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Research Brief

Moments of Activism from Youth Around the World

 

         It's 2020, and it feels as though the Internet has been keeping us connected more so now than it has ever before. People from all around the world, young and old, have access to information to learn and form their own opinions about current events happening locally and globally. Issues such as climate change and equal rights have been standing out alongside our global pandemic, and while we may find ourselves feeling voiceless or powerless (O'Brien, 2018. p. 1), many young activists have taken it upon themselves to push humanity towards a safer, cleaner, and kinder tomorrow. This study touches on many recent moments of youth activism, from all over our planet, with hopes it might inspire others to realize the potentials one voice can have over a community, a country, a generation, and perhaps; the whole world.

 

Greta Thunberg

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         Greta Thunberg likely comes to mind when thinking about young activists who are driven to create change around the world. While she may be soft spoken, Thunberg has organized global school strikes in efforts to demonstrate the commitments various countries have made under the Paris Agreement - starting with her home Country, Sweden. She is passionate about showing others the many ways we can reduce our carbon footprint. She is driven to share the importance of taking greenhouse gas emissions into consideration, for the sake of our climate, and our future. She has taken it upon herself to completely quit air travel, a major contributor to the increasing temperature of our atmosphere (Coplan, 2020. pp. 190-191).

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         Young Thunberg's brave efforts have created a ripple effect, with school-led protests regarding climate change, happening in more than one hundred countries, by millions of concerned students from all around the world, including teen students from Denver, Colorado, to participate in weekly school walkouts to demonstrate their concern for this climate crisis. Thunberg acts as a true source of inspiration, as someone who has gone from feeling voiceless in the battle against those in power over climate change, to someone who's started Fridays for Future - otherwise known as FFF - to spread awareness and attempt to prevent our planets temperature from rising past repair (Nevett, 2019).

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Connor Parissis

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         In their article, Connor Parissis describes the terrors of protesting and fighting for equal rights in the LGBTQA+ community in Sydney, Australia, from 2017 and onwards. Parissis has gone into detail throughout their whole article describing the misconceptions written about themself and the community they were protesting with by local media and journalists at their university, and the journey through anxiety and depression this sent them on afterwards. They've stated, after mentioning the misconceptions spread by the media of a specific protest for equal rights, "Albeit cleverly edited, placing me front and centre. There I was, stealing their signs; screaming, yelling, and throwing an assortment of products at them...I could hear it in my own voice, the anger, the hurt and the pain...but the world did not..." (Parisses, 2020. p.30). This ordeal stood out as a personal reminder that the stories found on social media are not always told from their respective perspective, and even with all of our fancy technology of today, articles found online aren't always completely reliable.

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Adrian Brandon

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         Adrian Brandon is a young artist using his passion to portray illustrations of members of the Black community who have suffered from many injustices, bringing to light a deeper understanding of the challenges people of color have been facing through history and up through today. He has stated on his website, "My goal is to create art that creates an understanding of Black culture, Black love and Black pain so that we can move forward together" (Brandon, n.d.). 

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         One of his recent collections, titled Stolen, is dedicated to many of the black people who's lives were taken by police officers. When talking about this series, he has mentioned, "I use time as a medium to define how long each portrait is colored in. 1 year of life = 1 minute of color" (Brandon, n.d.). The powerful illustrations in this series act as tools, creating a sense of emptiness by those who view the works, hinting at the unending emptiness that grieving families and communities have been feeling since these individuals were taken from them.

 

Reflection

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         With today's technological advances, we've entered a time where it's almost effortless to express opinions and concerns and personal stories. Because of this, I believe we have no excuse to be unaware of the many economical and social issues that are happening all around our planet, and we also have no excuse to simply wait and see what happens next when it comes to making changes to do what is best for our planet, not what is most convenient for a temporary time. This includes caring about our individual, economical footprints, and the proper, respectful treatment of all people, regardless of any differences. This also includes finding the strength within oneself to stand up for what they believe is best for the future of our planet, and our species; much like Greta Thunberg has for climate change, much like Connor Parissis has for the LGBTQA+ community, and much like Adrian Brandon has for people of color.

         As an educator, I vow I will do my part to teach about sustainable practices and lifestyles. I vow to foster an environment to function as how I believe the world should, with kindness and selflessness towards one another no matter how difficult that may be. As a soft-spoken individual, I refuse to let myself be unheard - and I am hoping to inspire others to refuse to remain unheard, too.

 

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References

Brandon, A. (n.d.). Stolen. Retrieved from https://www.adrianbrandon.com/stolen

 

Brandon, A. (n.d.). Bio. Retrieved from https://www.adrianbrandon.com/bio

 

COPLAN, K. (2020). POSTSCRIPT: Individual Climate Action in the Trump Era: Now More       than Ever. In Live Sustainably Now: A Low-Carbon Vision of the Good Life (pp. 187- 192). NEW YORK: Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/copl19090.25

 

Nevett, J. (2019, May 3). The Greta effect? Meet the schoolgirl climate warriors.          Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-48114220

 

O'Brien, K., Selboe, E., & Hayward, B. (2018). Exploring youth activism on climate change: Dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. Ecology and Society, 23(3).    doi:10.2307/26799169

 

Parissis, C. (2020). THROWING GLITTER AT CHRISTIANS. In University of Sydney          (Author), Diversity: The University of Sydney Student Anthology 2019 (pp. 27-      34). AUSTRALIA: Sydney University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv10kmcd6.9