(PDF) Protest for a future: Composition, mobilization and motives of the participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 15 March, 2019 in 13 European cities

Protest for a future:

Composition, mobilization and motives of the

participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 15

March, 2019 in 13 European cities

Edited by Mattias Wahlström, Piotr Kocyba, Michiel De Vydt

and Joost de Moor

2

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... 2

Erratum ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Copyright statement ............................................................................................................................... 4

Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 5

Fridays For Future: a new generation of climate activism ...................................................................... 6

The protesters’ profile = young women .......................................................................................... 9

Mobilization networks .................................................................................................................. 11

Motives for participation .............................................................................................................. 15

Conclusion and Outlook ................................................................................................................ 18

Country reports ..................................................................................................................................... 19

Sweden .......................................................................................................................................... 19

United Kingdom ............................................................................................................................ 32

Belgium .......................................................................................................................................... 42

The Netherlands ............................................................................................................................ 55

Germany ........................................................................................................................................ 69

Poland............................................................................................................................................ 82

Austria ........................................................................................................................................... 91

Switzerland .................................................................................................................................. 100

Italy .............................................................................................................................................. 113

Appendix: list of researchers involved in coordinating the data collection ....................................... 120

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Erratum

This is a revised version of the report, released 9 July 2019. Due to the discovery of an error in the

Swedish national dataset, two interpretations and one figure in the introduction required

corrections:

- Page 17: “Furthermore, the vast majority of participants, both school students and adults, have little trust

in the possibility that “companies and the market can be relied on to solve our environmental problems”

in every country except Sweden and Poland.”

Sweden should not have been named an exception here; only Poland is the exception.

- Page 17: “The notion that lifestyle politics are of primary importance as a solution finds strong support in

Switzerland and Italy across all age groups. In Sweden, Poland, Germany, Austria, and Belgium, the

majority of school students are convinced that this should be the way to go, while adults are much more

sceptical. Overall, 59.3 % of the school students support this claim. Of course, these individuals still

decided to participate in a demonstration that primarily demanded government action. Only in Sweden,

the Netherlands and Manchester (England) was lifestyle change met with much more scepticism,

highlighting that, while they are united under the same slogan, there are important differences within the

movement.”

The Swedish case fits the pattern we find in Poland, Germany, Austria and Belgium, so Sweden

should have been included here. Likewise, Sweden should not have been included along with the

Netherlands and Manchester, where we observe low shares of support for this statement among

both school students and adults.

- Page 17: Figure 8 has been updated.

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Copyright statement

Open Access This report is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),

which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link

to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Citing this report

In full

Wahlström, Mattias, Piotr Kocyba, Michiel De Vydt and Joost de Moor (Eds.) (2019). Protest

for a future: Composition, mobilization and motives of the participants in Fridays For Future

climate protests on 15 March, 2019 in 13 European cities. Retrieved from: [URL]

For individual chapters, for example:

Saunders, Clare and Brian Doherty (2019). United Kingdom. In: Mattias Wahlström, Piotr

Kocyba, Michiel De Vydt and Joost de Moor (Eds.). Protest for a future: Composition,

mobilization and motives of the participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 15

March, 2019 in 13 European cities. Retrieved from: [URL]

5

Abstract

The #FridaysForFuture climate protests mobilized more than 1.6 million people around the globe in

March 2019. Through a school strike, a new generation has been galvanized, representing a historical

turn in climate activism. This wave of climate protest mobilization is unique in its tactics, global scope

and appeal to teenage school students. Media coverage of these protests and high-level national and

international political meetings involving the movement’s icon, Greta Thunberg, illustrate a level of

global attention that no previous youth movement has ever received.

A team of social scientists from universities across Europe1 organized a survey of the global FFF strike

events on March 15. The team surveyed protesters in 13 cities in nine European countries using the

same research design to collect data, following the well-established protest survey methodology used

previously in the “Caught in the Act of Protest: Contextualizing Contestation” (CCC) project.

Demographically, the 14-19 age group is significantly over-represented among our respondents. More

surprising is the predominance of female participants, particularly among teenagers. We believe that

the movement’s female leaders may have a strong mobilizing effect on (particularly young) women.

Education remains a strong predictor of participation. The movement’s ability to create engaged

young citizens through their climate activism is also highly significant, with average figures for first-

time participants (among school students) on March 15 at around 38% across all countries.

Despite the adults participating in solidarity with school students, our survey data shows that the

involvement of peers seems to matter more for school students. 45% of all school students agreed

with the statement that Greta Thunberg had been a factor in their decision to join the Climate Strike.

Compared with the adults in our survey, school students are seldom engaged as financial contributors

or active members of environmental NGOs. Activists showed strong identification with both

instrumental and expressive motivations. To a higher degree than adults, young respondents stated a

wish to defend their interests, although they did not take success in this aim for granted. We can

observe that participants feel distrustful about their current national governments’ capacity to deal

with global warming, but they still push these governments for climate policies. In almost every

country, student and adult participants are extremely sceptical about relying on companies and the

market to solve environmental problems. There are significant differences between countries, and

between adults and school students, over stopping climate change through individual lifestyle

changes, highlighting that the movement may actually be quite heterogeneous in some regards.

The significant presence of young first-timers in the strike signals the emergence of a new generation

of climate activists and the possible development of FFF as a broader, grassroots movement, with a

strong female presence and reliance on social media and peer networks. It highlights limited

commitment to established environmental organisations, with varying interpretations of the

importance of lifestyle politics and a hopeful attitude towards the future. Further research will be

needed to follow the development of the first mass youth mobilization on climate change. During the

second global school strike on May 24, 2019, new surveys were organized in Stockholm and Budapest.

1 The involved researchers are listed in the appendix of this report.

6

Fridays For Future: a new generation of climate activism

Introduction to country reports

Mattias Wahlström, Moritz Sommer, Piotr Kocyba, Michiel De Vydt, Joost de Moor and

Stephen Davies∗ together with Ruud Wouters, Magnus Wennerhag, Jacquelien van

Stekelenburg, Katrin Uba, Clare Saunders, Dieter Rucht, Dániel Mikecz, Lorenzo Zamponi,

Jasmine Lorenzini, Marta Kołczyńska, Sebastian Haunss, Marco Giugni, Teodora Gaidyte,

Brian Doherty and Aron Buzogany

he global climate protests under the slogan #FridaysForFuture mobilized more than 1.6

million people around the globe in March 2019 and mobilization continues. This wave

of climate protest mobilization is unique in its tactics, global scope and appeal to

teenage school students. The following report is based on a survey of protesters conducted

in 13 cities in nine European countries using the same research design. In this introduction

we discuss the main comparative insights coming from our survey, including differences and

similarities. In the following chapters, each surveyed demonstration is discussed in detail.

Fridays For Future (FFF), the banner under which millions of school students worldwide are

mobilizing, is a historical turn in climate activism.2 Never before have so many young people

taken to the streets to demand climate action through the symbolically forceful disobedience

of a school strike. Public attention has been substantial: there is prime-time media coverage

of these protests and high-level national and international political meetings have invited the

movement’s icon, Greta Thunberg, to talk.3 No youth movement has had such a global

reception before. In order to gain a better understanding of this emerging youth climate

movement and its exceptional character, we describe below 1) the demographic and political

profile of the participants, 2) the mobilization networks bringing these people into the streets,

and 3) what motivates these activists.

A team of scientists from universities around Europe organized a survey of the global FFF

strike on March 15, 2019, in nine European countries and 13 cities, approaching over 10 000

demonstrators and providing us with 1 905 responses of a systematic random sample of

protesters. Data collection followed the methodology of the well-established protest survey

method previously used in the project “Caught in the Act of Protest: Contextualizing

Contestation” (CCC).4 Not knowing the population of a demonstration, we must generate a

probabilistic sample. Thus, it is important that every demonstrator has an equal chance of

being included in the sample. The surveys must, therefore, be distributed evenly across the

whole crowd. In our case, we used flyers with basic information about the survey and a QR-

∗ The first six authors contributed equally to the creation of this report.

2 The slogan “Fridays for Future” is not used in every country; across countries different names have been

given to the current climate activists. However, all events have the school-strike character in common.

Therefore, the FFF banner is suitable for all of the surveyed events.

3 The Guardian, 25-1-2019: 'Our house is on fire': Greta Thunberg, 16, urges leaders to act on climate. Online.

4 Walgrave, S., Wouters, R., & Ketelaars, P. (2016). Response Problems in the Protest Survey Design: Evidence

from Fifty-One Protest Events in Seven Countries. Mobilization, (21), 83–104.

T

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code, as well as a token taking the individual to an online survey. The protest survey method

aims to maximize the representativeness of the sample by adhering to three principles:

First, interviewers do not themselves determine whom to approach for an interview but are

instructed by ‘pointers’ (co-members of the research unit) to hand out surveys to specific

individuals. Experiments where interviewers could select their own respondents indicated

that interviewers are inclined to approach the more ‘approachable’ respondents.5 By

separating sampling and interviewing, one source of response bias is thereby avoided.

Second, pointers follow systematic selection procedures which differ somewhat for moving

and static demonstrations. In a moving demonstration, pointers count rows to ensure a fair

dispersion of questionnaires over the marching column. In every nth row, the pointer selects

or points at one demonstrator, alternating between the left, middle, or right side of the row.

How many rows should be skipped depends on the estimated turnout and the number of

surveys the research unit aims to distribute. The goal is to cover the whole demonstration;

reaching both (visible) protesters at the front of the moving march, as well as those who

prefer to demonstrate less visibly in the middle of the crowd and those at the tail end of the

demonstration. In the case of a static demonstration, interviewers are equally distributed

around the edges of the standing crowd. Pointers instruct their interviewers to start from the

outer circle, then to hand out a survey two steps further in the direction of the centre. The

following questionnaire is handed out three steps further in the direction of the centre, and

so on (4, 5, 6 steps, etc.). The number of steps between two interviews increases to allow for

the fact that, due to the circular shape of the crowd, the number of people gets smaller as

you move towards the centre.6 Of course, both sampling methods can be used during one

event if a demonstration changes in character (composed of a march and a rally).

Third, we conducted a short, on-the-spot, face-to-face screener interview with every fifth

demonstrator approached, collecting data on socio-demographics (age, education, gender),

attitudes (political interest, eagerness to participate in the demonstration, and satisfaction

with democracy), as well as political behaviour (membership of staging organization and past

participation in demonstrations). Bearing in mind the anticipated response rates, screener

interviews help to estimate a potential delayed refusal bias. By comparing the samples

generated on-the-spot to the samples of online survey responses, we can assess whether

there are any differences between those participants who decided to accept a flyer with a

QR-code and those who actually filled in the questionnaire. Moreover, in the case of a

substantial delayed refusal bias, we have the option of weighing the responses to improve

the representativeness of our sample.

The events surveyed were all organized under the FFF banner, but varied in size from about

300 participants in Truro (UK) to around 35 000 in Brussels (Belgium). Table 1 lists the

response rates for each of the surveyed events.

5 Walgrave S., and Verhulst, J. (2011). Selection and response bias in protest surveys. Mobilization: An

International Quarterly, 16(2), 203-222.

6 van Stekelenburg J., Walgrave, S., Klandermans, B., and Verhulst, J. (2012). Contextualizing Contestation:

Framework, Design, and Data. Mobilization: An International Quarterly,17(3), 249-262. Here p. 258.

