Main Index Blog Intro

GENERATION ACTIVISM


 POLITICAL MOMENTUM

The millennial and following generations harness revolutionary energy, because those tides have come. Their age demographics will have the largest percentage of eligible voters by 2020, this year (Pew Research Center). 71% believe that voting is activism. But we cannot stop there.

The millennial social justice trifecta is human rights, healthcare and the environment. Youth are challenging the global paradigm. They come from Detroit. They live in the Pacific Islands. They're from the indigenous Americas: Amazonian forests, grasslands. They protect sacred ways.

 

Thousands, millions band together and organize to progress our planet. Social media is the conduit (Pew Research Center). Youth's fierce ideology spawns a political era with potential. Leaders emerge against senseless violence, structural racism and imperialism!

         


THE LEADERS

These inspiring individuals envision a better future for all of us worldwide.

AFRICA

Numerous youth movements are underway in the motherland, so that we could barely choose four to highlight! Ghana Youth Environmental Movement (Facebook) are a grassroots eco-campaign and training organization based in Accra. GYEM has been active since 2012!

Climate Strike in Damongo  VIDEO

They call on others in the country to intensify their climate activism. Their accomplishments are noteworthy: the Power Shift Summit, petition and related march for sustainable development during Africa Vuka/Climate Week (350.org). Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance and Ghana Reducing Our Carbon were alongside them.

And they were a galvanizing force on September 20-27 for the global climate strikes. Climate Save Gambia, Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance, 350 Kenya, in addition to twenty other environmental groups protested for the environment.

Climate Save Gambia Strike  VIDEO


Wakiso District, led by Leah Namugerwa, Flavia Nakabuye and additional Ugandan climate protectors. Credit: Sadrach Nirere

Fridays for Future Uganda show their climate dedication. Leah Namugerwa has been profiled by UN Habitat to recognize her national coordination with FoF Uganda and other campaigns.

She first gravitated to environmentalism in 2018 when disease and plastic combined in Kampala's poorer areas. That sparked the hashtag: #BanPlasticsUG. Like many activists, Namugerwa started by herself. Now over 500 Ugandans have joined this uprising. This all reiterates the power of one.

"I need every Ugandan, African and every person to understand the influence he/she has on climate change and the influence climate change has on him/her. I want to see a generation that cares about our planet." (UN Habitat)

Global Platform Zambia just had the honor of their representatives speaking about this at the UN Summit (NowThis). Zambian youth delegates warned them of climate adversity for ten years (link). African voices were drowned out by media AND rising tides.

Youth for Human Rights Nigeria consistently hold workshops, public rallies and other direct actions. They joined in Climate Strike Week by clearing trash out of Ibadan and teaching good conservation to attendees!


Y4HRN (Facebook)

THE AMERICAS

She's commonly known as Little Miss Flint. Amariyanna Copeny has more courage than leaders three times her age. A letter to Obama led to a political friendship and $100 million authorization for Flint's clean water.

 

But the town still suffers from Legionnaires' disease and other nightmares. Copeny alerted residents toward local rallies and town halls. She has delivered over 135,000 water bottles to people who need them, since Flint relies on donations and purification systems. Her advocacy transformed Flint's community.

What else has Little Miss Flint done? You name it: youth ambassador to the People's Climate March, Women's March and more (link). Her future is bright in the dark times ahead.

"Your voice can be heard, and even if you're big, small, old, young, it doesn't really matter. You can still make a change in the world."

Emma Gonzalez advocates passionately against America's violence epidemic. It took 17 fellow students' lives at Marjory Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida.

Ineffective gun reform and Congress members' NRA donations decided that. Gonzalez told an entire country the truth. The world overwhelmingly responded to her. Musicians, non-profit leaders, old and young empathize.

"Emma Gonzalez is a fierce leader for her generation and our country. To take this moment of pain and grief and channel it into building political power to make her state and our country safer is heroic," says Carolyn DeWitt, Rock the Vote's executive director (Billboard).

The 1990's-founded organization has boosted the campaign #MarchForOurLives across social media. DeWitt addresses their support directly. "In this moment, we want to follow their lead and be ready to back their efforts however we can."

Their mobilization crowd-funded $3.7 million in half a week (CNN). That amount will fund demonstrations, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School victims' families. An additional campaign was also established for $2 million.

"These inspiring young people remind me of the Freedom Riders of the 60's who also said we’ve had ENOUGH and our voices will be heard," Oprah praises Emma and her fellow student activists. Whatever your thoughts about gun control, Gonzalez is a fighter.

