“We are often asked if it is the right time to launch a climate strike.” There are other crises to deal with, such as the one involving Putin.
With these words, German activist Elisa Bas addressed reporters ahead of Friday for Futures tenth global strike on March 25.
The youth-led movement for climate change has been organizing around COVID policies, which have restricted its trademark demonstrations. However, it has also been getting a lot of headlines over the past two year. The pandemic, the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine have dominated the news cycle for months and even years on end.
But much of the movement has decided it needs to integrate other emergencies into its activism instead of vying for attention.
Fridays for Future activists protested in Berlin, Germany against the Russian invasion Ukraine, March 3, 2022
“Were not trying to have crises compete against each other,” said Jule Pehnte, an activist with Fridays for Future Germany. “We should not treat each one individually, but examine the systems that support them. The war in Ukraine, for example, is funded by fossil fuel purchases.
The German chapter will support Ukraine in the latest global strike and not only show solidarity but also for climate justice. The goal of the strike is to convince leaders not to buy Russian fossil fuels but to switch to renewable energy. This would be a move that would both stifle Vladimir Putin’s economic growth and help the environment.
Jule Pehnt, an activist with Fridays for Future is based in Freiburg, Germany.
A shift towards social issues
Each Fridays for Future chapter interpreted the global strikes rallying call “People Not Profit” in its own way. Mexican activists decided to highlight Indigenous and LGBT womens groups in order to show how their experiences intersect with climate concerns.
“It’s actually easy to connect the issues because the climate crisis is also a social crisis,” said Regina Cabrera of Fridays for Future Mexico. She also said that it is difficult to separate topics like land grabbing and fighting over limited resources from the environment.
Darrick Evensen, a professor of political ecology at the University of Edinburgh says that the message of youth activists has moved more towards social issues during the pandemic. This could be because people have been faced with secondary effects of COVID.
“The rhetoric is changing,” he told DW last year. “It does seem like this really heavy focus is on science has waned, and it’s become a more blended image in terms the interests that are being represented.”
Regina Cabrera, an activist on climate issues, considers them social issues.
Yusuf Baluch who organizes with the chapter dedicated to “most affected people and areas,” Fridays for Future MAPA, has also noticed this evolution. Before moving to the UK he lived in Balochistan which is a region between Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He said that his activism became online after the pandemic. It connected him with many organizers from around the world who shared their experiences.
“We got to know about each others resistance and struggles,” Baluch said. “We began talking more about how issues like gender equality in Ukraine, Palestine, Afghanistan, and the AIDS crises are interrelated with the climate crisis.”
Yusuf Baluch is in the second row, far left. He says that organizing online has helped him connect with activists all over the globe.
Brushing over climate problems
Some activists feel frustrated that climate concerns are often overlooked in the international spotlight if they are tied to other issues.
Joy Koech, an activist from Fridays For Future Kenya, said she doesn’t want the crises in other countries to be diminished. She is concerned that the country’s climate problems floods and droughts that plunge millions into humanitarian disaster are not often seen as urgent.
“We might be the ones feeling the most impact of the climate crisis right now, but sooner or later everyone will,” she said.
Joy Koech, a Kenyan climate activist, laments the inattention given to Kenya’s climate crisis
For Pehnt from the German chapter, it can also be disheartening when the media brushes over political decisions that could be detrimental to the environment. Nevertheless, she thinks its important to use the opportunity to bring attention to climate issues when they overlap with major news stories.
“We try to combine the issues instead of reacting with frustration,” she said.
Luisa Neubauer, another activist, said that it was the movement’s duty and obligation to connect the dots for people. It’s about exposing the energy debate that underlies the war in Ukraine.
“There won’t exist real peace and a unsustainable planet. There won’t be real peace and a world where our energy systems rely on the friendliness of an autocrat next door,” she said.
“That’s why peace and climate justice cannot be separated from each other.”
Edited By: Tamsin W. Walker
