‘School Strike for Gaza’ toolkit promotes high school students taking an absence from school to strike and ‘not participate in business as usual.’

A document shared with Parents Defending Education by a concerned parent reveals a promotional toolkit to recruit DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) high school students for a “School Strike for Gaza” on May 24th. It states that “as the IOF [Israeli Occupation Force] continues its assault on Gaza and Palestinians, millions are in danger, and we need to mobilize our communities to say NO SCHOOL AS USUAL!” The document continues: “We will not normalize genocide, and we will not participate in business as usual.”

It was shared that this document was part of a paid advertisement on Facebook.

The “Toolkit: DMV High School Strike for Gaza” includes a call to strike, a list of demands, strike logistics, resources on how to talk to schools or parents about striking, and how to recruit more students.

Under the name “schoolstrike4gazadmv,” the anonymous group promoting the event states that the youth “have an obligation to stop business as usual and stand up as our age-peers are being slaughtered on our tax dollars.” It also states that they are striking “to build community and solidarity with one another, as students, and as radical dreamers of a better world” and because they are “the next generation, and we are showing that we will be the ones to build a world where everyone is free.”

Strike logistics states that the rally will “start at 11am on Friday, May 24th” at McPherson Square and they will “march to the White House.” The event includes a free lunch, and the protestors will be “accompanied by experienced student and community organizers” including “police liaisons, press/media liaisons, medics, and de-escalators.”

The organizers included a form to fill out for students looking for their “local/affiliated pod.” The form asks students for their name, school, phone number, and how best to contact them (“Signal, WhatsApp, text, call etc.”).

In the section titled “How to talk to your school/parents about striking,” it states that “striking seems scary, and especially with the media villainizing pro-Palestinian protests lately” but they have “planned this action alongside veteran organizers who have planned numerous peaceful, unescalated [sic], and legal protests at the exact same locations.” It continues by sharing that the “easiest way to not be penalized for striking from school is to get your parents to write you a note to excuse your absence and communicate with your teachers beforehand that you will not be in school that day.”

The toolkit also includes a template students can use to “email/talk to your school and teachers, and you can use the above reasons for why we’re striking as talking points.”

The toolkit also includes a section on “recruitment” and a form for students to fill out if they wish to create their own pod. The form asks students for their name, school, phone number, and email address.

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The strike is also being promoted on a site titled “Angry Education Workers” which claims it is a “project to gather a community of revolutionary education workers who want to chart a course towards a socialist education system.”