Coming Friday, 25 September 2020
The School Strike for Climate, also known as Fridays for the Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip classes on Fridays to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to take action on climate change prevention and the fossil fuel industry.
After Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg staged a protest outside the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament) in August 2018, holding a sign reading “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (“School strike for climate”) publicity and widespread organizing began.
Beginning in November 2018, strikes began to be organized around the world, inspired by Thunberg. Thousands of students began striking in Australia on Fridays, ignoring the call of Prime Minister Scott Morrison for “more school learning and less activism.” Galvanized by the COP24 Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland strikes continued in at least 270 cities in the country in December. Among those countries participating including Canada are Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
On 7 June 2019, Fridays for Future and Greta Thunberg were honoured with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience award. Secretary-General Kumi Naidoo said:
“We are humbled and inspired by the determination with which youth activists across the world are challenging us all to confront the realities of the climate crisis. Every young person taking part in Fridays for Future embodies what it means to act on your conscience. They remind us that we are more powerful than we know and that we all have a role to play in protecting human rights against climate catastrophe.”
Many thanks in Canada to the regular strikers by standing up and taking a stand. Everyone, please stay safe at COVID. Mask-wearing is obviously compulsory for all public strikes.
Once you have registered your “climate strike” use this link to take action and move forward.
Fridays for the Future Facebook
