March 5 strike builds in Adelaide

BY
AMY MCDONNELL

ADELAIDE — “Young people need to be leading the anti-war movement.
Tens of thousands of Australian students were involved in stopping the
war in Vietnam, and we can stop the war in Iraq”, said University of Adelaide
student and antiwar activist Tim Laurie at the 100,000-strong peace protest
held in Adelaide on February 16.

His comment came after the president of the Student Association of the
University of Adelaide, Sarah Hanson-Young, urged the rally to support
the student strike planned for March 5. Laurie may not have been an official
speaker, but his words echoed the sentiment of thousands of young people
at the protest.

Students across the city have been campaigning at their schools and
on the streets as part of organising the March 5 strike. Dozens of high
school students have leafleted schools all over Adelaide and organised
contingents to walk out of school to meet up with campus and TAFE students.

Following the February 16 rally, more than 100 high school, TAFE and
campus students gathered in Elder Park to plan for the strike. Campus contact
points were established, high school meetings organised, and plans for
covering Adelaide with posters developed.

Part of the campaign has involved talking to school administrations
about the strike and winning their support for the idea. High school student
Emily Taylor, an activist with socialist youth organisation Resistance,
told Green Left Weekly that “the amount of support we’re getting
is phenomenal! It’s amazing the number of schools where teachers and principals
think the student strike idea is fantastic, and want to help us organise
anti-war film showings and speakers at schools.”

[For details of the strike, visit  <http://www.booksnotbombs.org.au>.]

From Green Left Weekly, February 26, 2003.

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From GLW issue 527