I was part of an extremely successful highschool activist group, called YAC (Sure, it stood for "Youth Activist Collective," which was boring, but we used a Yak as our logo, which was fucking awsome).
Yr first step is probably to assemble a core group of committed activists/revolutionaries/commie-faggot-heretics/etc. Having done that, draft a simple pamphlet, outlining yr intentions, and start holding a few events. I'm sure there are hip folk in yr community who you could have come in to speak on relevant issues - which is two-fold in its value. First, you're able to raise conscioussness about a given issue, and, second, you're able to increase the visibility of yr group.
Eventually, you'll want to start into some action. At QEH, we faced some bizarre limits on our expression, and we fought back. At the time, I wrote a short article that was published in the Communist Party Newspaper:
Students demand free speech
By Brad Fougere
(The following is from a first-hand report on a free speech
struggle at [Halifax]'s Queen Elizabeth High School - Editor)
Suddenly, it erupted in front of the library, sexy and subversive,
a blank wall where we could express our opinions. This wall stands
in stark contrast to the trends within our school, toward
censorship and control of expression. Though it was written prior
to the event, these words from an unsigned pamphlet, largely
attributed to the Youth Activist Collective, reflect with
surprising accuracy the exciting events of Friday, January 16th.
Prior to telling the story of Queen Elizabeth High School's "Free
Speech Day," however, it might be beneficial to cover briefly the
history of events leading up to the action.
It began with the school's Youth Activist Collective (YAC),
distributing pamphlets, planning a few small events (Teach-ins and
the like). All of these things came to a screeching halt when,
under heavy administration pressure, the group's teacher advisor
passed on that the majority of the group's pamphlets were too
confrontational, poorly sourced (including opinion pieces), or
merely "offensive."
YAC were also informed that, should they wish to continue as a
school group, they'd need to narrow their focus, and generally
become more like the school's Amnesty International group. Faced
with being detoothed and made redundant, or losing club status,
YACniks chose the latter. Not the sort of group to take censorship
lying down, YAC was soon wearing duct-tape on their mouths, and
handing out a handbill declaring "Censored? We Were!"
This provoked the first of several unproductive meetings with the
administration. Over the course of these little conferences, it was
revealed that the administration wished to personally look over any
material students wished to distribute. In the mind of the
authorities, a good time for expressing opinions was "Never." When
contacted by the media, the principal denied any knowledge of YAC
or of the situation.
Moved - even enraged - by the revelation that their school would
not tolerate free expression and dialogue among students, it was
decided that some decisive action had to be taken. In early
January, the idea of an unpermitted free speech zone in QEH began
to take concrete shape. Paper for a "Free speech wall" was secured,
pamphlets written, press releases sent our, and detailed plans
made.
After a week of vague handouts, and cryptic messages scribbled on
bathroom stalls, at 11 am on Friday, January 16, several students
assembled outside the library. By twenty after eleven, when the
lunch bell rang, everything was ready. Students streamed into the
halls, and were handed pieces of paper declaring "The time to put
your ideas, free and uncensored into the realm of open public
debate is now." Relevant quotes by everyone from Mao, to Voltaire,
to Emma Goldman were in the air as the room in front of the library
began to fill up with excited students and invited media. Vice
Principals and other school officials stood by helplessly as wave
after wave of students rushed to grab a marker and share their
opinions with their peers, unmolested.
YAC member, Cole Webber, had brought an acoustic guitar, used to
great effect by a few students (Cole's own performance of
Propagandhi's "State Lottery" was especially enjoyable) until the
noise began to irritate those in the library. Cole also did
interviews with several media people.
Around this point, space on the paper had almost run out and lunch
hour wasn't even three-quarters over. Luckily, there was duct tape
around, and the writing moved from the main piece of paper, and on
to smaller scraps, taped on the surrounding area of exposed wall.
Classes did, inevitably, start up again at twenty after twelve, but
it took several minutes for the principal to convince those at the
wall to leave. He asked that organizers come immediately to a
meeting with him. Outnumbered by about 15 students, the meeting was
short-lived, dominated mainly by threats to seize the camera of one
YAKnik (who, of course, refused to give it up). Later that
afternoon, a meeting, including the parents of several students,
was arranged for a later date.
That meeting occurred on Tuesday afternoon, the 20th. Though there
were attempts to change the subject, the students came with a
simple demand - free speech rights for all students, including the
right to pamphlet, poster, and book classrooms, without any admin
interference. After an hour and a half of debate, these points were
conceded. Such a dramatic about-face by the administration is a
testament to the power of action, and the effect of the free speech
wall.
Though newspaper articles on the subject showed a lacklustre
understanding of the anarchist principles of several of the
organizers, and widespread radical consciousness hasn't suddenly
sprung up at QEH, YAC sees the event as a success, and plans to use
their new-found freedom of expression. Expect more news soon.
What considerably helped our cause was involving the local media - naturally, there was a certain degree of red-baiting (Were we anarchists? What did we want?) bullshit, but over-all, we ended up in a position where we could bargin from a position of power. From there it was smooth sailing - vegan bake sales, pamphleting, and getting out to events. Sure, we didn't manage to topple capitalism and turn Halifax into some Worker's/Student's paradise, but we were a few steps ahead of yr typical high school, methinks (We even managed to inspire a few people at other schools, and hold a small regional conference, with free food, discussion etc. Hoorah!)
If you want to get in contact with a few people in similar situations - organizing at high school - you can contact current YACniks (I wonder if they still use that term?) at:
[email protected]