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In camera: Les manifestations

Posted by on May 24, 2012 in Politics | 2 comments

A face in the crowd on 22 May during Canada's largest ever demonstration. Photo by Matt Staroste.

A face in the crowd on 22 May during Canada's largest ever demonstration. Photo by Matt Staroste.

I got soaked in Montreal. In the centre of the crowd on 22 May, the 100-day anniversary of Quebec’s growing student unrest, I was drenched in rain and sleet and hippie. I was blown around by the wind, surrounded by shouts and cheers. I was invigorated and sometimes petrified.

But these are days of unrest, when Canada’s youth walk through the streets talking about love, power, and agency, drawing dusty outlines of hearts and squares in bus windows. And 22 May, by most accounts, has been the biggest day of our unrest – it was the largest manifestation of civil disobedience in Canada’s history, so substantial that it broke the city in which we marched. I went, I saw, and I captured a few photos for Thought Out Loud.

Les Manifestations

I got soaked in Montreal. In the centre of the crowd on 22 May, the 100-day anniversary of Quebec’s growing student unrest, I was drenched in rain and sleet and hippie. I was blown around by the wind, surrounded by shouts and cheers. I was invigorated and sometimes petrified. But these are days of unrest, when Canada’s youth walk through the streets talking about love, power, and agency, drawing dusty outlines of hearts and squares in bus windows. And 22 May, by most accounts, has been the biggest day of our unrest – it was the largest manifestation of civil disobedience in Canada’s history, so substantial that it broke the city in which we marched. I went, I saw, and I captured a few photos for Thought Out Loud.

[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1618.jpg]
A middle-aged man stands in solidarity with the march. Law 78, legislation preventing undeclared assemblies over 50 people, has been criticised as a measure to stifle public discourse and freedom of assembly.[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1683.jpg]
A Québec solidaire ( http://www.quebecsolidaire.net/ ) placard is seen amongst the Fleurdelisé. The provincial political party has placed itself against Jean Charest`s Liberal government in supporting the student strike.[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1707.jpg]
A Santa Claus impersonator joined the demonstrations Tuesday. His placard reads “Plan Nord: (Charest's economic platform point) I disobey and they ship me to Siberia... ho ho ho!”[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1715.jpg]
A protestor sounds a vuvuzela at the beginning of the combined demonstration, probably annoying every single person around him. The placard behind reads: “No to austerity – it’s the people who finance the prosperity of the rich.”[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1738.jpg]
Branded by mainstream media as a “youth movement,” the protest illuminated the shared struggle in Quebec. [img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1742.jpg]
The placard in the foreground, right, reads “I thought we'd only be 3 people! I swear!” Oh, you and your irony, Quebec![img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1754.jpg]
A couple looks on as the march moves forward. Not quite the kissing couple on the streets of Vancouver, huh guys?[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1782.jpg]
If money can grow on trees, why not red squares? Framed against a placard reading “Resistance is homework.”[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1819.jpg]
“I love the youth.”[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1838.jpg]
A face in the crowd.[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1870.jpg]
A young girl rides on shoulders above the crowd wearing an appropriately-emoticon'd sign. “Down with Law 78.”[img src=http://www.thoughtoutloud.org/new/wp-content/flagallery/les-manifestations/thumbs/thumbs_staroste_pe-1916.jpg]
The SPVM (http://www.spvm.qc.ca/fr/ ) were responsible for enforcing the controversial Law 78. The following day, the Montréal bus workers union refuseed to transport SPVM officers downtown (http://montreal.openfile.ca/blog/montreal/2012/stm-union-urges-members-stop-bussing-spvm-officers-and-detained-protesters ). Their response? Get some god damn horses.

 

Matt Staroste (@mattstaroste) is a photographer and writer living in Ottawa. He works for a local student federation, is German, and loves beer as a result of one of those two things – but he won’t say which.