The students have formed a "union," wherein every member (like it or not) is subject to the will of the group, just like a labour union. The protest, of course, should make anyone with any sense morality, cringe. The students want full funding for their post secondary education, the right to free schools. Already 90% of their tuition is borne on the backs of taxpayers, but they want it all.
To get it all they have taken to the streets.But a new law passed, called Bill 78, restricts student access to free speech and assembly.
I don't know where to start critiquing this. Does a good citizen support the students right to speak on behalf of their desire to confiscate money from the general population and pay to send them through university? Or should the State be criticized for such a draconian law? Probably both. Watch what ReasonTV makes of this.
I'm with the government on this one. Bill 78 doesn't seem draconian to me. I haven't read the exact language of the bill, but I don't think it authorizes the police to overrule a planned protest based on the content of the protesters' grievances, so it's not a violation of freedom of speech. Nor do I think that our freedom of assembly extends to disrupting people's lives by physically preventing them from attending classes.
ReplyDeleteI can't argue with that, thats why I have a hard time critiquing the government's action. The student argument that they are having their rights denied, seems to me very weak because they themselves are denying the rights of other students. A pox on both their houses!
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