Interview with Youth Strike Manchester @Youthstrikemcr

Who/what is Youth Strike Manchester?

Youth Strike Manchester

Youth Strike Manchester is a youth led organisation consisting currently of over 40 passionate young activists from across Greater Manchester. We began two years ago protesting and marching in St. Peter’s Square, following in the footsteps of the global Fridays for Future strikes to challenge global inaction on the climate crisis. Ever since the pandemic we have continued to let our voices be heard over social media to advocate for climate justice by continuing to grow our online presence with digital strikes, climate assemblies and educational content., We collectively place an active focus on intersectionality and education within environmentalism.

 What have you been doing this last year

Youth Strike Manchester have been incredibly busy, especially over the past year. Whilst our monthly strikes were unfortunately paused due to national and local restrictions we have continued to build momentum, shifting our focus onto outreach across GM. For example, we have:

  • Onboarded more than 30 new volunteers into our group
  • Created a new educational campaign “Union Z” with the purpose of providing accessible resources to teach people about the climate crisis
  • Held multiple online climate rallies
  • Started creating educational infographics on social media
  • Solidified and voiced our aims and demands
  • Begun working towards the GM Mayoral elections 
  • Created the monthly Youth Strike Manchester newsletter
  • Connected with groups and taken part in so many other projects within our community! 

 What is the purpose of this networking event/what would we like to see come of it?

 We decided to host a networking event mainly to bring together the different organisations doing amazing work across Greater Manchester. There is no “silver bullet” for the climate emergency, and the fight for climate justice requires much more than “one size fits all” solutions. Successful activism requires unity, and especially with the pandemic restricting us from social interaction, we felt that this would be a brilliant opportunity to reconnect with fellow campaigners, to hear about successes, battles and campaigns from across the area as well as bringing everyone together once again. 

Our goal with this event is to spark some interesting discussions and to learn more about the action other groups have been taking during the pandemic. We want to reflect on the past year, discuss current projects and any ideas for the future that people have; it is the perfect opportunity to share, collaborate and support each other in our hopes and goals for this upcoming year. Hopefully, this networking event will rekindle lasting alliances that are so important within the climate movement, and have been so helpful in our own actions. 

Complete this sentence: “In the next six months, the one thing Manchester City Council needs to do is…”

Manchester City Council needs to work to help ensure we can recover and build back from covid in the most sustainable way possible, in line with the vision of the Green New Deal. For many, the prolonged periods of lockdown have helped them realise how fundamental nature is to our wellbeing, only increasing the need for more dedicated green space in the area (no more attempts to build car parks please). We need to see that every decision the council makes is fully compatible with the GM current carbon neutral target of 2038. Youth Strike Manchester will continue to scrutinise and challenge (and hopefully praise) its progress along the way.

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