The Activist Diaries: Snapshots from The Student Strike for Climate Change
INTERVIEW ONE
K: “What message do you all have for bystanders or those wondering of your purpose today?”
Students: “We just want to draw attention to the current situation. This isn’t to hurt our parents or teachers. Climate change is imperative for the world to respond to. This will be affecting our generation!”
K: “Who inspires you?”
Students: “Just seeing everyone out here has been incredible. Greta Thunberg in particular has helped inspire us.”
INTERVIEW TWO
K: “Is your school supportive?”
Anon: “No. Absolutely not. We were threatened with being marked with truancy. Even if we had permission from our parents, we were marked with ‘explained truancy’, which will still be a truancy”
K: “Do you have any concerns about that?”
Anon: “The effects of climate change are more important than any trouble we could get into at school. It’s literally a matter of life and death”
INTERVIEW THREE
K: “I love your sign, that is a great song. Do you and your friends have any messages for other teenagers or adults who may be unfamiliar with your reasons for protesting?”
Student: “In future, we want to be able to leave the house without a gasmask!”
Friend: “My message for young people is ‘do it!’ Why can’t you? We are just as smart and have the same understandings as some adults on issues that affect us all!”
INTERVIEW FOUR
K: “You all have faced detractors in the media, politicians who claim that what you are doing is ineffective. Do you have something to say in response to this?”
Student: “We are GOING to be noticed. We are risking a day of learning and possibly some troubles at school afterwards. But at the end of the day, we could be learning for a future we might not even have! Time is running out before there will be a serious global climate catastrophe.”
K: “What kind of trouble or discouragement have students been threatened with?”
Friend: “We’ve been blackmailed with detentions.”
K: “There seems to be a common perception that it is only politically minded or liberal stereotype students here. My personal observation is that the crowd looks really diverse.”
Student: “At the end of the day, this will affect everyone. You don’t have to be politically inclined to participate.”
K: “Some commentators reckon that this kind of movement will destabilize the economy and are reluctant to accept the consequences of corporate action. Do you have a response to this view in society?”
Student: “We are running out of time to continue to keep putting it off. Economy won’t matter as much in the face of imminent danger”
K: “What seems to be the feeling or motivation between you all? Fear? Anger? Wanting to inspire others?”
Students: “All of the above!!”
INTERVIEW FIVE
K: “Is your school supportive?”
Students: “Yes. Especially our science teachers.”
K: “What is your message to supporters and critics alike?”
Andre: “Protests like this don’t go unnoticed. If New Zealand itself takes a stand, then people [locally and around the world] should listen. If we don’t achieve this, then at least, I want to be able to say and know that we tried our best.”
INTERVIEW SIX
K: “It’s great to see that though this was marked as a youth protest, that adults are also in support and want to show solidarity with their message. What do you wish to share?”
Former Teacher: “I am here as an older woman to show my support for power for youth! These students have my total support. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to stand up for your own values like this. I am appalled at discouraging adults. I used to be a teacher, I have heard of the backlash from schools and frankly, I would resign if the school discouraged any of my students in that way. This is a learning experience. Risks? Of trouble at school? The consequences we are facing will be far worse. I have training in psychology. I believe an increase of teenage depression is because of existential threat. We teach children how to change the world but we are depriving them of the ability. I speak from my own experience. I remember students protesting in Paris for other’s rights. The 1968 Berkeley protests*. People dismissed them as being ‘only 10% really cared and the rest just showed up’ but we don’t remember them in that way in the grand scheme of history. We remember them for diversity in the crowds, for the core principles of what they fought for. Marching has not lost its power.”
*Author’s note: The University of California, Berkeley, is known for being a key site for social justice organisations and movements in the 1960s. It is known for protests for women’s rights, the anti-war movement in the time of the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement.
INTERVIEW SEVEN
K: “What has the reaction been to your attendance here?”
Student: “My parents support us. But at school? Oh there are consequences. Detention. We’ll all be going together. In response, the school just asked us to give our ‘thoughts and prayers for climate change”.
K: “…”
Friend: “Yeah, I too thought it was ridiculous. Reminded me of Donald Trump’s response with the gun thing.”
K: Do you have observations or messages about the international community and how they have dealt with this?”
Friend: “I want people to understand the after effects and the injustice of the whole process. I’m from the Pacific Islands. In my culture, land is sacred. We have to treat it sacredly. We didn’t contribute to the problem and yet, we will be the first to suffer. Imagine how the future generation will be affected? We will have to solve the problems of past generations! It’s not just defending the climate. It’s protecting culture, people.”
* Author’s note: While the school of Gurleen’s friends weren’t supportive of the strike, Gurleen said her school was not opposed).