Elementary school kids made to chant “Free Palestine
An Athens elementary school's year-end celebration featured pro-Palestine chants and flags led by teachers, prompting parental complaints about politicizing children without prior notice.
How honorable is it, I wonder, to politicize children’s souls?
With the blessings, no less, of local government and the tolerance of the state!
“Freedom for Palestine” and photo ops with Athens Mayor Haris Doukas awaited parents and students at an elementary school in Ampelokipoi during the end-of-school-year celebration.
Now, if you’re wondering what Palestine has to do with the end of the school year, I have the same question.
I’m also looking for an answer to the question of why local government and primary education are wasting money on such fiestas, at a time when many students don’t have the means to buy breakfast from their school canteen.
An acquaintance of mine, whose child attends the school in question, informed me that, without having been notified in advance, he discovered to his great surprise that the school celebration for the end of the year had been transformed into a fiesta with pro-Palestine slogans.
The teachers themselves were urging the students, holding the Palestinian flag, to rhythmically chant “Freedom for Palestine.”
At the end, in fact, as the fiesta was closing, two women appeared who, wearing their headscarves, raised the Palestinian flag next to the fifth and sixth grade elementary school students. Truly, a celebration that would make the greatest propagandists envious.
The political messages come through loud and clear, from the imagery, the slogans, to the emotional charge with the little children fighting and agonizing over the fate of Palestine…
In closing, I want to point out that, as I learned, those parents who expressed discomfort about the content of the celebration—content that, it should be noted, no one had been informed about earlier by the school—were stigmatized as fascists and ridiculous.
Many parents, in fact, cannot freely express their opinion even within the parent-teacher association, as they fear marginalization.
