Speaking up for climate justice: youth revindicating their voice in FridaysForFuture-Rome’s climate activism

The climate crisis has come to define this generation of activists (Hestres & Hopke, 2017), who are fighting for better awareness and policies to face this global challenge. The FridaysForFuture (FFF) movement, especially, is composed of young activists who resort to their moral authority as children (Marris 2019) to demand adults take responsibility for jeopardizing their future (Wahlström et al., 2019), thus anchoring FFF activism in the generational, self-identification processes implied by being young (DellaPorta 2019). By reviewing literature on youth activism (Bishop, 2015; Gordon, 2009; Liou & Literat, 2020; O’Brien et al., 2018) and digital activism (Bennett & Segerberg, 2011; Hopke & Hestres, 2018; Toret et al., 2015; Trerè, 2019), and analyzing thematically (Guest et al., 2011) twenty semi structured interviews to FFF-Rome activists, this contribution explores how FFF-Rome activists challenge adults’ patronizing attitudes by speaking up about the climate crisis on their own channels (social media) and in their own way (expressing the needs of their generation). It highlights how FFF activists resist the ageism that judges them unfit for political participation and resort to online and offline activism to fight against climate change. It focuses on the connection between youth activism and generational identity and analyzes young climate activists’ struggle to be heard and taken seriously by adults (Kligler-Vilenchik & Literat, 2019) as they fight against and strategically embrace paternalistic aptitudes to achieve their goals.