”Greta, Greta, Greta” cries the cries from the students. They have traveled from different parts of Belgium to demonstrate. This Thursday, the seventh in a row with the manifestation in Brussels, is special. Greta Thunberg are here, but also elevrepresentanter from kliamatprotester in the Netherlands and Germany, where students also congregate in the tens of thousands.
But it is the Swedish 16-year-old with braids who is the star. Her name is visible on signs: ”Greta4president” or ”Make the world Greta again”. Everyone seems to know how her story began with a sign outside the Swedish parliament building.
”Make the world Greta again”
last in the line of the foreign guests, she must pause after each sentence. So loud are the reactions.
“We will be a thorn in the eye (she uses the English mustigare ”pain in the ass”) and continue to strike to the politicians to do something,” she says.
– never Think that you are too small to make a difference. We are saving the world, Greta Thunberg.
and Stien Loos has gone from Antwerp.
They know, of course, who Greta Thunberg is and have copied her Swedish sign skolstrejk for the climate. Stien Loos also agree in a sign with the message ”Make the world Greta again”.
Just as in other countries, they may from time to time the question from some adults about why they are not in school instead.
” We are here for the climate’s sake. It is important. Most of the teachers support us and we have a test we do it another day. Our parents also understand our reasons, ” says Stien Loos, demonstrating for the fifth Thursday in a row.
– The need to improve public transport and so it is important to concretely do something for the climate, not just talking about it, says Celine Dealure.
Earlier in the day spoke to Greta Thunberg at a conference with senior EU officials, including commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. She was clear that the EU needs to strengthen its environmental objectives.
” We skolstrejkar for that we have done our homework. When you have done it, you understand that we need a new politics, a new economy. We need a completely new way to think of that, ” said Thunberg in his speech.
leading the prestigious Institute for research on climate impact (PIK) in Potsdam, outside Berlin. He sees the students ‘ activism as perhaps the most important thing that the world ever had.
– Nothing beats so effectively and so hard that when young people go out on the street and says, “we do not accept that you’re destroying the planet for our future.” The reason that it is powerful and bite hard is to point to the point where the adult world has failed the most, ” he says.
Rockström stresses that it is interesting that the story of the young reflects the scientific story.
– They say: “Dear adult world, this is an attempt that you must take responsibility for. It is not enough that I take the bus to school or become vegan. You need to take responsibility, you must shut down the coal mines, you must stop the continued exploitation of fossil energy sources, you need to invest in the restructuring of our entire produktionslogik. It is interesting that the children have put themselves exactly where the science is.
He points out that if the movement continues to grow, it can be the dumps over the whole political logic of the world.
– It is very difficult for adults, political leaders not to take this extremely seriously, as seriously as terrorist threats and financial crises, ” says Johan Rockström.
Read more: Greta Thunberg is at the forefront of generationsrevolt