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Table 1. Response rates

City/country Estimated # of

participants

# surveys

distributed

# F2F (short

interviews)

# survey

responses

Response

Rate (%)

Amsterdam,

Netherlands

5 500 609 118 72 12

Berlin,

Germany

15 000 - 25 000 1 202 257 204 17

Bremen,

Germany

5 000 - 6 000 998 100 151 15

Brussels,

Belgium

30 000 - 35 000 733 140 166 23

Florence, Italy

10 000 - 30 000

1 000

0

195

20

Geneva,

Switzerland

5 000 - 6 000 1 000 103 154 15

Lausanne,

Switzerland

12 000 - 15 000 1 000 152 183 18

Malmö,

Sweden

600 - 650 528 95 114 22

Manchester,

UK

800 398 76 100 25

Stockholm,

Sweden

3 000 - 5 000 588 108 174 30

Truro, UK

300

260

62

38

15

Vienna,

Austria

15 000 - 25 000 930 180 154 17

Warsaw,

Poland

6 700 916 170 220 24

Strike actions followed the same pattern everywhere: it involved a school strike and a

demonstration in the main streets and squares of every city. In most countries, the March 15

climate strike was the culmination of a series of smaller weekly strikes and was followed by

another global day of action on May 24.

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The protesters’ profile = young women

Previous research has shown that the age composition of street demonstrations varies

greatly, both in terms of issues and political context.7 A prior comparison of climate protest

participants in Brussels, Copenhagen, and London in 2009 reported median ages of between

32 and 48 years.8 Not surprisingly, our results show that the participants in FFF are typically

much younger: While we refrained from surveying children younger than 14 (apart from

taking note of their age) due to the ethical constraints, we find the age group between 14 and

19 to be by far the largest with an average share of 45% across countries and an overall

median age of 21 years (varying between 16 years in Amsterdam and 40 years in Brussels).

Interestingly, there is significant age variation with an almost exclusive participation of young

activists in the Netherlands and Poland and a more even distribution of age groups in Belgium,

where half of the respondents were older than 40.

Figure 1. Median age

More surprising is the gender distribution: Reflecting the gender of the movement’s leaders

in many of the countries, we found that the protests were strongly dominated by women –

particularly among school students (66.4%). In this report (including the separate country

reports), we define school students as people under the age of 20 with an ongoing education

7 van Aelst, P. and Walgrave, S. (2001). Who is that (wo)man in the street? From the normalisation of protest

to the normalisation of the protester. European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 39, pp. 461–486.;

Wennerhag, M. (2016). Who takes part in May Day marches? In A. Peterson & H. Reiter (Eds.), The ritual of

May Day in Western Europe: Past, present and future (pp. 187-216). London: Routledge.; Peterson, A.,

Wahlström, M., & Wennerhag, M. (2018). ‘Normalized’ Pride? Pride parade participants in six European

countries. Sexualities, 21(7), 1146-1169.

8 Wahlström, M., Wennerhag, M., & Rootes, C. (2013). Framing “The Climate Issue”: Patterns of Participation

and Prognostic Frames among Climate Summit Protesters. Global Environmental Politics, 13(4), 101–122.

10

not higher than upper secondary (the educational level that corresponds with level 3 of the

International Standard Classification of Education).9

Figure 2. Gender distribution

While about 70% of the respondents were women in Amsterdam, Warsaw and Truro, in

Brussels and Lausanne there were slightly more men. On average, the share of women in the

Fridays For Future events is exceptionally high. For comparison, in the previous

demonstrations surveyed by the CCC project, the average was 47% female.10 We can only

speculate at this point, but the role of mainly female leaders of the movement may have a

particularly strong mobilizing effect on (young) women.

Street demonstrations in general and climate protests in particular tend to be the domain of

the well-educated.11 Among FFF-protesters, too, the highly-educated parts of society are

over-represented. School students attending the FFF demonstrations definitely have a well-

educated family background (overall, 71.3% of the school students in the data have at least

one parent with a university degree). Most adults completed or were completing university

education (as many as 85% and 91% in Stockholm and Malmö).

9 European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2018. The Structure of the European Education Systems

2018/19: Schematic Diagrams. Eurydice Facts and Figures. Luxembourg: Publications Office of

the European Union.

10 Walgrave, S., Wouters R., & Ketelaars, P. (2016). Response Problems in the Protest Survey Design: Evidence

from Fifty-One Protest Events in Seven Countries. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 26(1), 83-104.

11 Olcese, C., Saunders, C., & Tzavidis, N. (2014). In the streets with a degree: How political generations,

educational attainment and student status affect engagement in protest politics. International Sociology,

29(6), 525-545; Wahlström, M., Wennerhag, M., & Rootes, C. (2013). Framing “The Climate Issue”: Patterns of

Participation and Prognostic Frames among Climate Summit Protesters. Global Environmental Politics, 13(4),

101–122.

11

Political participation at a young age can have biographical consequences, putting individuals

on track to remain politically engaged throughout their lives.12 Part of the broader importance

of the FFF movement lies in its ability to mobilize so many young people who are – through

their climate activism – becoming engaged citizens. Remarkably, many respondents indicated

that they had never demonstrated before. Especially among school students, the share of

newcomers ranges from 22.6% in Brussels up to 50.6% in Bremen, averaging around 38.1%

across all country cases. These shares are high, as previous research has shown an average of

10% of first-timers attending demonstrations.13

The high number of first-time demonstrators is also a consequence of the young age of the

participating population. However, the FFF-protesters were – due to their age – not only

considerably inexperienced in taking part in demonstrations, but also had little involvement

in conventional politics. While 14.7% of the adults were active party members or their

financial supporters, this was true only for 5.6% of the demonstrating school students – which

is unsurprising if we bear in mind that this age group most often does not even have the right

to participate in elections. The school students who participated in the FFF-demonstrations

not only rarely support political parties (or their youth organizations) but also very rarely

contact politicians or government officials. While 24.2% of the adults had had contact with a

politician or government official, this was true for only 10% of the school students.

The low numbers of party members and supporters, as well as the low frequency of

participants who had contacted political officials, are – among school students – not an

expression of political disinterest. 68.2% of them are quite or very interested in politics. Even

though adults are even more interested in politics (80.8%), we are not dealing here with a

lack of political interest among young people. Compared to previously surveyed European

demonstrations, this young age cohort merely lacks experience in conventional and

unconventional participation. As a consequence, the FFF-demonstrations could be a starting

point for civil activism.

Mobilization networks

Why does FFF mobilize so many young first-time activists? Of course, FFF is organized by and

explicitly targets young people. The entire framing of this movement is about young people

demanding that adults take responsibility for safeguarding their future. Adults participate,

but do so mainly in solidarity with the young (indeed, as we will discuss below, solidarity is a

stronger motivation among adults than among school students). An important reason why so

many youngsters are being mobilized is the school context in which FFF originated. Based on

the homophily principle of social networks, we can expect that an initially young core will

gather a similarly young circle of protesters around itself.14 Since FFF originally started as a

12 Giugni, M. (2004). Personal and Biographical Consequences. In D. A. Snow, S. A. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The

Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, pp. 489-507.

13 Saunders, C. (2014). Anti-politics in Action? Measurement Dilemmas in the Study of Unconventional Political

Participation. Political Research Quarterly, 67(3), 574-588.

14 McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L. and Cook, J. (2001). Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annual

Review of Sociology, 27, 415-444.

12

school strike, the young front-runners of the movement predominantly focused on inviting

their peers in school rather than inviting non-school-related contacts. Our data support this

line of reasoning.

Among our respondents, 32.9% of the school students indicated they had been personally

asked by someone to participate in the demonstration, as opposed to only 22.8% for adults.

Figure 3 shows by which categories of social ties these respondents have been asked to

participate.

Figure 3. Being asked: by whom was participant invited?

We notice that many (70.5%) of the invited school students were asked by one or more

friends. Every second participating school student was invited by a schoolmate. Interestingly,

still 16.8% school students who received a personal invitation to the demonstration told us

that they had been invited by a teacher. A rather small share (14.5%) of school students were

“called to action” by their parents. Adults were mostly recruited through friends (45.2%).

Interpersonal recruitment is not just a matter of personally being asked (being the target of a

recruitment attempt) but may also involve personally asking others (recruiting others).

Significantly more respondents indicated that they had asked others themselves: 72.4% of

surveyed school students personally asked someone else to join them in demonstrating at

the Global Climate Strike. For adults, this share is lower, but still high at 56.3%. Relatively

more demonstrators are thus recruiters themselves, rather than (solely) being a recruit.

Recruiters were mostly those who did not receive a personal invitation themselves: 67.9% of

all recruiters had not personally been asked by someone else. Most recruiters are thus

starting an interpersonal invitation chain, rather than extending an invitation.

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Figure 4. Asking others: which groups of people did participants invite themselves?

No fewer than 81.1% school students who indicated having personally asked someone else

targeted their recruitment attempt at a friend. 64.9% of the school students invited a

schoolmate. We specifically instructed our respondents to categorize each invited person to

one category only. Our data on interpersonal recruiting demonstrates that school students

do indeed recruit among their similarly young peers (friends and schoolmates). FFF is able to

mobilize many young people because much of the recruiting takes place in the context of

schools and shared classes. Having friends who are announcing that they will demonstrate

and who are inviting you to do the same creates a structural environment where social

pressure is successfully employed.

In line with these findings are the results concerning the most important information channel.

We find that 54.7% of our school student respondents learned about the demonstration

through direct social contacts, mostly friends and schoolmates, whereas this number is about

45% for adults. Of the adults, 23.4% learnt about the event through an impersonal channel,

such as newspapers, advertisements, radio or TV (whereas less than 11% of school students

did so). Online social media certainly proved a potent information channel, as no less than

34.4% of school students and 31.6% of adults indicate having learnt about the protest through

social media like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram (but not personal messaging).

14

Figure 5. Most important information channel

A second observation – beside our first one concerning mobilization – supports our

interpretation that school students attach more importance to their peers than adults when

it comes to activism; the proportion of lone demonstrators among school students (less than

3% on average) is significantly less than the proportion among adults (around 20%). This

pattern generally conforms to broader patterns in protests; lone protesters are more likely to

be found in static rallies and among older protest participants. Furthermore, climate protests

are among the kinds of events where lone participants are more frequent.15 A large majority

of school students (around 87% on average) indicated to have demonstrated together with

one or more friends, whereas only 52% of adults demonstrated with a friend. Compared to

school students, adults more frequently participated in the company of their partner (20%

versus 6%), family members (20% versus 6.7%), and co-members of an organization (14%

versus 6.4%). In general, family ties are secondary in the mobilization process. They are hardly

mentioned as an important information channel and relatively few school students

demonstrated together with a parent or family member (no more than 10% across all cities,

with the exception of the Belgian and UK cases).

Another related reason why FFF is mobilizing so many young people might be Greta Thunberg,

who has shown that being young does not mean that you cannot have an influence on politics.

Our survey shows that, across all surveyed cities, 44.9% of all school students agree “quite”

or “very much” with the statement “Greta Thunberg has affected my decision to join the

Climate Strike.” Greta inspires people, and this effect is stronger among youngsters than

adults. Yet the effect was more noticeable in some cities, like Malmö and Stockholm, and less

so in Brussels, where the ‘Youth for Climate’ movement clearly has its own Belgian champions

to take the place of Greta.

15 Wahlström, M., & Wennerhag, M. (2014). Alone in the crowd: Lone protesters in Western European

demonstrations. International Sociology, 29(6), 565-583.

15

Against this background and keeping in mind the high number of newcomers, it is to be

expected that the role of environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) will not be

of crucial importance for school students. On average, young demonstrators at the climate

strikes are not very engaged in ENGOs, either as passive financial contributors or as active

members. If we combine the active and passive forms of engagement, for all cases, youth

engagement in ENGOs is as low as 5.7% in Bremen and averages 9.8%. Adults are with 35%

much more engaged in ENGOs.

