The giant marches of 2019 which led to a historic green wave in the European Parliament did not take place in 2024, before the vote on June 9. The climate remains a major concern for voters, but one that is not reflected either in the streets or in political debates.
“Our future, your vote” says the banner of one of the rare major demonstrations for the climate of 2024, in Berlin, on May 31, before the vote from June 6 to 9 to elect the new deputies of the European Parliament. | REUTERS
But what are climate activists doing? A few days before the European election, from June 6 to 9 in the 27 EU countries, the big marches can be counted on the fingers of one hand: 13,000 people in Berlin on May 31, according to the organizers Fridays For Future, a few thousand in Amsterdam.
187,000 walkers in France
For comparison, the first major European climate demonstration of 2019 attracted more than 70,000 people to Brussels on January 27. In France, two months later, 187,000 middle and high school students took to the streets for the world march. They demanded, in the wake of young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, urgent political action against global warming.
These mobilizations were reflected in the ballot boxes. Environmentalists garnered historic scores in the European elections on May 26, 2019, notably thanks to younger voters, which pushed the Commission to adopt ambitious legislation, the Green Deal.
Despite heat records
Five years later, walkers got tired of pounding the pavement. Despite the record global temperatures of 2023 and the acceleration of violent weather episodes, we no longer talk much about climate in the debates, even though the issues are crucial and the European Union is the decision-maker
, regrets Christian de Perthuis, climate economist at Paris Dauphine .
Despite also the fact that almost one in two French people (46%) consider climate change to be “the greatest threat to their way of life in the next ten years”, according to a study by FINN Partners Research & Insights, published Tuesday June 4. Far ahead of immigration, for the 11,793 European adults questioned, including 1,628 French.
The Alternatiba network bike tour left Nantes on June 2 and will reach Marseille in October. The objective is to make “visible all the good initiatives for the climate in the territories”. | WEST FRANCE
Why such shortness of breath? First, the high school students have grown up. Many activists indicate that the periods of Covid confinement have dampened enthusiasm. As for the social movement in France, the demonstrations against the pension reform have also left a bitter taste of exhaustion
, analyzes Gaspard Tamagny, spokesperson for the Alternatiba movement, which brought together 3,000 people on June 1 and 2 , in Nantes, for the start of its Climate Initiatives Tour.
A “different” activism
A majority of the Friday strikers, the least motivated, returned to their studies; a minority joined more radical activism. They throw paint on works in museums or on the facades of banks that finance fossil fuels; they block roads, polluting construction sites, mega-basins (The Earth Uprisings) and general meetings of oil groups (Extinction Rebellion)… The mobilization is not as massive and coordinated as in 2019; it exists in a different way, either to fight against climate-killing policies or to develop citizen actions in the territories
, believes Gaspard Tamagny.
Several climate activists have also chosen to influence politics directly by running as candidates in these European elections. The German navigator Carlota Rackete, known for having landed migrants in Lampedusa and angering the Italian Matteo Salvini, is very well placed on the Die Linke (radical left) list. She promises to fight against climate apartheid
. In Austria, Lena Schilling (23), the leader of Fridays, was named head of the Green list.
The major climate marches have given way to more targeted militant actions, such as here against fossil fuels, during the general meeting of shareholders of Total Énergies, in Paris, on May 25. | REUTERS
For Anneleen Kenis, lecturer at Brunel University in London and specialist in the climate movement, the current suffering of Palestinians in Gaza also played a role. Without the ongoing atrocities, denounced by Greta Thunberg herself and on many student campuses, there would have been a reasonable chance of a new cycle of climate activism this election
, she believes.
Responsibility of politicians
In activism, we know that mobilization works in cycles […] There is an emotional side to defending a cause. At a given moment, the emotion can disappear and people move on
, analyzes Kim Le Quang, co-founder of the Rise for Climate movement in Brussels, interviewed by the Euractiv agency. And there was a new side to these 2019 marches
, adds the spokesperson for Alternatiba, a movement active since 2013.
Also read. Energy, transport, food, industry… 2019-2024 was an exceptional mandate for the climate
How does he analyze the almost total disappearance of climate and biodiversity issues in debates on TV channels, in France for example? That the candidate leading the polls with 30% prefers not to talk about ecology but rather about immigration is indeed a problem. It is the responsibility of those who have the voice and the power to take scientific facts into account to decide the future of all. Not that of the activists…
