Rock Eisteddfod rocks Government

Jules Andrews

"How much evil can we commit in the name of good?" is the 
unashamedly political theme of an entry in this year's high 
school Rock Eisteddfod. The production by Davidson High, entitled 
Bad Night in Baghdad easily won the NSW semi-finals in 
Wollongong, picking up 11 of the 12 awards up for grabs on the 
night.

Davidson High quickly became the target of right-wing media 
commentators who railed against the "politicisation" of public 
schools.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph first broke the story on July 28 
and in the following days ran a further two stories with the bold 
headlines It's a shock eisteddfod and Students between a rock and 
a real world.

The next day the Letters page was headlined "Leftists put ideas in 
children's heads".

Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson accused public schools 
of creating their own "Three Rs": Refugees, Republic and 
Reconciliation. He said the production presented an "extremely 
biased view" of the war.

However, the propaganda campaign against the school has been met 
with outrage by students, parents, teachers and the wider 
community.

"Dr Nelson can't have it both ways", says Kos Psaltis, President 
of the Davidson High Parents and Citizens Association.

"On the one hand he and his colleagues accuse us in the public 
system of being values free or neutral, but when we present a 
point of view, as we have in our Rock Eisteddfod entry, he 
criticises us for doing so.

"The criticism, I would suggest, is made because the point of 
view differs from his."

Bad Night in Baghdad presents three main questions: 
whether the leaders lied to the people to justify the war; 
whether too many innocent people were killed in the pursuit of 
one bad man; and "How much evil can we commit in the name of 
good?".

Davidson High School Principal Chris Bonnor defended the 
production saying the students themselves chose the theme. "They 
don't live in a vacuum, they live in a real world where there are 
real wars going on. They see this debate and may engage in it".

Mr Bonnor says the school wrote to all parents explaining the 
anti-war theme of the production and asked that if they had 
objections could they please contact the school.

Not one parent responded.

And this is perhaps the real reason Dr Nelson is concerned: 
Davidson High is located in blue-ribbon Liberal territory on 
Sydney's North Shore.

At a polling booth located at nearby Davidson Primary School the 
Liberals polled 75 per cent of first preference votes in the 2001 
Federal Election.

That Bad Night in Baghdad is being produced in Davidson is 
nothing short of an open revolt by the Liberal heartland against 
John Howard's unjust and illegal war against Iraq.

This must also concern John Howard personally, as he faces an 
unprecedented battle to retain his own North Shore seat of 
Bennelong at the upcoming federal election.

Among the many challenges facing him are:

* Former Liberal Party President John Valder, who accuses John 
Howard of committing a "criminal act" by sending Australia to war 
in Iraq, and has vowed a personal crusade in Bennelong to unseat 
him.

* The Greens, who are fielding prominent candidate Andrew Wilkie, 
the former intelligence officer from the Office of National 
Assessment who resigned claiming the government's justification 
for war was wrong.

* The Labor Party, which achieved a strong swing within Bennelong 
electorate boundaries at both the recent local council elections 
and last year's NSW State election.

The Rock Eisteddfod finals will be held at Sydney Entertainment 
Centre on September 9, with tickets going on sale August 26.

Email your message of support to the Davidson High students at 
davidson-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au