NYC High School Plans - Take These Up In Your Area!

There are a number of things we in NYC identified as key to bring forward the students. And there were a few things we needed to grasp: one, is that spontaneity is not with us - these walkouts require more than a bzz or for everyone to know about it. There needs to be a concrete plan! Like who's going to walk out first, how will everyone know when to walkout and where to go, and for schools that are on lockdown, they should just not go. So, here is the concrete plan from NYC --

Key things we identified:
1. Club endorsements (especially clubs that are in different schools throughout a city). Endorsement means they sign onto the call, organize their members and others to participate, and they visibily support it through flyering, or stickering, or wearing the WCW or Resist or Die shirts.
2. Giving expression to the content of the call - this is a great way to be creative, too. Ideas below - from skits to posters to getting us to speak in classes! We especially wanted the students who've been putting their bodies on the line, doing the torture drama, and getting arrested, to speak in classes....
3. Visibility and getting practice acting together; example: everyday, wearing an orange arm band that shows you're an organizer (orange is the color of the Guantanamo Bay jumpsuits). Some students here also got orange canvas shoulder bags and spraypainted Resist or Die ont them. Also, you need to announce all over the details for the walkout at your school!
4. Permission slips - as a way to involve the community and parents who need to defend their students from any punishment that administrators or others may threaten.

MAIN FOCUS FOR THIS WEEK:
ASK ALL YOUR TEACHERS/PROFESSORS TO INVITE US TO SPEAK IN YOUR CLASSES –
The 5 WCW youth who got arrested at Hunter College last week making into all kinds of media) for protesting torture, who are putting their bodies on the line, are available to speak about what happened, about this historic moment we’re in, and why youth need to take history into their hands.
ASK CLUBS IN YOUR SCHOOL, AND STUDENT GOVERNMENT TO ENDORSE NOV 2. THIS HAS TO BECOME A MAJOR QUESTION ON CAMPUS.

EVERY DAY AFTER SCHOOL, 5PM: come discuss how it’s going with other students @ Pizzeria on Amsterdam & 83rd (on west side of Amsterdam)

WEAR YOUR ORANGE ARM BAND EVERY DAY as a sign you're an organizer. A student from Beacon High School said he saw tons of kids wearing them on Thursday. Yay!


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MONDAY, OCT 24: TODAY IT STARTS.
WEAR (and get others to wear) AN ORANGE ARM BAND AS A SIGN YOU’RE ORGANIZING FOR NOV. 2. Orange is the color of the jumpsuits worn in Guantanamo concentration camp. BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS: (as a countdown: post a different reason each day why students should walkout)
POST ALL OVER SCHOOLS/IN LOCKERS signs today that say:
“Your government, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.
9 days until NOV 2 -- What will YOU do? -- NO SCHOOL. UNION
SQUARE. NOON
worldcantwait.org”

After school: Do a dramatic reading of The WCW Call on the trains with your friends (walk onto a train car, wait for the doors to close, read out loud, then tell people “No School. No Work. Nov 2, worldcantwait.org” Then go to the next car.

TUESDAY, OCT 25:
Perform “disappearance skit” or “torture dramatization”. (Ask us how, if you missed the demo on Sunday – or view torture video online at http://worldcantwait.org/media)

Reason #2 to POST ALL OVER SCHOOLS/IN LOCKERS:
“Your government puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night.”
8 days until NOV 2 -- What will YOU do?
NO SCHOOL. UNION
SQUARE. NOON
worldcantwait.org

WEDNESDAY, OCT 26:
Today is “Wear your Resist or Die shirt” Day – wear it, sell it to classmates! Perform the Hanger skit: Go in to a class and hand out hangers and say, “If we choose to wait three more years, this will be the available reproductive health care for women. Learn how to use it or drive out the Bush regime.” Then stay to discuss, if you can. Wait outside after to tell kids about Nov 2.

Reason #3 to POST ALL OVER SCHOOLS/IN LOCKERS:
“Your government is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.”
7 days until NOV 2 -- What will YOU do?
NO SCHOOL. UNION SQUARE. NOON
worldcantwait.org

THURSDAY, OCT 27:
Today is No Theocracy Day!
Perform bible skit in government/policy/philosophy/women’s studies or science classes..(The Bible Idea: walk into class and announce there’s a new textbook, and hand out the bible – or, if you only have one, pick an appropriate quote, then tell them that there are fundamentalists in key positions from the military, to the supreme court, to the white house, who believe the bible should be taken literally as the basis for all things in society. Read the quote, and say, “discuss what this would mean, if taken literally” Then stay to discuss, if you can. Wait outside after to tell kids about Nov 2.

