I read that young people in Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol, Luton and London have been leaving school to march calling for a ceasefire in the Hamas – Israel conflict that was caused by the terrorist group's genocidal attack on Israeli civilians on October 7th. All this is said to be co-ordinated by the Stop the War Coalition, which says that these will continue every Friday until a ceasefire is agreed. The group said it was supporting largely “self-organised” action by parents and children, and that about 48 schools are thought to be involved.
The Times reports:
"Hundreds of students and parents gathered outside Redbridge town hall to make their voices heard, with young children seen jumping excitedly as the joined chants of “free, free Palestine!” in a call and response led by an adult."
"In Glasgow thousands of young people shouted ceasefire now as others held up a large banner which read: Students say: End Israeli apartheid."
"Children in Bristol were filmed marching through the city behind a boy wearing a keffiyeh around his neck and leading a chant through a megaphone: One, two, three, four, occupation no more. Five, six, seven, eight, Israel is a terrorist state."
Clearly, these are not quite the sort of Friday strikes that we were used to before the pandemic's social restrictions brought them to a halt. They are much more overtly political in purpose, although no doubt the activism is being justified as being the citizenship curriculum made real. Stop the War is in no sense a neutral actor here: it is calling for a ceasefire and involving young people in aid of this end.
The DfE didn't like the climate strikes and it doesn't like these ones either. The Times quotes Gillian Keegan, the education secretary:
“I’m deeply concerned that some children are attending political protests during the school day. Even more so if they’re taking part in, or being exposed to, antisemitic chants. This should be treated with the utmost seriousness — missing school for activism is unacceptable.”
In principle, it can be difficult for a small l liberal like me to know where to draw the line in such activities. In practise, however, it can be straightforward. I supported (from a distance) the climate strikes as the goal was one I agreed with; that is, trying to get schools to take climate change and the ecological crisis seriously in curriculum activities. There certainly were politically-motivated folk active in all that, but they did not seem to feature strongly in what was done and said in the streets. This strike seems very different, especially if what the Times is reporting is typical of protests. Here, young people run the risk of being useful idiots for one side of a political dispute they cannot possibly understand.
Here's a question, if a group of school students started to strike in support of Israel's moral and legal right to exist and defend its people from genocidal attack, would Stop the War be supporting them? I suspect I know the answer.
Respond