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Rêve Général Illimité? The Role of Creative Protest in Transforming the Dynamics of Space and Time During the 2012 Quebec Student Strike
Author(s) -
Spiegel Jennifer Beth
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
antipode
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.177
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1467-8330
pISSN - 0066-4812
DOI - 10.1111/anti.12133
Subject(s) - private space , space (punctuation) , scholarship , dream , action (physics) , sociology , public space , dynamics (music) , political science , media studies , law , psychology , pedagogy , engineering , physics , architectural engineering , philosophy , linguistics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
In the spring of 2012, students in Quebec went on strike against a proposed 75% increase in university tuition and the further privatization of education that it signaled. The strike lasted 6 months and repeatedly mobilized hundreds of thousands of students and supporters in collective action. Emphasizing the “broader dreams of a student movement now sparking the popular imagination”, some activists began calling for a “rêve général illimité” (unlimited general dream). This article brings together scholarship on creative tactics and the role of space in protest to analyze a range of imaginative and affective interventions as well as the debates that emerged concerning their role within the movement. I argue that creative tactics intervened in how space and time were constructed by altering the relationships amongst private and public space. As a result, responsibilities were redistributed and time typically consecrated to the pursuit of private ends was redeployed during the Quebec student strike, broadening participation and generating public spaces where care was collectivized.