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.
From Green Left Weekly, March 12, 2003.
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