Young People Are Brilliant and Powerful
Mari Piggott, International Liberation Reference Person for Young People
One of my favorite things in the last few months has been attending the youth climate strikes. They are powerful. They are connected. They are right on track for where the world needs to be. They are alive. And they are the most fun protests I have been to.
This is what’s true about young people: Young people are brilliant. Young people are powerful. Young people know how the world needs to be.
Young people’s oppression confuses young people about their brilliance and power. And we were all young people. We were all confused in that way. We were all told that we were small, insignificant, and powerless. That is how oppression is first laid down. Young people’s oppression is the foundation for all the other oppressions. But the climate strikes are an example of how young people are rising up, how all this is changing.
All of us have been impacted by young people’s oppression, and we need to work on the early hurts. Young people’s liberation theory is essentially basic RC theory.
We need to talk about young people’s oppression. It’s not widely acknowledged in the world and we need to change that. We need to listen to young people and teach them RC. Young people are incredible at RC. They know it in a powerful way. It’s so great to have a group of young people together.
We need to follow young people’s leadership. At this time, with the climate crisis, young People of the Global Majority and Indigenous young people, in particular, are speaking up. We need to follow them and back [support] their leadership.
And we can’t leave young people alone to fight the battle. Adults need to work on their discouragement and feelings of powerlessness and back young people and stand alongside them to change the world.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada