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M26 = NEXT STUDENT STRIKE AGAINST THE WAR (Wed, March 26) by Books Not Bombs Coalition - 5:44pm Sat Mar 15 '03 - article#27556 phone: Simon 0405 733 768 - Caroline 0414 506 283 - Jarvis 0404 015 789 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] <-- High school students meet 1pm Town Hall, Sydney <-+ Uni/TAFE students meet 12 noon on your campus ! --> United rally 2pm Hyde Park Nth, followed by a march around the city to finish back at Hyde Park Walkout of class to demand: * No war on Iraq! * Bring the troops home! * Books not bombs! (article 1) Details for your city are linked in the "ACTIVIST CALENDAR" section of http://www.GreenLeft.org.au/current/ (Adelaide, Brisbane & S-E Queensland, Canberra, Central Queensland, Darwin, Geelong, Hobart, Launceston, Lismore & NSW North Coast, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth & Fremantle, Sydney, Western Sydney & Blue Mountains, Wollongong & NSW South Coast) or see contact details below... This protest comes after the last student strike against war, at which 10,000 people in Sydney and 30,000 nationally attended, most being high school students. This next protest should be even bigger, building on the success of the last strike and involving more campus students now that universities have been back for a couple of weeks, but we need everyone to help get the word out - help stick up posters, leaflets, announce it in your classes, forward this email to others, get the word out! Anyone against the war can come - you don't have to be a student! Organised by the Books Not Bombs Coalition and enthusiastically supported by the rallies held on March 5, students will again be walking out of their class rooms and lecture theatres in protest of Bush's and HoWARd's unjust war for oil. - When the government is preparing to wage a bloody war on the people of Iraq, which will result in the deaths of hundrets of thousands innocent Iraqi people... - When Australian corporate war-profiteers - like QANTAS, BHP, and Dunlop - are set to make record profits from this slaughter... - When the government prioritises military spending while launching another savage attack on higher education funding... ... from http://www.GreenLeft.org.au/back/2003/529/ What comes next? BY EMMA CLANCY The Books Not Bombs Coalition was launched around the country on March 5, with thousands of its newsletters being distributed and meetings being held afterwards in some cities. Many high school activists and groups came into contact with the Books Not Bombs Coalition at the strike, and now have the framework in which to build the next strike on March 26. Campus activists now have to catch up with the scale of organising on high schools, and consolidate links between different sorts of students. In Sydney, following the strike, the Sydney University anti-war collective Students Against War voted to merge with the Books Not Bombs Coalition, in order to form a larger, stronger youth movement against the war. This process will hopefully continue all around the country as a result of the success of the March 5 strike. Already, the National Union of Students is supporting and actively building the March 26 student strike, along with university anti-war collectives, which have really only just begun to function properly because campus was still on summer break in the lead-up to March 5. The success of March 5 - the inspiration it has provided to both high school and campus activists, the opportunities it has provided for the Books Not Bombs Coalition to grow larger and stronger and the support it has received from broader sections of society - guarantees that the next student strike will be an even bigger success. Students aim to involve many more in the March 26 strike, including their teachers, parents and other anti-war activists and we are especially eager to be joined in the strike by trade union members. -- "The beginning of an international youth movement" BY ALISON DELLIT The stunning success of the March 5 student strike for peace, which mobilised a whopping 30,000 mostly high school students, took even the corporate media by surprise. Although mixed, much of the coverage was favourable. Even the rabidly pro-war Murdoch-owned Australian ran a headline on March 6 that said "Gutsy students repeat protest history". Sydney protest chairperson Lauren Carroll Harris, a high school activist in Resistance, had a 700-word piece printed in the Fairfax-owned Sydney Morning Herald on March 7. In it, she was able to put the case of the protesting students. Describing March 5 as an "the beginning of an international youth movement against war on Iraq", Carroll Harris argued that "money that will be spent on the military would be better spent on upgrading educational facilities, public housing and hospitals". Calling the mood of the protests "passionate, exuberant, political and angry", she explained: "The demonstrators felt ignored and that their only choice was to vote with their feet by walking out of school and sending the urgent message: we have a war to stop. "The demonstrations on March 5 were only the tip of the iceberg of the mass anti-war sentiment that exists among our youth", she warned. "Since the start of the year, anti-war groups on high schools have blossomed, and more students have started to actively campaign in their schools against war." After pointing out that the protests had voted overwhelmingly to take similar action again on March 26, Carroll Harris finished her argument with: "There is no democracy in this country until Howard submits to the will of the majority." Both articles from Green Left Weekly, March 12, 2003. Visit the Green Left Weekly home page @ http://www.GreenLeft.org.au/ Read more about the March 5 student strike, Australian round-up plus world-wide reports at http://www.GreenLeft.org.au/back/2003/529/ - AUSTRALIA: 30,000 students strike against war: plan to strike again March 26 - USA: Student strikers: `Hell no, we won't fight for Texaco!' - CANADA: York University sends in the cops - BRITAIN: Sheffield students join March 5 strike - Feminist marches oppose war [IWD 2003] - More support for anti-war convergence [Canberra] - Socialists call on opposition parties to block supply ----------------------------------------------------------- from http://www.BooksNotBombs.org.au/ HELP BUILD THE NEXT STUDENT STRIKE ON MARCH 26. ADELAIDE: Sarah (08) 8303 5406 BRISBANE: Jemma 0410 477 662, Paul (07) 3875 7854, Stella (07) 3351 4462 CANBERRA: Ph (02) 6247 2424 DARWIN: Bri, Chris (08) 8981 4714 HOBART: Anthea (Tas Uni) or Duncan (Hobart College), both at (03) 6234 6397 GEELONG: Tim (03) 5222 6900 LAUNCESTON: Anita (03) 6391 2372 or Libby (03) 6334 1423 LISMORE: Matt (02) 6621 2840 MELBOURNE: Marcus 0403 876 934 NEWCASTLE: Peter 0408 702 996 PERTH: Ph (08) 9371 7759, 0402 781 748 SYDNEY: Simon 0405 733 768 WOLLONGONG: Grant (02) 4226 2010, Mick (02) 4221 4201 http://www.BooksNotBombs.org.au/ -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
