Summer is coming and school is over, so we can ask ourselves: will the Friday For Future movement take a break ?
Actually, the actions will continue and in September we, adult, are asked to intervene.
The movement was born in the summer of 2018 when Greta Thunberg started her school strike alone. From then, it became a global phenomenon.
In almost a year, it has now expanded throughout Europe and touches almost every corner of the planet. Even Saudi Arabia has it’s country group, though right now there is just one member. “In Europe we have the privilege to strike” said Clara von Glasow from Klimadelegation,”there are people concerned in other part of the world that do not have the right to strike and we need to represent also their voices, ” she continues.
As the movement is global, school strikes will continue in the south of the equator, where at the moment it is winter. This will help keeping alive the effort of those who have “skipped” school in the last six months.
As well: although the school is over, students in Europe will continue demonstrating finding more time to devote to the cause.
Willing to stop it
Six month into the formation of the movement across Europe, the young European activists arranged to meet in Aachen today. “It is the first European intra-national strike” said yesterday Luisaa Neubauer, one of the leading voices of the Friday For Future in Germany. While at the UNFCC, she explained that young people from 15 European countries will gather, after having organized their online mobilization campaign.
The Friday For Future does not seem to to stop, although in reality the end of the movement is desired by everyone, especially themselves.
“The goal of Friday For Future is not to be here in 10 years or 9 years,” says Sarah Beranek, organizer of FFF Bonn. “If we are still here, it means that the government has not listened to our requests and therefore we will continue. Meanwhile we will try to become a bigger movement, ” continues Sarah. Today she will be leading the protest in front of the UNFCCC headquarters, while the intermediate negotiations SB50 is taking place.
To date, the strikes have involved almost exclusively young people. Now, however, the request is for adults to support the Global Strike on September 20th, 2019, just a few days before the Summit on the Action for Climate in New York.
The kids are prepared. Now it’s time for us to do our homework.