Motives for participation

In studies of protest participation, a theoretical distinction is often made between

instrumental motivations – acting in order to achieve a particular political goal – and

expressive motivations – acting to express one’s ideology, values and/or emotions, regardless

of the expected outcome of the protest.16 FFF activists expressed strong identification with

both instrumental goals in the question about their motivations for participation – such as

“pressure politicians to make things change” and “raise public awareness” – and expressive

goals – such as “express my views.”

Figure 6. Average levels of support for motivations to participate in the demonstration

Young people seem to perceive a higher stake in the climate issue. In all cities (except

Warsaw) young respondents to a higher degree than adults agreed (or strongly agreed) with

the statement that they were protesting “to defend their interests” (the overall percentages

16 Klandermans, B. (2004). The Demand and Supply of Participation: Social-Psychological Correlates of

Participation in Social Movements. In D. A. Snow, S. A. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to

Social Movements (pp. 360-379). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

16

among the respondents were 74.3% among school students and 60% among adults). This

corresponds to the overwhelming majority of adult respondents, who regarded their

participation as an act of expressing solidarity (91.5%, compared to 77.3% among school

students). This solidarity is probably partly directed at people who will be worse off when the

climate changes. However, this pattern could also partly correspond to young people feeling

that they will live through more negative effects of climate change, and therefore protest in

their own interest. Meanwhile, their parents and other adults have a stronger perception of

acting in solidarity with their children.

FFF-protesters clearly believe that politicians need a wake-up call. Only about 8% of all adults

and 10% of school students (strongly) agree with the statement that “governments can be

relied on to solve our environmental problems.” While many participants regarded their

participation, at least partially, as a way “to pressure politicians to make things change”

(91.1% agree or strongly agree here) and nearly unanimously believed that it is important that

“politicians must fulfil their promise to stop global warming” (98% of all respondents agreed

upon this statement quite or very much), neither school students nor adult participants took

for granted that their protest would be successful in this regard. A combined 49.1% of all

respondents only “somewhat”, “not very” or “not at all” considered the demonstration to be

effective in reaching that goal. However, there were significant differences, both between

school students and adults, and between cities, regarding the degree to which participants

felt hopeful about the political capacity to deal with global warming.

Figure 7 The average level of support (agreeing quiet and very much) among school students and adults for the statement

“I feel hopeful about policies being able to address climate change”

These numbers indicate a tension between attempts to push for (more ambitious) climate

policies and the degree to which one feels hopeful that such policies will be sufficient.

However, the results do not indicate total despair among protesters, who overall indicated

that they feel more “worried” and “angry” than “hopeless” when thinking about climate

change. School students, in particular, tended to be more “anxious” than adults, but at the

17

same time less “hopeless”, and more convinced that climate change can be addressed by the

right policy choices. Furthermore, the vast majority of participants, both school students and

adults, have little trust in the possibility that “companies and the market can be relied on to

solve our environmental problems” in every country except Poland. In line with much of the

framing used by movement leaders like Greta Thunberg, it is above all science that

demonstrators rely on. About 54% are convinced that modern science can solve our

environmental problems and about 79% agree or strongly agree that “Governments must act

on what climate scientists say even if the majority of people are opposed.”

The protesters believe that government should take responsibility for combatting climate

change, yet there is little trust in their respective government’s approach to the problem.

Many protesters have adjusted their lifestyles to be more climate friendly, but support for the

claim that “stopping climate change must primarily be accomplished through voluntary

lifestyle changes by individuals” differs strongly between countries and between adults and

school students. The notion that lifestyle politics are of primary importance as a solution finds

strong support in Switzerland and Italy across all age groups. In Sweden, Poland, Germany,

Austria, and Belgium, the majority of school students are convinced that this should be the

way to go, while adults are much more sceptical. Overall, 59.3 % of the school students

support this claim. Of course, these individuals still decided to participate in a demonstration

that primarily demanded government action. Only in the Netherlands and Manchester

(England) was lifestyle change met with much more scepticism, highlighting that, while they

are united under the same slogan, there are important differences within the movement.

Finally, notwithstanding the strong presence of first-timers, in every country the majority of

respondents stated that they were “quite” or “very” interested in politics, both among school

students and adults.

Figure 8. The average level of support (agree and strongly agree) among school students and adults for the statement

“Stopping climate change must be primarily accomplished through voluntary lifestyle changes by individuals”

18

Conclusion and Outlook

This brief and preliminary analysis of the data collected from the protest survey indicates

some specific characteristics of the March 15 climate strike. First of all, it seems to hint at the

emergence of a new generation of climate activists. At the time of writing in June 2019, we

do not know the capacity of FFF to sustain mobilization and how many protest participants

will become committed activists. However, the significant presence of young first-timers in

the strike is undeniable. Furthermore, young school students bring to the movement some

peculiar characteristics: a strong female presence, a significant reliance on social media and

peer networks, a limited commitment in established environmental organisations, a

significant investment in lifestyle politics (especially among school students), but a varying

interpretation of how important lifestyle politics are for achieving social change, a hopeful

attitude towards the future and a sense that the movement is strong. These elements point

towards the possible development of FFF into a new grassroots movement able to

significantly broaden the composition of climate protest. It would be unwise either to dismiss

FFF as an ephemeral trend built on Greta Thunberg’s media-based popularity or to consider

it a coherent and articulate political movement. Our data show that different elements coexist

at the moment, with participants highlighting both the role of Greta in motivating their

participation and stating high levels of interest in politics. Further research is needed to follow

the development of the first massive youth mobilization on climate change.

The future course of the campaign depends not only on its ability to sustain the high level of

mobilization among young people but also on its diffusion to other parts of society. The role

of the growing number of spin-off campaigns, such as Entrepreneurs For Future, Parents For

Future and others, and the success of the mobilization for a universal climate strike on

September 20 2019, will be crucial in this regard. We strongly encourage research efforts to

continue following this movement as it develops over time.

19

Country reports

Sweden

Joost de Moor, Katrin Uba, Mattias Wahlström, Magnus Wennerhag, Kajsa Emilsson and Håkan

Johansson

Background

Greta Thunberg started the global wave of school-strikes for climate in front of the Swedish parliament

on the 20th of August 2018. She was alone at start, but soon the strikes spread from Stockholm to

surrounding municipalities (Nacka) and to other cities: Gothenburg, Malmö, Umeå and Örebro. On

March 15, there were 161 events with about 25,000 participants taking place in Sweden according to

the site Fridays For Future.17

Surely, school-strikes for climate were not the first climate-protest in Sweden. Previous

campaigns have mainly been mobilized by organizations like Friends of the Earth (Jordens Vänner),

Greenpeace, Naturskyddsföreningen (Swedish Society for Nature Conservation). Similar to other

countries, there have been waves of climate-protests, starting with those mobilized in relation to the

climate-talks in Nairobi in November 2006, followed by Climate Walks in December 2007 and 2008, a

Swedish nationwide campaign (organized by group Klimax) in May 2008, and then travelling to protest

in neighboring Denmark during the UN climate-talks in Copenhagen in December 2009.18 During the

period of 2010-2012, there were fewer large protest events, but small-scale mobilization still took

place. The next wave of larger demonstrations in Swedish cities took place in relation to the UN climate

report release in May 2013, as well as in relation to the UN climate-talks in May (Istanbul) and

November (Warsaw) 2013; and in May (New York) and December 2015 (COP21, Paris). In May 2017,

in relation to People’s Climate March a protest in Stockholm was also demonstrating solidarity to the

activists in the U.S., and this was repeated in 2018.

Thus, Greta Thunberg’s action followed a series of events, and despite rather few actions

during the first months of her campaign, the idea of school-striking on Fridays got nation-wide support

for the 2nd of November, when in 19 locations all around the country (but also all around the globe)

people joined her strike. Still, one could say that the numbers of participants in Sweden during this

early phase were not very large.

The climate strikes in Sweden

While all Fridays For Future events were in some way inspired by Greta Thunberg, the Stockholm event

was quite literally a continuation and escalation of Greta’s first school strike. The Malmö event was a

significant example of the national spread of the school strike, and also a peak in a much longer,

continuous campaign. Despite this continuity, the events of 15 March did stand out. According to one

of the Stockholm event’s main organizers, the weekly Fridays For Futures events had at most attracted

a couple hundred participants, and a few days before the global school strike, she hoped for more

than 1000 participants, but expected less. Her expectations were well exceeded when, despite rainy

and cold weather, an estimated 3000 to 5000 individuals participated in Stockholm’s main event.

According to some, 15.000 took the streets across all of Stockholm. Compared to the events in other

countries, the Swedish events remained fairly small. This may seem surprising given the Swedish roots

17 Available at URL: https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/events/list, accessed 26 April 2019.

18 In a survey of the participants in the protests outside COP15 in Copenhagen 2009, 21% of the respondents

were Swedes (Wahlström et al. 2013)

20

of this global movement. However, in international comparison, individual protests in Sweden are

seldom very large (but often spread out in several locations across the country, see Wennerhag 2017).

Historically, the event can therefore still be interpreted as a large mobilization.

The event was long planned to consist only of a stationary rally on Mynttorget, the square next

to the Swedish Parliament. Yet in the days running up to the event, some school classes spontaneously

announced they would meet at the nearby square Sergels torg to walk to Mynttorget. As days passed,

more and more announced they would join, until finally, all participants joined this short march. When

the march arrived at Mynttorget, speeches, including one by Greta Thunberg, alternated with musical

performances, to make a largely festive, albeit wet event.

The Malmö event attracted around 600-650 participants. As in the case of Stockholm, the

expectations of the organizers were well exceeded since around 200 participants had been expected.

The event took place in front of the City Hall, the main political institution in the city. This was where

the previous weekly Fridays For Future events had gathered. The stairs leading up to the City Hall,

which normally had enough room for everybody during the Fridays For Future events, were now filled.

A mix of young and old participants occupied the stairs but also the square just beneath. Compared

to Stockholm, we found less presence of school classes, even though there seems to have been a few

also in Malmö. The Malmö event was very much cheerful, mixed with speeches and musical

performances. Hot soup was distributed by a group of people – movement organizers – for

participants who were hungry or wanted to warm themselves in the cold weather.

Who participated?

Despite their connection to the school strikes, there were substantial numbers of non-school students

(hereafter “adults”) in the Stockholm and Malmö protests. Among the Stockholm respondents, school

students (operationalized as having an ongoing education of, at most, upper secondary school and

being younger than 20) were a majority of 54%, while in Malmö they were much fewer - 20%.

Correspondingly, younger segments of the population dominated heavily in Stockholm, while the age

distribution in Malmö was in a sense more evenly distributed, with the broad group of 36-65-year-

olds being the largest category (see Figure 1.1). However, there are strong reasons to infer that there

was a non-response bias in the sample towards older respondents. In the sample of respondents only

responding to the face-to-face questionnaire, 76% of the Stockholm respondents were younger than

20. This segment appears to have had a lower tendency to respond to the online questionnaire.

8,6

45,4

10,9

20,7 14,4

0

10

20

30

40

50

Below

15

15-19 20-35 36-65 Above

65

Percent

Age distribution

Stockholm (N=174)

2,6

17,5

26,3

37,7

15,8

0

10

20

30

40

Below

15

15-19 20-35 36-65 Above

65

Percent

Age distribution

Malmö (N=114)

Figure 1.1: Age distribution of protesters in Sweden

21

Women and girls numerically dominated both surveyed Swedish protests. In Stockholm and

Malmö 61 and 55% respectively were women and in both cities 3% of the respondents chose the

option ”other” in response to the gender question. This dominance was even more pronounced

among the school students, with 68% girls and 4% other among the respondents in Stockholm and

81% girls and 6% other in Malmö.

