DETROIT — With chants such as “Hell no, we won't go, we won't fight for Texaco”, students across the United States protested on March 5 in record numbers. Far exceeding the expectation of protest organisers, up to 50,000 students from as many as 400 high school and college campuses participated in hundreds of separate actions during the “Books not bombs” student strike to protest against US President George Bush's war on Iraq.

From California to Maine, student protesters defied icy weather, threats of expulsion and the possibility of failing their exams if they participated in the strike. But nothing could keep the youth from taking to the streets to have their opinions heard.

Activists marched, chanted, held mock polls to choose between spending federal money on education or on war, staged “die-ins”, erected tent cities and held mass teach-ins. Young people in each city found their own way to participate in the strike, but all involved felt the importance of a nationally coordinated day of youth action.

“We're taking a stance today to say that the youth of America do not support Bush's war policy”, said Terra Lawson-Remer, a 24-year-old New York University (NYU) law student and spokesperson in New York for the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC).

Even though some students had to attend class to sit final exams, they found ways to participate. At Middle Tennessee State University, black armbands were worn in solidarity with the strike. In Chicago, more than 1000 students trekked through 20 centimetres of snow to reach a anti-war teach-in at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller chapel.

Events at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Colorado drew more than 1000 students. More than 2000 young people — including hundreds of high school students — rallied at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The largest action was in New York City, where more than 3000 people, mostly high school and middle school students from black and Latino neighbourhoods, rallied in Union Square. Police prevented a 1000-strong contingent from NYU from reaching the rally.

“By going on strike today, we're joining students across the US in not going along with the Bush administration, which is pulling us into a preemptive war that will kill thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians”, said Naman Hampton, a strike organiser.

NYSPC spokesperson and high school student Ben Waxman explained the inspiration provided by the success of the March 5 student strike: “Our massive national strike, the growing peace movement and the international efforts to curb US unilateral military action have been successful and have given the world hope that we can stop this war before it starts.”

High school students in particular faced repression as they attempted to exercise their democratic rights. Many were not permitted to attend protest actions without parental permission. Some parents went to school and signed their children out to participate.

However, the students were not to be deterred. Tiffany Bibuld, 16, a second-year high school student who took part in the New York City protest, said missing a class was nothing compared to the devastating impact war could have on the people of the United States and Iraq.

In California, San Jose High Academy students Khaled Abdallah and Obaid Khan, both 14, walked about three kilometres to a college campus, knowing they risked detention or a Saturday make-up class when they returned. “They said we could go, but we'd face the consequences”, said Khan. “But we're not doing this for stupid reasons.”

At Oakland High School in California, security guards locked the school's entrance gates just before noon when students planned to leave, trapping nearly 200 students behind the gates. Some pushed a garbage can near the fence and hopped over it, while organisers tried to reason with administrators. Hundreds of students marched to Oakland City Hall for a rally.

In San Francisco, hundreds of high school students marched through the city. San Francisco State University students rallied on campus, then blocked traffic outside. At the University of California at Berkeley, 500 marched on campus. There were dozens of walkouts reported throughout San Francisco and Los Angeles.

North of Chicago, more than 1000 students from the Evanston Township High School circled the 3600-pupil school for one period. In the Washington area, 800 students attended a sit-in at Northwestern High in Hyattsville.

Many of those who participated in the strike were first-time activists. “I saw my country going down the wrong path, so I decided to get involved”, said Evan Hoffman, 20, a Temple University sophomore. “I don't see how bombing a country into the stone age will change things. It's ridiculous. A war will only make more recruits for terrorism.” Hoffman wore a T-shirt with a peace symbol, which, he said, his own father had worn during the anti-Vietnam War protests at the University of Wisconsin.

Stephanie Morgan, 15, a ninth grader at the Freire Charter School in Philadelphia, said she attended the rally because “we're young, we can't vote, and we want to be heard. A lot of innocent people will be killed. Two wrongs don't make a right.” Many of the participants cited the Vietnam War-era activists as their inspiration, but also realised the power of the new movement. One student at Detroit's Wayne State University exclaimed, “My dad was an anti-war hippie, and he ain't never seen anything like this before in this city!”

While it still has not been decided if another national student strike will be called, the nearly unanimous feeling is that youth must keep the momentum going with the ever growing anti-war movement. As one activist told a local media crew, “This is our first step toward creating a world that we are going to control.”

Thousands of other students also walked out in Britain, France, Sweden, Spain, Australia, Bangladesh, Switzerland and Senegal as part of the worldwide student strike.

From Green Left Weekly, March 12, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

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