In a defiant show of determination, over one thousand New York City high school students walked out of class Friday morning, May 31, against the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. There were at least two large gathering spots, including at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and around 500 rallying in mid-afternoon at the Manhattan headquarters of the Department of Education. Students carried signs such as “How many more babies have to die” and “Free all Palestinian political prisoners” as they walked out and marched.

The citywide walkout was called by progressive teachers and other groups, who posted a guide to students for how to organize a walkout. The two main demands were “An Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza” and “An End to U.S. Support for Israel’s Genocide of the Palestinian people.” 

The call tapped into a deep desire among students to act, to be heard and to have an impact on the genocide. In a last-ditch effort to suffocate it, on Thursday, the Chancellor of the Department of Education (DOE) as well as DOE’s chief of security held a press conference to threaten students and teachers with police, “disciplinary action” and “investigations” if they joined the walkout. 

In spite of that, students came out from all around New York: from Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island… from impoverished areas like Jamaica, Queens and East Harlem… and from more privileged areas like the Upper West Side. Youths of all nationalities and different backgrounds standing up for the Palestinian people!

Many students spoke at the rally in front of the Dept. of Education, where contingents of 10-30 or more students converged from many different schools. The crowd was defiant, spirited and ready to make their voices heard, with many of the protesters coming out for the first time. In addition to the high school students, there were teachers who came to support the students. Members of Writers Against the War on Gaza who produce the New York War Crimes paper were there, and their latest issue was eagerly passed around the crowd.

A revcom.us correspondent reported about the students who spoke out at the rally: “There were really heartfelt speeches that reached into their anger and frustration at the future that the system is bringing them with war, genocide and the threat of global environmental catastrophe. Some spoke about fighting for a just future for humanity. One of the best received addresses came from a young woman who talked about the way she'd been trained in school to pledge allegiance to the flag and respect the democracy and freedom of speech you have in this country, only to find that all that is B.S, when it comes to protecting colonialism. She was enraged about this. This sentiment was reflected in others who talked about how the education system indoctrinates the youth with lies and covers up the real history of this country.”

There was real exuberance as well as determination among the youth. Sofya, a senior from Midwood, Brooklyn, said, “This is a great opportunity for New York students to speak their minds, because a lot of students haven’t been able to do that… It feels… like you’re in this bubble universe where everyone’s blind and doesn’t want to see what’s happening.” A ninth-grader from Staten Island said, “'To walk out—they don’t care about leaving their classes and they’re doing it for the sake of Palestine... It’s very courageous.” 

The Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity was in the mix at the rally, with a large banner reading “From Palestine to the USA, Real Revolution Is the Way.” They widely distributed leaflets and other literature that addressed the need for a revolutionary solution—in Palestine and in the U.S.—to the hell created by this system of capitalism-imperialism, and challenging people to be part of that. The revcoms led spirited chants that got at this and were taken up by significant numbers of people at different times. Those chants included “No Fascist Trump! No Genocide Joe! The Whole Damn System's Gotta Go!”; “1-2-3-4 Slavery, Genocide and War! 5-6-7-8 America Was Never Great!”; and “How Do We Get Out of This Mess? Revolution, Nothing Less!”

This walkout and rally, including the role played by progressive teachers, and the way it broke out all over the city, was very good indeed. And we need a lot more of such actions all over, to stop the U.S.-Israel genocide in Gaza and to really “get out of this mess”!