Vigile.net

Infobox Website

name = Vigile.net
url = http://www.vigile.net
commercial = No
type = Political, press coverage
owner = Bernard Frappier
author = Bernard Frappier
launch date = October 31, 1995
current status = Active|

Vigile.net, or Vigile, is an internet political website maintained in Quebec, Canada, by webmaster Bernard Frappier. It is a medium of the Quebec independence movement. The site is a press coverage service that archives a vast array of notable political articles published in various newspapers in French and English, most especially about Quebec politics, Canadian politics and the National Question. "Le Devoir" has written that it is "considered as one of the better endowed (websites) in matters of thorough writings." [http://www.lautjournal.info/autjourarchives.asp?article=2574&noj=251]

"Vigile" is claimed to be the title of the independence website because it means, not only the "wake of a great celebration", but also a "guardian in the night", [http://www.vigile.net/vigile9.gif] metaphors for the day that sovereignty would be voted and the time until then.

Description

Vigile.net was founded on the day after the 1995 Quebec referendum on independence by Bernard Frappier, a former philosophy teacher. [http://www.lautjournal.info/autjourarchives.asp?article=2574&noj=251] It mainly serves as a daily press coverage service and large archive of articles about Quebec politics and independence (in favour or not of this goal). It also occasionally covers other political news, local and international (it had a notable coverage of the Israel-Lebanon Conflict of 2006, for example), and sometimes favours news about other nationalist movements like those in Catalonia, Palestine or, more recently, Montenegro.

The archives stretch to 2001 for the daily front pages and to the middle of the 1990s (sometimes even further) for individual articles. Vigile publishes columns from Quebec sovereigntists (and one Waloon independence militant), as well as public opinion letters in the section "Tribune libre". It has been used as source in Normand Lester's "The Black Book of English Canada". Political analyst Jean-François Lisée also holds a website on Vigile at "jflisee.net" archiving articles of his from various publications, as well as links to videos. Lisée's page has a section in English. [http://jflisee.net/]

Opinions

The opinions it publishes (not considering the readers' letters) tend to be sympathetic to the ideas of the sovereigntist so-called "pur et dur" stream, while still supporting the Parti Québécois (PQ) over sovereigntist and left-wing third-parties like the Union des forces progressistes, or its successor Québec solidaire). It supports the Bloc Québécois on the federal stage and opposes the Liberal Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada. It is highly critical of the center-right, soft nationalist Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ). On social and economic issues, the site is mostly in line with the left-wing of the PQ.

The website has shown strong reprobation for former sovereigntist PQ Premier of Quebec Lucien Bouchard for an alleged luke-warm approach on independence. Jacques Parizeau is on the other hand held in high regard and substantial coverage has been allocated for Yves Michaud's campaign for reparation related to the Michaud Affair. During the Parti Québécois leadership campaign of 2005, the webmaster was very critical of frontrunner André Boisclair. He rallied around him after his election, but the website has since been a forum where dissension has sometimes been voiced. In international matters, the site has displayed sympathy for other independence movements and opposition to the American Republican Party and "hawkish" foreign policy in the George W. Bush administration. It has also shown pro-Palestinian sympathies.

Finances

The website is entirely financed by voluntary donations from its readers. Finances are a perpetual issue. Its daily updates have sometimes been stopped because of lack of funds. Once, it was successfully restarted because of the "Club des 200" solution, a group of people (140 individuals, in October 2006) pledging C$100 yearly donations in advance.

The "Club des 200" has included prominent figures such as former Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale Vice President Andrée Ferretti, former President of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux labour union Gérald Larose, former Quebec General Delegate Yves Michaud, author Robin Philpot, former President of the National Assembly Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, PQ leader André Boisclair, former PQ Premier of Quebec Bernard Landry, former PQ Premier of Quebec Jacques Parizeau and former PQ Minister of Culture and Minister of International Relations Louise Beaudoin. A number of other notable PQ militants and Members of the National Assembly have also taken part. [http://www.vigile.net/06-9/2006-9-200.html] Foreign readers have sometimes contributed financially to Vigile (from France and the Basque Country, for example). Author Victor-Lévy Beaulieu and former PQ Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Claude Morin have also donated money. [http://www.vigile.net/06-12/2006-12.html]

A interruption of daily activities occurred again on October 2, 2006, for the same monetary reasons. After a great amount of incoming donations, the monthly objective was reached in a matter of days and the site announced on October 5 that it would become active again on the following day, October 6, counting on a newer solution inspired by letters from supporters. It would be the "Amis de Vigile 2007", a group of 20 people each pledging for the year 2007 fixed C$1,000 donations in advance. This would reach the annual objective at the beginning of the year and avoid precariousness. The webmaster indicated that, if the 20 people cannot be found, if the strategy does not work, the site will close "definitively" on December 31, 2006.

In December 2006, the webmaster took a reader's suggestion to separate the amount in two deadlines: C$10,000 for December 31, 2006 and C$10,000 for June 30, 2007. Confident in the chances of salvaging efforts of Vigile readers, he declared that the "eventuality of the closure of Vigile had been set aside".

See also

*List of sovereigntist media
*List of Quebec media
*Quebec sovereignty movement
*Quebec nationalism
*Quebec politics

External links

* [http://www.vigile.net Official site] (French, with some English articles)
* [http://www.vigile.net/ds-lisee/english.html Jean-François Lisée's page] en icon