Education among the participants was high. Among the non-school students in Stockholm,

85% had an ongoing or finished university education, and the corresponding figure for Malmö was a

full 91%. Among the school students in Stockholm 79% knew for sure that they had at least one parent

with university education; the corresponding figure for Malmö was 88%. While high education is a

recurring pattern among contemporary protest participants (as in other forms of political

participation), these proportions are extraordinarily high, which may be related to the scientised

nature of the climate debate.

Prior experiences of political participation and formally organized activities

Quite a few of the protest participants in both Stockholm and Malmö had prior protest experience,

but especially among the school students there were also many first-timers (see figures 1.2 and 1.3).

Figure 1.2: Previous demonstration participation (ever), Stockholm

Figure 1.3: Previous demonstration participation (ever), Malmö

35,5

56,6

2,6 2,6 2,6

10,3

28,2

16,7

6,4

38,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Never 1 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 11 to 20

times

21+ times

Percent

Past participation in demonstrations (ever)

Stockholm

school students (N=76) adults (N=78)

43,8 37,5

12,5 6,3 0,0

6,0

19,3 14,5 15,7

44,6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Never 1 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 11 to 20

times

21+ times

Percent

Past participation in demonstrations (ever)

Malmö

school students (N=16) adults (N=83)

22

Not surprisingly, large proportions of the participants had also been active in individualized

forms of political participation, except for contacting a politician directly.

Figure 1.4: Previous individualized forms of political participation, Stockholm

Figure 1.5: Previous individualized forms of political participation, Malmö

7,8

59,7

50,6

63,6

28,2

74,4

65,4

73,1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Contacted a politician, government, or local

government official

Signed a petition/public letter

Raised awareness for a political issue via social

media

Changed my diet for political, ethical or

environmental reasons

Political behavior

Stockholm

adults (N=78) school students (N=77)

12,5

75,0

56,3

68,8

31,0

83,3

77,4

84,5

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Contacted a politician, government, or local

government official

Signed a petition/public letter

Raised awareness for a political issue via social

media

Changed my diet for political, ethical or

environmental reasons

Political behavior

Malmö

adults (N=84) school students (N=16)

23

Not many of the school students were members of formal organizations (see figures 1.6 and

1.7), but among the adults a significant share were members of political parties or, in particular,

environmental organizations. The adults thus seemed to have a much more established formal

engagement in the issue, which is unsurprising given their much longer exposure to opportunities to

become engaged. The adults also seemed a bit more politically interested - 46% of the Stockholm

adult respondents stated that they were “very much” interested in politics (same proportion in

Malmö), versus 33% among the school students (19% in Malmö). Many of the school students had

parents that appeared to be engaged in the climate issue: 62% in Stockholm and 63% in Malmö stated

that their parents cared quite or very much about climate change, and 63% in Stockholm and 56% in

Malmö talked quite or very often about climate change with their parents.

Figure 1.6: Organizational membership of protesters in Stockholm

Figure 1.7: Organizational membership of protesters in Malmö

10,1

1,3

10,1

0

15,4

10,3

32,1

10,3

0

10

20

30

40

50

Financial supporter Active member Financial supporter Active member

Political party or its youth organization Environmental organization

Percent

Organizational membership

Stockholm

school students (N=79) adults (N=78)

6,3

0

6,3

0

14,1 12,9

38,8

14,1

0

10

20

30

40

50

Financial supporter Active member Financial supporter Active member

Political party or its youth organization Environmental organization

Percent

Organizational membership

Malmö

school students (N=16) adults (N=85)

24

Why did they protest?

Reasons for protesting can be elaborated on different levels. Among the respondents in both

Stockholm and Malmö, ”pressure politicians to make things change” and ”raise public awareness”

were the most common among the preselected motives, but participants also frequently strongly

acknowledged motives such as ”moral obligation” and “expressing ones views.” Fewer saw the

protests as a way to “defend one’s interests”, but this tended to be more common among the school

students. The least common among the pre-stated motives were “because someone asked me to

join”, which, however, received slightly more support from the school students (See figures 8-13).

Figure 1.8: Motive – defend my interests, Stockholm

Figure 1.9: Motive – defend my interests, Malmö

Figure 1.10: Motive – express my views, Stockholm

26,7

26,6

14,7

25,3

22,7

25,3

14,7

10,1

21,3

12,7

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=75)

school students (N=79)

Defend my interests

Stockholm

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

18,5

12,5

24,7

43,8

25,9

25,0

17,3

12,5

13,6

6,3

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=81)

school students (N=16)

Defend my interests

Malmö

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

47,4

44,3

23,1

29,1

24,4

16,5

3,8

6,3

3,8

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=78)

school students (N=79)

Express my views

Stockholm

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

25

Figure 1.11: Motive – express my views, Malmö

Figure 1.12: Motive – because somebody asked me to join, Stockholm

Figure 1.13: Motive – because somebody asked me to join, Malmö

38,6

37,5

41,0

31,3

18,1

18,8

2,4

12,5

0,0

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=83)

school students (N=16)

Express my views

Malmö

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

2,7

5,1

4,1

11,5

9,5

20,5

14,9

24,4

68,9

38,5

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=74)

school students (N=78)

Because somebody asked me to join

Stockholm

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

0,0

3,8

6,3

13,8

25,0

22,5

31,3

60,0

37,5

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=80)

school students (N=16)

Because somebody asked me to join

Malmö

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

26

Even though it is not experienced as an important driver of participation by protesters, we

know from previous research that being asked is an important precondition for protest participation.

Indeed, most protesters asked or were asked to join. School students had more frequently been asked

by someone to participate, and also tended to have been more active than adults in asking others to

participate (see figure 1.14).

Regarding emotional drivers of mobilization, Swedish protesters most frequently stated

feeling ”quite” or ”very much” emotions like anger, frustration, and worry in relation to climate

change. For other emotions like anxiety, fear, powerlessness and hopelessness, protesters tended to

cluster in the middle of the spectrum, around the ”somewhat” response.

As can be seen in figures 1.15 – 1.18, a large proportion of the respondents in both Malmö and

Stockholm acknowledged the role of Greta in influencing their general interest in the topic of climate

change. Yet her impact on decisions to join the climate strike was much more outspoken, thus

indicating that many were already concerned but needed a figure like Greta to turn concerns into

political action. Not surprisingly, Greta generally tended to be more important for school students

than adults. However, a quite high number of participating adults also found Greta important.

88,2

63,5

0

20

40

60

80

100

school students

(N=17)

adults (N=85)

Percent

Asking others to participate

in demonstration

Malmö

58,8

34,9

0

20

40

60

80

100

school students

(N=17)

adults (N=86)

Percent

Being asked to participate in

demonstration

Malmö

65,5

30,4

0

20

40

60

80

100

school students

(N=84)

adults (N=79)

Percent

Being asked to participate in

demonstration

Stockholm

86,7

68,4

0

20

40

60

80

100

school students

(N=83)

adults (N=79)

Percent

Asking others to participate

in demonstration

Stockholm

Figure 1.14: Interpersonal recruitment

27

Figure 1.15: Greta’s effect on climate change interest, Stockholm

Figure 1.16: Greta’s effect on climate change interest, Malmö

13,1

7,1

26,2

22,6

29,8

1,2

21,5 21,5

29,1

7,6

20,3

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much I do not know

who she is

Percent

"Greta Thunberg has made me more interested in climate change."

Stockholm

school students (N=84) adults (N=79)

11,1 11,1

16,7

33,3

27,8

0

14,0

19,8

31,4

14,0

20,9

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much I do not know

who she is

Percent

"Greta Thunberg has made me more interested in climate change."

Malmö

school students (N=18) adults (N=86)

28

Figure 1.17: Greta’s effect on intention to participate, Stockholm

Figure 1.18: Greta’s effect on intention to participate, Malmö

What do they want and who should do it?

In terms of suggested solutions among the Swedish protesters, the broad tendency seems to be to

advocate changes on the political level (as opposed to the individual level), but far from everyone (and

fewer among the adults) thought that governments could be relied on to solve climate change. Adults

also tended to be notably more suspicious of private companies and the market in relation to solving

the climate issue. As can be seen from figures 1.19 – 1.22, large proportions of the respondents

expressed the need to address climate change even if such policies negatively affected the economy,

13,1 9,5 13,1

19,0

44,0

1,2

10,1 7,6

17,7 19,0

45,6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much I do not know

who she is

Percent

"Greta Thunberg has affected my decision to join the Climate

Strike."

Stockholm

school students (N=84) adults (N=79)

5,6 5,6

16,7

11,1

61,1

0

8,1 5,8

20,9 24,4

40,7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much I do not know

who she is

Percent

"Greta Thunberg has affected my decision to joint the Climate

Strike."

Malmö

school students (N=18) adults (N=86)

29

and large shares thought that politicians had to be prepared to follow the advice of climate scientists,

even if a majority of the people were to be opposed.

Figure 1.19: Statement – priority over economy, Stockholm

Figure 1.20: Statement – priority over economy, Malmö

78,8

52,3

16,3

37,2

3,8

8,12,3

1,3

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=80)

school students (N=86)

Protecting the environment should be given priority,

even if it causes slower economic growth and some loss

of jobs

Stockholm

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

79,3

45,0

14,9

40,0

4,6

15,0

1,1

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=87)

school students (N=20)

Protecting the environment should be given priority,

even if it causes slower economic growth and some loss

of jobs

Malmö

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

30

Figure 1.21: Statement – act on science, Stockholm

Figure 1.22: Statement – act on science, Malmö

In slight contrast to the scepticism directed at governments in their capacity to solve the

climate issue, large proportions of the protesters tended to express at least cautious trust in the

national government. In many respects, school students appeared to have somewhat higher trust in

political institutions, especially in the supranational ones, compared to the adults.

55,0

39,5

28,8

31,4

15,0

20,9 3,5

1,3

4,7

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=80)

school students (N=86)

The government must act on what climate scientists say

even if the majority of people are opposed

Stockholm

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

64,8

35,0

25,0

40,0

9,1

20,0 5,0

1,1

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=88)

school students (N=20)

The government must act on what climate scientists say

even if the majority of people are opposed

Malmö

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

31

In three open questions, we also asked respondents to elaborate on why they participated,

who they considered responsible for the climate crisis, and what solution they envisaged. While open

questions are often skipped in surveys, we found that most participants were eager to express their

views. A few examples of their responses (translated from Swedish) demonstrate the level of thought

young protesters have already given to climate change. They underline the role of consumers as well

as companies and governments, and the interaction between them. A 16-year old explained:

Why did you participate? I want to have a future. I don’t want to sit down and wait until

someone else solves the problem, because if everyone does that, nobody will do anything.

Who is responsible? Partly individuals (traveling, eating habits, etc.) but the biggest part of

CO2 emissions comes from companies and factories.

What should be done? I believe that renewable energy sources that do not pollute the

atmosphere are a large part of the solution. Companies must be put under higher pressure to

strongly reduce their emissions. Private persons must think differently about eating less meat,

eat more local, and travel more collectively.

A 19 year-old said: “I have long known a sense of powerlessness and loneliness in my climate

fear. This was a way to find community in climate anxiety, a way to find hope. Furthermore, it is very

important to support good initiatives. To make politicians realize that we are not satisfied with today’s

environmental politics.” And about the solutions we need: “Rationing or much higher prices, so that it

becomes more difficult to over-consume. Ban fossil fuels, introduce tax on flying in all of the EU, put a

ban on chemical pesticides.”

