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Thousands of young people converged on Boston's City Hall Plaza to lobby for more aggressive action against climate change as part of the "global climate strike" initially inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish activist who spoke in New York Friday. .
More than 800 actions have taken place around the world in anticipation of a major UN climate summit, bringing together people from Johannesburg to Helsinki. In Berlin, the organizers announced that 80,000 people had gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate. In the Afghan capital, Kabul, a hundred young people marched, supervised by armed guards and led by a group of young women carrying a banner bearing the inscription "Fridays for the future", the slogan that Thunberg had used to hit last year.
Protesters also marched across the United States, rallying in New York, Washington, Miami, Providence and elsewhere.
"We can prevent that from happening," said Sabrina Randall, a sophomore at the St. Mary Academy residing in Johnston, RI. "The future of politicians is 15, but we need something for help us through 50, 60 or 70 years. We do not need temporary solutions.
Brookline students were excited to join their peers from around the world. They invaded the nearby train station, applauded when a streetcar arrived, rushed it, filled it completely and applauded when it went away. Some adults applauded when students boarded.
"As Greta Thunberg said, why should we be at school to learn a future that we might not have?" Said Oona Hall, 14, a first-time student year at Brookline. She and her friend Camille Jordan, 14, remained glued to each other to get to the rally. Jordan said that "the consequences are really heavy" for skipping classes, but that the strike was too important to be missed.
The Boston Strike was entirely planned by people under the age of 20 and the event was spirited. Midway through the rally, organizers played Beyonce's "Love on Top" and student activists took a break from their speeches and songs to dance.
But the underlying, deadly The serious message of the strike was that there was no time to lose to cope with climate change. Activists particularly insisted that the Massachusetts Green New Deal be adopted – when a speaker mentioned that Senator Edward Markey, co-sponsor of a Green New Deal resolution with representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , was among the public and the young people expressed their approval. The Green New Deal proposes to the federal government to engage massively in the transition of the economy towards 100% clean and renewable energy, and to provide vocational training and new economic development to people whose jobs current depend on fossil fuels.
Much younger children also took part in the strike, gripping their own signs and marrying their own reasons for joining.
"Boston is a port city," said 11-year-old Eliza James, who was leaving her fifth-grade class at the Jamaica Plain Curley School to join the strike (courtesy of her parents). "I was listening to a TED talk from Greta Thunberg" about mass extinction, said James, and this had inspired him to join the movement. "She was just a girl and she made headlines around the world."
Her friend Lyra Kirouac, 10, accepted. She said that she was not working just for herself.
"My brother is at school right now, but I'm doing it for him," said Kirouac. His brother is 8 years old.
Students made it clear that the issue of climate change was not just about a few privileged activists.
"Let me tell you what environmental justice is and will be here in Massachusetts," said Ahria Ilyas, an 18-year-old freshman at Suffolk University. "Environmental justice defends people of color, especially Young people of color, to have access to the same resources and to the same clean energy as those which they delivered from luxurious and gentrifying districts.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh also addressed the crowd, accompanied by the new director of Boston Public Schools, Brenda Cassellius, who told parents earlier this week that students could be excused from the strike for school reasons. Cambridge schools have sent parents a detailed list of the e-mail calendar.
Across the country, companies like Patagonia and Ben & Jerry's have closed their stores to support the strike. Sarah Levy, who owns Cleenland's low-waste cleaning supplies store in Cambridge, has also closed her store to reach the kids.
"I think we are about to stop accepting what is unacceptable and partly disrupts business," Levy said.
After the rally at City Hall, the young activists rushed down Tremont Street to State House, where they filled the halls. The songs of the "Green New Deal" floated above the golden dome throughout the afternoon.
Janelle Nanos and Edward Fitzpatrick of Globe staff contributed to this report. The equipment of the Associated Press was used. You can contact Zoe Greenberg at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @zoegberg.
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