Monday 18 June 2012

Zapatista - Essex - In solidarity with the protesting students in Quebec

The Zapatista Solidarity Group Essex took part in an action in solidarity with the protesting students in Qubec, Canada.  Around 50 letters of solidarity, with a piece of red cloth attached to each of them, were signed and sent by students to the Canadian High Commission in London. 

“It is of crucial importance to stand in solidarity with the students in Canada who are being arrested and intimidated at the moment,” said Petar, a first year student at Essex who helped organise the letter writing. “We hope that groups of students across the country can do the same, and flood the high commission with letters.

The text of the letter:

To the Canadian High Commissioner to the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Mr. Campbell,

       I am writing to you with deep concern about the current situation with the rising tuition fees in the public universities in Quebec. As a student in the United Kingdom, I want to express my complete solidarity with the students in the region in their struggle for affordable higher education. I believe that education, at any level, is a human right and turning it into a commodity, measured by the scales of the market, can be in benefit of the big business and its profit, but it can hardly be in benefit of the society.

      As a student, actively involved in the local protests and campaigns for free higher education and against the cuts in the sector, I warn you that the students on the streets of Quebec are part of a global struggle against the profit as superior to the human being. Our voice echoes from the streets of Santiago de Chile, through Tahrir and Saint Paul squares, to the red flags covering Montreal, and in this struggle, just as students and protesters across the world will be our brothers, governments, oppressing their citizens in the name of the big capital, will be considered our enemies. With strong indignation, provoked by the repressions against the student movement, I will keep following the situation and take part in future actions in support of the protests in Quebec.


Regards: