Keele Research Repository

The Global Climate Strike (GCS) movement is by far the largest and most international youth protest movement to date. Drawing on surveys of UK protesters in two demonstrations, in semi-rural Truro in Cornwall and urban Manchester on 15 March 2019 this chapter assesses strikers’ views on the challenges facing the political system in dealing with the climate crisis. Although there are some differences between younger and older strikers, both groups are overwhelmingly critical of the failures of politicians, but optimistic about the capacity of organised groups within civil society to make a positive difference. We assess the limited extent to which this politics was represented in the public sphere, as measured in an analysis of local newspapers. Although the novelty of young people taking political action led to coverage, reporting over-emphasised the disruptive effects of protests while underplaying the political perspectives of protesters, typically framing the protests in moral rather than political terms. Given that media coverage provides the most authoritative public record of events, this depoliticisation is itself a form of marginalisation for the young people who took part in climate strikes.