References

Wahlström, M., Wennerhag, M., & Rootes, C. (2013). Framing 'The Climate Issue': Patterns of

Participation and Prognostic Frames among Climate Summit Protesters. Global Environmental

Politics, 13(4), 101-122.

Wennerhag, M. (2017) ”Patterns of protest participation are changing”, Sociologisk Forskning, 54(4),

s. 347-351.

32

United Kingdom

Clare Saunders and Brian Doherty

Background

We surveyed two climate change marches in the UK – in Manchester and Truro. In both cities there

were previous demonstrations (similar in size to the ones we surveyed) on 15th February. In Truro, the

county council had already declared a Climate Emergency by the end of January 2019. The Declaration

of a Climate Emergency commits Truro City Council to preparing a report by June 2019 in which it will

detail how Cornwall will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with a target to prevent more than

1.5˚C of global warming. In Manchester there is a petition to get the local authority to declare a climate

emergency. A poll of candidates in the forthcoming local elections by Friends of the Earth showed

almost universal support for this demand across the political spectrum. Manchester City Mayor Andy

Burnham has committed to a five year plan with the longer-term aim of making the city-region carbon

neutral by 2038. In Manchester the city Mayor was criticised later by local green activists for what

seemed a very tokenistic attempt to appropriate the strikes by inviting some of the climate strikers to

his second ‘Green Summit’ held shortly after the March 15th rally (personal communication).

In general, climate change activism in the UK has gone through peaks and troughs. In the early

2000s, climate change activism was popular, as illustrated by the Camps for Climate Action (2006-10),

which were attended by thousands willing to engage in direct action against industrial infrastructures

identified as significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. These Camps folded in 2010. There

were also direct action protests at airports by Plane Stupid and elsewhere by Rising Tide, mainly

targeting corporates.

In December 2009 the largest ever UK-based climate change march took place in London with

around 52,000 participants. Annual climate change marches continue to take place and routinely

attract over a thousand protesters. Until the Global Climate Strikes and Extinction Rebellion

movement, more radical climate actions tended to be less frequent and smaller – albeit that there is

a network of direct action campaigners called Reclaim the Power that has regularly undertaken a

number of site occupations. Extinction Rebellion (XR) emerged in 2018 as a new network that seeks

to engage people in civil disobedience to encourage the government to take seriously the very real

threat that climate change poses to the extinction of humanity. It carried out a number of direct action

protests leading up to its ‘international rebellion’ launched in London in the week beginning April 15th.

We carried out a parallel survey of XR activists on Monday April 15th, which hopefully will be useful as

a comparison (results forthcoming).

Nationally the political establishment has been broadly positive about the climate strikes – the

right-wing Conservative Party Environment minister – Michael Gove praised them as did another

Government Minister – although the PM – Theresa May criticised them as wasting lesson time. Party

leaders, with the exception of Theresa May also met Greta Thunberg on her visit to London on April

23rd.

The protest events

We estimated that there were around 800 participants in Manchester and 350 participants in Truro.

The Truro demonstration took place outside County Hall – on the pavement, by the traffic lights, and

on the Hall’s grass lawn. The demonstrators repeatedly activated the pedestrian crossing to hold up

cars and also encouraged motorists to honk their car horns in support. Students were chanting ‘whose

future, our future’, and there was one short speech from the organiser. In addition, there were a few

‘study groups’ within which school pupils and students completed their classwork and homework. It

was reported in the press that the demonstration consisted of only 150 participants and that angry

33

students threw eggs at County Hall. We handed out 260 flyers (excluding many people under the age

of consent), so we are certain that this is an underestimation. Moreover, the research team did not

witness the egg-throwing so we presume only a minority of participants did this. Many of the slogans

on placards referred to the need to address climate change urgently, for instance ‘protest now or swim

later’, another warned that ‘the climate change kids are coming’. All of the banners appeared to be

homemade by the protesters themselves.

The Manchester demonstration was very similar. It was held at St Peter's Square in relatively

confined area – between a tram stop and the 1920s part of the town hall. The space meant that the

shape of the crowd was stretched – long rather than circular. Students made speeches with a

megaphone – standing on benches. Manchester Climate Action had a banner, and Socialist Workers’

Party activists were giving out stickers – ‘system change, not climate change’ 'one solution - revolution'

superimposed on the Hokusai 'wave' print. There was also an invitation to join a Workers' Liberty

meeting to discuss the relationship between capitalism and climate change – but in general the

presence of Left groups was small and much less visible compared to most UK protest events. Some

replicated slogans seen at previous demonstrations – e.g. ‘there is no Planet B’ – a few also referred

to Brexit – e.g. ‘I have seen smarter cabinets at IKEA’ – though that could also apply to climate. There

was an excited youthful atmosphere – lots of chanting – mainly of ‘climate justice’ – but perhaps the

main characteristic was the moral framing of climate – rather than anything that could be positioned

in left-right terms.

Police tried to ensure that protesters did not use the tram platforms to get a better view of

the action but later on around 100 demonstrators sat on the tracks to block the trams. That was still

going on when most of us left around 2.30pm – but there were no reports of arrests. Extinction

Rebellion activists had encouraged blocking the trams (personal communication). It was later realised

that the tram service was one of Manchester's most sustainable forms of transport, hence the strike

on April 12th blocked a major road, instead. Symbolic and temporary blocking of transport seems to

have become part of the protest repertoire. The April rally also involved sit down blockades of bus

routes – although again only for an hour or two. The coverage of both events in the one local daily

newspaper – the Manchester Evening News tended to focus on this and put the Manchester rally in a

national and international context.

Who participated?

Nineteen (22%) of the 87 (of 100) respondents for whom we have valid data are school students. Ten

of them are from Manchester (19% of Manchester respondents) and 9 are from Truro (26% of Truro

respondents). Most of our survey respondents are above the age of compulsory education – aged 18

(72% are 20 years of age or older). Just under one-third were aged 15-19 and only two were below

the age of 15 (Figure 2.1). However, the age distributions vary across the two cities. In Truro, there

were proportionally more young people (34% of Truro demonstrators) than in Manchester (25%). In

Manchester, the proportion of those aged 20-35 was much higher (44% compared to 24%), and this

is most likely explicable by the fact that Manchester is a city with three universities, but the

proportions of those over the age of 36 were similar in both places.

34

Figure 2.1: Age distribution of protesters in the UK

A clear majority of our survey respondents are female (64% in total, 62% in Manchester, 66%

in Truro). They are also very highly educated: 64% have or are studying for a degree or higher.

Thirteen% claimed to be educated (or studying) to PhD level – higher in Manchester (15%) than Truro

(9%), again, likely to be a reflection of the proximity of universities in Manchester. Our Truro

respondents were, on average, less well-educated, but this is a function of their relatively younger

age. Our respondents’ parents are also relatively well educated. Over 60% of parents were educated

to university level in both cities.

Prior experiences of political participation and formally organized activities

Unsurprisingly, the school student participants were less seasoned activists (Figure 2.1). Most of them

had never or only a very few times previously participated in demonstrations (ever and in the past 12

months). Just under a quarter of our adult participants had participated in many demonstrations (at

least 11), although they had not participated in that many demonstrations within the past 12 months.

For adults, the differences across the cities are small for participation in demonstrations in the past

12 months, but more notable ‘ever’. There are a higher proportion of relative novices (1 to 5 times) in

Truro (53%) compared to Manchester (38%) and fewer stalwarts (11 or more times) (24% compared

to 38% in Manchester).

2

26

36

30

6

0

10

20

30

40

50

Below 15 15-19 20-35 36-65 Above 65

Percent

Age distribution

UK (N=100)

35

Figure 2.2: Previous demonstration participation (ever)

Figure 2.3: Previous demonstration participation (past 12 months)

Membership of political parties (or their youth sections) is remarkably similar for school

students and adults. But adult respondents are considerably more likely to be active members of

environmental organisations compared to school students (Figure 2.4). In Truro and Manchester,

similar proportions of respondents are not members of a political party or its youth faction (72%

Manchester, 74% Truro), but in Truro, more are members of environmental organisations (47%)

compared to Manchester (39%).

36,8

42,1

15,8

0

5,3

19,7

42,4

13,6

7,6

16,7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Never 1 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 11 to 20 times 21+ times

Percent

Past participation in a demonstration (ever)

UK

school students (N=19) adults (N=64)

43,8

50,0

6,2

0 0

27,7

59,6

10,6

1,0 0

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Never 1 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 11 to 20 times 21+ times

Percent

Past participation in demonstrations (past 12 months)

UK

school students (N=19) adults (N=64)

36

Figure 2.4: Organizational membership of protesters in UK

School student and adult GCS demonstrators in the UK have surprisingly similar profiles of

political participation, with adults slightly more inclined to participate in most forms (Figure 2.5). The

biggest difference between school students and adults is in terms of ‘changing diet for political, ethical

or environmental reasons’. School students are markedly less likely to do this than adults.

Figure 2.5: Previous individualized forms of political participation

The proportion of respondents that claimed to have raised awareness on social media and to

have contacted a politician for social and political reasons is similar in both cities. Petition-signing is

more common among the Manchester demonstrators (94%) than the Truro ones (85%), whereas

changing diet for ethical reasons is more common in Truro (91%) than Manchester (83%).

Political interest is slightly higher among adults compared to school students, although the

clear majority of respondents in both sub-samples are quite or very interested in politics. There is a

notable difference between those from Truro and Manchester. 57% of Manchester respondents are

‘very interested’ in politics, compared to only 38% of the Truro ones.

15,8

10,5 10,5 10,5

17,7

10,3 13,2

33,8

0

10

20

30

40

50

Financial supporter Active member Financial supporter Active member

Political party or its youth organization Environmental organization

Percent

Organizational membership

school students (N=19) adults (N=68)

79,0

84,2

79,0

68,4

86,8

92,7

86,8

91,0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Contacted a politician, government, or

local government official

Signed a petition/public letter

Raised awareness for a political issue via

social media

Changed my diet for political, ethical or

environmental reasons

Political participation

adults (N=47) school students (N=39)

37

Why did they protest?

Motivations to participate are similar across the two cities as well as among school students and

adults. The biggest motivating factor, of those listed in the survey, was ‘to pressure politicians’ (see

Figure 2.6), followed by ‘to express my views’ (for school students) and ‘to express my solidarity for

adults’. An 18 year old male demonstrator told us that he was participating in the demonstration

‘Because I wanted to take part in a national and international wake-up call for politicians in the UK

and world-wide’. Another 17 year old told us that:

As a 17 year old I think if our government won’t take responsibility for what is happening to

the earth than I have to, because ultimately it is my future that will be ruined.

Most agreed that they were protesting because they felt a sense of moral obligation, but less

than half strongly agreed with this and very few disagreed. ‘Defending my interests’ was strongly

agreed with by only around a third of respondents in each sub-sample (school, adult; Truro,

Manchester). Attendance ‘because someone asked me to’ was a weak motivator. Only around 10% of

adults agreed or strongly agreed with this, and 25% of school students. Truro respondents were

slightly more likely to disagree that they participated because others had asked them.

Figure 2.6: Motives

Despite similar motivations, school student and adult respondents expressed different

emotions. On balance, the school students were angrier (68% very angry compared to 59% for adults),

more anxious (47% versus 25% were very much so), more worried (61% compared to 56% were very

much so), and more fearful (53% versus 29% said very much). However, they felt less hopelessness (8

adults felt very hopeless, compared to 0 school students) and less powerlessness (20.6% adults felt

very hopeless, compared to 6% of school students). Emotions are similarly distributed among

Manchester and Truro respondents, but with slightly more hopelessness, fearfulness and

powerlessness in Truro. The importance of emotions is strongly corroborated in responses to the

open/qualitative questions. A female 21 year-old in Manchester told us that her reasons for

38

participating in the demonstration were thus: ‘Because I’m terrified for the future of the planet, and

the opinions of those who will be affected (us!) need to be heard’.

