How to Organize your High School

check out the following report from New Trier High School in the northern suburbs of Chicago:

I’m a Junior in
high school in Chicago and originally became involved in the World
Can’t Wait movement over the summer. I had felt the need for a movement
like this, and was very enthusiastic and supportive from the beginning.
I wanted to organize a walkout at my high school, but initially people
were skeptical both of the feasibility of such an action and of the
reasons behind it. Over the months since then I have made much headway
into addressing both issues, and I hope that my experiences can help
assist other students in organizing high schools and colleges around
the country.



The first important issue which I had to address were the reasons why
people should join this movement. Initial questions I had, and I am
sure that we have all heard these, were things such as ‘what will
walking out actually accomplish’, ‘why can’t we just work through the
current system’, and ‘won’t we get in trouble for walking out?’.
Addressing the first two questions first, I have found that the best
thing to do is to pitch the WCW in different ways to different people.
Now you may be asking, ‘isn’t that dishonest and misleading?’, but the
fact of the matter is that it is not. The World Cant Wait has NO set
ideology or political point of view. It is merely the vehicle for which
those outraged with the regime can make a difference; and only time
will tell where these people will lead this movement and American
Society and where the movement will stop. For the more politically
minded and activist of my peers I pointed out that a social movement
such as the WCW is what is needed to make this society conscious. It is
only through such a body, one not attributed to a certain philosophy or
political party but to a broader societal goal, that the American
people can begin to create a better world. For people who may be more
moderate, or who would wish to ultimately stay within the system I
point out that such a movement could just as likely be used towards
creating a better Democratic Party. The current party is on a move to
the right, I point out, not confronting the Bush agenda and completely
removed from the party’s base. Yet when you try to change the party,
and yet still vote for the party regardless, there is NO incentive for
the party to change its agenda nor will it do so. The only way that the
Democratic Party can be pulled back to the left, I point out, is by a
movement by the people IN society which the Democrats then come
crawling back to in order to recapture votes.



Certain other concerns with what walking out actually accomplishes are
often raised. One is that people often point out that this has never
happened before, or that protests in the 60s and 70s did not end the
Vietnam war. I point out to people, however, that Bush isn’t only
waging and illegitimate war, but is UNRAVELING THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS
that we won through protest in the 60s and 70s. Therefore, in order to
protect out society, along with out rights, we must start a new
movement in society to defend ourselves. When people prod further and
question whether we can really drive out Bush in the next 3 and a half
years I am straight up with them. I tell them that yes, nothing like
this has ever been done in America before. However, this is not just
about Bush. This country is being led by a few thousand Christian
Fascists, and if we do not begin to oppose them RIGHT NOW, then they
can be sure that whoever comes after Bush will be worst. Maybe we can
drive out the Christian Fascists while their puppet in the office is
still Bush, and maybe it will take a little longer than that, but
regardless the WCW is starting the opposition now to begin a movement
which will not end until these Fascists are out of power and in the
meantime will stand up for our rights and prevent more unjust wars.



Even after making all of these point, even many progressive students
have one lingering concern, “won’t we get in trouble for this?”. The
short answer to this is no. If you go about organizing for Nov 2 the
right way and have at least a decent amount of people walking out, at
MOST only the ring leaders will have consequences. The school WILL
insist that it will not back down on punishment until the last minute,
but do you really think that they will suspend hundreds or thousands of
students? Yet, to better assure that people at your school are
confident in the fact that they will not be punished for standing up
for the truth and for their freedoms, there are ways to gain the upper
hand when dealing with administration. At my school we are going about
doing this by holding a press conference during the Saturation Week.
Now, I can’t speak for every school, but I know that the one thing that
my school hates more than anything is bad press. By holding a press
conference during school (and at this conference telling the media why
you are walking out, what you are doing then, about the WCW, calling
out to others to join you, etc…) you are assuring that the media is
watching your school BEFORE the walk out. This will assure that any
school crack-down will look extremely bad, and that the school will do
all it can to avoid it. I have not actually held this press conference
yet, but I will provide tips on organizing one and on how this goes in
the coming weeks.



You can have the right answers to any question, but the walkout isn’t
going to happen in your school if people do not know about it. With the
exception of a few people that I had began telling about the World Cant
Wait over the summer, the campaign in my school began in Mid-September.
On a Tuesday, after school, I had invited two local Youth Organizers
for the WCW to create a scene at my school. As students poured out of
the front door at 3:25, they were greeted by calls over a bull horn and
a mass of flyers. In only a few minutes the entire crowd had become
polarized, most cheering on the WCW, a few yelling at them. Friends
took different sides of the debate; exposing the underlying outrage and
worry over this regime. Students poured over the organizers; all
wanting a flyer and to sign up. The one problem that we then faced was
the security at my school. Now, at most schools the security is not
this bad so it should not be an issue, but here they approached the
organizers and told them to leave. They falsely stated that the public
school was private property and that they could not be there. Most of
the crowd was yelling for us to continue, and people continued to sign
up and grab flyers. Eventually we were forced by the security and
police across the street, but much of the crowd followed. Over the next
half an hour or so we continued to sign people up, talk to students,
and get out the call. Often we would arrive at a group of students only
to find that others had beaten us there and had already gotten around
the call. Even with the setback of being kicked off the school in only
a few minutes, we received tons of support, got around hundreds of
copies of the call, received dozens of signatures, and made a lasting
impact on the student body. If you are worried about your school
cracking down in similar way, try using ONLY students of that school
but with a similar methods. They cant kick you off of your own school
grounds, though they may be able to prevent you from using an
electronic bull horn. An ideal setup would involve a team of around
four people; on passing out the call, one signing students up, one
getting out shirts, stickers, etc, and one speaking. In the future at
my school, we will continue to use this technique, but now with only
students of the school doing the organizing and speaking. Another very
effective method of making people aware of the World Cant Wait is to
simply place stickers and/ or flyers everywhere. I personally placed
dozens upon dozens of WCW stickers around my school and community, and
others that I sold found their way on walls and such as well. Combining
this with a stapling the call to telephone polls and such, the WCW
becomes something that people cant escape. Everywhere they go it is
visible and is sparking discussion and interest in the movement.



Another effective method that I have found is to set up a World Cant
Wait booth during lunch periods. We did this twice so far in my school;
using a table and a large paint-on-canvas banner draped over it to
attract peoples attention. At the table we offered the call, signed
people up, and sold buttons, stickers, and shirts. In doing this two
times we received dozens of contacts and got out hundreds of flyers. As
an added bonus to such a tactic, if you make a banner to use at your
table you could display it in other places for future campaigns.



The last tip I have for organizing in schools is to simply be promoting
the World Cant Wait on a small scale. Where ever I go I always have a
supply of the call with me, as well as at least a few buttons and
stickers to sell. You will probably also want to make your own
customized call: tweaking information to what you feel would be the
most effective at your school and providing local place and time info.
Keep debate about the movement alive in your school, and talk to people
about it whenever possible. You will not have to do these things alone,
in short time many others will step up as organizers to assist you. But
no one is going to get this started for you. It is our responsibility
as students and young people to fight for our freedoms and to create
the type of world that we want to live in! I hope that this information
helps someone, and I will continue to post updates as this progress at
my school.