Secondary Students Punished for Protesting

ON the day of the greatest Trade Union protest in 25 years, 10 students from Ard scoil Ris Limerick joined the protest. A month on and they are now being punished for it. What is worse is even students that did as the principal asked (brought in a note the following week) are being punished...

Details of the story are on indymedia
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=73840

Teachers or students who want to protest can email
asroffice@eircom.net
and send a copy to
ComradeCian@eircom.net

Imagine what an impact it would make if some of the comrades on the National Exec supported these students. It would be very educational.

A suggested message follows but write your own:
The Principal,

Ardscoil Ris,

North Circular Road,

Limerick.




RE: The punishing of students for attending the Irish Ferries protest



Dear Ms. de Brun,

I am writing to register my admiration for the students at your school who
took part in the vital Trade Union protest against Irish Ferries slave
labour plans and the "race to the bottom" on the 9th of December last year.

I believe it is a fundamental democratic right of everyone to protest,
especially in cases as important as this one. The students that took part in
this protest, sacrificing part of their own education, should be commended
not punished. Considering the problem of apathy among different layers of
society, it should be the role of schools to encourage students developing
an interest in societal issues such as this.

I also believe that it would be hypocritical for a union member to punish a
student for taking part in this protest, given that the teacher's unions and
student's unions supported this protest. Also, considering the ASTI knew of
the plans for students to attend the various protests around the country,
and registered no complaint, it makes no sense that three students should
now be punished.

The reality is that the students taking part in this protest had extremely
valid reasons to miss some of their school time. After all, young workers
find themselves faced with a possible future of the slave labour wages that
Irish Ferries were imposing and young workers also find themselves working
for extremely low wages. I therefore strongly urge you to reconsider this
case and to recognise that this is an exceptional one, and consequently
cancel all punishments.