Rêve Général Illimité? The role of creative protest in transforming the dynamics of space and time during the 2012 Quebec Student strike

Abstract

In the spring of 2012, students in Quebec went on strike against a proposed 75% increase in university tuition and the further privatization of education that it signaled. The strike lasted 6 months and repeatedly mobilized hundreds of thousands of students and supporters in collective action. Emphasizing the "broader dreams of a student movement now sparking the popular imagination", some activists began calling for a "rêve général illimité" (unlimited general dream). This article brings together scholarship on creative tactics and the role of space in protest to analyze a range of imaginative and affective interventions as well as the debates that emerged concerning their role within the movement. I argue that creative tactics intervened in how space and time were constructed by altering the relationships amongst private and public space. As a result, responsibilities were redistributed and time typically consecrated to the pursuit of private ends was redeployed during the Quebec student strike, broadening participation and generating public spaces where care was collectivized.