By Edwin Asa Adjei, CIHA Editorial Assistant, University of Ghana-Legon
Greta Thunberg, a sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist has become a household name due to her activism, which has won her several awards. To mention a few: in December 2018, she was named one of the world’s twenty-five most influential teenagers of the year and awarded the Fryshuset scholarship for the young role model of the year. In 2019, she has been named the Swedish woman of the year by Swedish Women’s Educational Association. She has also received the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Geddes Environment Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical society and named the Time Magazine person of the year for 2019. Time Magazine, in naming her the person of the year stated that, “She has succeeded in creating a global attitudinal shift, transforming millions of vague, middle-of-the-night anxieties into a worldwide movement calling for urgent change. She has offered a moral clarion call to those who are willing to act, and hurled shame on those who are not.” While Greta Thunberg is deserving of the many awards bestowed on her and the iconic status she enjoys for the sacrifices she has made, along with her determination, in the face of criticism from several quarters, including some world leaders, one wonders if with so much media attention on one person, the world is not ignoring many others who have been putting in a lot of effort in the fight against climate change, with little to no support or recognition.
In accepting the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, Greta Thunberg said, “The award is for all those millions of people, young people, around the world who together make up the movement called Friday’s for the Future.” Fridays for the Future, also known as school strike for climate is an international movement of school students, inspired by Greta Thunberg, who on selected days, take time off from school to demonstrate against climate change and call for action to eliminate climate change and global warming. The support of “Fridays for the future” has greatly enhanced Greta Thunberg’s campaign and hence their recognition on her part was well deserved. Chika Unigwe, in It’s not Just Greta Thunberg: why are we ignoring the developing world’s inspiring activists, looks at young people in the global south who have been fighting against climate change even before Greta Thunberg started her campaign or at the same time as her. Among these are Ridhima Pandey, an Indian, who in 2017, and at the age of nine, filed a lawsuit against the Indian government for not taking action against climate change. Kaluki Paul Mutuku, a Kenyan has been involved in environmental conservation since he was in college. Nina Gualinga, an Ecuadorian, has been an activist since the age of eight. Leah Namugerwa, a fifteen-year-old Ugandan is also an activist on environmental conservation.
Activism in the global south, while similar to that of the global north, comes with many challenges. Despite the criticisms Greta Thunberg has received from various quarters, she has been able to articulate her views in an environment where her physical safety has been assured and her views have been tolerated, even by those who hold divergent views. Several activists in the global south have had to pay the ultimate sacrifice for their views, while others have been jailed or driven into self-imposed exile. For example, in 2018, the anger of the tobacco industry was kindled against a Nigerian anti-smoking activist, Akinbode Oluwafemi, when he campaigned against the tobacco industry’s attempts to sway government policy. Not long after receiving death threats from unnamed people in the tobacco industry, his home was attacked by heavily armed men who murdered his brother in-law and his guard and briefly held a gun to the head of one of his year-old twins.
In addition to this, despite the proliferation of mobile phones in the global south, cost of data and poor data connections or lack of data reduces the impact activists in the global south can make online. Finally, a lack of financial support impinges on the impact activists in the global south can make. Greta Thunberg could afford to reject the Nordic Council Environment Prize, along with the $52,000 prize money, with reasons such as “the climate movement does not need any more awards.” One can imagine if an activist in the global south could do same, looking at the financial situation in most countries in the global south and the lack of support for climate activists, arising out of the challenging financial environments in which they fight for the future of the environment.
For Chika Unigwe, ignoring activists in the global south, despite the many challenges they face, while promoting Greta Thunberg’s campaign, promotes the white saviour complex as these activists are rendered invisible in the media, and public discourse. There is also a financial cost as many of these high-profile awards come with a monetary prize: Greta Thunberg received £83,000 to support her activism when she won the Swedish woman of the year award this year, about $28,000 for winning the Fritt Ords award for freedom of expression, which she donated to support a lawsuit against Norwegian oil exploration in the Arctic, and €25,000 as the winner of the Prix Liberté, which Greta said she would donate to four organizations working in areas affected by climate change. As the Akans say, one uses fish to catch fish—in other words, these high-profile awards then become self-fulfilling success stories for further awards. One can only imagine the many doors open to Greta. For example, when she tweeted that she needed help crossing the Atlantic, since she has refused to fly due to carbon emission from airplanes, two Australians sailing around the world offered her a ride to Spain.
In addition, for Chika Unigwe ignoring activists in the global south promotes a narrative of “the native with no agency who cannot help themselves.” Similar issues on the white saviour complex have been highlighted by the CIHA blog in post such as Track Changes: “New Yorker Redesigns Her Life to Help Kids in Ghana” and On Angelina Jolie Pitt and William Hague Appointments at LSE’s Women Peace and Security Programme.
Chika Ugwe therefore calls for the (Western) media to also focus their lenses on other young activists in the global south who have taken up similar causes and are fighting for the conservation of the environment and against climate change.
Read the full piece written by Chika Unigwe here.