Spreading Leftism in a high school environment

[Sickle of Justice]

so, i recently started an anarchist/communist/socialist group at my high school, and we only have a few members, 10 on a good day. we were looking into doing protests and demonstrations, especially since there are frequently millitary recruiters selling their pitch around the caf. but we figured we might need a few more people to actually make an impact on people. we havn't really advertised much yet, as the group started only about a month before the end of school. we were thinking we were goiing to have an "anti capitalist cafeteria" in which members would make a few servings of something, and distribute it to people who didn't otherwise have lunch, and use that as a practical example of "from each according to their ability..."

any suggestions on other practical things we could do? most of the student body is politically uneducated and uninterested, so we figured we'd have to be practical.

[Sam_b]

Try looking at examples of other groups, I highly reccommend the stuff done by School Students Against War from over here: www.ssaw.co.uk (http://www.ssaw.co.uk)

I would also make sure that you guys have links to the 'outside world', so to speak. High school/college/university activism is difficult at times to the extent that it almost feels like a microchasm of society where you are constantly organising in that environment, and its always useful to have comrades out of that loop as well to help you out. Organise meetups and political meetings outside of your school (as its easier than trying to bring in someone on a lunchbreak and the school might not really approve).

Also keep up-to-date with your political environment, hear about protests and demos and make sure you are present with placards and banners. This was how we got half a dozen students at my old school to join a picket a couple of years ago regarding the Local Government strike.

And good luck!

[rocker935]

I too am in high school. And whether you like it or not, Facebook could be a great resource in gettin your group's name out. BTW, your group isn't recognized by the school as a club or anything is it?

[Kropotesta]

Flyers and shit but have them community action based, so don't go all ideological because that could deter people. One of the pros on distributing anarchist-communist thought is that it's based on everyday things in the form of organisation, if you get what I'm chatting about?

[coda]

10 is a very good start. hold some meetings over the summer so that in the Fall when school starts up again the group will be on pretty solid ground.

some things you can do;
- print campaigns-- one page handouts about basic anarcho-communism including local contact group info.
-sticker campaign - same premise
- newspaper, newsletter, anarchy zine
- anti capitalist, anti-war/military demos-- you can hold little demos or information booths at any time throughout the year, you don't necessarily have to wait for national or world demos.
- Workshops on organizing, protesting, direct action, diy, etc.
- anarchy film festivals, reading groups
- ** books not bombs, food not bombs
- start up student union
- community organizing; free autonomous zones, green spaces, squats, community gardening, etc.



that's about all i can think of right now. maybe more later

http://www.campusactivism.org/displayissue-90.htm

[Sickle of Justice]

I too am in high school. And whether you like it or not, Facebook could be a great resource in gettin your group's name out. BTW, your group isn't recognized by the school as a club or anything is it?

to a certain extent, we are, although it took a while. all this means at the moment is that we get a classroom in which to meet at lunchtime if we want it, and can have permission to poster in the school.

[rocker935]

o shit, nice. I should give that a try at my school. Do you live in the States?

EDIT: what did you tell the school administration? did you tell them that it was socialist/anarchist/communist?

[Revulero]

Damn you went way farther than i ever went at school. I tried starting a group but most kids didnt even bother to read the things i had posted on the wall.

[More Fire for the People]

The best way to gather support is talk about the left perspective as a working-class / student perspective. Make it a part of everyday dialog, interweaving vernacular and critical language. One of the best premiers on how to be a good organizer is the Autobiography of Angela Davis. I highly recommend your group make an issue of studying it (and recommending it to others!).

[Malakangga]

:thumbup1::thumbup1:

[Sickle of Justice]

o shit, nice. I should give that a try at my school. Do you live in the States?

EDIT: what did you tell the school administration? did you tell them that it was socialist/anarchist/communist?


i didnt specify that deeply. i said that we would be anti poverty, anti colonialist, anti authoritarian, and environmentalist, and otherwise far left wing. i think i might have used the phrase anticapitalist, but i never put in specific groups, mainly because i was willing to work with anyone who would agree with me on the core issues.

no i'm in canada.

it took me awhile to get accepted as a club, but the whole "club" system is pretty lax, and we didn't get included in any official lists. also, the school keeps refusing to make our club known in the announcements. but other than that, things are going well, and i'm hoping to improve next year


thanks for the advice, all.

[Wake Up]

I would go for a regular magazine/pamphlet.
In it you should expose all the inequalities that capitalism throws up. Show the other kids where the injustice's are and give them an alternative. Focus on local issues but throw in some national or international ones as well.
I would also debunk the myths that are spread about communism/anarchism as the mere word 'communism' will put many people of.

