Hear from students, a school board member, and WCW organizers standing
up for the right of high school students to walk-out and join protests
Nov. 2nd without being harrassed or arrested by police, and without
punishment from school.
From LA high school students:
RESIST OR
DIE!
November 2nd
marks Bush’s reelection, but after 2005, it will be remembered as the beginning
of the end of the Bush regime. On November 2nd thousands of
people will be leaving jobs, leaving schools, and taking to the streets.
This is a time to take action. What else needs to happen before we act? Go back to segregation? New Orleans, the war
in Iraq, and these Supreme Court nominations are proof enough that this regime
must go.
Bush is a
threat to society. He is drifting
society towards fascist theocracy with its roots in the Bible. Bush is letting people die in Iraq. He’s against abortion. He wants to take women’s rights away. He hasn’t said anything about the minutemen
on the border. He’s a threat to our future.
We as high
school students not only have the right to join this movement, but
responsibility to do so. We are going
to have high school walkouts all over the country on November 2nd.
In Los
Angeles, principals and administrators are trying to stop us from doing
this. At Locke, the principal
threatened to expel a student because she was passing out posters telling about
the genocidal comments of William Bennett and how this is part of why we have
to drive out the Bush regime. At
Banning, the principal forced a student to walk around the school and take down
all the stickers and posters about November 2nd. Then he
cancelled the speakout she was working on, which she had permission to schedule
at the school. At Reseda, school police told a student she would get a
$700 ticket if she walked out of school on November 2nd. And at Fairfax, some teachers started
scheduling tests for November 2nd and telling students their grades
would be lowered if they missed the test.
Our answer
to all this is: F*ck their threats, we’re changing the world!
The
administrators are using the same tactics as the Bush administration:
fear. They are trying to scare us so
we’ll back off and not walk out or go against Bush. What are these
threats compared to what Bush is doing?
They are nothing.
On top of
this, their own policy says we students have the right to walk out of school
and the administrators are not allowed to try to stop us! This was in a memo from the Los Angeles
Unified School District that was sent to all the principals on October 26,
2005. That memo should be made public
to all students and parents. People
should support the high school students and make sure these administrators
don’t try to punish any students for walking out on November 2nd.
We owe it to the millions of people
that are getting tortured, getting murdered, and suffering around the world to
do this. Resist or Die – it has come down to that slogan. If we don’t resist right now we won’t have a
chance to again. Right now the future is in everybody’s hands. It is up
to us. The question is what kind of world do you want to live in? Will you accept everything this regime
stands for? If you don’t, then you must join this movement. Join the
school walkouts. Join us on Wilshire Blvd. at 12 noon on November 2nd
and in Westwood at the Federal Building at 5pm.
-Sara Escudero from Reseda High School and LJ from Los Angeles
High School
*****************************
Urgent Message to Educators- from Andy
Griggs
Steering committee US Labor against the War and
member of UTLA board of directors (Organizations for identification purposes
only)
AN URGENT MESSAGE TO LOS ANGELES
EDUCATORS AND ALL THOSE CONCERNED WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE ON THE WORLD CANT WAIT
CALL TO DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME
I would like to echo the sentiments of the Oakland Educational Association who
recently unanimously passed a resolution to support the right of participation
in the November 2nd. 2005 day of protest and support the policy of no reprisals
against students, teachers, and others in the school community who may take-off
work or school to take part in protest activities that day. The author of this
resolution Larry Felson, teacher and OEA site rep at Oakland High, Oakland,
California wrote:
The
continuing slaughter of the Iraqi people! The exposure of Bush and the
government surrounding New Orleans and the horrendous treatment of Black
people. The vicious attack on poor and immigrant youth and youth of color
represented by “No Child Left Behind,” as well as the attempt to turn
our schools into recruiting centers for their wars of expansion and greed!
These are outrageous crimes that must be stopped!
As the WORLD CANT WAIT Call puts it: “The Bush Regime is setting out to
remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. A
new movement is now forming to stop this disastrous course by taking action and
on November 2nd it begins: a mass political resistance that will not stop until
this regime is driven from office.”
There have been reports that at Fairfax High and other Los Angeles schools
there have been cases of harassment and intimidation of students who are
organizing for the Nov. 2 day of protests. I urge LA administrators to allow
students the exercise of their rights to express their opinion and to further
encourage all young people to question those policies that will affect them so
deeply–whether because of cuts to education and other social services that
will limit their opportunities–or, the even more obvious threat to them–a
life in the military where they can be used to kill others in a war that is
based on lies and deception!
I
join with Larry Felson and the Oakland Educators Association in calling all
educators and others across the country to take up WORLD CANT WAIT/DRIVE OUT
THE BUSH REGIME activities on November 2nd and to support a policy of no
reprisals against those who choose to participate. NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT!
**************************
Statement
in Support of High School Students
Participating in Nov.
2 Actions
High school
and middle school students throughout the country are organizing to take their
part in powerful political actions on Wednesday, Nov. 2 to launch the movement
to Drive Out the Bush Regime. In southern California student organizers
for Nov. 2 are reporting threats and intimidation by school authorities,
including failing grades, tickets for truancy, and suspensions.
On October
26 a memo was sent to every principal from LAUSD directly stating ‘Do not
attempt to prevent students from leaving the campus’ on Nov. 2. This policy must be made known to students
throughout LAUSD immediately, and violations of this order by school administrators
and the police must stop. And more, LAUSD must assure the parents and the
public that students will not be punished for taking political action on Nov.
2. At a time when military recruiters roam the high schools of this
country pressuring underage students to join a military engaging in wars of
aggression and torture, students can not be stopped from taking political
action to put an end to this regime and affect the future of this world and
their place in it.
We call on
LAUSD to immediately publicize their policy concerning the right of students to
engage in politically protected activity, and all of the memos that have been
issued regarding the Nov. 2 actions should be made public, so that students,
parents, and the public at large will know that the rights of the students to take
political action are being protected.
October 28, 2005
World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime! –
L.A.