Glasgow says Save Our Schools
Over 200 angry parents demonstrated outside Glasgow city council meeting
on Friday morning (23rd January 2009), where shame-faced Labour councillors
were voting to shut down 25 primaries and nurseries. Within 48 hours
of this brutal plan being announced, local protests gathered at school
gates, and several areas collected up to 5,000 signatures each on petitions.
At the protest demo, the SSP's Richie Venton climbed onto the Council's
flower-pots, gathered the crowd together, and made a speech denoucing
the council for using falling school rolls as an excuse to close schools,
dump our kids in bigger classes, with less staff. less attention, worse
education, and dangerous, long journeys to school.
He demanded that the council should instead use it as an opportunity
to cut class sizes to no more than 20, employ more staff not less, improve
education, and invest in local, easily accessible schools that are often
the heart of a community.
Richie's speech met several rounds of applause, as did his call for a united, city-wide Save Our Schools meeting on Wednesday (28th) to unite campaigners, stop divide and conquer tactics from the Council, and to plan a big Saturday demo, to light a bonfire of protest underneath the butchers of our communities and kids.