A new student organization is springing up across Canada, ready to fight for what they believe in. But while other movements define themselves by what they stand for, the Driven Student Organization defines itself by what it stands against-the Canadian Federation of Students.

And behind this fledgling group stand some familiar figures.

“Its purpose is not to eliminate the CFS, it’s to push them very strongly to change their ways,” said U of T graduate Sam Rahimi.

The CFS is Canada’s largest student lobby group, representing half a million students at 80-odd institutions.

However, critics like Adam Dembe, a York University student who is the brains behind the anti-CFS outfit, see the federation as “a hard left-wing socialist group.” Rahimi railed about its “refusal to hear any other point of view to their party line, which is to lower tuition fees.”

Rahimi, a SAC VP in 2004/05, initially supported CFS, but changed his mind.

“After going to a few national meetings, I found out it wasn’t really representative of students as a whole,” he said.

CFS staffer Ian Boyko meanwhile replied that “We represent that majority interest of student unions in Canada.

“The policies and campaigns of CFS are determined democratically from its membership,” Boyko said. “We’re just an expression of the democratic interest of student unions in Canada.”

Three weeks ago, Dembe formed a Facebook group called “Students against the Canadian Federation of Students.” It now boasts 698 members, while the CFS Facebook fan club has 447. Dembe has also created a website, and is currently going through the process of registering the Driven Students Organization as a non-profit group.

Dembe said the group already has several directors on different Canadian campuses.

“Our goal right now is to get the word out there that there’s people wanting change,” he said.

While the CFS is aware of the anti-CFS website’s existence, national chairperson Amanda Aziz said the federation has not yet decided how to react.

“I try not to get demoralized,” she remarked.