plante administration to make the roads inhospitable to drivers. Even TVA here rounds off the story by noting the constantly rising number of cars in Quebec, and how many of them are driving around Montreal.
qatzelok
There was a huge line-up in front of the Diperie (designer ice cream) in the Village all summer. This was obviously a plot by local fruit and vegetable vendors to get us to eat more fiber and vitamins.
YUL514
It is indirectly deliberate, there are a lot of new lights where cars don’t have an opportunity to turn left or right on busy streets because there’s no flashing green and no stationary hand to stop pedestrians from crossing. What occurs is more congestion, call it deliberate, conspiracy, bad planning, all I know is it’s real. This will lead to frustrated drivers and an increase in accidents. It doesn’t make sense that only one car can turn left/right per light sequence.
The irony for PM is that this causes more congestion and pollution from idling cars, something they want to alleviate.
Faiz Imam
We are just short of half way through PM and plante’s 4 year mandate, and Perez has done absolutely nothing of substance in opposition. It’s all manufactured controversy and minor annoyances.
I guess its the best we can hope for. This lack of any credible opposition leadership means there is actual hope that PM can win again and have a lasting impact of the city.
Spi
Well even when Coderre was the mayor, the most credible opposition were the borough Mayors, not the opposition party, but now that the central neighborhoods are all under one party who’s left to raise their voice? The mayors of Saint-Laurent, Anjou, Lachine?
Perez is stretching it by saying it’s a deliberate ploy, but I don’t think it would be unfair to say that there aren’t a lot of measures to mitigate the situation.
Kate
Spi, actually there are. The city has a mobility squad working on keeping traffic flowing and if that report is correct it’s doing good work.
And don’t forget, a lot of the blockages are not created by the city. Between the whole Turcot thing, the Pie‑IX bus lane and the REM construction sites, which are Quebec’s babies, sites like Bishop Street and the excavations around Jean-Talon metro, which are the STM’s, and countless private construction sites, I’d hazard a guess that the majority of the construction blocking city streets is not municipal in origin.
DavidH
Regarding the construction zones that actually are municipal projects, a lot of them like the Plaza St-Hubert, etc. were Ensemble Mtl initiatives to begin with. Projet Mtl’s actual initiatives are barely starting. Big construction projects require planning, voting budgets, announcing public tenders, etc. It takes years for them to be launched. Except for the Camilien-Houde pilot project, there isn’t much an honest person could really pin on Projet per se.
-
Kate
The man on trial for stabbing his pregnant wife, who suddenly put in a guilty plea earlier this month, just as suddenly withdrew it Tuesday and fired his lawyers, who were about to ask to stop representing him anyway. There may have to be a new trial.
-
Kate
The Journal, after running Réjean Tremblay’s snark at Bianca Andreescu on the weekend, has a fairly mild item about fans watching the tennis champ practising at Jarry Park. However, the Gazette’s Pat Hickey, in more muted tones than Tremblay, but taking up the same theme, criticizes her bitterly for not talking to the Montreal media. The headline alleging she “misses shot at connecting with Montreal fans” is clearly untrue, as people were able to go watch her, and that’s what they wanted – not soundbites filtered and shaped by the media.
The question would be: what’s in it for her to waste her time trying to charm these grouchy old white males? She has to focus on her game, and she must know that those old sports writers are as fickle as divas, capable of twisting her words if it suits their purpose. She’s wise to keep her distance. She owes them nothing.
mare
I’m pretty sure Andreescu has PR advisers that decide which interview request to grant and which to deny. I bet she gets quite a few of them, and she also has to practice, travel and rest. There’s a million tennis matches out there, and they all are fighting to have her attend. Tiring business, and meeting the Montreal press is probably not high on the list, apart from a post-win press conference with *all* the national and international press.
Uatu
Heh. I think these two print media sports journalists are angrier at the idea that they’re on the cusp of obsolescence and their opinions are irrelevant…
Jack
We connected with her, you didn’t….get a grip.
Abraham Simpson is the only one who reads them.
-
Kate
An Uber transporting two young men was shot at in Montreal North Monday evening, leaving the car damaged but nobody hurt. TVA says the two men are known to police.
Ephraim
And I’m wondering… will their insurance pay (unlikely, as the car was being used commercially on a residential insurance) or will Uber and Uber’s insurance pay (lawsuit pending?) Or is just me who thinks that all this isn’t really fair to the driver, who now not only has to fix their car, but also doesn’t have a vehicle to do what he normally does, or to make money, since it’s in need of repairs.
-
Kate
An analysis by CBC (with an infographic by Roberto Rocha) show that one-sixth of the city’s schools – 127 of them – are too close to busy roads to be healthy locations for kids.
Chris
Ha. As if busy roads are healthy for anyone, of any age. But think of the children™
Jack
I worked at one of those schools on the 40. We would look out the window on the second floor and wave at the drivers on the elevated section. Pedagogically it was a really good opportunity to teach about the class system. If you are going to a school directly on Highway 40 you are working class…middle class and wealthy kids dont go to schools located on the 40.
Dhomas
“Anyone” doesn’t spend an hour or more outside for recess/lunch, breathing in that pollution. Also, childrens’ still developing bodies are more susceptible to pollutants, which can bring on conditions (like asthma, for example) that will affect them well into their adult lives.
Jack 11:34 on 2019-09-18 Permalink
I think ultimately this is what Bill 21 is about, submission. It makes people who are weak minded strong. It creates a context where I tell you what you can wear and what you have to take off. Which if I am living in a basement apartment in Joliette, reading my Journal and getting ready for my shift at Burger King….it makes me feel good.
Tim S. 12:35 on 2019-09-18 Permalink
I’m sort of with you Jack, but I’m not sure making up straw man fantasies about the “other side” is the way out of this.
Jack 12:43 on 2019-09-18 Permalink
Tim you’re right it’s not productive. Im pissed how easy this became law. With the acquiescence of all our institutions.
qatzelok 18:31 on 2019-09-18 Permalink
@ Jack: “basement apartment in Joliette, reading my Journal and getting ready for my shift at Burger King”
This is a nasty and sort of prejucided characterisation of the working class.
The left used to stand for income equality, and equal opportunity. But now, alas, it is mostly about shallow identity politics that don’t equalize income or opportunity at all. Which is why it has lost so much support in the real world.
Chris 23:21 on 2019-09-18 Permalink
Jack, there’s really no info to go on here, and it’s only about 3 people. People wear religious symbols for innumerable reasons, from just liking the look, to just honouring ancestral culture, to being mildly religious, to being militantly religious, to being forced by another. We have no idea what category these 3 people were in. Though I suppose we can conclude they decided their job is more important than their symbol. It’s lamentable they were forced to pick between them, but it was still their decision.
Also, I had a good laugh at your first sentence. Did you know the word “Islam” means submission? 🙂
qatzelok, yes, left identity politics is indeed a scourge. You might enjoy the book Political Tribes by Chua.
Jack 05:18 on 2019-09-19 Permalink
Your all correct I should not of wrote that, my bad. However “ identity politics” as an exclusively left construct is b.s. . Identify politics is what Bill 21 is , a non existent issue that creates political traction in a majority community, aimed directly at a community without any political or economic power. This law is Quebec’s “Jim Crow” I thought we were done with that.
Chris 09:07 on 2019-09-19 Permalink
Jack, reread. No one said identity politics is *exclusively* a left issue. I was even careful to prepend the adjective “left” to “identity politics”. Right-wing identity politics exist too of course. Give Chua’s book a read, it’s short. There’s a good argument that the left identity politics of recent decades is precisely *why* we have the current right-wing backlash.