The second high-school student strike against Pauline Hanson in as many months took place on 17 September, with thousands of students across the country downing pens and taking to the streets, defying principals and politicians alike.
More than 3,000 marched in Melbourne, while 1,000 took to the streets in each of Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. Hundreds rallied in Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart, and more walkouts occurred in regional areas than during the previous national day of action.
The chants this time were the same but carried more urgency, given Labor’s plans to restrict immigration. They included “Migrants are welcome, racists are not!” and “Unite, unite, unite to fight the right!” The mood was irreverent. Right-wing provocateurs were taunted, and in Brisbane, protesters climbed on urban art sculptures and rode skateboards with red flags in hand. In Melbourne, far-right troll Avi Yemeni was surrounded by chanting students, against whom his bodyguards weren’t much use.
The right-wing media response to the first walkout was as patronising as it was sensational. An Adelaide Now headline is typical: “Teen anti-Hanson rallies: are students really thinking for themselves?” Hanson herself was furious, accusing students of “hating this country”.
The wonderfully impertinent attitude of students in light of these insults and accusations was well captured by high-school socialist Odessa, who told the Melbourne rally: “When the planet is burning, when we’re watching our world turn to dust ... They don’t get to tell us a single goddamn thing”.
The Australian reported that, in Sydney, “An organiser gave the crowd a moment to say how they felt about Senator Hanson after the protesters circled back to Hyde Park. Some could be heard shouting a number of profanities before dispersing”.
A striking feature of the protests was how many of the participants connected the rise of the right with capitalism. Signs and speakers consistently linked Hanson’s racist agenda to the interests of the billionaires and corporations who dominate politics and the economy.
“She is a battler for the bosses and the rich”, Queensland University of Technology student Sharon Binu argued from the platform in Brisbane. In Perth, year 10 student Esu put it this way: “When we look at the world today, who but those who grow fat off the misery of the many could doubt we need a total transformation of society?”
That total transformation will not be easy. But the high schoolers are at least giving it a shot, and showing up all those who choose to capitulate to, rather than resist, One Nation’s rise.
