45 Brisbane schools walk out against nuclear testing

By Bernard Wunsch BRISBANE — On October 5 students from 45 different schools walked out of class, and 4000 high school students rallied in the streets. King George Square was filled with young people demanding "Stop the bomb". When the crowd marched, it stretched two blocks down Adelaide Street. It neared the French consulate at a full run with thousands chanting, "Burn the flag, burn the building". In Caloundra 250 students unable to make it into Brisbane walked out of class and attempted to bring a neighbouring Christian school with them. They stopped traffic in the Sunshine Coast until dragged off by police. The rally was organised by the socialist youth group Resistance to show the anger high school students feel at the lack of action by the Australian government against nuclear testing. The widespread walkout shows how real this anger is. Students from as far as Browns Plains, Ipswich, Sunny Bank and Pine Rivers travelled into Brisbane to attend. The idea for a rally began at the private girls school St Rita's College. They planned a rally in King George Square for delegated students from private schools on the north side. Resistance decided to help build the rally by calling on state school students to attend. Realising that not all students would be allowed to be delegates, Resistance called for a walkout to maximise attendance at the rally. The leaflet Resistance put out urged students first to ask their schools if they could attend the rally. If this was refused, they were encouraged to get their parents to give them permission notes. If this was not possible they were encouraged to organise a walkout where they had enough support. Resistance organiser Zanny Begg explained, "We wanted to avoid any suspensions for students. We knew that parental support, where possible, would protect students. Where not possible, there is always safety in numbers when organising a walkout". On Monday, the Courier-Mail had the front-page banner headline: "Youth group calls for mass walkout at schools". That day the second bomb was detonated at Fangataufa atoll. In schools across Queensland students began to organise. By Tuesday evening, 17 different schools had rung Resistance saying that they were going to walk out. Stories began to come in of headmasters holding special assemblies to warn students against Resistance. Resistance high school members were defending the organisation in schools all over the state. By Wednesday morning, it was announced that Lord Mayor Jim Soorley had offered City Hall to St Rita's students for their rally so that they could be protected from Resistance. The press were informed that security had been hired and no Resistance members were to be allowed inside. Resistance members were labelled "gatecrashers" in the establishment media. Resistance announced that the rally was going ahead regardless and that a march was now planned to the French consulate. By Wednesday afternoon, 27 different schools had rung saying that they were walking out. At a stall outside Toowong High on Wednesday morning, Resistance members were mobbed by students who ran towards them shouting "Resistance, nuclear testing, walkout!". On Wednesday evening Resistance heard that Ian Isaacs, the headmaster at Aspley State High who suspended 10 students for trying to organise a walkout on September 8, had backed down and no student from Aspley would be suspended for walking out. On Thursday, King George Square was full by 12 o'clock. At 1 o'clock, when the rally was scheduled to start, students from St Rita's came with a megaphone and tried to herd students into City Hall. Around 100 students left the square and went into City Hall. The rally was extremely lively. Student after student got up and explained that they had defied suspension to come along. The concern about uranium mining and nuclear testing was obvious. Jaay Taylor, who joined Resistance on the day, told the cheering crowd, "Pigs can fly, kids don't have sex and nuclear testing is safe ... not!". Claire Manrion, a Resistance member from Browns Plains High who chaired the rally, said, "We will come back again and again until nuclear testing stops forever". Other speakers included Sharon Bickle from Greenpeace and Zanny Begg. At about 1.30, reports filtered back that security guards outside City Hall were confiscating any Resistance placards, leaflets or badges from students trying to enter. In anger, the crowd marched towards City Hall chanting, "Join us, join us". Two students ran inside and began calling out, "March with Resistance, march with Resistance". Hundreds began pouring out the doors. The crowd swelled to around 4000 and took off towards the French consulate. There, Jasmin Preston got up and told the rally she had smuggled a Resistance placard into City Hall and held it high every time they red-baited Resistance. "They did not mention independence for Tahiti in City Hall", she said. "They did not mention uranium sales to France. They just kept chanting, 'All we are saying is give peace a chance'. This is not all we are saying. I'm a member of Resistance and I am saying let's fight nuclear testing." The next day Resistance was flooded with calls from students who wanted to know when the next walkout would be. Begg explains "Mr Hamill [state education minister] went to the media Friday morning and said, 'Any principal who suspends a student is a redneck'. This shows that the Education Department realises the community support for the students. We will continue the fight to break every link in the nuclear chain in Australia". On Saturday afternoon, Resistance held an emergency consultation with high school students to decide what action students in Brisbane would take as part of the October 18-25 week of action. It was unanimously decided that a second walkout would be held on Wednesday the 18th. Students are encouraged to leave with enough time to get to King George Square by 2pm. Already students from seven different school have said they will be walking out. Janna Craig, a year 10 student, said, "We are calling on our parents to come, and we want university students to attend in solidarity".