3 Reasons to Join the Digital Strike Movement!
By: Fff Digital Team
Tags: Strike, Climate Science, Climate, Activism, Justice

Courtesy of FFF Digital Twitter

Everyone has something to say about digital activism. Some people think it’s inherently inferior to physical and live actions, and that it’s a place for lazy people to pretend they’re doing something helpful. However, this is not true. The digital movement is beneficial in far more ways than one, especially during the current epidemic that hinders accessibility to physical strikes.

1. It’s inclusive

The Fridays for Future physical movement mainly focuses on travelling to protests and rallies as the main action. While this is fun and empowering, it’s not inclusive of people who can’t travel, especially during the current pandemic. As the pandemic goes on in 2020, lots of people don’t feel safe going to large protests, even if they’re socially distanced. Moreso, some activists may have to avoid physical strikes due to underlying health issues or being particularly vulnerable to coronavirus.

Furthermore, the physical striking movement may not be accessible due to the atmosphere of the protests, being loud and crowded and overwhelming to some. The neurodiverse community including myself are uncomfortable with the idea of large protests, and digital actions are a whole lot safer and more familiar.

The digital movement allows people to get involved who wouldn’t normally be able to, including BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) and MAPA (Most Affected People And Areas), and these are the people’s voices who need to be amplified — they’re the most impacted yet the least responsible.

2. It’s useful

Some criticize that the digital movement is that it’s merely performative, and that it’s not actually doing anything. This can be true, but not in our case.

Through the FFF Digital movement, digital striking is useful because it gets in people’s faces. By filling their feed with pictures of people with placards calling for climate action, it makes sure that the climate crisis is at the front of their minds, and that they will know that it’s a topic that can’t be avoided — we need action now.

Yet FFF Digital is so much more than digital striking. We research topics and themes, and then make infographics that are easy to understand, and even easier to share. We’re not just telling people that there’s a climate crisis- we’re educating people about what’s happening right now, what could happen, and the changes we all need to make to ensure that this planet stays thriving.

This education and getting in people’s faces means that we end up changing people’s minds and how they perceive the climate crisis. We make people realise that climate change isn’t a future possibility, but a current emergency.

Whether it’s our Escazú campaign to demand access to environmental information and indigenous justice from Latin America and Caribbean authorities, or our 8-week #DefendtheDefenders campaign uplifting local Indigenous movements, our activism has been so much more than digital striking. We’ve led to lots more countries signing and ratifying the agreement, and forced local governments around the world to take climate action now!

3. Actions are simple and easy

Lots of online actions, like signing petitions, only takes a few clicks, yet have a huge impact! Especially for email storms, you only need to fill in the blanks.

On Fridays, we mainly #DigitalStrike! This is also a simple action, as it only involves making a sign,taking a picture of yourself holding it, and posting it. For more information, click here.

Overall, online actions are one way to help tackle the climate crisis. Whether through digital striking, making toolkits for various online actions, or pushing local governments to sign progressive climate agreements, online actions are extremely impactful, inclusive, and accessible!

To get more involved, visit fffdigital.carrd.co and join our team here