Greta Thunberg has recently adopted a different tone at her rallies. She stirs up emotions with pro-Palestinian slogans – including among supporters of Fridays for Future. How did that happen?
A video goes around the world: It shows climate activist Greta Thunberg at a rally in Amsterdam attended by 85,000 people. Actually nothing special, because Thunberg has been touring the world for years looking for followers who are committed to the planet. Thunberg actually wanted to talk about climate protection on the podium in Amsterdam – at least that’s what was expected. But then everything turned out completely differently.
Instead of climate goals and criticism of politics, the largest Fridays for Future rally in the Netherlands on Sunday was about the war between Israel and Hamas. Thunberg expressed solidarity with the Palestinians. This displeased an activist, who quickly climbed onto the stage and took the microphone out of her hand. “I came here for a climate demonstration, and not for political views,” the man shouts before he is pulled off the stage by activists wearing a black and white Palestinian scarf. Thunberg also wears such a scarf during the appearance.
The man, a retired physiotherapist and an environmental activist for years, is called Erjan Dam. He has admired Thunberg so far. “But if she now constantly talks about Palestine instead of climate protection, that is not good for the climate protection movement,” he tells “Spiegel”. Dam is not the first to denounce the Fridays for Future icon’s new course. With her political statements, Greta Thunberg has at least divided her global movement. The German branch under Luisa Neubauer has already distanced itself from the founder and the international movement.
And many may now be asking themselves: How did Thunberg suddenly change his political direction?