Above all remember that most of your target audience don't understand the jargon or ideology, so you have to educate them in away they can understand. Don't be elitist.


Hope that helps a bit...

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

I would suggest the student syndicalism route. Organizing your fellow students around everyday issues like overbearing security, standardized tests etc is hard but pretty effective. I did it a bit in high school, and I'm building something similar to it at Uni.

[BIG BROTHER]

to be honest i wouldn't know how to help you, but man you got my respect. I just finish high school a while ago and I never did anything like a club or anything.

[LOUDNOISE]

Dude I'm not even in high school yet but you got my support and I will definitely be doing this sorta thing in my school.

[Dóchas]

hey nice work man!!!At the moment im trying to introduce my friends to the idea of communism. they are all just so called 'anarchists' and when i said it was a form of communism they had no idea what i was talking about so did you have anyone to help you or back you up or were you a one man army?

[nuisance]

hey nice work man!!!At the moment im trying to introduce my friends to the idea of communism. they are all just so called 'anarchists' and when i said it was a form of communism they had no idea what i was talking about so did you have anyone to help you or back you up or were you a one man army?
Not all anarchism is communist.

[Dóchas]

ye but the majority is focused around communist beliefs of no higher power

[Red Anarchist of Love]

If you want to counter the millatry recuiters in the cafe check out these web sites
www.counter-recruitment.org (http://www.counter-recruitment.org) www.nnomy.org (http://www.nnomy.org) www.projectyano.org (http://www.projectyano.org) www.militaryfreeschools.org (http://www.militaryfreeschools.org) www.comdsd.org (http://www.comdsd.org) www.afsc.org/youthmil (http://www.afsc.org/youthmil) www.quakerhouse.org (http://www.quakerhouse.org)

espcail www.quakerhouse.org (http://www.quakerhouse.org) there is really good printable flyer sargent Abe the honest recruiter http://quakerhouse.org/documents/enlist.html

[nuisance]

ye but the majority is focused around communist beliefs of no higher power
That isn't soley a communist believe. Only anarchist-communists and anarchist-syndicalists advocate a communist economy. The others propose a type of market.

[Dóchas]

That isn't soley a communist believe. Only anarchist-communists and anarchist-syndicalists advocate a communist economy. The others propose a type of market.

im sorry im kinda lost what do you mean a market? like a more basic version of capitalism but without all the rules? sorry if this sound stupid!

[nuisance]

im sorry im kinda lost what do you mean a market? like a more basic version of capitalism but without all the rules? sorry if this sound stupid!
It's alright. They adovcate a free market but are anti-capitalist. However there doesn't seem to be to many of them about any more.
However this thread will give you some info if you're interested.

http://www.revleft.com/vb/free-market-anarchism-t88314/index.html

[valientejv]

You could design a logo for your organization and make sure poeple can see it. They will eventually get intrested and ask about it.

[Dóchas]

It's alright. They adovcate a free market but are anti-capitalist. However there doesn't seem to be to many of them about any more.

ok ok i gett now thanks for clearing that up.

[ev]

This is a great idea, I am in my last year of school and it would be great if i could educate the student population on what communism is. I'm thinking of distributing posters around the school and distributing magazines/pamphlets at the library, like what Wake Up said, they could expose the inequalities that capitalism throws up, show other kids where the injustices are and give them an alternative.

Would this be practical & what else could i do?

[Labor Shall Rule]

It's hard to be an activist in high school - administration hates political action more than a senior prank, and it's simply harder to organize there.

I brought a clip-board to school, for example, to encourage people my age to go to Student Services and take their names off of the military recruitment list (which means, the school district is no longer allowed to give recruiters your home phone number). I enlisted some friends, and we put two posters up at different points of the school. I went back the next day to find them both tore down, and I was called to the office. I was told how a parent called, saying how the poster that her daughter described was "highly offensive" and "unsuitable for an educational environment".

The most 'political' thing that my school has amounted to is that we had a Gay-Straight Alliance, which I was a member of. This year, the teacher that'd normally administer it was fired for unrelated reasons, and when we tried to get an openly gay teacher to host it, the principal blocked it on grounds that it'd put his job at risk if parents found out about it.

[rocker935]

Woah, I'd like a little more information about how our names get on those damn military lists. I always wondered how they got on there. O and how do i get it off.

[Dust Bunnies]

Damn, thats pretty nice, keep up the good work and good luck.

*leans back in my arm chair revolution seat ;) *

[STI]

If you're interested in doing counter-recruitment work, you could go around with a petition to the cafeteria/other hangouts at lunchtime or during spares or whatever. The petition itself won't be enough to get rid of the recruiters, but it does two things:

1)Establishes a "popular mandate" to take increasingly militant action against the recruiters
2)Gets conversations about the issue started with other students. Each signature represents a like mind or a mind that was changed.

