Civil disobedience against the climate crisis
Manuela* is 24 years old. Although it might seem like she has her whole future ahead of her, Manuela instead sees a wall that she could well crash into if significant changes are not implemented. Since entering university, she has built her activism on an increasingly radical model, advocating civil disobedience as a tool to respond to the climate crisis.
“The change I want is radical change. So the solution is radicalism”, explains Manuela. “I want to talk to government entities. […] It’s not up to my neighbor who takes his car and tries to survive.”
According to her, the change must go through a state change. Capitalism leaves its mark on the planet and prevents, according to her, the population from mobilizing, driven by the frantic pace that life imposes on it. Manuela is pessimistic about the future of humanity. It would therefore only give him a few more decades to live if no radical changes to the system are made.
In 40 years, we won't be here!
Manuela, climate change activist
Activism 101
Good Although Manuela comes from an activist family, her activism didn’t begin until she entered university. At the very beginning, it’s in the movement The planet invites itself to the university that she is making her debut. Within this movement, Manuela was able to get to know people who shared her convictions and her desire for change in the face of political inaction regarding the climate crisis.
Very quickly, she became closer to the Extinction Rebellion movement, already well publicized. Within this movement, she was trained in civil disobedience and activism against the climate crisis. It’sa new environment that opened up to her then and it’s very quickly that she was able to take action.
“Connecting with people who have the same motivations as me, it fuels the desire to move. I feel that getting involved in a gang is the right thing,” Manuela explains. illegal organization of demonstrations… and even unveiling a banner on the roof of a university calling for action against the climate crisis.
It’s through civil disobedience that Manuela was able to find a way to fight eco-anxiety. Through direct actions focused on the present moment, she had no time to think about the uncertain future that the climate crisis has in store for her.
Faced with the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which gives the population three years to act, Manuela cannot help but make the link with the movie Don’t Look Up, which depicts the inaction of society and governments as a proven threat threatens to destroy the earth in the next six months.
Go read the IPCC report before going to vote!
A struggle that evolves
Now living in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Manuela does not abandon her convictions. But she adapts her militancy. It’s now focused on awareness-raising and mobilization actions. She therefore participates in the screening of films that raise awareness of the climate crisis and in particular the situation in Western Canada with the construction of pipelines. our survival,” she said. She now wants to connect with her local community to learn who the neighbors are with whom she will experience the climate crisis, but she does not rule out the idea of returning to civil disobedience if the opportunity arises.
For now, she wants to focus her activism on those around her. She continues her struggle on another scale, far from the frenzy of Montreal, where she made her debut.
“When we get together […], it creates discussions and it talks about ideas and tools. […] It makes me want to motivate them”, explains Manuela.
*Fictitious name
