CF Pulls Recruiting Display in QC, Anti-War Protest Spreading?

[The Bread Guy]

Seems the anti-war groups have been busy - and well funded enough to spend student bucks on posting news releases to Canada NewsWire:

Original French - GoogleEnglish

What little I could piece together (native Francophones always welcome to straighten me out here):

The Canadian Forces canceled a recruitment display yesterday (5 Dec 07) at the St-jérôme cégep because of student protest.  The recruiters were informed of the students organization's "mandate" to oppose all military presence, and some canceled their presence.

More protests scheduled Friday (7 Dec 07) to the cégep St-laurent during recruitment by the Royal Military College.

A series of activities against military recruitment appear to have taken place in the past few weeks at UQAC and at the cégeps at Ste-foy , ste-hyacinthe and Maisonneuve, with other actions expected in the future.

 

[nova_flush]

thats so cheep .. im from Quebec and I can tell you it's a cheep action.. It's ok to be against war (aren't we all?) but it's not right to stop the recruiting process.. if someone is interested to join, then let him be. I mean look at our army, in the US they have 10 times our population but 23 times our military personel.

 

[geo]

While they may be protesting & blocking potential venues, I can say that our recruiting numbers are up - regardless of their "efforts".

This protest thing is not exclusive to Quebec.... didn't the University in Victoria do the same thing last month?

 

[The Bread Guy]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm noticing MORE such activity in Quebec (likely tied to the fact that it's troops from QC overseas now, as well as hamfistedly looking through more French media), as well as (at least based on MSM coverage) more nasty behaviour in Quebec - like the spray painting of the APC @ Sherbrooke Armouries, or students charged with assaulting police.

I know Quebec has a history of active progressive movements, including anti-war ones, but I found it interesting to see youth grabbing a hold of this to the extent they seem to be.

 

[geo]

Spray painting of AFV monuments has been something that's been happening around here .... forever.... Lynx at the RCH armoury bearing the brunt of graffiti attacks over the years...

Dunno, for the most part, the demonstrations, when we have had them, have been quite civil. 
They have been in CFRC on Bishop street a couple of times.... other than a couple of papers thrown on the floor, it's been business as usual...

Mind you MsM might be making more out of it than it really is... 

If you want angry student  - talk to them about lifting the freeze on tuition...... on that subject, they.ll trash the place.

 

[JADM]

This is not a new thing in Qc. or even in Ontario. Mostly happens in CEGEP's and university.The CF's aproach to these events is get out or don't show up. Could be good, could be bad. I think most students and alot of the public would benefit from explanations from the CF's part ion these cases.

 

[geo]

CFRC has taken a non confrontational approach to the thing.

Should we be going in there, forwarned there'll be a fight - looking for a fight?  I would propose that we would be better off sending one extremely good spokesman to an event of the university's choice where we could deliver our message, without interruption - without the rhetoric.

 

[DannyD]

Rant on...

I'm really at loss when I see people acting this way. Even worse, when they are interviewed by the media, very few of these protesters can actually present a decent, coherent argument...  :-\

I sadly think that too many years of peace on this country's soil have really polarized the population on the issue of the necessity of armed forces. Trying to prevent recruiting will in no way promote world peace. Those protesters need to go back to school, put their brain back in function, take history and anthropology classes, and figure out the true nature of the human species. Then, they can become politicians and try to influence the political machine, and try to create their "Peace and Love" world which they idealise (and doesn't exist). Meanwhile, they should give us (I should say you soldiers, as I'm not in, yet...) the means to do the job if diplomacy fails (which it will sometimes do). This is the story of human existence...

WAKE UP PEOPLE !!!

Rant off...

 

[Greymatters]

I sadly think that too many years of peace on this country's soil have really polarized the population on the issue of the necessity of armed forces. Trying to prevent recruiting will in no way promote world peace. Those protesters need to go back to school, put their brain back in function, take history and anthropology classes, and figure out the true nature of the human species. Then, they can become politicians and try to influence the political machine, and try to create their "Peace and Love" world which they idealise (and doesn't exist). Meanwhile, they should give us (I should say you soldiers, as I'm not in, yet...) the means to do the job if diplomacy fails (which it will sometimes do). This is the story of human existence... 

Unfortunately there is an 'underground' movement of anti-war and anarchist spokespersons out there who make a living off of the stupidity and naivety of young minds who want to change the world today, going to different campuses to talk about the evils of big government and big money, and how students shouldn't let themselves be 'controlled by the system'.  There's no one to present a counter-argument, so there's nothing to counter the 'secret information' they are privy to.

 

[NL_engineer]

Rant on...

I'm really at loss when I see people acting this way. Even worse, when they are interviewed by the media, very few of these protesters can actually present a decent, coherent argument...  :-\

they do have an argument, its Gorge W's war for oil; seeing Afghanistan is one of the top producers of oil  ;D

edited to fix link

 

[Greymatters]

they do have an argument, its Gorge W's war for oil; seeing Afghanistan is one of the top producers of oil  ;D edited to fix link 

I'm sure they have an explanation for that too...

 

[The Bread Guy]

I'm sure they have an explanation for that too...

Lies, it's all government LIES - check out the domain the link is coming from after all, fools! (foil hat smiley needed)....

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm noticing MORE such activity in Quebec (likely tied to the fact that it's troops from QC overseas now, as well as hamfistedly looking through more French media), as well as (at least based on MSM coverage) more nasty behaviour in Quebec - like the spray painting of the APC @ Sherbrooke Armouries, or students charged with assaulting police.

I know Quebec has a history of active progressive movements, including anti-war ones, but I found it interesting to see youth grabbing a hold of this to the extent they seem to be.

Please don't call them progressive....that's the way they like to think of themselves...the word suggests that their ideas would lead to the improvement of the rest of us poor unwashed rubes...nothing could be further from the truth.

 

[slowmode]

You know its the soldiers who fight for our freedoms, without our soldiers they would not have the democratic right to protest against something like this. They could be against the war but its wrong to let them stop people from being recruited.

 

[ModlrMike]

You know its the soldiers who fight for our freedoms, without our soldiers they would not have the democratic right to protest against something like this. They could be against the war but its wrong to let them stop people from being recruited.

This is a very slippery slope. Are they just going to bar the CF, or all recruiters they have a beef with? What if it were GM - who make military vehicles, IBM - who supply weapons components, or a similar military provider. How long do you think these companies would fund research at the schools? What would be the long term impact on tuition, the quality of education etc be if the large corporate grants dried up?

 

[NL_engineer]

Lies, it's all government LIES - check out the domain the link is coming from after all, fools! (foil hat smiley needed)....

well yes, I couldn't find the CSIS fact book  :; but I don't think that GW would think to change something like that.

here is the only oil connection I can find  ;D


Edited for grammer

 

[The Bread Guy]

Please don't call them progressive....that's the way they like to think of themselves...the word suggests that their ideas would lead to the improvement of the rest of us poor unwashed rubes...nothing could be further from the truth.

Very good point - I meant more WAY-left-o-centre groups in general.

 

[wannabe SF member]

It's ridiculous, these so called progressives are actually restricting young people's freedom of choice

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

It's ridiculous, these so called progressives are actually restricting young people's freedom of choice

The left isn't really about choice even though that's the sheep's clothing that they wear.

 

[Greymatters]

Doesnt matter if you are Left, Right or somewhere in the middle, any political leadership and activism is about telling people what to do, not offering them a choice.