As my regular readers know, I'm no fan of the way the Canadian Federation of Students conducts its affairs both on the national and provincial levels: I have often been the organization's chief critic regarding its lack of
transparency and
accountability. And yes, when raising legitimate concerns and criticism regarding the CFS, I've even been accused of being a troll on Twitter (i.e. asking why votes taken during CFS AGMs couldn't be recorded so students could know how their delegation voted, I got this in response:
@climbrandon We should demand that delegates vote with their blood for true transparency! Srsly, you're trolling dude. #cfsfcee #fcee10). But then again, anybody who dares criticize the Canadian Federation of Students is automatically cast aside by its ardent supporters as being loony, right-wing hardliners who are attempting to destroy the entire student movement. Obviously, in my case, nonsense.
In the past year, I have often been quite disgusted with the various "tactics" used by the Canadian Federation of Students who, during past protests, have embarrassed students from all across Canada. Although the students pictured below may not have caused any trouble during this summer's G20 Summit protests that took place in the streets of Toronto, I find it to be quite unfortunate that some of these student protesters felt compelled to cover their faces which
COULD have led the public to believe that these students were only there to cause trouble while at the same time easily identifying them as being a part of the Canadian Federation of Students. Hence, the potential for the creation of a negative public perception of both students in general, but also of the organization and its various causes. Further tarnishing the public's perception of students was this
unfortunate situation involving the Graduate Students' Union of the University of Toronto.
Now, as I have made very clear in the past, I absolutely support the rights of freedom of speech and of peaceful assembly which are both integral parts of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. With that said, when you are a part of a much larger organization such as the Canadian Federation of Students and the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA), one must realize that, when you're marching behind its banners in public, your actions will be linked to the organization as a whole. In other words, these students are marching behind an organization's banner that is supposed to be (or at least making efforts to be) representing all 600 000 members - including 32 630 (
approximate undergraduate student population at the University of Ottawa - fall 2009) including yours truly. When the public sees students covering their faces in an attempt to conceal their identity, like it or not, they will assume that these students are up to no good (not to mention the fact that "Black block" "activists" used very similar tactics). The association that the public could and undoubtedly did make should not simply be ignored. We are talking about the credibility and legitimacy of a national, student-run organization with a multi-million dollar budget that is put into question. In the end, whether these students caused trouble or not, these kinds of tactics potentially creates a negative public perception of ALL students.
With that said, I stumbled upon this video that was posted to kingstvnews YouTube channel. "Kings" refers to the University of King's College situated in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The video above is entitled "Off with their heads" Feb. 2 Day of Action" references the protests against the high price of post-secondary tuition fees. When I first viewed this video, I was at a loss for words. While reflecting, I asked myself some questions:
1) How was it that this kind of behaviour (the act of cutting off the head of a dummy with a guillotine) acceptable?
2) What relevance does a mock killing have to the issue being protested?
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| A joint CFS-ANSSA rally: The green posters are those of the Canadian Federation of Students and the white posters are those of the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations |
The fact that these tactics could be viewed as crude and highly offensive made me wonder if the act was premeditated and in fact sanctioned by the organizers of the protest (including Nova Scotia's provincial branch of the Canadian Federation of Students and Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations).
Having found this video on Friday, I decided to reflect on its content before blogging about it. In the man time, MacLeans OnCampus writer
Robyn Urback caught wind of the video and posted a scathing
blog post. Shortly after Urback's blog post was published, an individual by the name of
Bethany Horne posted this comment:
My name is Bethany Horne and I shot that video you saw on Unews.Your headline is wrong: the theatre group consisted of no current students. Also, you are wrong to assume the dummies represent a politician. They were to represent the (political) parties as a whole. As theatre often does, the presentation was meant to shock and cause discussion. As for how students are going to be taken seriously: one way would be for them to get their facts straight and not write incendiary blog posts with no research or understanding of events. Not only did you fail to talk to anyone to find out the full story around the video (which wouldn’t have been that hard: I published the names of the artists), apparently you also failed to read the video caption. Or perhaps you chose to ignore it, because it makes your ignorant rant more persuasive?
“NDP, Liberal, Tory — same damn story.” “They all must go.”
On the CFS Day of Action – Street theatre meet the crowd at the intersections of South Park Street and Spring Garden Road (and blocks their way north). Jill Ratcliffe, Noah Logan, Dave Bush and the other members of the political street theatre troupe are **former students** from Dal, NSCAD and King’s. They wheeled a guillotine down the street to show what cuts to education looked like. The sign above the guillotine reads “The Cuts we’d like to see,” and the guillotine fell to chop off the heads off all the political parties. The troupe says all the political parties have failed students over the years.”
So, it was a theatre group of non-students who decided to take part in the rally to protest high tuition fees. Hey, the more the merrier, right? And yes, having myself many friends enrolled in theatre/drama programs, I understand that theatre is
meant to shock and cause discussion. However, out of the unlimited shocking tactics that could have been effective in delivering the message in a much more, let's say, civilized way, this theatre group decided to wheel in a guillotine and perform a mock execution of a dummy. Again, I come back to the issue of
PUBLIC PERCEPTION. If an organization wants the public to support its cause, it should be vigilant in ensuring (or at least attempting to ensure) that the tactics being used by protesters during their rallies are appropriate. The organization should also consider what might be said in the media. Putting in a little bit of thought before these protests are to occur can go a long way in effectively communicating the organization's message.
In closing, I think that the scene that played out during the February 2 Day of Action, whether sanctioned by the rally's organizers or not, whether these actors were students or not, reflects terribly on the Canadian Federation of Students and the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations as organizations and their lobbying efforts. It should be noted that somebody who commented on Urback's blog post asked her why she decided to highlight the tactics being used by the protesters instead of concentrating on message behind the rally and the fact that 2000+ students were in attendance. In response, I would only say that the organizers of this rally were unsuccessful in communicating their message because, as demonstrates this blog post and the inevitability of future media coverage, the focus will not be on the fact that tuition fees are too high. The focus will be on the contentious tactics used by this theatre group which WAS in fact successful in shocking and causing discussion in the media. Unfortunately for the protesters and for the well-intentioned joint CFS-NS-ANSSA rally, the attention garnered by this protest won't exactly be "good press" for the organization or its cause.
