Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/642/10420
From The Socialist newspaper, 14 October 2010
School students strike in Dover
A school student strike took place this week in an academy in Dover. The school has just been turned into an academy with sponsorship from Canterbury Christ Church University, two grammar schools and Kent county council.
Jon Redford and Claire Laker-Mansfield
A student at Dover Christ Church Academy told us: "We went on strike about lunch periods, which had have been shortened by 15 minutes and split into two, meaning we have all been split up from our friends. We got a new headteacher when the school became an academy. The old one was popular and listened to students' views.
Police called
"We organised the strike on Facebook with a group called 'strike for lunch', adding friends and calling for a walk-out. On 4 October at 11.15am, we walked out en masse with more and more students joining us.
"Our numbers eventually swelled to around 300 students. We chanted: 'We shall not be moved', 'We want Archers [the name of the school before it became an academy] back' and 'We want lunchbreaks!'
"The police were called to 'restore order'. It is wrong that the police were used - we have a right to protest and make our feelings known!"
Protests will continue
Socialist Students and Youth Fight for Jobs distributed leaflets explaining that we supported the students' right to protest. We were enthusiastically received by the students who planned another protest, and supported our idea of holding a silent protest on the grass outside the school with placards and banners.
However on the day this didn't happen. The management rounded up the ringleaders and sent them home.
Protests will increase across the country. Cuts and privatisation are what the government has prepared for education across the country, and such protests will increase in response to top-down, heavy-handed tactics.
Socialist campaigners can play a big role in supporting these actions and helping them be a success.
Huddersfield
Join the March Against EMA Cuts
Wednesday 20 October
Assemble 12.40pm outside entrance to Greenhead College, Greenhead Road, Huddersfield, HD1 4ES
Come to our meeting
Can we fund a living EMA for all?
Monday 18 October, 5pm
downstairs in Cafe Evolution.
For more info contact Dexter on
07843994596 or e-mail collegesagainstcuts@hotmail.co.uk
Join the campaign Facebook group: Huddersfield Colleges Against EMA Cuts
Mansfield Youth Fight for Jobs and Socialist Students
Protest against EMA and public spending cuts
Wednesday 20 October, 12.30pm
West Nottinghamshire College
Chesterfield Road South Mansfield, NG19 7BB
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In The Socialist 14 October 2010:
Anti-cuts campaign
Strike back at pensions robbery
Protest against the Con-Dem's comprehensive cuts on 23 October
TUC must name the date for strike action
PCS fights to defend jobs and pensions
Socialist Students
When they say fees will rise... we fight back and organise!
School students strike in Dover
Action against EMA cuts in Huddersfield and Mansfeild
Socialist Party news and analysis
Con-Dem attacks will lead to social cleansing
Labour shadows show: We need a new workers' party!
Children - a privilege for the rich?
Anti-racism
Community organises to resist EDL thugs
Socialist Party workplace news
Greenwich council threatens mass sackings
Socialism 2010
Socialist Party Marxist analysis
The general strike: Important tool of the working class
International socialist news
Stalinism and capitalism - a toxic brew in Hungary
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