About the Show
In the wake of the 25th UN Climate Change Summit known as the Conference of Partners or COP, scientists and activists are warning that governments are failing to act as quickly as the climate crisis requires. Taking matters into their own hands, youth organizers with Extinction Rebellion have led marches, school walkouts, and hunger strikes around the world. Though digital organizing plays a major role in their movement, non-violent civil disobedience is their primary tactic. How does a new generation of climate organizers understand and employ the tactics of non-violence? And can their movement garner the public support necessary to overcome the inertia of political establishment beholden to fossil fuels? Laura speaks with student climate strikers, Ayisha Siddiqa and Giovanni Tamacas, and veteran activist Libero Della Piana for their perspectives.
“Non-violent direct action & civil disobedience…these are tactics. They have to be deployed in a power-building strategy.”-Libero Della Piana
In This Episode
Giovanni Tamacas, Student Organizer, Extinction Rebellion is a 19-year-old organizer with Extinction Rebellion. This November, he went on hunger strike for the climate for the second time in 2019.
Ayisha Siddiqa, Student Organizer, Extinction Rebellion, is a 20-year-old student at Hunter College and organizer for Extinction Rebellion New York City. She immigrated to the United States from Pakistan at the age of 5.
Libero Della Piana, Community Organizer/Writer and Senior Strategist, Alliance for a Just Society is a senior organizer at the Alliance for a Just Society. He is currently co-teaching a course on social movements and organizing at the University of California-Berkeley.
