Youth Climate Activists Unite to Protect Free Speech and Democracy in the U.S
Since free speech and democracy has become an even hotter topic since the Jimmy Kimmel suspension and he getting back on air, who else is fighting for free speech?
After making a post about Jimmy Kimmel's argument on free speech, someone made a comment to that post, I would keep it anonymous, but the person implied that, a rich celebrity who's also white, fighting for free speech is not something we should be caring about.
I would have disagreed but, the point I believe the person was trying to make was that, the focus of free speech should be more to the vulnerable masses that don't have the money or power or social status to defend themselves in an event where their free speech is taken away from them.
I see a point in that. So much so, I did a little research and decided to share some good news regarding those groups of people that are fighting for free speech.
There's a group of Young people or Youth in the United States called The Sunrise Movement, and they're mission is to fight for climate action and fairness. They got popular for promoting the Green New Deal. This is a plan to protect the planet and create good jobs while doing so.
What's happening right now is that they have decided to add something extremely important to their mission. They are now working to defend democracy and human rights, realizing that, it's under as much threat as climate, if not more.
The reason for this new direction is that, people cannot fix the bad climate conditions if they lose the freedom to speak about it or to protest. As a matter of fact, democracy doesn't exist anymore without free speech.
The only difference between the medieval times or times where kings rule over all and made the decisions for everyone and today's world is that, we the common citizens can speak and have our voices heard, and those in power change to make better decisions based on what we said or the protests that was made.
The group is very concerned that some of the government's actions, policies and decisions are limiting their basic rights and freedom of speech. They have focused on the Youth in college campuses, helping them stand up for free speech and peaceful protests.
Added to that, they're also supporting immigrants. We know a lot of policies are going against the immigrants these days. They even supported an immigrant bus driver at Duke University who lost his job when his Visa was taken away.
The group is committed to helping students and workers organize together for fair treatment and their safety as well. They teach the young ones on ways to recognize unfair power and authoritarianism, and use peaceful means to resist it.
The goal is to put a stop to hate, fear and too much control before it grows stronger. They have plans scheduled on May 1, 2028. The agenda is to call for unity and workers' rights. They also plan to defend entire cities and schools that speak out for freedom and equality. An ambitious goal no doubt which would require collaboration more than money.
The movement is very creative when it comes to how they send their message and how they work together. They use music, art and even comedy to share hope and courage.
The main message regardless of the form it comes in is that ordinary people have the real power as long as they decide to work together peacefully to exercise that power.
Screenshot of a the sunrise movement in action taken from this website