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Greta Thunberg. This Swedish phenomenon has gone from being a quietly protesting girl to becoming an adult revolutionary who attacks the decision-making methods of democracy.
It was in August 2018 that she began to sit outside the Swedish parliament, Riksdagen, in Stockholm with a placard with the text “School strike for the climate”. A lone, tiny 15-year-old girl sat in silence outside parliament to create attention for the climate issue.
In September 2018, she gave her first speech in the capital during the “People’s Climate March”, when she promised to “strike” from schools every Friday until Sweden fulfills the Paris Agreement.
PR campaign behind Greta
She received more and more attention from the media, one-sided positive attention. I was invited to public service television as one of the few critics. My objection was that children should go to school and get an education. Going on strike from school is not constructive. On the other hand, it is good that teenagers get involved in society and political issues, but you have to do that after school.
There were also question marks about who was behind the 15-year-old’s actions. Just three days after Greta began her regular sit-in strike, the first edition of the book Scenes from the Heart, written by her parents, was published.
Her father works in the PR and advertising industry. Very quickly, information about Greta’s activities spread globally in social media under hashtags such as #FridaysforFuture and #ClimateStrike.
Perfect mascot
The teenager’s climate action outside the Riksdag was first praised by left-wing politicians in Sweden, but international players also quickly began to pick up on the girl with the good perpose.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres singled her out in a speech just weeks after she began her school strike.
Those who want to raise the profile of the climate issue found a perfect mascot here.
The girl who wants to save the world. So innocently young, and with such a cleverly packaged message about that you have to do something about the climate. She now became a world celebrity. She engages millions of young people. And so, an organization was formed around her as the unifying figure. As if she were a saint.
Angry and aggressive revolutionary
But over the years, Greta Thunberg has changed her appearance. From the good, innocent girl to an aggressive revolutionary. The other day she was back outside the Swedish parliament. But now she was not satisfied with sitting with her placards along the house wall. Now she gathered her activists to block the entrance to the parliament so that the members would not enter.
It took time, but eventually the police intervened and took her away. When that happened, she made obscene gestures with her fingers.
Greta Thunberg has become aggressive. And for the sake of the climate, she turns her back on democratic governance. She breaks laws and rules. She could have demonstrated outside the Riksdag with a demonstration permit. Swedish society is open and free, within limits that show respect for everyone.
But Greta considers herself to be above others. It is a “planetary emergency” and therefore she considers herself able to ignore democracy and the laws.
This is not the first time she has been the subject of a lawsuit. She has been fined on several occasions recently for breaking laws.
Now the climate is not enough
As she has become a world celebrity, the temptation to get involved in other social issues has increased. She has been seen wearing a t-shirt with the emblem of the violent left-wing extremists in AFA (Anti-Fascist Action).
She and her organization Fridays For Future have turned against “capitalism” in interviews.
And most recently, wearing a Palestinian shawl, she has turned against Israel and claims that the media “brainwashes” people to make them sympathize with Israel instead of siding with the Palestinians.
Greta wants to be on the side of good but in reality this kind of activism ends up, sooner or later, in a self-glorifying mentality where people consider themselves entitled to force their ideas on others. You are so good that it legitimizes totalitarian methods.
This revolutionary romanticizing stance will not do. Greta Thunberg needs to grow up.