How to Build (and Sustain) a Movement
Join us for a discussion with Luisa Neubauer, the leading voice of the climate justice movement in Germany.
In 2018, Luisa Neubauer started building the climate youth movement "Fridays for Future" in Germany and made an effort to connect the movement internationally. For over five years, the organizers have succeeded in bringing hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets to demand more ambitious climate action. Luisa and her fellow activists participated in climate summits worldwide and reminded global leaders of the urgency of the climate crisis. However, when the pandemic hit in 2020, the world was shaken by health, social, and economic crises – and the youth movement began to struggle, its future seemed unclear.
When at the beginning of this year the news broke that Germany’s far-right party AfD was planning mass deportations of immigrants, Luisa together with numerous other democracy advocates organized protests across the country. They became one of the largest protests in German history.
Together with GW activists, Luisa will talk about the challenges (climate) activism and justice movements are facing in times of economic crisis, persistent injustice, and the political radicalization of the Right – and we will talk about strategies, narratives, and the question, "What comes next for progressive movements in America and Europe?"
Doors open at 5:45 PM. The presentation begins at 6 PM. A reception with drinks and light snacks will follow the event.
Sponsors:
Heinrich Böll Foundation North America
George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future
George Washington University Law School's Environmental & Energy Law Program
George Washington University's Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies
Speaker
Luisa Neubauer is the leading voice on the climate crisis in Germany and the climate justice movement's most prominent representative. For over five years now, Luisa and Fridays for Future have brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets. The TIMES listed her on the 2022 list of the 100next. In "Neubauer vs. Germany" she and others won a landmark constitutional court ruling against the German government (then led by Angela Merkel) in 2021, forcing the government to improve its climate law. She and others are now suing the (new) German government again. She has published three best-selling books on the climate crisis. One of them is available in English: Beginning to End the Climate Crisis. A History of Our Future, published by Brandeis University Press in 2023. Her TED talks on climate action have been watched more than 4 Million times.
The Heinrich Böll Foundation is a non-profit political foundation affiliated with the German Green Party. We are a catalyst for green visions and projects, a think tank for policy reform, and an international network. We seek to advance democracy and human rights, protect the environment and climate, and promote the peaceful resolution of conflicts. The foundation is headquartered in Berlin and maintains more than 30 global offices. Our Washington, DC office is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes policy reform and political dialogue through publications, public seminars, conferences, workshops, study tours, and visitor programs.