At the end of May 2012, the Quebec student movement joined the international anti-austerity protests as thousands of students and workers held rallies protesting the government’s repressive measures. By then, two hundred thousand students — which accounts for almost half of all postsecondary students in the province — had already been on strike for three months against a tuition hike. The student assemblies who organized the action were supported by artistic rallies, nightly demonstrations, economic blockades, and massive marches.

For many observers, this seemed consistent with other post-crisis revolts, a logical follow-up to the indignados, the Occupy movement, and the 2011 student protests in the United Kingdom and Chile.

But in fact, the 2012 student movement continued a long history of successful strikes dating back to 1968. And in spring 2015, Quebec students took the streets once again. Thousands went on strike for two weeks, gathering seventy-five thousand people for an April 2 rally.