Monday, March 20, 2006

Radical Youth are my heros



In Auckland, over 500 school students walked out of classes today to protest youth rates. They were going to have a rally but they turned it into a march, and blocked the intersection.

I'm just so impressed at their dedication, organisation, and all round on-to-itness. There was a fantastic interview on Morning Report and some lovely bits from the rally on Checkpoint:

I saw that on the radio they tried to discredit us, they said we were here to get out of school, they said this was truancy. This is not truancy this is activism. No More Youth Rates
Just when I was comparing New Zealand unfavourably to Paris.

4 comments:

  1. Good on them if they've got views and take to the streets with them. If they can influence public opinion that's great.

    But gosh, I hope they're not seeking the law to enforce their wishes. That would mess up the whole economy for everyone.

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  2. Anonymous9:16 am

    Freedom of expression is important. Outside school hours would however have been a better time for Unite to orchestrate this demonstration of adolescent children.

    We should not forget that these are impressionable schoolkids, easy to whip up. The Salvation Army employed the same tactic when whipping up opposition to homosexual law reform in '86.

    I saw an interview with one saying they wanted more money. Sure sounded like impressionable and greedy young kids to me. Of course they want more money, to advance their material well being. I hope we don't succumb to their materialistic aspirations.

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  3. Anonymous9:38 am

    Love the photo Maia.

    Graham Watson, you should maybe try living on the minimum youth wage for a while, and see how well you survive before you start wanting more money...

    As for skipping school to protest - good on them. The school year has many interruptions, and I think a protest in which students are thinking critically and standing up for their their rights is a much more valuable interuption than say a huge sports-showdown between schools. But then being a teacher, I do, funnily enough, value the ability to think over the ability to conform.

    And Rick, you're a terribly misinformed if you think a rise in youth rates will "mess up the whole economy for everyone". Let's educate ourselves and put things in perspective, yeah?

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  4. Anonymous3:08 pm

    Suse...learn some basic economics.Contray to Socialist silliness money doesn't just appear out of no where, it has to be created by producing wealth that backs up the dollars.Minimum wage laws just pull the bottom rung of the job ladder up out of the reach of the most desperate in society keeping them on welfare and in dependancy...but that is the Lefts goal after all....Leave workers and employers alone to sort out their own arrangments, its no one elses business.

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