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LINK On environmentalism, whiteness and activist superstars | gal-dem

One criticism I’ve heard leveled against Greta Thunberg is that this is a white girl, living in a prosperous country, who really shouldn’t be the face of climate change. This article addresses that ...

In some ways this is an important point – activists of colour like Mari Copeny a.k.a. Little Miss Flint, who has been raising awareness and funds for the water crisis since she was eight, have received far less attention for their activism. But I’m less interested in this criticism levelled towards Greta as a person – she is a 16-year-old, autistic girl who has endured a lot of ableism and misogyny in her time in the public eye. Instead, I think it’s important that we think about the structures that consistently centre whiteness, and white individuals, both within coverage of the climate crisis and outside of it. It is this that speaks to a larger problem of white supremacy and an obsession with individuals in the media.

We know that under white supremacism, both the media and its audiences disproportionately spotlight and uplift whiteness ... This doesn’t mean we should pay less attention towards Greta on the basis of her whiteness, but instead we should criticise the white supremacist climate that means that activists like Mari Copeny get sidelined.

Part of this problem also lies in the issue of fame in and of itself. To a certain extent, we buy into the cult of the individual when we inject 16-year-old activists into the realm of celebrity, when they really came to tell us to take action. The media prefers individual “star” activists to faceless movements. But this complicates representation – it’s impossible for one person to truly represent everyone ... the pressure and criticism directed towards her sometimes feels unfair – it’s worth considering that Greta didn’t ask to be a celebrity, we made her into one. We can address and deconstruct this problem by thinking beyond individuals – and also talking about movements, community groups and even our most abstract modes of thinking about the climate crisis (particularly with regards to decolonisation).

... When we bring focus towards activists of colour, we prove that activism isn’t a project that has only limited space for a certain number of voices. It reduces the amount of misogynistic and ableist abuse that young activists like Greta face, whilst in turn tackling the issue of putting whiteness on a pedestal. Importantly, this goes hand-in-hand with pushing against the media’s constant need to position individual people as the monolithic faces of particular movements.

altschmerz 9 Sep 27
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This states valid points about how spotlighting favors some activists over others. I wish we could hear in our news about more activists of color, and learn about the ways they are achieving their worthwhile goals. That would be inspiring to me. Little Miss Flint deserves just as much recognition as Greta. I'm always impressed by the achievements of activists. Here's an article about a quite a few black social justice and climate activists who are achieving wonderful goals on behalf of others in their communities: [huffpost.com]

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I agree with everything you said except the very last sentence. You almost always need that one person who captures the publics attention. Without John Stewart's constantly being on television going after the Senate, do you think that funding for 911 early responders would have happened? I am not saying it is right, but human beings are very self oriented and it is not always easy to get them to pay attention with just a message. Sometimes It takes that special messenger to get their attention. They only attack this young lady because they have no argument against her message. A very nice post. 🙂

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It matters not a jot what colour she is, where she comes from, what sex she is , or what age she is.
She is under attack because capitals are frightened of what she is saying and more that people are listening to her.

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