Today: a poem and a sobering look at the state of freedom of speech in the US:

Student poets victimised for anti-war stance

NEW MEXICO, USA - On March 17, the day of US President George Bush's televised announcement of the imminent US military attack on Iraq, Green Left Weekly writer Bill Nevins was suspended from his teaching job at Rio Rancho New Mexico public high school. The student Poetry Slam Team/Write Club, which Nevins organises and sponsors, was also barred from performing their outspoken words in public.

This took place after an anti-war poem written by a Rio Rancho New Mexico poetry team member read out a poem over the in-school closed circuit TV system. Following the reading, the student's parent (also a teacher at the school) was ordered by an assistant principal to go home and search the student's room for a print copy of the poem. The parent declined to do so. All members of the poetry team were individually interrogated by the school administration.

" I'm here to say that Generation X
Is pissed and we are taking over,
Ripping down the American illusion of perfection
We are the future generation
I have my qualifications
I know it looks like Angel Soft paper,
But don't worry
It's a diploma
Do I look qualified?
You can take our toilet paper,
But you can't take our Revolution."

"The charge against Nevins is that he permitted students to
perform at public poetry readings without approved ``field
trip'' forms being on file. Nevins is fighting the
suspension with the strong support of the New Mexico
teachers' union.

The Slam Team/Write Club has achieved local fame for the
courageous way that multicultural youth from the school and
the community had put their words of anger and protest into
fine-crafted poetry. They have delivered these bursts of
truth on local television, in print and at frequent poetry
open mikes throughout central New Mexico.

The team was planning to appear at the Taos State Wide Youth
Poetry Slam on March 21 but was told by the Rio Rancho High
School administration on March 17 that they may be barred
from going there by the school. Several students vowed to go
to Taos anyway and to speak out there against repression in
the USA, denial of free speech at their school and the
suspension of Nevins.

GLW readers are asked to send protest letters to New Mexico
governor Bill Richardson from his web site at
[link]

Below is the poem that was read out:

Revolution X

Bush said no child would be left behind
And yet kids from inner-city schools
Work on Central Avenue
Jingling cans that read
Please sir, may I have some more?
They hand out diplomas like toilet paper
And lower school standards
Because
Underpaid, unrespected teachers
Are afraid of losing their jobs
Funded by the standardised tests
That shows our competency
When I'm in detox.
This is the Land of the Free ...
Where the statute of limitations for rape is only five damn years!
And immigrants can't run for President.
Where Muslims are hunted because
Some suicidal men decided they didn't like
Our arrogant bid for modern imperialism.
This is the Land of the Free ...
You drive by a car whose
Bumper screams
God bless America!
Well, you can scratch out the B
And make it Godless
Because God left this country a long time ago.
The founding fathers made this nation
On a dream and now
Freedom of Speech
Lets Nazis burn crosses, but
Calls police to
Gay pride parades.
We somehow
Can afford war with Iraq
But we can't afford to pay the teachers
Who educate the young who hold the guns
Against the "Axis of Evil"
Land of the Free ...
This is the land
If you're politically assertive
They call you a traitor and
Damn you to ostracism.
Say good-bye to Johnny Walker Lindh
And his family.
Bye Bye.
American Pie.
So maybe
My ideas about this nation
Don't resolve around perfection
But at least I know
Education is more important
Than money.
Land of the Free . . .
If this was utopia
We'd have to see each other naked
Before we got married
But instead, we see each other naked all the time
Because the government has my social security number
And the name of my dog!
And then we make babies,
But don't worry, they won't be left behind
And they grow up saying
God bless America!
But they don't know who Bush is
Because they never learned the Presidents.
And they will ride the ship Amistad
To our dreamland shores
Bearing the same shackles as us.
I'm here to say that
Generation X
Is pissed and we are taking over,
Ripping down the American illusion of perfection
We are the future generation
I have my qualifications
I know it looks like Angel Soft paper,
But don't worry
It's a diploma
Do I look qualified?
You can take our toilet paper,
But you can't take our Revolution.