Reason #4 to walkout ALL OVER SCHOOLS/IN LOCKERS:
“Your government is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.”
6 days until NOV 2 -- What will YOU do?
NO SCHOOL. UNION SQUARE. NOON
worldcantwait.org

FRIDAY, OCT 28:
This is Defend Science Day!
Read in class, or pass this out. Feel free to be creative with the topic: “Right now, global warming poses an acute danger for the planet. The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. But despite the horrible threat to humanity from even existing levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush regime intends to vastly expand the burning of fossil fuels and is actively opposing a scientific approach to this planetary problem. Global warming is already causing alarming environmental changes. To name a few: Glaciers and ice sheets are melting. Island nations and coastal villages are being worn away through rising sea levels and storm surges. The more scientists learn about the real evidence and dangers of global warming, the more they are sounding the alarm about the need to act immediately. The evidence is clear that global warming is accelerating, with potentially catastrophic effects to ecosystems and humanity on a world scale. The environmental future of our planet is hanging in the balance. Should we really wait three more years? NOV 2: What will you do?”

Reason #5 to POST ALL OVER SCHOOLS/IN LOCKERS:
“Your government suppresses the science that doesn’t fit its religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.”
5 days until NOV 2 -- What will YOU do?
NO SCHOOL. UNION SQUARE. NOON
worldcantwait.org

SATURDAY, OCT 29:
Meet up at NOON at the steps on Union Square. We will march along march route (Union Square, west on 14th st., north on 8th ave. to Times Square) to get stores to put up The Call/WCW posters in their windows. Will they be there on NOV 2?
Banner drops.

SUNDAY, OCT 30: (Mischief Night!)
Decorate the city with pictures from the torture at Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib/names of the disappeared. (if people have projectors, the images can illuminate buildings, or people can create/decorate with banners).
With words like, "NYC YOUTH HAVE NO RESPECT FOR AUTHORITY THAT TORTURES"

FINAL DISCUSSION/PLANNING FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN NOV. 2!!!!

MONDAY, OCT 31: HALLOWEEN
Reason #6 to POST ALL OVER SCHOOLS/IN LOCKERS:
“Your government enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.”
2 days until NOV 2 -- What will YOU do?
NO SCHOOL. UNION SQUARE. NOON
worldcantwait.org

Announce in classrooms: Today, all of you/us are gay. The person you have loved and lived with for years has just been in a serious car accident. They are unconscious. You go to the hospital, but you can’t visit them or make medical decisions for them; if you have children together, it doesn’t matter because you have no custody rights; and you can’t inherit your partner’s property if they die without a will and they can’t be covered by your health care. They could die before you ever see them. You are not people to the Bush regime. WHY SHOULD WE TOLERATE THIS ONE MORE MINUTE, NEVERMIND 3 MORE YEARS?! ARE WE PEOPLE OR NOT? When do the camps or death marches come? Don’t be fooled – because there are forces in power who do believe in the death penalty for the “crime” of homosexuality. When will you act?”

3PM -- "What Will You Do Nov 2" March through Village
Meet at the fountain in Washington Square Park for a "What Will You Do Nov 2" March - practice for Nov 2 - from NYU, to Cooper Union, to New School.

(Halloween is a big deal in NYC, but our plans can be adopted for any town or city)

WE WILL THEN JOIN THE HALLOWEEN MARCH!! (starts at 7PM) –dress as Bush, or wear the torture out fit (orange jumpsuit, black pillow case, dog leash) – be creative. We want to represent the “horrors” of the Bush
regime!

TUESDAY, NOV 1:
Reason #6 to POST ALL OVER:
“Your government is openly torturing people, and justifying it. TOMORROW IS NOV 2 -- What will YOU do?
NO SCHOOL. UNION SQUARE. NOON
worldcantwait.org”

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 2, 2005!!!!! NO SCHOOL!!!!!! UNION SQUARE!!! NOON!!!