Adults were more likely to protest alone (18%) compared to school students (11%). Those in

Manchester were less likely to participate alone (11%) compared to those in Truro (22%). For school

students, friends (84%) and school mates (79%) were the most common protest companions. Friends

were also the most common companions for adults, but adults were much less likely to be in the

company of friends (50%) (Figure 2.7). Although networks are usually considered crucial for

recruitment into activism, surprisingly few participants were asked by someone to attend (16% for

school students, 15% for adults). Recruitment networks were more important for the Manchester

demonstrators than the Truro ones. In Truro, only 11% were asked by others to attend, compared to

19% in Manchester.

Figure 2.7: Company

For both school students and adults (Figure 2.8) as well as across cities, Greta Thunberg has

motivated some of our respondents to take more interest in climate change and to attend the climate

strike. Only a few participants had never heard of her, all adults.

Figure 2.8: Greta's effect on interest and mobilization

5,3 10,5 5,3

84,2

31,6

0,0

78,9

0,0

10,5

19,1

2,9

14,7

50,0

13,2 5,9

19,1

5,9

26,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Percent

I attended ...

school students (N=19) adults (N=68)

39

What do they want and who should do it?

A very clear majority of respondents in both cities agree or strongly agree (over 95%) that ‘the

government must act on what climate scientists say even if the majority of people are opposed’.

Several commented in response to an open question about ‘what can be done’ about governments

working more closely with scientists, for example: ‘I think governments should listen to scientists and

make the environment first priority, and make large companies take responsibility for their impact’.

They are, however, more ambiguous in relation to the role of science (alone), governments,

companies and the market and lifestyle changes (Figure 2.9). One notable difference was that school

students were much more supportive than adults of the claim that ‘modern science can be relied upon

to solve our environmental problems’.

A lack of trust in businesses is evident in responses to open questions asking respondents to

tell us who or what is to blame in climate change. Adults, in particular, are sceptical about the role of

companies and the market and governments. Aggregate differences across the two cities are small.

The following quotes are illustrative:

I believe that the main cause is global greed, driving the big corporations to ever

more destructive ways to extract profit from our earth, irrespective of the

consequences for people and planet. (61-year old male from Truro).

The major gas and oil companies making a profit off the destruction of the planet

and the killing of people, animals and the environment. (20-year old female from

Manchester).

When we asked them ‘what can be done’, respondents’ open answers often referred to the

need for drastic government action, recognition of the state of crisis and of the need to scale up all

efforts to mitigate greenhouse gases. This quote is illustrative:

Recognise it as a crisis and put the country on a war footing to tackle it. Introduce

evidence based policy and have unelected technocrats set the policy agenda to

deal with the crisis. (29 year old male from Manchester).

40

In general, UK respondents have very little trust for political institutions. The differences

between school students and adults, and between the two cities are negligible. On average,

respondents are least trusting of mass media (mean 1.91 on a 1-5 scale) and national government

(mean 1.95) and most trusting of environmental organisations (mean 4.10). The comparison between

trust in national government and trust in environmental groups is shown in Figure 2.10. Note the

similar judgement of school students and adults, illustrative of their trust in other institutions, too.

Figure 2.10: Trust in national government and environmental organizations

The views of our respondents reflect general disenchantment with politics among the British

population. Especially for school students, politicians are seen to make promises that they do not

keep. By-and-large, our respondents have faith in the democratic system, with only small proportions

of respondents agreeing that voting is pointless. School student respondents have a sense of their

own personal efficacy that is absent from adult participants, but both adults and school students

believe in the efficacy of organised groups of citizens to bring about policy changes (Figure 2.11).

Figure 2.9: How to solve environmental problems

41

Technical information

Approximately one in every five of those given a flyer were interviewed. In Manchester, we gave out

398 flyers and completed 76 F2F-interviews and collected 17 consent forms for those aged 12-15 years

(with perhaps some under-sampling of those under the consent age). In Truro, we handed out 260

flyers and conducted 62 interviews and collected 19 consent forms for those aged 12-15. We were

unable to survey a significant number of 12-15 year olds because their parents were not there to sign

consent forms. In both places, the refusal rate was very low - probably only 2%. Our response rate to

the online survey overall is 15.2% (15.6% in Manchester, 14.6% in Truro). Given the low response

rates, comparison of these results with the face-to-face data is essential to test the representativeness

of the data.

Figure 2.11: Views on politics

42

Belgium

Michiel De Vydt and Ruud Wouters

Background

In Belgium, a remarkably consistent and growing protest cycle had already arisen during the months

leading up to the Global Climate Strike for Future (GCS) of March 15th.19 The protest event can

therefore best be described as a third peak or a renewed impetus within the already established

domestic protest wave.

The first peak of Belgium’s climate protest cycle was achieved on Sunday December 2nd; one

day before the start of the Katowice Climate Change Conference (COP24). On that day more than

65.000 people demonstrated in Brussels at the Claim the Climate demonstration, organized by the

SMO Climate Express. This was the biggest climate mobilization up until then.

Disappointed by Belgium’s refusal to join the High Ambition Coalition at the COP24, but

inspired by Greta Thunberg’s speech, two Belgian girls (Anuna and Kyra, aged 17 and 20) launch Youth

for Climate (YfC) around the end of 2018. Their goal is to protest every Thursday during school hours

until an actual change in climate policy is made, or, if needed, until the Belgian elections of May 26th

(which they eventually did end up doing). The first YfC demonstration of 10 January 2019 draws an

unexpected large crowd of a little over 3.000 pupils. One week later, 12.500 pupils show up. In the

third edition, joined by high school and university students who have now finished their exams, over

35.000 participants mobilize on Thursday 24th. Three days later, the pupils and students of YfC join

causes together with the Rise for Climate campaign organized in Belgium by Klimaatcoalitie. An

estimated 70.000 people (both students and working adults) demonstrate in the streets of Brussel

during the Rise for Climate demonstration. The two large demonstrations towards the end of January

constitute a second peak in the national protest cycle.

During each of the following weeks, Youth for Climate continued to organize demonstrations,

now also in cities other than the capital. The weekly turnouts slowly diminish with each week, but the

demonstrators continue to grasp the media’s attention, especially when Greta herself joins the 7th

(21/02) and 8th (28/02) YfC demonstration. The 9th-in-row protest event (7/03) draws around 8.200

combined participants. The Global Climate Strike for Future of Friday, March 15th is the 10th-in-row

school strike protest event. With at least 30.000 demonstrators in Brussels (more than 40.000

combined participants all over Belgium), the global demonstration has given a new, third impetus to

the Belgian climate protest wave.

The protest events

According to the estimate of the police, at least 30.000 people demonstrated during the first Global

Strike for Future in Brussels. The demonstration started in the afternoon. During the morning, smaller-

scale protests were organized in other cities all across Belgium, of which Ghent (around 3000),

Antwerp (2000), and Hasselt (1500) are most noticeable regarding the turnout. In the main

demonstration in Brussels, demonstrators marched along a well-established demonstration path of

circa 4,5 kilometres (starting and ending in the vicinity of the Brussels North and South train stations

respectively). The rather broad streets of this well-trodden demonstration path minimizes the risk for

bottlenecks.

19 Wouters, R. and De Vydt, M. Youth for Climate Belgium: The narrative of an exceptional protest wave.

Mobilizing Ideas, 12/04/2019. Online.

43

A remarkable attendee at the Strike was Anuna’s grandmother (sitting in a wheelchair, well

wrapped up with blankets) symbolizing that climate justice is not an exclusive concern of the young.

Also striking were the many clothespins attached to the jackets and placards of demonstrations: each

pin to symbolize a supporter of the climate movement who was unable to attend the Strike. The pins

thus serve as a symbolic amplifier of the protest’s turnout. At around the halfway point of the march,

a politician of Belgian’s most left-wing socialist labour party greeted the moving demonstrators with

passionate soundbites. No violent incidents occurred during the demonstration.

Who participated?

Whereas the participants during the weekly YfC demonstrations were predominantly school-going

youngsters and higher education level students, the majority of participants in the Belgian Global

Climate Strike were actually (adult) non-pupils or non-students: less than 1 in 3 (51/166 = 30.7%)

respondents indicated to be pupil/student. Of these 51 pupils/students, 36 are school students (school

students, as operationalized in this country report, as well as the other eight country reports, are

younger than 20 with an ongoing education not higher than secondary education), which means that

about 1 in 5 participants (36/166 = 21.69%) was a school-going student. The actual share of school-

going youngsters at the GCS was probably a bit higher, as we find a (typical) negative response bias by

pupils and students to the online survey (in the F2F-data, we find a share of 36/140 = 25.7% school

students).

As the status of being a pupil/student is strongly correlated to age, figure 3.1 confirms that the

GCS was mostly populated by adults: only 22.9% of the demonstrators is younger than 20. However,

comparing this distribution to the F2F sample data (where those under 20 represent a share of 27%)

we observe that respondents aged under 20 are somewhat underrepresented in our online survey

data.

Interestingly, the majority (23/31 = 74.2%) of the demonstrating school students is enrolled in

general secondary education (ASO), as compared to a minority (5/31 = 16.1%) of technical/

professional secondary education (TSO) school students (the remaining 5 school students were still

enrolled in primary education). This uneven distribution suggests that the climate protest wave enjoys

more visibility and a stronger sense of urgency in school environments that prepare for higher

education, as compared to TSO school environments. Protesting for post-materialist values such as

climate justice is rather – although certainly not exclusively – a concern of higher educated people:

over 60% of the adult participants has enjoyed a university education: 11/123 = 8.9% has a Bachelor’s,

55/123 = 44.72% has a Master’s degree, and 12/123 = 9.76% has a PhD as their highest level of

education. Only 12/123 (9.76%) participants have not enjoyed higher education. The remaining

5,4

17,5

22,3

47,6

7,2

0

10

20

30

40

50

Below 15 15-19 20-35 36-65 Above 65

Percent

Age distribution

Belgium (N=166)

Figure 3.1: Age distribution of protesters in Belgium

44

participants have enjoyed post-secondary, non-university higher education of some sort. To the

participants born in 1999 or later (max. 20 years and 3 months old), we have asked whether their

parents studied at the university. For 25/45 (55,55%) young participants, this is the case for both

parents.

Prior experiences of political participation and formally organized activities

The participants in the Belgian edition of the GCS are experienced demonstrators. More than 3 in 4

have, during the past 12 months, participated in at least one demonstration other than the Global

Strike for Future.

Figure 3.2: Previous demonstration participation (ever)

Still, the GCS clearly managed to attract many first-time participants. Figure 3.3 shows that

among the school students, a bit more than 1 in 5 had never (ever) demonstrated before (although,

compared to other countries described in this report, this is still relatively low – probably due to the

fact that sympathizing youngsters have already had multiple opportunities to protest at a Youth for

Climate demonstration during the nine weeks before the GCS). For these youngsters, the GCS was

their first taste of civic engagement in the form of demonstrating. As scholars have noted before, this

is the broader importance of the climate strike protests: it is creating a new cohort of citizens who will

be active participants in democracy. “We know from research on civic engagement over the life-course

that people who become engaged at a younger age are more likely to stay engaged in volunteerism

and politics throughout their lives” (Fisher 2019: 430).

