#Fridaysforfuture. Beyond the Hashtag on Youth Activism for Climate Justice: A Case Study of Slovenia’s Youth for Climate Justice (Mladi Za Podnebno Pravičnost, MZZP)

Abstract

The Anthropocene logic of the ‘faster-higher-further’ perpetuates the continuous human wish and grind for more, constructing a chain of production and consumption that in reality ends up being detrimental to our living environment, also risking our health and lifestyles. The current approach to stop or minimise the effects of one of the most pronounced environmental issues, climate change, also generates a global justice problem whereby those who have done the least to cause it suffer the most from the impacts of the status quo. Young people, who are likely to bear the brunt of current inaction, are at the forefront of the recent massive mobilisation for climate justice that did not circumvent the region of South-East Europe, demanding a just transition towards a new development paradigm that would be beneficial for all. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the existence of sustainabilityoriented attitudes in the lives of young activists from the Mladi za podnebno pravičnost (MZPP) movement in Slovenia, thereby inspecting the motivations behind and the aim of taking part in the strikes, as well as their perception of the obstacles that hinder the movement’s progress. In order to achieve this, a series of both structured and semi-structured interviews were used. The findings suggest a spectrum of climate change information-gathering channels that influence activists’ climate awareness and generate their action within the activist group. Moreover, the findings also reveal instances of liberal theory comeback in the form of vivid discontent with and distrust towards the current political establishment in Slovenia, demanding equal and fair representation and participation in decision-making processes, encasing the equity aspect of climate change issue. Key words: environmental thought development, climate change, climate justice, Slovenia, MZPP