BY MATT EGAN
GRAFTON — In the first action against the US war in Afghanistan held in the Clarence Valley region of northern NSW, 100 people joined a high school walkout and rallied in Grafton on November 9.
The organisers included local Resistance members, high school student activists and the Clarence Environment Centre. The turnout was double what they had expected.
Speakers at the rally included World War II veteran Jim Knight, who denounced US plans to control more of the world's oil supplies, and community health worker Mark Mitchell, who defended young people's right to take part in political activity.
The Grafton Daily Examiner featured the walkout on the front page for two successive days. It colourfully described Resistance members as "followers of the world revolution philosophies of Leon Trotsky".
The newspaper falsely claimed the rally, which demanded withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan and supported rights for refugees, received a hostile response from onlookers.
"There were only two older men who opposed the rally", Grafton High student and Resistance member Jason Telfer told Green Left Weekly. "Many more passers-by and on-lookers were supportive. I was also surprised at the good turnout of students."
A walkout and rally was held on the same day in Lismore, but numbers were low due to repressive tactics adopted by school administrations.
"We heard that the Board of Education had directed schools to prevent students leaving", rally organiser and Resistance member Ryan Law said. "We'd got together more than 50 students from my school, Richmond River High, but we were denied early leave passes, even though most of us had written parental permission to leave. Most students, unsure of their rights, followed the orders of teachers to remain in school."
However, as Telfer added, the interest in the walkouts showed that "there's a real basis among students in the area for anti-capitalist ideas".
From Green Left Weekly, November 21, 2001.
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