BY DENISE
AUKES
BRISBANE The March 5 student strike demonstrated that young people in Australia refuse to be silent about the criminal US war against Iraq. More than 30,000 people, mostly high school students who had walked out of school, voiced their opposition to war.
The strike, which was organised by Books Not Bombs, a broad coalition of high school and university activists, gave a large boost to the anti-war movement and sent a strong anti-war message to Prime Minister John Howard's government.
The strike has posed the question: what should be the attitude of high school teachers and university staff towards students who take anti-war action? This question is posed most directly on high schools, where strict rules prohibit or severely limit the right of students to take political action.
A positive example of staff respecting students' right to free political expression was provided by Angus McDonald, a teacher from Kimberley College. McDonald is one of many teachers who are attempting to allow students to discuss, consider and, if they choose to do so, spread the anti-war message.
McDonald organised students to be involved in the March 5 student strike action. He and 50 students from Kimberly College went on an excursion to the Brisbane Resistance Centre to discuss the situation in Iraq before attending the March 5 rally. Kimberly College's contingent at the March 5 strike was easily the most vibrant and gained most of the mass media coverage.
School principal Paul Thomson told the Brisbane Courier-Mail on March 6 that students learnt much more about social justice [by participating in the March 5 action] than they would have from a dozen lessons out of a textbook. McDonald told Green Left Weekly it was inspiring for students to see people actively and passionately organised in the anti-war campaign.
This pro-active role on the part of the school administration has inspired in the students a strong drive to actively take part in the fight for justice and peace, said McDonald. Since their March 5 excursion, Kimberly College students have hosted visiting activists from the Books Not Bombs coalition and they plan to maintain contact with the movement. Following the last visit, students decided to set up an anti-war committee at the school.
The National Tertiary Education Industry Union (NTEU), the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the Independent Education Union represent some 230,000 teaching staff across Australia. These unions issued a joint media release on March 20 that condemned the Howard government for committing Australian troops to an illegal invasion of Iraq. It encouraged educators to support students who take an anti war stance and to encourage participation in peaceful protest with the support and involvement of other family members.
The NTEU, which covers university teaching staff, has gone the furthest of the three unions by organising political action that can involve students, as well as backing students who may be penalised for missing classes. The NTEU organised a national stop-work and campus protest actions on March 20 to protest the start of the US attack on Iraq.
Many NTEU branches gave official support to the March 5 student strike, and have pledged support for the March 26 strike. Barbara Williams, campaigns officer for the Queensland NTEU told GLW that the union is encouraging and supporting students in anything they do and [we] certainly won't penalise them. The NTEU in Queensland has publicised and encouraged its members to attend anti-war actions.
The AEU, which covers public school teachers and staff, is also opposed to schools penalising students who take part in anti-war strike action. Robert Durbridge, from the AEU's federal office told GLW on March 20: Opposing the war is not only union business but especially education union business.
Durbridge added that the AEU is committed to building the biggest possible anti-war movement. At its federal congress in Adelaide on January 16, AEU delegates unanimously voted to oppose any war on Iraq, regardless of whether it was backed by the UN or not.
Students should be involved in the anti-war campaign, Durbridge said, and teachers have a responsibility to discuss the war issue with them. The Victorian branch of the AEU has adopted a statement on the war that is being discussed in classrooms; it was published in the Melbourne Age on March 20.
So far, the AEU has not given specific support to the student strikes and the federal conference resolutions were silent on the question of what attitude members should take towards students who break school rules in the course of their involvement in the anti-war movement.
Durbridge expressed concerns over how far a teachers' union could go in supporting students' protest action and said that the AEU was in a difficult position because of a teacher's responsibility as the legal carer of students while they are at school.
However, the NTEU's Barbara Williams pointed out that most industrial action that any union has ever taken is illegal but if governments can't enforce the law then unions can get away with it.
From Green Left Weekly, March 26, 2003.
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