Counter-recruitment aside, most high schoolers are also workers. Perhaps equipping your Student Activity Council with agitational literature as well as resources/contacts for those with problems in the workplace (ie: pamphlets on how/why to unionize, union organizer contact cards, etc) - and pressuring them to go public about it - would be a good way to make sure you're not exclusively "in the bubble" of high school.

(If the SAC won't distribute that stuff for you, of course, do it yourself!).

Also, it might be handy to officially organize your student body as a local of the Canadian Federation of Students (http://www.cfs-fcee.ca).

This stuff is often time-consuming and not always the most fun. Expect to run into a lot of resistance. But if you folks are committed and stick together, you'll make progress.

[Sprocket Hole]

Woah, I'd like a little more information about how our names get on those damn military lists. I always wondered how they got on there. O and how do i get it off.

At least here in the states, our names and info are kindly handed over to recruiters courtesy of Bush's lovely No Child Left Behind Act. Like another post said, call student services. Problem is most kids in highschool either A) Dont know what recruitment is
B) Dont know their info is taken without their knowledge
C) Romantisize the US Military

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Alright, it's been a little while since I was in high school, but I was part of group that achieved a relative degree of success before, unfortunately, fizzling out with the graduation of its core members. I don't know what will necessarily apply to yr situation, but I'd like to offer a few hints from hindsight:

1. Instead of approaching students to talk ideology (communism, anarchy/ism, socialism, or whatever word you happen to identify with), approach them to talk about issues, and in a way that is relates to yr common experience. For example, recruiters in the school are a great way to bring up issues around not only army recruitment (and the way it disproportionately targets poor communities and people of colour to act as cannon-fodder), but also the root causes of militarism - especially with reference to specific conflicts (e.g. the occupation of Afghanistan is a war in the interests of the rich - it aims at resource security, and access to natural gas for Western business interests - the same interests that armed the Taliban in the first place, etc., etc.). One way to do this is by taking direct action to confront military recruiters - in addition to providing our own pamphlets and counter-recruitment material, we also did our research and got in recruiters faces. Let them know, to their faces, very publicly, that targeting youth in their schools with misinformation, inciting them to die for the ultra-rich, is shameful and disgusting. Be well-informed, and keep them engaged in an argument with you, and you can prevent them from effectively reaching students. Don't work around the problem - attack it directly!

2. Engage students in broader issues with information (pamphlets, posters, and just conversations!) and events (speakers! music! food!) that draw links between their lives and other peoples' struggles. For example, draw links between the food in the cafeteria and unsustainable monocrop agriculture. Use history classes as a jumping off point to talk about colonialism. Draw the links between the admin trying to shut down activism (which, almost inevitably, they will attempt to do once you start to make headway) and the way the state targets and harasses activists. Is yr school sponsored by Coca Cola? Why not start raising awareness around Coke's involvement in the murder of Colombian Unionistas? And hell, there's no lack of dirt on Pepsi, either.

3. Don't give in - up the ante! Labor Shall Rule talked about a principal's refusal to let an openly queer teacher head up the Gay-Straight Alliance - that's straight-up homophobic bullshit. Rather than letting things stop there, build a campaign around it - bring in media pressure - contact other activist groups engaged in queer activism - locally and elsewhere. The more administrators tighten their grip, and reveal their real interests (students that sit down, shut up, and don't think, corporate sponsorships, etc.)
the more students (not to mention community members!) will take notice.

4. Spread out responsibilities! With the high turnover in high school, the more people (across grade levels, etc.) who get experience with everything from photocopying, to talking to media, to organizing speakers, and so on, the more likely the group is to continue as older members graduate/drop out/etc. Similarly, if you've got people actually working on practical projects, and not just attending boring meetings, they're more likely to stay involved AND you'll get a fuck-of-a-lot more done.

That's all I've got off the top of my head, but if anyone is into further discussion, they should feel free to email me!

Dig it.

[Ztrain]

You should try to ally yourselves with your svhools GSA...those people are usually sincereley interseted in fighting injustice...if your school has a LASO(Latino somethining learning oppurtunitie)talk with them too,they probably know about Zapat and Pancho Villa,so you could possibly get the to support the Zapatistas(hammersickle)(redstar)(marx):marx

[Comrade Akai]

My school is absolutely hopeless. The "students" are exactly how the government wants them to be - ignorant, apathetic, and uniterested in change.

I can't wait to get out.

[Q]

This is really an old thread. It is better to start a new one.

[AK]

Good job Ztrain on reviving a two year old thread :p