So is Helena Gualinga, a spirited Sarayaku speaker for her tribal liberation. She lives in the Ecuadorian Amazon and marched in New York City's Friday strike (Amazon Watch).


Credit: Alli Hanes

"Through the Living Forest proposal, we are giving a voice to the forest. We are the ones telling the governments that we don’t want oil companies in our territories. We are the voice of the forest. Women have so much strength in them. Women have always been on the frontline fighting for their territories because we have such a deep connection to the Pachamama and the forest." (WECAN/Common Dreams)

Isra Hirsi is Youth Climate Strike Executive Director, a second-generation Somali-American who has watched industry's pollutant activity in her state, and wanted to do something impactful. Her journey started at 16. This is YCS' mission statement below.

"We, the youth of America, are striking because the science says we have just a few years to transform our energy system, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and prevent the worst effects of climate change.

 

We are striking because our world leaders have yet to acknowledge, prioritize, or properly address our climate crisis. We are striking because marginalized communities across our nation —especially communities of color, disabled communities, and low- income communities— are already disproportionately impacted by climate change."

Youth Climate Strike demands a national climate emergency, that Congress' Green New Deal is enacted, divestment from fossil fuel, and comprehensive climate education for children. This list echoes the Black Panthers' 10-Point Program through an eco-lens!

Hirsi also participates in iMatter Minneapolis and MN Can't Wait: an umbrella organization working with Sunrise Movement, 350 and other environmental chapters in the area. Rep. Ilhan Omar is a climate activist too--Hirsi's mother.

Zoey Luna doesn't let age or transphobia daunt her. Since Raising Zoey, Luna has frequently headed #TransLivesMatter marches and spoken out against LGBTQ-related violence in America.

Jamie Margolin created Zero Hour with Nadia Azar, Jerome Foster, Madeleine Tew and allies of all ages for nature because now is time for climate action! (Facebook) They have held Youth Climate Summits, climate marches, educational workshops, rallies and spoken at Congress, plus the UN as youth ambassadors.

Zero Hour Delegation's 'Get to the Roots' Campaign  VIDEO

Margolin, a Colombian-American teen, felt horrified and enraged as Pacific Northwest wildfires choked Seattle. Her community faced smoke illness for months. This trailblazer inspired Greta Thunberg in Sweden and has even coordinated with leaders from the Amazon like Artemisa Xakriaba (below). They all resist to exist.

Zero Hour co-founder/executive director Nadia Nazar testified at the House of Representatives' first climate change hearing. And she received Sierra Club's Muir Award (link). The conservation non-profit's president Loren Blackford encouraged more support for these selfless organizers.

“Today’s youth have been condemned to live with an escalating climate crisis caused by previous generations. Many are stepping up, calling on us all to act with greater urgency and justice, and leading the way with tactics ranging from lawsuits to climate strikes. These leaders and the movements they are driving give me hope for the future!”

Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a vital voice in climate justice and indigenous rights at 16 years old. He works with Earth Guardians as an Aztec youth ambassador/hip-hop artist. The genre's socially conscious, citizen-journalism style is always relevant.

The UN, EDM concert crowds, and lawmakers have heard his message. Martinez has written guidebooks and traveled the world to educate on movement-building and environmentalism.

Boulder, CO is frack-free now, thanks to him. And he's laid groundwork for 30 Earth Guardian groups internationally. He vocalizes how crucial these times are.

Autumn Peltier is a water protector. She comes from a family of them: the most well-known, Josephine Mandamin, a Great Lakes Guardian Council member. Peltier became Chief Water Commissioner for Wiikwemkoong, Anishinabek Territory in 2019. Boil-water warnings at eight years old spurred her activism (x). Peltier made sure Trudeau knew the reality about Canada (APTN).

He lied about protecting the water. First Nations are so impacted by colonialism that the Neskantaga (Ojibwe-Cree) just declared an emergency and cancelled school (x). Their life source causes skin reactions, even headaches! It has been this way since 1995. Peltier's job as Chief Water Commissioner is all too necessary in a place where Indigeneity's forgotten (link).

"...Leave no one behind. Our people were guided not by one another, but they listened to the land. The land is our government. The animals we depend on our government. The water is our government. Without any of these, we wouldn’t be here today.

Our people’s role as Anishinaabe people is to protect this land and be caretakers." (Anishinabek News)


This is Attawapiskat Indian Reserve 91A, the main Neskantaga reservation. Children had to collect clean water
instead of learning (CBC), since elementary is the only local guarantee when pumps fail.