20,7

58,6

13,8

6,9

0

22,9

68,7

8,5

0 0

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Never 1 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 11 to 20 times 21+ times

Percent

Past participation in demonstrations (past 12 months)

Belgium

school students (N=29) adults (N=118)

45

Figure 3.3: Previous demonstration participation (ever)

Figure 3.4 compares between adult and school student demonstrators on four other forms of

individualized political participation.

Figure 3.4: Previous individualized forms of political participation

When asked how interested they are in politics, adults on average score significantly higher

(3.18/4) than school students (2.67/4). School student participants discuss climate change with their

parents on average ‘quite often’ (mean: 4 on scale of 1-5). School students also indicate that their

22,6

45,2

22,6

6,5 3,2

7,3

40,7

19,5 17,1 15,5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Never 1 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 11 to 20 times 21+ times

Percent

Past participation in demonstrations (ever)

Belgium

school students (N=31) adults (N=123)

25,8

71,0

38,7

80,7

30,8

85,1

56,3

73,0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Contacted a politician, government, or local

government official

Signed a petition/public letter

Raised awareness for a political issue via social

media

Changed my diet for political, ethical or

environmental reasons

Percent

Political behavior

Belgium

adults (N=122) school students (N=31)

46

parents care ‘quite much’ (mean: 4.1) about climate change. In contrast to the school students, adult

participants at the GCS systematically score lower when evaluating the climate engagement of their

parents. This pattern points to the generational aspect of increasing climate change awareness.

Just 1 of the 31 surveyed school students (3.23% in Figure 3.5 below) is a member of a political

party or its youth organization. This low share among school students points to the overall party-

politically neutral character of Youth for Climate in Belgium. Among the adults, almost 20% is either

passively or actively tied to a political party. About 1 in 5 of the protesting school students is an active

member of an environmental organization (ENGO). Compared to other country reports, this is a high

share, but comparisons should be made with caution, given the relatively small sample sizes for school

student group. Adults are mostly engaged with ENGOs as financial contributors.

Figure 3.5: Organizational membership of protesters in Belgium

Why did they protest?

Just as Greta Thunberg’s speeches make it quite clear that she feels anxious about climate change and

angry about the overall inadequate political response, anger and anxiety are also present in the weekly

speeches by Anuna and Kyra; the leading entrepreneurs of the Belgian Youth for Climate-movement.

This opens the question to what extent anger and anxiety (and related emotions) are not just

rhetorical instruments, but are heartfelt emotions shared by the rank-and-file participants of the

Belgian climate movement. Our survey gauged (on a 5-point Likert scale) to what extent participants

felt angry, hopeless, anxious, worried, fearful, frustrated, and powerless. The results show that Belgian

respondents feel most of all worried (4.55), angry (4.02) and frustrated (4.03). Feeling hopeless scores

lowest of all, with an average score of 2.81. Interestingly, school students on average feel significantly

more fearful about climate change than adults do (3.63 vs. 3.05). In the context of the Belgian school

strike climate protests, one of the oft-heard objections by sceptics is that youngsters should not paint

a too gloomy picture of the climate future; that they should not be fearful but rather stay in school

and trust science. If anything, our survey makes clear that school students do indeed feel (self-report)

more fearful when thinking about climate change.

We also inquired about the specific motives of the demonstrating participants. The vast

majority (about 95%) of both adults and school students (strongly) agreed with the statement “I

participated in the demonstration in order to pressure politicians.” Similarly, about 90% of both adults

and school students (strongly) agreed with the statement of having participated “in order to raise

public awareness.” 8 in 10 school students, and almost 9 in 10 adults, indicated to participate to

“express my views.” We presented respondents with four other potential motives in the same fashion

0

3,23

0

19,35

11,2

8

30,4

12,8

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Financial supporter Active member Financial supporter Active member

Political party or its youth organization Environmental organization

Percent

Organizational membership

Belgium

school students (N=31) adults (N=125)

47

(defend my interests, express my solidarity, because I felt morally obliged to, because somebody asked

me to). We highlight two motives for which school students and adults diverge.

Figure 3.6: Motive – moral obligation

It is remarkable that relatively fewer school students agree with the moral obligation-motive

as compared to adults (Figure 3.6). A likely interpretation of this result is that adults feel more

responsible for the climate policies up until now, whereas school students feel less personal

responsibility, which translates into fewer youngsters experiencing moral obligation.

Figure 3.7: Motive – express my solidarity

Figure 3.7 shows that the vast majority (over 95%) of adults participate in order to express

their solidarity. For students, this share is lower at 74%. As the current climate protest wave in Belgium

started as a series of school strikes by young students, showing solidarity towards a different group

becomes a more obvious motive for adults than for school students who are showing solidarity to

their peers.

Research on micromobilization has consistently shown that ‘being asked’ is one of the

strongest predictors for individual protest participation. As political scientist Sidney Verba famously

summarized much of the micromobilization literature: “People participate because they want,

because they can, and because somebody asked.” Want refers to the motives discussed above. Can

refers to the ‘supply’ of protest events (the fact that an SMO is organizing an event). Here we briefly

focus on the being asked part. Figure 3.8 shows that about 3 in 10 participants were personally asked

36,29

22,58

40,32

19,35

12,9

35,48

9,68

19,35

0,81

3,23

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=124)

school students (N=31)

Because I felt morally obliged to participate

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

68

35,48

27,2

38,71

2,4

12,9

2,4

6,45 6,45

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

adults (N=125)

school students (N=31)

Express my solidarity

Strongly agree Agree Neither disagree nor agree Disagree Strongly disagree

48

by someone to participate in the demonstration. Significantly more GCS demonstrators, however,

have invited others themselves. This makes sense: people generally don’t like to demonstrate alone;

without company. Those who are motivated to demonstrate, i.e. the participants we surveyed (whose

motivation is evidenced by the fact that they actually demonstrated), will therefore invite others to

have company.

Figure 3.8: Interpersonal recruiting behaviours: being asked & asking others

As a final point of attention, we compare the stance/attitude towards Greta Thunberg

between school students and adults. Figure 3.9 shows that for 55.5% of the demonstrating adults who

participated in our survey, Greta has made them at least somewhat more interested in climate

change. For school students, this percentage is higher, at 68.8. Figure 3.10 shows that, if we draw the

positive pole at the ‘somewhat’ answer option, adults are divided in equal groups when it comes to

Greta having affected their decision to join the GCS: 50% of the adults answers negatively, 48.4% of

the adults answer positively. For school students, we find a slightly different pattern: here, more

students answers positively (59.4%).

32,26 28,68

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

school students

(N=31)

adults (N=129)

Percent

Being asked to participate in

demonstration

74,19

64,34

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

school students

(N=31)

adults (N=129)

Percent

Asking others to participate in

demonstration

49

Figure 3.9: Greta’s effect on climate change interest

Figure 3.10: Greta’s effect on intention to participate

12,5 12,5

15,6

31,3

21,9

6,3

20,3

22,7

32,8

17,2

5,5

1,6

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much I do not know

who she is

Percent

"Greta Thunberg has made me more interested in climate change."

school students (N=30) adults (N=126)

25,0

12,5

25,0 25,0

9,4

3,1

26,6

23,4

18,8 18,8

10,9

1,6

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much I do not know

who she is

Percent

"Greta Thunberg has affected my decision to joint the Climate

Strike."

school students (N=32) adults (N=128)

50

What do they want and who should do it?

Although the precise goals of demonstrating can ultimately be as unique as each and every individual

that participated, what most (if not all) demonstrators want, in general, is a more ambitious climate

policy that addresses climate change effectively. In their answer to the open-ended question “Why

did you participate in this protest event?”, several Belgian demonstrators indicated that they realize

that such political measures to address climate change might still prove unpopular. By demonstrating

loud and clearly and in large numbers, these protesters want to signal that a sufficiently large enough

part of the population will accept such dire, but necessary, climate measures. Two quotes illustrate

this point:

A school student, aged 18, enrolled in higher general secondary education explains why he

participated:

“To focus more attention on the issue of climate change in the run-up to the

(European) elections in May. I hope that parties realize that by investing extra in

climate policy, many votes can be earned. Consequently, the climate will

hopefully also benefit from this.”

A male adult, aged 30, with an educational level of post-secondary, non-university of the short type

writes:

“Because I want to show the government that a large part of the Belgian

population expects an ambitious climate policy. It is up to the government to

draw up more strict climate regulations, still this year! I do not think the described

scenario’s (by climate scientists) are overly pessimistic. We as humans must now

protect our species. Now.”

Figure 3.11 shows to what extent adults and school students believe we can rely on science,

governments, and companies to address climate change. A majority of both adults and school students

clearly don’t agree we can rely on governments to solve our environmental problems.20 However, in

their answers to the open-ended question “What should be done to address climate change/global

warming?” governments and individual politicians are commonly named as crucial mediators of the

solution. According to many of our respondents, the solution itself lies multiple bits of change that

constitute ‘systemic change’. This systemic change is being studied, evaluated and carried forward by

science, but politicians need to do more to act on science. 83% of adults and 81% of school students

at the Belgian GCS (strongly) agrees with the statement that “The government must act on what

climate scientists say even if the majority of people are opposed.”

20 In the recent Belgian public (media) debate on climate change, it has often been pointed out that ’the

environment’ is something different than ’the climate’. In the Belgian version of the survey, we therefore

translated ’environmental problems’ broadly, as ’klimaat- en milieuproblematiek’.

51

Figure 3.11: Solve attribution

52

Concerning their trust in various political actors, we find that more respondents trust the

European Union and the United Nations (both supra-national institutions) than they trust national

institutions (national government, national parliament, national political parties). This pattern applies

for both school students as adults. For example, 54.8% of the school students and 47.5% of the adults

at least ‘somewhat’ trust the Belgian government (see Figure 3.12), whereas for the European Union,

these scores are higher: here, 74.2% of the school students, and 75.6% of the adults trust the

institution (Figure 3.15).

Figure 3.12: Trust in government

Figure 3.13: Trust in parliament

9,7

35,5

48,4

6,5

0

11,5

41,0 37,7

9,8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much

Percent

How much do you trust, in general, your national

government?

Belgium

school students (N=31) adults (N=122)

3,2

38,7 38,7

19,4

0

6,5

25,2

48,8

17,9

1,6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much

percent

How much do you trust, in general, your national

parliament?

Belgium

school students (N=31) adults (N=123)

53

Figure 3.14: Trust in political parties

Figure 3.15: Trust in EU

6,5

35,5

45,2

12,9

0

13,8

42,3

36,6

7,3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much

Percent

How much do you trust, in general, the political parties

in your country?

Belgium

school students (N=31) adults (N=123)

6,5

19,4

35,5 35,5

3,2

4,9

19,5

39,0 35,8

0,8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much

Percent

How much do you trust, in general, the European

Union?

Belgium

school students (N=31) adults (N=123)

54

Figure 3.16: Trust in UN

References

Fisher, D. (2019) “The broader importance of #FridaysForFuture”, Nature Climate Change, 9, pp. 430-

431.

Technical information

We distributed 760 flyers of which 27 were refused (3,6%). 166 survey responses were collected

(which means we have a response rate of 166/733 = 23%). 140 F2F-interviews were completed.

6,7

23,3 20,0

40,0

10,0

1,6

12,2

37,4

45,5

3,3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Not at all Not very much Somewhat Quite Very much

Percent

How much do you trust, in general, the United Nations?

