Even as a schoolgirl Greta Thunberg has stood up for environmental and human rights.
Greta Thunberg continues to engrave her name for eternity, this time with her trip to war-torn Gaza in a bid to deliver humanitarian aid.
What is so heroinic about the 22-year-old Swedish climate and human rights activist is her uncompromised courage, determination and resilience to confront injustice in all its forms.
Greta and 11 other people boarded a yacht, the Madleen, which is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, carrying aid for Gaza to draw global attention to the plight of people under siege and being killed. The Israeli forces intercepted the vessel and Greta was later deported.
Many superstars and philanthropists with bigger audiences remain mute about Israel’s fullscale war in Gaza for fear of being labelled antisemitic and Zionists, but Greta traded it all to speak out. She defied this intimidation.
What she wants the world to know is in the world of injustices is, don’t be silent but rise, speak out and take action.
Silence may be the safest way from danger and prejudicial accusations but it’s a fertile ground upon which the tyranny of injustice thrives.
In this whole Greta Gaza saga, what touched me as a parent was the moment she displayed a placard reading “Bombing kids is not self-defence”. This was an act of demanding justice from the perpetuators.
Greta advocating for the safety of children and innocent lives resonates with the United Nations Children’s Fund that civilians and children should not be the targets in Israel’s war in Gaza and the West Band and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In the interviews after Israel deported Greta, her facial expression was one of sadness about the ongoing injustices in Gaza, reflecting a critical question. Where is ubuntu? Where is humanity?
Greta, the founder of Fridays for Future, reminds the world of Charles Bukowski’s words: “I guess the only time most people think about injustice is when it happens to them.”
The fearless Thunberg is not waiting for children in Sweden to be bombarded or denied food, safe drinking water and homes; she is taking action with conviction knowing that injustice in one part of the world is injustice everywhere.
To deny people their basic needs such as food, water and shelter denies them their very basic human rights and existence.
In August 2018 Greta started her skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for climate) outside the Swedish parliament demanding something be done to deal with climate change. Her lone protest spread around the world.
In 2024 she joined the Georgian election protests for a rerun of the 26 October elections after the ruling Georgian Dream party was declared the winner amid claims of vote-rigging.
Greta has also publicly condemned environmental injustices regarding Russia’s ecocide, calling it an atrocity against people and planet. This followed Russia’s blowing up of Ukraine’s Kakhovka Dam.
Many of her fellow climate activists remain mute about the ongoing gross injustices in Uganda and East African region such as state abductions, torture, arbitrary arrests and fraudulent elections. We hope they can use their global status to draw attention to these.
Greta is consistently using her status to speak truth to power and push back political, social, economic and environmental injustices.
My call is for activists, celebrities and other famous people to use their voices to protest against injustices in the world.
Robert Kigongo is a sustainable development analyst.