Maple Tour stop in Winnipeg, Oct. 3. Photo by Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
Former CLASSE spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, former CLASSE executive Cloé Zawadzki-Turcotte, and rabble.ca journalist Ethan Cox have just completed their 7-city Maple Tour across the country. Just prior to the tour, Cox wrote, “Quebec students are setting their sights on Stephen Harper, and making alliances with social movements across the country to build a broad and popular movement against austerity.”
During the tour, Nadeau-Dubois wrote, “If there is one message I hope people take away, it is that the success of Quebec’s movement is largely attributable to its democratic character. (Also) united we are stronger. We must stop fighting the symptoms alone, and instead unite to tackle the root cause of our problems: a system that serves the interests of a small elite, at the expense of the vast majority. (And) to be effective, we need a common front of social movements. One capable of fighting, and winning, a new battle each year. The first step in building such a common front is a social forum bringing together social movements from Quebec, the rest of Canada and First Nations, such as the one being organized for 2013 by Alternatives.”
As the tour drew to a close, Cox noted, “Strong activist unions, who believe in movement building, are sorely needed in this country. The Communications Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP), and the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW), fit the bill and their support (of this tour) is greatly appreciated. Rabble.ca, LeadNow.ca and the Council of Canadians also stepped up to help us mount this tour, as did dozens of union locals, community organizations, student unions and dedicated local organizers across the country.”
To read more, please see http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/09/nadeau-dubois-and-classe-tour-canada, http://rabble.ca/news/2012/10/gabriel-nadeau-dubois-together-we-can-block-austerity and http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ethan-cox/2012/10/maple-tour-ends-vancouver-tonight.