Belgium

school students (N=31) adults (N=123)

55

The Netherlands

Jacquelien van Stekelenburg and Teodora Gaidyte21

Background

We observe a strong increase in demonstrations in The Netherlands (requested demonstrations in

Amsterdam increased from 200 to 1081 from 2014 to 2018). The Climate Event on 14 March (one day

earlier in NL compared to other countries), took place in a week in which we observed four (for NL)

big demonstrations (Women’s March, Climate March, Students protest) all with a larger turnout than

expected and all in very bad weather circumstances (it was very windy and rainy). For instance, the

Climate March taking place the Sunday before the Students Climate March attracted 14.000 to 15.000

people.22 Note that we had a Climate March for the general public, and a Climate Strike specifically

focusing on youth within 5 days, which might explain why there were nearly no adults in the Climate

Strike action. Specifically around Climate, we had some smaller actions, but on 7 February we had a

Students for Climate Strike in The Hague that showed an unexpected high turnout of 15.000.23 The

last weeks we see other happenings organised by Extinction Rebellion (e.g. Die-ins) and 25 April

another Students for Climate demo is organised.

The protest event

According to the media, the police and our own estimations, there were around 5000 to 6000

demonstrators in the Climate Strike.24 The demonstrators initially gathered at the Dam Square at

13.00 and after about half an hour the crowd started to move down the streets to the Museumplein.

The protesters walked 2.5 kilometres holding banners and shouting slogans against the government.

Some of the slogans were quite general, for instance, insisting the cabinet to resign ("Weg met het

kabinet"). There was a lot of police securing the demonstration, also the helpers in green jackets who

collected the garbage around and helped the police to control the traffic and maintain the order. Note

that the core group of the demonstrators that started marching from the Dam Square was

subsequently joined by the smaller groups from the side streets during the whole march (the

protesters were adding up to the marching crowd in the main streets (Rokin and Vijzelstraat) from the

smaller side streets).

In about 2 hours the March arrived at the Museumplein, there the speeches were given by the

people from the organization and a performance of De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig. The protesters in

their speeches insisted that the Dutch government would do more to prevent CO2 emissions. They

concluded that the politicians do too little to prevent the climate change and the youth, who gathered

in the protest, want to break that cycle. A quote from one activist summarizes the main message of

the protesters well: "We think it is important to make our voice heard, because it is about our future.”

The atmosphere in general was very friendly and cheerful. The music was playing loud at the

Museumplein (it was even difficult to interview the protesters), the demonstrators were dancing and

enjoying themselves. Although it was not raining (luckily; it was raining heavily just before and after

the Strike), there was a very strong wind, making it sometimes hard for the interviewers to fill in the

21 Note that we did not calculate school students/adults differences as we had only 2 ‘adults’ (20-35) in the

sample.

22 See https://milieudefensie.nl/doe-mee/klimaatmars

23 See https://nos.nl/artikel/2270896-klimaatspijbelaars-volgende-week-willen-we-jullie-weer-zien.html

24 See https://www.nu.nl/klimaat/5790087/enkele-duizenden-klimaatspijbelaars-demonstreren-in-

amsterdam.html

56

questionnaires and to distribute the flyers. Thus the whole interviewing process took a bit longer than

expected.

Who participated?

The absolute majority (more than 90%) who participated in Amsterdam March Strike were school

students. Most of our survey respondents fall in the age category between 15 and 19 (almost 85%).

Only a very insignificant part of the protesters were older than 20 (Figure 4.1). A clear majority of our

survey respondents are female (70%). Most of them claimed to be learning at school (Table 4.1).

Figure 4.1: Age distribution of Dutch participants

Dutch (ISCED) Frequency Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

1 (0)

2

4.0

4 (3)

3

10.0

6.0

5 (3)

40

90.0

80.0

10 (7)

2

94.0

4.0

12

3

100.0

6.0

Total

50

100.0

1= primary education, 4 = HAVO

5 = vwo, atheneum, gymnasium

10 = university, 12 = other

Table 4.1: Education distribution of Dutch participants

Prior experiences of political participation and formally organized activities

Most of the school student participants (69%) reported have ever participated in a demonstration

before (Figure 4.2). Moreover, given their young age and the ‘supply’ of protest on this issue, not

surprisingly most of them (64%) have participated in demonstrations in the past 12 months. One third

of the demonstrators answered that they participated in a demonstration for the first time.

57

Figure 4.2: Previous demonstration participation – ever and past 12 months

Membership of political parties (or their youth sections) of the respondents is relatively low –

around 2% (Figure 4.3). That could be explained by the fact that most respondents were school

students. However, almost 4% of them declared that they are financial supporters of a political party.

When it comes to environmental organizations, the membership level stays the same as for political

parties, but the financial support is higher – around 6% of the demonstrators reported that they

donate money to at least one environmental organization.

Figure 4.3: Organizational involvement

3,8

1,9

5,8

1,9

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Financial supporter Active member Financial supporter Active member

Political party or its youth organization Environmental organization

Percent

Organizational membership

School students (N=52)

30,8

69,2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Never 1 to 5 times

Percent

Past participation in

demonstration (ever)

Dutch school student

demonstrators (N=52)

36

64

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Never 1 to 5 times

Past participation in

demonstration (past 12 months)

Dutch school student

demonstrators (N=50)

58

For the overview, we add a table (Table 4.2) which specifies the organizations of which the

respondents are the active members or financial supporters. From the table we see that most of the

respondents are members of sport or cultural organization. Some of them belong to school council or

(not-specified) youth organization.

Pass member/

Fin. supporter

Active

member

Not a

member

total

School council

1

5

46

52

Youth organization

1

3

47

51

Church or religious

organization

1

50

52

Student organization

1

0

50

51

Trade union or professional

association

0

52

Political party or its youth

organization

2

1

49

52

Women's organization

0

1

51

52

Sport or cultural organization

0

22

30

52

Environmental organization

3

1

48

52

Lesbian or gay rights org.

3

2

47

52

Community or neighborhood

association

0

52

Charity or humanitarian org.

2

0

50

52

Third world, Global Justice or

Peace organization

1

2

49

52

Anti-racist or migrant org.

1

0

51

52

Human or civil rights org.

4

0

48

52

Table 4.2: Organizational involvement, all

59

Involvement of the respondents in different types of political participation is showed to be

much higher than organizational membership (Figure 4.4). Most of the respondents (96%) claimed to

have reused products like bottles and plastic bags for environmental reasons, changed their diet for

the same reasons (almost 77%), joined another strike (78%), did boycotting (65%), and signed a

petition (65%). The fewest of the respondents took part in a direct action or contacted a politician

(each group makes up to 4%). None of them got involved in the violent action.

Figure 4.4: Types of political behaviour by respondents

3,9

64,7

13,7

54,9

37,3

56,9

78

3,9

0

25,5

64,7

76,5

52,9

96

69,4

55,1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

contacted a politician, government, or local government

official

signed a petition/public letter

donated money to a political organization or group

boycotted certain products

worn or displayed a campaign badge/sticker

raised awareness for a political issue via social media

joined a strike (not today's Climate Strike)

taken part in direct action (such as: blockade, occupation)

used violent forms of action (against property or people)

gave up a trip by plane for political, ethical or environmental

reasons

deliberately bought products for political, ethical or

environmental reasons

changed your diet for political, ethical or environmental

reasons

consumed less products altogether for political, ethical or

environmental reasons

reused products like bottles and plastic bags for political,

ethic or environmental reasons

reduced energy use in your household for political, ethical or

environmental reasons

bought second-hand goods (such as clothes, bikes, phones)

Political behaviour of school students (N=52)

60

Political interest among Dutch school students is quite high: almost 60% of them responded

to be quite interested in politics, and even 23.5% indicated that they are very interested. Almost half

of the respondents indicated that they discuss politics “sometimes”, whereas one fourth of them

discuss politics “often” or “rarely”.

Figure 4.5: Political interest

Figure 4.6: Talking politics

2

17,6

56,9

23,5

0

20

40

60

80

100

Not at all Not very Quite Very

Percent

Interested in politics (N=51)

2

24

48

24

2

0

20

40

60

80

100

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Very often

Percent

How often discuss politics (N=50)

61

Our respondents are socialized in an environment where climate issues are often discussed, in fact

85% discuss climate issues with their parents from somewhat to very often (Table 4.3). Consequently,

they know that their parents care about the climate change too, another 80% know that their parents

care somewhat to very much about climate issues (Table 4.4). And they do not only talk about these

issues, they also act on it, around 70% of the parents undertake climate actions (Table 4.5). And finally

65% of them undertake collective action aimed at climate issues too (Table 4.6). Our respondents are

clearly socialized in environments where parents not only talk and discuss these issues, but also act

on them, they put their mouth where their money is.

Frequency

%

Not at all

3

5.9

Not very

5

9.8

Somewhat

8

15.7

Quite

15

29.4

Very

20

39.2

Total

51

100.0

Table 4.3: Discuss climate change with parents

Frequency

%

Not at all

3

5.9

Not very

7

13.7

Somewhat

16

31.4

Quite

13

25.5

Very

12

23.5

Total

51

100.0

Table 4.4: Parents care about climate change

Frequency

%

Not at all

5

9.8

Not very

10

19.6

Somewhat

11

21.6

Quite

12

23.5

Very

13

25.5

Total

51

100.0

Table 4.5: Parents active in doing something

Frequency

%

Not at all

8

15.7

Not very

10

19.6

Somewhat

13

25.5

Quite

15

29.4

Very

5

9.8

Total

51

100.0

Table 4.6: Parents take political action

62

Why did they protest?

Politics, and especially politics of protest, are

full of emotions. Not different so for our young

respondents. Around 90% feel at least

somewhat to very angry, worried, and

frustrated. Interestingly, only about 35% feel

not at all hopeless, combined with around 25%

who feel some agency (not powerless) in

relation to climate change issues. Especially

anxiousness and fearfulness are more spread.

Frequency

%

Not at all

1

1.9

Not very

4

7.7

Somewhat

17

32.7

Quite

12

23.1

Very

18

34.6

Total

52

100.0

Table 4.7: Emotions – Angry

Frequency

%

Not at all

6

11.5

Not very

12

23.1

Somewhat

16

30.8

Quite

15

28.8

Very

3

5.8

Total

52

100.0

Table 4.8: Emotions – Hopeless

Frequency

%

Not at all

9

17.3

Not very

7

13.5

Somewhat

17

32.7

Quite

15

28.8

Very

4

7.7

Total

52

100.0

Table 4.9: Emotions – Anxious

Frequency

%

Not at all

0

Not very

0

Somewhat

7

13.5

Quite

15

28.8

Very

30

57.7

Total

52

100.0

Table 4.10: Emotions – Worried

Frequency

%

Not at all

6

11.5

Not very

7

13.5

Somewhat

20

38.5

Quite

10

19.2

Very

9

17.3

Total

52

100.0

Table 4.11: Emotions – Fearful

Frequency

%

Not at all

1

1.9

Not very

3

5.8

Somewhat

4

7.7

Quite

21

40.4

Very

23

44.2

Total

52

100.0

Table 4.12: Emotions – Frustrated

Frequency

%

Not at all

2

3.8

Not very

11

21.2

Somewhat

15

28.8

Quite

13

25.0

Very

11

21.2

Total

52

100.0

Table 4.13: Emotions – Powerless

63

Figure 4.7: Motive – Defend my interest

Figure 4.8: Motive – Express my views

Figure 4.9: Motive – Because somebody asked me to join

Our climate protesters protested mainly to express their view, nearly 95% of the respondents

agreed or strongly agreed to have participated in the demonstration in order ‘to express my view’. A

remarkable large share also protested to defend their interests, namely 86%. This might explain why

they were so angry and relatively powerful. The famous ‘being asked’ shows the opposite of what we