Young & restless
A classroom in Western Springs College is full at 4.30pm on a Monday, chairs haphazardly arranged in a circle. On them sit students from high schools all over Auckland, facing a whiteboard laden with scrawls. On one half, an abandoned Classics lesson plan; on the other, a bullet-point list of demands. Several students sit cross-legged in the centre, ripping tape with their teeth to spell #Wakeup on the back of neon hi-vis vests, in preparation for the upcoming climate-change strike. Voices overlap, until one yells out, “Who wants to talk to 95bFM in five minutes?”
It’s the week of School Strike 4 Climate’s second strike of the year, when thousands of students will stomp down Queen St after lying down in defiance on the paving of Aotea Square, a sea of youth in a mixture of uniforms and mufti. Placards and signs jut out or lie flat on their stomachs. Don’t Burn My Future. Denial Is Not A Policy. The Climate Is Changing… Why Aren’t We? Auckland’s organising group has spent months leading up to this in preparation: mobilising the participants through social media, working with the police and marshals, liaising with other relevant groups such as Generation Zero, agreeing on official demands, talking to the media, delegating roles and tasks, gathering megaphones, consolidating the messaging. No adult or teacher is present in these meetings; some of the students’ own schools have spoken out against them. They sacrifice school work, social lives and sport practices. They receive detentions. They chip in their own pocket money for promotion. They lose sleep. But it’s worth it. They believe it needs to be done.
