Children Aren't The Future; Wary Of Youth-Washing & Symbolic BS, Young Climate Activists Moving On
Last edited Fri Jul 1, 2022, 09:17 AM - Edit history (1)
Between 2016 and 2020, children were the vital force at the centre of the climate movement. Youth strikers organised record-breaking mass mobilisations and protests between geography and double maths. In the US, young people from the Sunrise Movement occupied Nancy Pelosi’s office demanding climate action. Youth activists got extraordinary media attention, invitations to speak at climate summits, and to address the UN. Teenagers such as Vanessa Nakate and Greta Thunberg became household names; both of them appeared on the cover of Time magazine, the latter as person of the year in 2019.
This coincided with a moment in climate politics that was awash with ideas around children, the future, and intergenerational justice. Extinction Rebellion activists used the next generation as a proxy for the future: climate action in the present was a moral necessity for our children and grandchildren. Politicians also adopted this framing. At the same time, young people were taking matters into their own hands. For a time, it seemed that a climate movement was emerging in which children acted simultaneously as the spark, inspiration and energy. This wave seemed unstoppable. But that moment has passed. Young people’s climate activism is rarely headline news any more and Thunberg has taken a step back from the movement spotlight. There are fewer older eco-warriors in the limelight talking about their grandchildren, and politicians seem to care less about photo-ops with young activists blocking roads.
EDIT
From the beginning, youth strikers were holding together a complex coalition of children, allied around their age and the tactic of striking, rather than an explicit political agenda. After sustaining impressive turnout at protests but achieving little political shift, UK organisers were burning out, as was the shock of the strikes. This was compounded by the feeling that world leaders and corporations were “youth-washing” by co-opting child climate activists – inviting them on to platforms and into private meetings to burnish their own images but ignoring their demands. Despite the increase in representation on the world stage, importantly including indigenous young people and children from the global south, it’s hard to say how much world leaders took their voices into account. Children were seen, but their demands – from urging for financing for loss and damage, an end to the racist Home Office or an end to capitalism itself – were not heard. The UK Youth Climate Coalition was so frustrated with this co-optation it set up a campaign in 2019 to call out youth-washing.
Some adults were youth-washing to cover their problematic policies or business models, others to divest action on to a younger generation. Thunberg spoke out about it in her now-famous speech to the UN: “You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” Ultimately, what is lacking is real decision-making power for young people. So now, instead of using youth as a rallying flag, young people across the country are building movements around radical policies or clear political campaigns. These are both harder to co-opt, and more coherent than the loose association of a movement based on age alone. Given the fragmented politics and the fleeting nature of childhood itself, building youth-led movements around strong campaign foundations – from Stop Jackdaw to Just Stop Oil – is proving more sustainable.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/29/children-arent-the-future-where-have-all-the-young-climate-activists-gone
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