PARTISAN!

Max J reports.

Student activists across multiple high schools in Newcastle (including Hunter School of Performing Arts (HSPA), Merewether High, and Newcastle High) staged a walkout today, drawing a large crowd. Activists marched to Civic Park demanding action on climate change, among other demands.

Activists were part of Youth Rising, the Under-18 contingent of Rising Tide. Youth Rising was formed after Newcastle School Strike 4 Climate folded into Rising Tide in June 2024. Since then, Youth Rising has been active in organising students around issues related to climate change and the environment. The walkout had been in the works for months prior, and is the first to take place in Newcastle since 2023.

While under a hundred were present, many more were willing to attend, but were held back. “Some students were locked in by schools because their parents didn’t give them permission to attend the walkout,” a student told Partisan. Students who were allowed to leave were forced to leave quietly, in single file, by school administrations.

Students and youth have been at the forefront of the movement for climate action since the mid/late 2010s, starting with Greta Thunberg’s Fridays for Future. School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) was formed soon after, and made headlines with large school strikes across 2019, protesting the disastrous Morrison government in the wake of the bushfires.

Student activist Fox addressed the crowd and introduced speakers. One speaker, Patrick, emphasised the role of the state in accelerating climate disaster. “The politicians have failed us. Our great, elected leaders will let the Earth burn for quick cash,” Patrick told the crowd, “They burn away our very future, and in a unique cruelty, teach us that it is happening but prevent us from stopping them.”

Youth are becoming increasingly engaged in politics, especially around the climate issue. Many on the Left have been slow to engage seriously with the growing trend of political youth. As is often the case, youth activists are far ahead of the organised left.

Youth Rising continues to grow, with plans to establish organising committees at high schools. School administrations have ranged from outright hostile to lukewarm. Students at Merewether High are banned from postering or leafleting for Youth Rising or any other political causes.

It highlights a severe lack of democratic rights for youth, particularly working class youth. As many become politically engaged and potentially militant, they come up against school administrations which aim to restrict their democratic rights and political expression, as well as parents.

“The youth are rising,” one speaker told the crowd, echoing the slogans written on signs and banners, “no more compromising!”

If the organised left isn’t able to meet the moment, they will find themselves trailing behind a far more advanced youth movement.