"I do not do this work for media or award recognition, I do it for all my people and the environment. Anyone can do this work because I was just a little kid making speeches. Our message is stronger when it’s more than one person." (CTV)

Reclaim Pride Coalition throws a necessary spotlight onto cop presence at Pride parades across the U.S. while police brutality threatens LGBTQIA2S lives every day. They reject complicity and staying silent. An expansive 100+-organizational network create an anti-capitalist, pro-justice blueprint through grassroots meetings and uncompromised actions.


Credit: Reclaim Pride Coalition

Their strength readies us for the job that cops pretend to do: protect and serve our neighbors. So a yearly Queer Liberation March gathers those voices who face marginalization under this multi-faceted umbrella of identities most often. And 45,000 community members filled NYC streets last June. Stonewall was a brave uprising against state oppression. Reclaim Pride ensures the spirit will continue.

"We March for an end to individual and institutional expressions of hate and violence as well as government policies that deny us our rights and our very lives, from the NYPD to ICE, from the prison industrial complex to state repression worldwide." (Why We March)

REJUIND (Rede de Juventude Indígena) is a Brazilian youth network promoting inter-tribal communication and political participation, Indigenous media broadcasts across the country, and community.

Artemisa Xakriaba is a powerful Amazonian activist from southeastern Brazil, 17 years old. She recently delivered an open letter to Congress deputies and senators as a representative for two Indigenous groups: Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, which includes the Brazilian organization APIB, Indonesian coalition AMAN, and other coordinating committees on protected land (link).

Her insight is timely, and it coincides with a climate action deadline: now or never. "And beyond the Amazon, there are the forests of Indonesia, Africa, North America, whose suffering has such an impact in my life and in your life.

We, the indigenous peoples, are the children of nature, so we fight for our Mother Earth, because the fight for Mother Earth is the mother of all other fights. We are fighting for your lives. We are fighting for our lives. We are fighting for our sacred territory." (Democracy Now)

Xakriaba and Greta Thunberg marched and spoke at NYC's Climate Strike before the UN Summit on September 23, 2019! VIDEO

Guardians of the Forest (Guardianes del Bosque) arranged her trip. Climate attendance is difficult when the nearest strike to home is ten hours away and all available hands are tied with stopping forest fires. Maria Jose Bejarano echoes this issue from Chiquitania, the Bolivian Amazon region (ScienceLine).

"All of the indigenous communities there, as we speak, are fighting the devastating fires that have been burning for months. They couldn’t come here, they can’t march or strike. They are literally saving their home."

Artemisa denounces the Christian imperialist governments of destruction who are responsible.

"The governments of Brazil and the United States are not helping. They promote hate-based narratives and a development model that attacks nature and indigenous peoples. These governments are trying to put us in extinction. They are part of the problem." (Eos)

What does she propose as an Indigenous environmentalist? "Lead the community of nations into caring for our common home."

ASIA

Nabila Abbas is a Pakistani activist who has vocalized her concern for the rising temperatures in South Asia and around the world. She's spoken at the International Congress of Youth Voices. The new normal is 115 F for Abbas' village! (Zero Hour)


Climate Action PK youth marching toward Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Fridays for Future Bangladesh and 350.org South Asia, Pakistan Young Environmentalists Forum, Fridays for Future Pakistan, and more are confronting the crisis without hesitation. They have done an exceptional job for two years or more. Some have mobilized for an better environment during most of their lives.

Climate Action's Manifesto and Charter Demands are available here. Four main objectives stand out to them: declaring a climate emergency, demanding climate justice through a global coalition, adopting a low-carbon economy, and ensuring grassroot level climate adaptation efforts.

Specific requirements include a National Climate Change Authority, which would create eco-policy with provincial reviews by 2021, and naming the Global North as disproportionate GHG emitters--even suing them. Rimsha Ali is 15 years old and took the stage by storm during Karachi's Global Climate Strike.


Credit: Zindagi Trust

"We have grown up without clean air to breathe or safe water to drink–this makes us sick and also makes us not want to play outside! If people love their families and their country, they must understand their responsibilities [towards the environment]." (Dawn/Twitter)

FoF leader Iqbal Badruddin greatly appreciated the national response. There is a prominent intersection between climate justice and gender/LGBTQ rights in Pakistan (x).

Badruddin felt the solidarity in full force. "In Islamabad, the inhabitants of many kachi abadis were also mobilised and came to support the movement, which is imperative because it is the poor who currently bear the brunt of climate change.

It was heartening to see men, women, transgenders [sic], and school children from all walks of life walk together in solidarity."

NPR correspondent Diaa Hadid said: "Transgender women participate in a protest in the #Pakistani capital #Islamabad as part of the worldwide #climatestrike that demands urgent, global response to climate change.

