The Kiddies Protest APEC

From what I could tell, many of the protesters at yesterday’s ‘kiddies’ protest or school walk out were young ethnic males. Those who asked me the way to Bellmore Park were all of Lebanese or similar Middle Eastern dissent. I feel this may be a little telling. They managed only about 250 people which although somewhat pathetic it was almost miraculous given the threats against protesters in general and the concern over high schoolers being involved.

It was a Resistance initiated protest which meant their taint of corruption was to tarnish it in most parents’ eyes at the outset. For those talk back hosts right of, well right, the concern is those ideologues lurking in schools also known as teachers. How many of them have been pushing students to partake in the educational strike? I suspect not many, though some may encourage students to stand by their opinions and may not actively censure pro-protest sentiment. The Education Department said any student not at school without a permission note to protest from their parents would be considered a truant. They worked with police to enforce the notes, with those found without permission being returned to their school or their parents as truancy is not a crime as such. From my schooling experience, being noted as a truant was not exactly traumatic. Essentially it resulted in an extra day added to the unexplained absences tally on the report card, which basically indicated you were behaving your age. At worst it was a detention hour one afternoon. I wonder how many students were found without permission notes and returned to safety from the mob.

Politically school students are part of the disenfranchised, though they do have their future voting potential. As it stands, they are old enough to form political opinions, but too young to vote. Protest then appears to be their only real option for a voice, even if purely symbolic. It is one of the few democratic rights offered to the under aged.

Back to those denizens known as Resistance: they had contact details on the flyers they distributed so students and parents could find out more about the demonstration. Those parents who rang were asked to join their children as ‘peace monitors’ or parental supervision to ensure in a safe way that students behaved appropriately. What bastards! Why did I not hear anyone on 2GB mention this?