AnnMary, 15, represents Fiji in big march in New York City
Fifteen-year-old AnnMary Raduva joined 40,000 plus demonstrators in New York yesterday for the Global Climate Strike.
People from different countries and continents paraded in New York with placards and posters while chanting slogans calling for climate justice and an end to the use of fossil fuels. AnnMary proudly carried Fiji’s flag as she walked with others to demand greater climate action. “It was a powerful gathering at Lower Manhattan yesterday afternoon as we joined forces with the young and the old to demand our governments and leaders to stop talking about climate crisis, but to put their words into actions,” AnnMary said.
“I am hopeful and empowered that my generation is very bold and will not stop lobbying for a safe and sustainable future for us.
“The 7km walk for me is not a big deal. I think if we had to walk for 10km, I would willingly do it because we are creating history.
“This is historical and at the same time an emotional event as many of the participants were students like me, calling for climate justice and action,” she added. AnnMary hopes to organise a similar march in Suva later in the year for young children in Fiji.
“I also hope that we, the younger generation fighting the climate crisis will be given an opportunity to host a similar awareness raising event in Suva in solidarity with what young climate activist Greta Thunberg has started in Sweden,” she said.
“People cheered when Greta was on the stage in the afternoon and she spoke so candidly about our future and our role as young activists and how we must influence our leaders and policy makers to turn their words into actions.”
Highlight
AnnMary also met some local students from the US who had studied climate change and Fiji’s COP23 contribution to climate negotiations and meetings.
“One of the highlights of the march was having the Fiji flag with me,” she said.
“There were a couple of curious onlookers, but it was what I wanted, to create visibility and to show our solidarity.
AnnMary Raduva was invited to New York by the Center for Environmental Legal Studies of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in New York, in conjunction with the Normandie Chair for Peace and the University of Caen in France and the William S Richardson Law School of the University of Hawaii.
The Global Climate Strike was part of a global movement to call for “an end to the age of fossil fuels and climate justice for everyone”.