Solidarity toolkit for education justice: In support of the NEA, AFT, and public education in the United States
Democracypublished
10 June 2017
updated
12 June 2025
Public education, teachers, education support personnel, and students in the United States are facing unrelenting attacks from the Trump administration.
Cutting funding for public education, dismantling the Department of Education, cancelling diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, financially blackmailing universities to muzzle free speech on campus are all measures that undermine the right to education and the freedom to learn. When these rights are threatened, democracy is in danger.
Our colleagues in the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are on the frontlines, mobilising and organising to defend public education, students, and school communities.
This Independence Day, we unite across borders to defend the right to public education, academic freedom, and stand up with educators and students in the United States.
This toolkit outlines ways to show your support with your colleagues across the U.S.
Here are five things you can do:
Take pictures to display your solidarity
Record a video message for U.S. colleagues
Sign the solidarity statement
Take action on social media and online networks
Use art for action
Read on for details on each action you can take.
1. 📸 Your solidarity in pictures
Bring together members of your union, colleagues, allies, and school community and show your solidarity!
Who:
Teachers, education support personnel, students, unions, community members.
Rally at a school/union hall with messages and posters of solidarity.
Take a group picture with banners, posters, and messages.
Share the pictures on social media and online networks using the hashtag #GoPublic4Solidarity. Tag EI, the NEA and the AFT (you can find the links to our social media platforms at the end of this toolkit).
2. 🤳🏾 How to record a video message for U.S. colleagues
Record a 1-to-2-minute video of educators and students delivering a message of solidarity.
Suggested message
From [your city, your country], we stand in solidarity with teachers, education support personnel, and students in the United States.
We stand with you. For public education. For freedom of expression. For diversity, equity, and inclusion. For academic freedom. For the rights of education workers. From [your city, your country], you have our solidarity.
Clips to include
Teachers and students holding signs, posters, and Go Public pencils
Group chants or songs: Solidarity
Local landmarks in the background
Personalized messages of solidarity
Technical guidelines
Record in landscape (horizontal) format.
Hold the camera or phone with both hands or use a tripod to stabilise the image.
Make sure the audio is clear. Use a microphone for spoken segments if possible. Move closer to your subject to minimise background noise. Avoid covering your phone’s microphone.
Ensure good lighting. Position yourself so that the light is behind you, illuminating your subject.
Include the name of your city, country, and organisation
Upload your video here as soon as possible and post it on social media using #GoPublic4Solidarity and tagging the NEA, the AFT, and Education International.
Title: Global Solidarity with U.S. Educators and Public Education
[Organization/School Name]
[City, Country]
As educators, unionists, and advocates for public education, we stand in unwavering solidarity with our colleagues in the United States—members of the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—who are courageously defending the right to education, academic freedom, students and school communities, and the integrity of their profession.
On this 4th of July, a day that symbolizes freedom, independence, and democracy, we raise our voices to affirm that:
📚 Education is a fundamental human right, not a privilege.
🧑🏽🏫 Teachers and staff deserve respect, resources, and the freedom to teach truthfully.
🧒🏽 Students—especially the most vulnerable—deserve safe, inclusive, and well-funded schools.
🌍 Union solidarity knows no borders.
We denounce the ongoing attacks by the Trump Administration on:
Academic freedom and the right to teach history and science without censorship.
Public school funding
The rights of LGBTQ+ students, undocumented youth, and students with disabilities.
We join the #GoPublic4Solidarity campaign to call for:
Investment in public education, not privatization.
Protection of educators’ rights and professional autonomy.
Global unity in the fight for equitable, inclusive, and democratic education systems.
From [Your City] to the United States, we say:
We see you. We support you. We stand with you.
In solidarity,
[Signatures / Organisation Name]
4. 📱 Show your solidarity on social media
Speak up on social media to express support for U.S. colleagues leading up to the 4th of July.
The attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion have reached absurd proportions, with teachers targeted for making their classrooms welcoming to all students.
In May, Sarah Inama, a 6th grade teacher from Idaho, was told to remove two posters from her classroom. The posters said “Everyone is welcome here” and “In this room everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued, equal”.
Sarah’s refusal to take them down ignited a nationwide debate.
Sarah and all teachers and education support personnel determined to keep their classrooms safe and inclusive for all deserve our solidarity.
You can show your support by
Recreating the posters with local students and teachers. The art can be reproduced as a poster but also as a mural or a chalk drawing on school grounds.
Display the art in your schools and union.
Take a picture with the poster and share on social media, tagging EI, the NEA and the AFT.
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