Be proud of school strikers
It is possible the proposed marches and rallies by school pupils to urge New Zealand politicians to act on climate change would gladden the heart of former British prime minister Winston Churchill, who supposedly once observed that anyone who was not a liberal at 20 years of age had no heart, while anyone who was still a liberal at 40 had no head.
Churchill or not, whoever said that was probably reflecting on the propensity for youthful idealism to be gradually eroded.
Without idealism, we are condemned to serve visionless priorities that lack urgency. And without vision and change, society serves only the current narrow status quo.
Children and young people have their own views and, as Article 12 of the Children’s Convention reminds us, they have a right ‘‘to express these views freely in all matters affecting them’’ – and what could affect them more than climate change.
These students are not potential adults in waiting whose views don’t count yet. Neither do they need adult permission to have a mind of their own or to give it voice.
That, in this case, their view represents a necessary critique of our failure sufficiently to address the threat of climate change should be welcomed with enthusiasm and gratitude.
The most common issues my office hears about from children and young people are housing/poverty, care for the environment and climate change. They also tell us they are frustrated at not being listened to or taken seriously.
How can we address this frustration and give expression to young people’s right to be heard? Children under 18 can’t vote. It’s important,
then, for us to think about other ways they can have their say.
This march is one of them. If it requires taking approved time off school for us to listen more closely to what they have to tell us then, in this instance, so be it. The proposed marches and rallies on Friday reflect the growing power of a global movement that has been building momentum for seven months. Children and young people know that climate change will affect their future, perhaps even define it. They also know the rest of us are failing to take all the appropriate steps necessary to limit that impact.
They urgently want and need to make their voices heard now. But they have nowhere to stand in the corridors of power. And they are in constant danger of being patronised by an establishment telling them to get back to their studies.
Those who say these kinds of protest make no difference should recall that the same rebuke was heaped on suffragettes at the beginning of last century, the anti-tour demonstrators in 1980 and 1981, and, just a year ago, those students in the United States calling for greater gun control. The changes wrought by these and other social movements have redefined who we are.
Winston Churchill definitely said: ‘‘Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.’’ We should be proud young people in New Zealand have the courage to give voice to the challenge of climate change. Let’s hope we, and our politicians, have the courage to sit down and listen.