The Students United

This afternoon at one I made my way down to Queen's Park for the rally against the increase in tuition fee. It was supposed to start at 12, so I was surprised to see that few people were there. I ran into Naomi from Articulo Veinte and hung out a bit, and then I spent some time with Alfiya, who was helping to give away free lentil soup and corn bread. A speaker told us that the marchers were on their way from Yonge Street, and then we would properly address Premier MacGuinty's war against our generation. Meanwhile, we bopped around to the Christina Aguilera, among others, in an attempt to keep warm in temperatures approaching -20.
The marchers approached en masse, and I felt that they were all coming toward me. I had the powerful feeling that comes from a large group of people all striving to a common goal. The speakers began, starting with a spoken word artist performing a poem about her student debt. Kardinal Offishal followed with the first of three songs. He informed us that he had attended York, and had taken a sociology course at U of T. The speakers included a professor from Western, the provincial NDP leader Howard Hampton, two union leaders, and a Francophone leader from Laurentian University.
Hopefully the rally will reverse the status quo, in which education costs spiral in Canada's richest province, while politicians vote themselves 25% raises. The rally ended around three, and I hurried home in an attempt to save my toes from succumbing to frost bite.