THE MANY IDENTITIES OF THE MOVEMENT

Thunberg, as the very public face of the movement, has differentiated herself and her movement from others by emphasizing her position as both a minor and neurodivergent. Through this, Thunberg creates a sort of “resistance identity.” Thunberg, being a young girl with Asperger syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and selective mutism, squarely falls into the category of being oppressed on the basis of these identities. She is able to harness her various identities into a stronger resistance identity against the various national and international systems with which she takes umbrage. Her issues with these systems, namely the governments of what she deems to be “rich countries,” such as her home country of Sweden, are that they are not actively trying to combat climate change despite committing to the Paris Agreement.

A large part of her “resistance identity” is her age. Being a young woman, only fifteen at the time of her TEDx speech, she represents a commonly overlooked faction of the population. People younger than the voting age are often not taken into consideration when it comes to the decision making process. Thunberg actively pushes back against this framework. By activating and mobilizing a largely untapped population, Thunberg was able to corral the support of people her age into her movement and into the worldwide expansion of her message. In her speech, Thunberg directly addresses her critics who base their critique on her age and commonly “say that [Thunberg] should be in school instead [of protesting]” (Thunberg 08:20-08:22). However, Thunberg responds to the adults who criticize her by asking them “why should I be studying for a future that soon will be no more when no one is doing anything whatsoever to save that future?” (Thunberg 08:43-08:52) This push back is in direct contrast to the emphasis the entire institution of education usually places on it’s future value. Thunberg’s use of this apocalyptic rhetoric resonates with young people in her age bracket, successfully putting value on and mobilizing the untapped political potential of young people who disagree with the ways the climate crisis is being handled by adult politicians.

Through her actions, Thunberg is able to translate her “resistance identity” into a “project identity.” Castells acknowledges that a project identity may be built “on the basis of an oppressed identity,” but expands that it must push for “the transformation of society” (Castells 10). In Thunberg’s TEDx talk, her explicit call to action is that “rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change, and it has to start today” (Thunberg, 10:47-10:55). This call for a transformation of society and the rules governing the response to climate change exemplifies the shift in her identity from simply a resistance identity to a project identity, with her project being the changing of the way the climate crisis is viewed and handled by governments. Thunberg radically calls on “rich countries … to get down to zero emissions within 6 to 12 years” in order to allow for poorer countries to “have a chance to heighten their standard of living by building some of the infrastructure that [rich countries] have already built.” (Thunberg 04:44-05:02) The climate justice and equity Thunberg calls for is not new by any means, but to hear it coming from someone so young adds an extra layer of urgency.

LIVABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

This call for the richer countries to create space for poorer countries echoes Evans’ aforementioned critique of Castells. Thunberg, possibly unknowingly, harkens back to Evans’ emphasis on the oftentimes exorbitant costs of creating liveability and sustainability in areas that are lacking in funds. By urging the rich countries to focus on sustainability while allowing poorer countries the opportunity to build up their livability standards. While Evans’ original theory focused more on a singular community’s struggles with balancing sustainability and livability, an expanded view of Evans allows the theory to be applied to the global community. In this expanded view of Evans, green “growth machines are also ecologies of agents,” making them an interconnected ecology of agents in a global community of urban livability.  In an interview with The New York Times, Thunberg touched on this topic again, saying “we forget that the majority of the world’s population don’t have that opportunity and won’t be able to adapt. They’re also the ones who are going to be hit hardest and first and are least responsible. That is being ignored to a degree that is pathetic” (Marchese 2). Her focus on richer countries’ impact while still centering the disastrous effects this will have on poorer nations distinguishes her from other activists.

BROADENING THE POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE

While Thunberg’s organizing is certainly original in its global scope, it draws on previous movements and the work done to make those movements successful. Following Keck and Sikkink’s framework of transnational advocacy networks, the Fridays for Future movement “sought international or foreign venues in which to present claims, effectively transforming the power relationships involved by shifting the political context” (Keck and Sikkink 221). By presenting her claims at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in 2019, and being the only minor to do so, Thunberg was able to expand her reach. Before Thunberg, very few minors were able to have their voices heard and listened to in the political arena. Thunberg cites one of the few movements headed by minors, the March For Our Lives, started in early 2018,  as an inspiration. In an interview with CNN, Thunberg stated that she had heard about March For Our Lives and wondered “what if children did that, but for the climate?” (CNN 1:30-1:45) The March For Our Lives movement, a gun control movement started by survivors of the fatal shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was able to reach a national audience and was able to enact change at both the state and federal level. March For Our Lives used political tactics such as lobbying, social media campaigns, and marching as the name suggests, but Thunbergs inspiration came from the organized school walk-outs carried out by the movement.  By taking the existing structure of the school walk-outs and shifting that strategy into a transnational advocacy network, Thunberg was able to expand the political opportunity structure for children looking to get involved in social movements.

NETWORKS OF SUPPORT

In her many meetings and appearances amongst the leaders of the world, Thunberg has created a vast network of allies. Thunberg’s socialization patterns would be categorized by Favreto and others as heterogeneous because of the large amounts of weaker ties she has to a wide range of people. In the media, Thunberg has been the subject of profiles in The New York Times, interviews with CNN, and many other major news outlets internationally such as the BBC. In pop culture, Thunberg has garnered support from the likes of Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, and Billie Eilish amongst dozens of other celebrities who participated in boosting the movement on social media. In politics, Thunberg has been invited to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in 2019 and has had meetings with world leaders like Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron. By creating this large number of weaker ties, Thunberg has created an abundance of “weak ties, infused with a certain degree of plurality, [which] tends to conform to styles of activism that are more open to dialogue and negotiation with different groups” (Favareto et al. 249). By keeping so many channels of dialogue open in many sectors important to the public eye such as media, celebrity, and politics, Thunberg has created an incredibly strong network of support for her movement to succeed in.