Internal Heterogeneity: Fault Lines Intersecting and Surrounding Quebec’s Student Movement During the Maple Spring of 2012

This chapter explores the Quebec student strike of 2012, also known as the Maple Spring. We focus first on the movement’s internal heterogeneity, showing how students did not speak with a single voice. Drawing on both existing work and our own research study, we highlight various repertoires of action, as well as the diversity of positions expressed by students during the strike, including differing perceptions of strategy and tactics. Recognizing that the student movement did not exist in a vacuum, the chapter also analyzes some of the relational dynamics that shaped how the Maple Spring unfolded. In particular, we look at the evolution of the government’s negotiation strategies and suppression efforts, which included police repression and the criminalization of various aspects of public demonstrations. Attention is also given to how certain aspects of the conflict played out in the courts and to how events were covered in the media. We go on to discuss interpersonal relationships among students and within Quebec society more broadly, with a focus on how students’ experiences on social media changed over the course of the strike. Although some of the students we interviewed saw Facebook as a tool for debating issues and exchanging ideas, many others ended up avoiding online discussions of controversial topics, even when they remained very active in the movement in their offline lives.