A Brief History of Greta Thunberg
In June, twelve passengers sailed on a ship called the Madleen, headed towards Gaza, Palestine. The ship was named after Madleen Kulab, Gaza’s first fisherwoman, who currently lives in the city. Its 12 passengers included lawmakers, activists, and journalists, all part of a mission to break Israel’s 18-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. These efforts, conducted by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, have been ongoing since 2010, but have only recently gained major attention due to one person aboard the Madleen - infamous activist Greta Thunberg, a powerhouse of youth resistance and social justice. When the Madleen was intercepted by the Israeli navy on June 9, Thunberg was quickly deported to her home country of Sweden, but set sail on another Freedom Flotilla in September. This kind of relentless activism is what Thunberg has come to be known for, but her journey started long before she began daringly sailing into murky waters.
Most people know Thunberg as a climate activist, and they wouldn’t be far off, as that’s where her journey began. In a 2018 essay for The Guardian, Thunberg stated she learned about climate change when she was eight years old, recalling thinking, “If burning fossil fuels threatened our very existence, then how could we continue to burn them? Why were there no restrictions? Why wasn’t it illegal to do this? Why wasn’t anyone talking about the dangerous climate change we have already locked in?” Fueled by this concern and frustration, she began protesting at 15 years old, a remarkably young age that quickly launched her into the international spotlight. Thunberg skipped school for almost three weeks straight, standing outside Swedish parliament with a sign that read, “Skolstrejk fö Klimatet” (School Strike for Climate). At first alone, she was quickly joined by dozens of others who stood for the same cause. When she returned to school, she’d still spend her Fridays skipping to protest in what became an international movement dubbed Fridays For Future. Even at this point in her career, Thunberg had redefined what an activist could do, look like, and represent. She was angry with her government and the world for failing to address issues that would affect her generation, becoming the face of youth activism and rejuvenating the movement against climate change.
Continuing this legacy, Thunberg was invited to speak at various summits, events, and meetings worldwide, traveling to France, New York City, Italy and more to stress the importance of climate action. However, she became frustrated with her interactions with world leaders, saying at a Youth4Climate summit in 2021, “They invite cherry-picked young people to meetings like this to pretend that they listen to us. But they clearly don’t listen to us…We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is.” During this time, she was also speaking out about the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by many countries, stressing the importance of listening to health professionals and scientists. Upon the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, she included support for the country in her Friday protests, holding signs that read, “Stand With Ukraine” while standing outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm, Sweden. In her support, she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the ecological effects of the war. Her activism was expanding to include causes other than climate change, but Thunberg clearly considered the intersection of these issues with that of her environmental roots.
Thunberg had begun posting about her support for Palestinian liberation in late 2023, and the shift in her activism to encompass wider social issues also resulted in an intensifying support for the nation. Shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by militant resistance group Hamas on Israel, Thunberg posted a message on X expressing solidarity with the residents of Gaza, a move that got her extreme amounts of backlash, including from Israel itself. The country’s Education Ministry made the decision to remove “...various references in the educational curriculum that present Thunberg as a role model and a source of inspiration for youth,” according to foreign press coordinator Anati Manshury in a statement to Newsweek. However, the embarking of the ship Madleen in June marked a new wave of boldness for Thunberg, even among her previous detentions and arrests as a result of her protesting.
PC: Unsplash
Despite the capture of the Madleen’s passengers on June 9, Thunberg returned to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in September, boarding another ship that was intercepted along with dozens of others on Oct. 1. Before she was deported on Oct. 6, Thunberg and other activists were held in prisons and allegedly mistreated and abused by members of the Israeli Defense Forces. These allegations included not providing adequate food and water, dragging Thunberg by her hair and making her kiss the Israeli flag, holding the detainees in cells that contained bedbugs, and beating them. The state of Israel has completely denied all of these allegations. However, Thunberg stated in a press conference that what she and other detainees endured was nothing compared to what people in Gaza are enduring every day, and have been for decades.
This small detail encompasses the fact that her activism is, above all, selfless. Leading with an intersectional framework and a level-headed but determined approach, Thunberg’s capacity for sparking change has already been demonstrated. Her work requires strength, compassion, and devotion, qualities that show no signs of fading anytime soon. And she’s only 22 years old – no one knows what the future holds for Thunberg and her fight against injustices.
Sources/further reading:
Greta Thunberg alleges torture in Israeli detention after Gaza flotilla arrest
Ukraine's Zelenskyy meets Greta Thunberg and others to address the war's effect on ecology
I'm striking from school to protest inaction on climate change – you should too | Greta Thunberg
Israel Removes Greta Thunberg From Curriculum Over Pro-Palestinian Message
‘Blah, blah, blah’: Greta Thunberg lambasts leaders over climate crisis
