„Skolstrejk för klimatet”: Greta Thunberg became world famous five years ago. But „Fridays for the Future” must change, says one person who has devoted his entire life to activism.

The story „Fridays for Future” begins not on Friday, but on Monday. Five years ago, on August 20, 2018, Greta Thunberg sat on the floor with a poster, near the Swedish Parliament building in Stockholm. Her request was simple: Politicians must finally take climate protection seriously.

It didn’t take long for the local media to take notice of the 15-year-old. Then everything happened very quickly. A single form of protest is turning into a global climate movement. After a good year, on September 20, 2019, the term “Fridays for Future” has long since reached Germany. On that day, more than a million people took to the streets in Germany.

Media appearances and invitations to international summits in Thunberg followed. And in Germany, climate change is being taken more and more seriously. In 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the federal government’s Climate Protection Act of 2019 fell short – and needed improvement. Several plaintiffs were also active in the Fridays for Future movement.

’Fridays for the Future’ and 'The Last Generation’: Good for the entire climate movement

On the positive side of the climate movement is that the powerful have to grapple with how to do business in a sustainable and climate-neutral way on a daily basis. But dealing with it is one thing, and concrete actions are another. According to activists, there is a lot of time when so much is said about climate policy, but so little action is taken. This feeling of helplessness was exactly what started the „last generation”.

Their actions are more radical. It helps achieve the overarching goal of climate protection, protest researcher Dalilah Shamieh Gwik said in a recent interview. IPPPEN. MEDIA. We call this the „radical wing” effect. What is meant by this is that the presence of groups perceived as more extreme leads to an increased willingness to engage in dialogue with more „moderate” groups (such as Fridays for Future) so that the entire movement is more heard. . „

Researcher in protest: Five percent of the population might be enough

It requires less participation than is usually thought. “We know from research that in the past dictators could have been overthrown when about five percent of the population took to the streets,” says Chiemia-Goecki. “Of course, this number must be treated with caution in the context of parliamentary democracies, but it is still an interesting reference point.”

Fridays for Future spokeswoman Pauline Pronger said it was a no-brainer because of the crowd tagesschau.de. Friday for Future still manages to take hundreds of thousands of people out onto the streets several times a year. However, Pronger also concedes: „I also see it as a political failure that after five years of 'Fridays for the Future’, after five years of youthful climate protest, we’re still far from even the 1.5-degree target.” This is also the best. – The well-known German face of Fridays for Future, Louisa Neubauer, is somewhat reserved for the occasion of its fifth anniversary. A lot happened, but it wasn’t enough, she told ARD.

Thilo Bode on Greta Thunberg: „Shedding light on the history of civil society engagement”

Thilo Bode is someone who knows more about protest, activism, and (slow) political change than anyone else. In the 1990s Budd was working with Greenpeace. He later founded the Foodwatch Association who deals with the quality of food. „Greta Thunberg’s work was a landmark in the history of civil society engagement,” Bode tells the editorial team. In particular, the fact that from a scientific point of view it was clear for so long that something had to be done, yet public excitement is now only magnified that Greta Thunberg and Fridays for Future can write on science.

But even Bodhi comes very quickly however. In fact, little has changed. It is a result that reminds him of his own assessment. Budd has fought for years for more transparency in the food market. However, not enough has changed. So just give up? “God, no,” Bodhi insists. “There is an incredible power of civil society, just look at the history of the United States. It was Rosa Parks’ civic courage that gave the civil rights movement a decisive boost.”

The Climate Movement and Corporate Power

A climate that makes it possible to continue living on the planet, or high-quality food – these are requirements that everyone can probably agree on. However, this is not reflected in climate tables, nor on supermarket shelves. “You’re not making yourself quite famous today, but the situation shows that our democracy has reached its limits. Yes, you can vote every four years, but corporations are very powerful and have incredible financial resources. They pretty much determine our politics, we must not allow that, we must That changes!” says Boddy.

The 76-year-old maintains that as an „activist national coach” he does not want to offer clever advice on his part. However, he couldn’t help but give some motivation: “I don’t think international climate conferences are the place to decisively advance climate policy. Events like this always end with a consensus, which is the lowest possible denominator, and a radical reversal never happens.”

Fridays for the Future must make social and political demands

There is a second problem that the climate movement must address as quickly as possible. “In 2023, climate protection means: everything will become more expensive in the next few years. This is a bitter truth, but you have to say it clearly, ”says Bode. This is why Fridays for the Future and their partners have to formulate clear social and political demands. Successful climate policy should make the weaker in society financially better off, and that also means we have to redistribute power, income and wealth.”

A position shared by Louisa Neubauer. The 27-year-old admitted that „so far” there is a risk of a climate policy „that is corporate-friendly, that privileges the richest more and further harms the socially disadvantaged”. She warns: „If climate policy is not socially just, if it does not take into account the poorest, disadvantaged and minorities, it will not be sustainable.”