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SCHOOL CLOSURES GIVE US PARS ORKE GIVE US UNITE DRAX Photo: JOHN STURROCK (Report)
3,500 Midlands' building workers brought Birmingham city centre to a standsilll last month. They were demonstrating againat the planned closure of the con struction department in Birmingham by the Tory conTHOSE COUNTE Over 400 jobs are at stake if the cuts go ahead. AND WITH no mori resty sign in the ing workers already high it is not surpriaing that bullding CERS In Hanna Hous tor the day. They were joined en deperiment wont of strike Lavender mill school, Crowden!, Wandsworth NUT.
C.A Porson aporenticos clus a Illino walcome lo Callachin and Prosldant Carlor In Nawcasile 1061 week. 1500 warkers have been declared redundant at the Turbine Gonerator factory as a direct reault of the Govemment's rofusal to order the completion of Drax B Power station In Yorkshire. a campaign against the threatened redundancies and the compulsory transfers. On 29 April two people were tried al Leeds Magistrates Court for giving out leaflets to the pupils of the Cily of Leeds High School. They were arrested on 16 February, held over for six then had their homes raided without warrants, their aolleitor was denled access to them for about two hours, and one of them was Interrogatec by the Special Branch.
They were charged with dis sive and insulting nature tha were "likely to cause a breach of the peace , under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1936.
The leaflets questioned some of the school's rules and poin ed out the existence of th National Union of School Students. It also gave some ex amples of school students" col lective actioc At the Court there was a picket of about 30 people in support of tbe two defendants, and the Public Gallery was case was dismissed by Stipendary Magistrate, any evidence being given. The prosecuting Pollard, speech arguing that the leafler would insult any teacher". This is the paragraph upon which his argument was based: In Souch Africa and Zim babue ("Rhodesia), black people are kept on their knees by black school students have been rising in revolt in the last Tew months. They bave refused out on the streets fighting their racist rulers Only two weeks ago, 400 African schoolkids went (of their own free will) across the border from Zimbabwe to train 10 become Freedom Fighters. They bave the power and the will to win their country for their people and to build a new 'There are lots of people who have decided that they're not just goin to wha they're told, and who have decided to do something abou *As long as we think thing can't change, then chings won't change. When we realise we can change the world, then we will He argued that the above paragraph meand that school teachers treat thei teachers and the regimes ir southern Africa treat blacks The might be diplorati leaflet might be but it couldn't be called insul ting or abusive behaviour, s0 the case was dismissed
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from Wolverhampion, Sander, WEST LONDON