On December 12th was a march organised by Friends of the Earth in Paris. I interviewed one of my friends who attended the march, Issy. Although the rally declared it would no long be official due to the security situation in Paris, thousands still turned out to voice their opinion.
Given the outcome of COP21 Issy obviously felt very positive about Paris. Being part of the group of activists to pressure global leaders and achieve such a result must've been exhilarating (plus you get to go to Paris!).
One of the most interesting observations Issy made was the age of people who were marching. The vast majority were in their 40s and above, with hardly anyone Issy's age outside of her university friends. Yet it's our generation who have been educated about, and grown up around, climate change. Furthermore, per capita far more 18-25year olds vote for the Green Party than other age groups. So why are they not represented? Perhaps it's a money and time issue, young people can't afford to go to Paris whereas older generations can. Issy also got the impression that many of her fellow protestors weren't just marching for climate change, as she was. Many had been marching since the 1970s, whether that's for a green movement, anti-war or global equality. Such a demographic wasn't expected, and neither would I have predicted. Maybe our generation is more complacent and hasn't experienced the same repeated disappointment of failed climate change talks that out elders have.
Some protesters said to Issy "It's so nice to see students protesting again", as if they hadn't seen students at marches since they themselves were. The older protestors had the impression that students don't have the enthusiasm that they had.
Maybe it is money, or perhaps we are more complacent and less enthusiastic. I know a lot of friends who marched in London, so maybe that was considered enough.
But, the march in Paris among many other pressures have worked, and an extremely positive outcome has been achieved without students turning out!
Interesting post Ollie! I have definitely noticed that my peer group seems less concerned with climate change than say, my parents generation. I think this is partly due to a more widespread optimism that young people have concerning the success of current initiatives, and the assumption that everything will work out; and yes, I guess this is partly because they haven't experienced the situation worsening to such as an extent as the older generation have. I also think older people are effected on a more personal and financial level by the consequences of climate change; for example property values diminish significantly with higher flood risk, higher insurance premiums, and also significant health risks for the elderly.
ReplyDeleteOn your last point though Izzy, I also think that older generations won't be affected much by climate change, whereas we will! You'd think this would get more of our generation protesting, but apparently not.
DeleteAnother thing I didn't mention in the original post is perhaps this marks a shift in our generation towards online protesting: signing E-petitions and tweeting politicians. I still think actually going out onto the streets sends a far stronger message than a virtual message, as I'm sure our parents generation will agree!
It seems strange to me that so few students are taking part in these marches! I agree that it could be money, but I also agree with Issy (above) that young people are somewhat less concerned and more optimistic. I think if all those who marched were asked why they were protesting, as you say, a large portion might be for wider green movement reasons besides climate change.
ReplyDeleteYes I think that was definitely the case. And as I mentioned above in my reply to Izzy, the rise of E-protesting might be partly to answer. The issue is if you only care enough to sign an E-petition, the government won't, and probably rightly, take you seriously.
DeleteInteresting comment! Hopefully students and young people will become more engaged with these important issues. Perhaps as well as an unrealistic optimism that everything will be ok, protests in general aren't as popular with the younger generation as they used to be. Maybe this is because of tighter policing leading to fear or simply that protesting isn't the first point of call for young people who want to make a difference. It's good that some students like Issy are joining in if it is giving the older generations the impression that their concerns are shared by younger people too.
ReplyDeleteIssy certainly did a great job going all the way to Paris to get her voice heard. Tighter policing could definitely be a factor, but in these eco marches I don't think police see the need to ever get violent. Perhaps students are put off by violent scenes at other marches, say student loans or anti-austerity marches, and think that eco-marches are similar. In fact, the crowd is often completely different and still resonates of 'flower power' marches centred on zero aggression.
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