The social unrest roiling Quebec is colour-coded red. One cannot miss the hundreds of thousands of people with cloth of the colour pinned to their coats and satchels; the stickers pasted on street poles and storefront mannequins; and the sheets fluttering from balconies and windows. The red squares – punning visually on a French expression to be squarely in the red, or in debt – are a gesture of solidarity with university and college students on a massive general strike against government tuition fee hikes.
WRN AUDIO: Event Focuses on Democracy
August 25, 2011
AUDIO: Soglin full speech (14:30)
Labor supporters go from the streets and into breakout sessions at the Democracy Convention in Madison. Mayor Paul Soglin kicked off the event reflecting on this year’s massive protests and continued fight against changes by Governor Walker and the Republican majority. He says until then the public was not paying enough attention.
“We cannot rest and assume that others are going to take care of our society,” says Soglin.
Governor Walker proposed – and later signed – a bill requiring state workers to pay more for health care and pensions along with curbing collective bargaining rights. It was part of a plan to plug a massive state budget deficit.
Soglin disagrees with the Republicans stance that tax cuts create a strong economy. He says investment in education and infrastructure creates not only a strong economy but a strong society.
Issues being tackled at the five day event include constitutional reform, economic democracy and racial and gender equality.