The protest gathered several hundred people, mostly school children, and it was one of more than two dozen across Pakistan, which is already suffering the effects of climate change."

Fridays for Future PK's Climate Strike in Islamabad  VIDEO

Badruddin is nowhere near done. He remains optimistic. “I was expecting hundreds...but thousands came to the march and I’m so excited at the response. Now we have to reach out to rural areas and make our movement bigger.” (The Express Tribune)

That moment has already come for Pakistan. Minister of State on Climate Change Zartaj Gul spoke, but has since been criticized for taking the citizen movement's credit (x). Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam, joined Sept. 23's climate march.

 

"We are already facing the impact of climate change, the mistakes done by the industrial states, in the form of floods, heat waves and change of weather. In next four days, Karachi is going to experience another heat wave," warned Adviser Aslam (The News).

"Pakistan demands climate justice from the global community, where the world must take action to counter climate change for a sustainable planet for generations to come. Pakistan will lead the climate emergency in Asia." (The Nation)

PM Imran Khan promised this too in his UN Climate Summit speech on the 23rd (VIDEO).

Ahed Tamimi opposed IDF forces when they tried to attack Palestinian children from her house.

Janna is the world's youngest journalist, Tamimi's 12-year-old cousin (link). She broke down the aftermath of Ahed's arrest and continues to report on Israeli encroachment in Palestine.

Youth Nexus is a peace-building coalition in Khulna, Bangladesh, and their social justice approach is very progressive .

"It is dedicated to convey the voice of young generation regarding current global issues such as Democracy, Peacemaking, Child Marriage, Gender-Based Violence, Disability, Drugs, Education, Health, Human Rights, Climate Change, etc."

Youth Strike 4 Climate Philippines expect a climate crisis declaration from President Duterte and transition into renewable solutions. They reached Senator Risa Hontiveros. Resolution No. 143 specifically asked Upper House representatives to join!


Official link

Youth led teach-ins, peaceful protests, disruptions and climate walks for 30 cities! They collaborated to amplify their voices with SUSG Environment Committee, other environmental groups in the Philippines. Some held Tapoks (youth summits) (Rappler).


Youth Strike 4 Climate, Pampanga

Jefferson Estela is the force behind this movement. He refused to be idle after Hurricanes Ondoy, Yolanda then Haiyan as a young boy--all one after another. It had reached a dreadful peak by high school. Those storms made Estela an eco-conscious adult at a young age (Rappler).

"At the time I thought, why is this happening? I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t done anything for the environment." The resistance does not disappear since he still lives at home. His parents give no helping hand to climate justice. His hope stays alive despite any doubters.

"I’m trying to understand their perception on how I will do my role in society. Because what I learned is not the same as what they did growing up." What will Youth Strike become?

"The movement is like coal. Everyone is together. If all the pieces of coal stay together, all of them will light up. They will really ignite and do more instead of doing it alone." (link)

Younger activists created the conversation around change that reaches government.

Malala Yousafzai famously supports girls' education and human rights in her home country, Pakistan. A Taliban bullet hit her in 2012. But she survived to change school forever, and the world's perception of a revolutionary change-maker.

 
World Economic Forum, Jan. 25 with Miriam Elder

"This is a second life, and it is given to me for something greater than what I was before." Her fund has donated $8.4 million in five years. Malala Day is one to remember. South Asia looks to her for young female role models. What will her future hold?

"As our politicians are doing nothing for us, nothing for peace, nothing for education, I want to become prime minister of my country." (The Guardian, 'I Am Malala')

EUROPE

Greta Thunberg catalyzed the world much in the way that Indigenous activists have with Mauna Kea and Standing Rock. The Swedish climate striker first began in 2018 with a simple, effective sign and the message: Skolstrejk for Klimatet.

She had watched Zero Hour's Youth Climate March that summer and decided to take her own stand. This was a path paved by countless environmentalists in the 500-Year-War who fought for generations after them--and still do.

Thunberg traveled across the sea in a sailboat to promote zero emissions transport, spoken at multiple conferences on behalf of climate justice, and shared space with other important youth leaders.

Clearly she is powerful enough to intimidate one of the most prominent leaders in Western politics. Why hold her back? This is because Thunberg's words hold weight.

Security Stand Watch As Trump Passes Greta at UN Summit  VIDEO

Artemisia offered this wisdom about the Swedish teenager: "... I am also here as a young woman, because there’s no difference between an indigenous young female activist like myself and a young indigenous female activist like Greta. Our future is connected by the same threads of the climate crisis." (Democracy Now)

Frontline communities have yet to receive as much recognition for their environmental actions, but many have mirrored her call with their own Fridays For Future and stood in solidarity. The climate protests are an international flashpoint.

THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

Imperialist war has affected the global environment in devastatingly tangible ways. Fewer places show this damage more clearly than Pacific Island nations who are fighting, not drowning against climate change.

Nuclear tests, rising sea level, continual gentrification and coastal erosion all displace millions of Indigenous people across the Pacific Ocean. Pasifika youth are central to decolonial solutions for these crises.

UN Web TV released this short film about their fight: Youth on the Climate Frontlines in the Pacific! (Web TV UN).

The Pacific Youth Council is an invaluable group with over 20 years of advocacy experience. PYC includes over seven regional councils: Republic of the Marshall Islands Youth Congress, Micronesia National Youth Council, Tonga National Congress, etc.

Fijian Youth Council attended the Climate Summit alongside leaders PM Frank Bainimarama and more, who praised their work.


PYC Technical Advisory Group member Tyler Rae-Chung, right of PM Bainimarama

Lilivau Ewekia is Tuvalu National Youth Council's Coordinator, and also went to the UN Climate Summit (PYC).

"My message to my own people, and especially young Fijians, is this: I hear you. Your nation–your government–is doing everything it can to get the world to confront the climate threat.

I took on the Presidency of COP 23–not for prestige–but to play our part in ensuring your survival and everything we hold dear– not only our precious surroundings but our culture and our traditions." (link)

President Heine similarly expressed her thoughts on social media about Marshall Islands youth leaders who participated in both the strike and summit.

"Nothing makes me prouder than to see our Marshallese youth rolling their sleeves up and flying the flag for #ClimateAction this weekend in New York and back home." (Twitter)

San Francisco Pacific Climate Justice March Contingent collaborated with Sunrise Movement, APEAN, Extinction Rebellion Bay Area, and other nature warriors in September. The artistic display spread visibly for blocks to declare nature over capitalism!


Credit: Javier Lopez

Feohi is a Pasifika (Tongan) wellness and cultural initiative who work with PETANI. They promote inter-generational healing and family practices that powerfully center Islander heritage. This is their awareness in action.

Feohi Cultural Performance - "To Perform Is to Travel In Time"  VIDEO

Pacific Islanders are 25% of the Children vs. Climate lawsuit that Greta Thunberg also signed (Samoa Observer)! David Ackley II, Ranton Anjain, Litokne Kabua and Carlos Manuel speak out for their home and the world's health at large.

Activist Litokne Kabua relocated, ironically, to a neighboring military base. The Marshall Islands are disappearing before his eyes.

"Come to my home, I am opening my home for you to see. I would show you my backyard...because I walk out the door, I see climate change. It’s happening. It’s blowing. It’s surging into your home." (Courthouse News)

Carlos Manuel is unafraid to tell the truth either. Typhoon Haiyan forced his family out of the Philippines to Kayangel, Palau. Sea level rise continues its deadly approach toward their home.

"I want bigger countries to know that our small island nations are the most vulnerable countries to be affected by climate change." (Samoa)


JAILING YOUTH ACTIVISTS

Younger political prisoners grow in number. Ahed Tamimi has been freed from Palestinian jail, but she entered at 16. Egyptian youth activist Ahmed Maher left prison years after the Arab Spring.

Indefinite incarceration and police brutality are widespread punishment for civil disobedience across the world. Age does not stop tyranny from brutalization.

Student activists in Colombia have been beaten, to the point that they suffer bullet wounds and are forcibly driven away (Telesur).

It does not stop A Rocha Ghana, Extinction Rebellion, Shut It Down, Philippine Youth for Climate, and youths from boldly rising up. They pay the price for freedom. Will we pay attention?


YOUTH ACTIVIST LINKS

US/Canada

Advocates for Youth
Alliance for Youth Action
Black Youth Project 100
Campaign for Youth Justice
CampusActivism.org
CASA
Connexions
Democracy Matters
DoSomething.org
Empathy Alliance
Earth Guardians
Fair Vote
GLSEN
Get Yr Rights
Global Kids
HeadCount
Hip Hop Caucus
Indivisible
March for Our Lives
Million Hoodies Movement for Justice
MoveOn.org
New American Leaders Project
Power Shift Network
The Red Nation
Respect My Vote
Rise to Run
School Girls Unite
The Trevor Project
United We Dream
U.S. Students Association
Young Invincibles
Youth Activism Project
Youth Coalition
YP4

Worldwide

Care2
M.E.Ch.A (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan)
Plan International
Youth for Change


Networking Potential

Anti-War Resistance