Swiss Review 4/2019

Swiss Review / July 2019 / No.4 7 mands is more cheeky than specific. First, the main concern becomes evi- dent as twelve-year-olds proudly carry a banner before themthat hasn’t turned out so well, and that bears the inscription: “The climate is even worse than our banner”. The main de- mand is for “a Switzerland with zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030”. And the first step towards “cli- mate equality” is to recognise the cri- MARC LETTAU, REPORT THEODORA PETER, PARTY SURVEY Friday is once more upon us; a school day. Despite this, large numbers of noisy students are marching through the city centre. Passers-by now know the reasonas suchdemonstrations have been taking place in many cities for months. The student body is striking. They are skipping school and loudlyde- manding a strong climate policy with immediate effect. The younger ones are barely twelve years old; the majority are teenagers. In the meantime, twen- ty-somethings from the universities have also joined in. There are increas- ing numbers of their grandparents’ generation, but fewer from their par- ents’ generation. Some 50, 000 took part in thenationwide climate strikeon 15March2019. Twomonths later, on24 May, participants numbered in the tens of thousands, despite their universi- ty-entrance examinations. The move- ment cannot be overlooked or ignored. “Things are not OK” But what’smotivating thismovement of young strikers? We put this ques- tion to a trio of students from the can- ton of Bern. First up is Thun pupil Li- nus Dolder (16). He describes how much the power of images spurs him on. When he is on his winter holiday, 2,000 metres up and only wearing a T-shirt, and he sees brown landscapes sparsely streakedwithwhite artificial snow, he realises, “that things are not OK, evenwithout having lived on this earth for thirty or forty years”. Sophie Feuz (16), a pupil fromBern, is not focused on the “unknown fu- ture”, but rather the untenable pres- ent. “People are already losing their livelihood, animal species are dying out and glaciers are disappearing in the Alps due to the current situation.” It’s depressing to experience so much decline during one’s own short life, “and life is so very short”. Lastly,Wirada Läderach (15) fromBelp gives us three reasons for striking. Firstly, her fear of the “massive chaos” that awaits if those who are in crisis due to climate change come under even more pressure. Second, the frus- trating experience, “that all thosewho hold our future in their hands don’t want to act”. And thirdly, the strike has given them an opportunity to, “fi- nally voice our concern about some- thing that has been worrying us for a long time”. Everything. Now. The striking youth all sound rather bolshy but come across as amazingly well-behaved. The police who are es- corting the large numbers of march- ers are visibly relaxed. The list of de- Linus Dolder: “All you can do is change something. Become a vegetarian, don’t fly any more, ride your bike more often.” Photo: Danielle Liniger “We consume a great deal and also very cheaply,” says Sophie Feuz. We should all make an effort to consume less and back true-cost pricing. Photo: Danielle Liniger Wirada Läderach: “My parents are happy to see me taking part in the climate movement. We talk about it often and at length at the dinner table.” Photo: Danielle Liniger sis situation and proclaim a “climate emergency”. This is having an impact on the political establishment. In February, the cantonal parliament of Basel-Stadt approved a climate resolution and actually proclaimed a “climate emer- gency”. It remains unclear as to whether this is a symbolic act to placate the student body or the start of a newpolitical agenda. In themean- time, cities including Olten (SO) and Delémont (JU), as well as the canton of Vaud have declared themselves climate “emergency areas”. The cantonal elections at the be- ginning of the year delivered signs of change in the political climate. In March, the pointedly climate-politi- cal Green Party and the Green Liberal Party increased their share of the vote froma joint 14.8 per cent (2015) to 24.8