The Energy for Change

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was born in 2001. He’s a student of the Jacek Kuroń Multicultural Humanitarian High School, and a member of the Youth Climate Strike collective. He volunteers for organizations including the Museum of Modern Art.

I’m a member of Generation Z, the people born between 1995 and 2010. It’s very difficult to describe us, either as a generation or in terms of the times that shaped us, because we don’t have enough distance from them yet – they’re still going on. But one thing is certain: they’re stormy times. The world we’re growing up in is disturbing. Our youth passed by in the shadow of 9/11 and its consequences, meaning the broadly-understood American war on terror, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Immediately afterwards came the 2008 economic crisis, and as teenagers we encountered the migration crisis.

I’m not writing all of this to complain; I only want to show that the reality we’re living in is completely different from that of our parents. It turns out that there is no way the world can be divided into the good guys from the West and the bad guys from the East, because each side definitely has something

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Jan Ciemniewski:

was born in 2001. He’s a student of the Jacek Kuroń Multicultural Humanitarian High School, and a member of the Youth Climate Strike collective. He volunteers for organizations including the Museum of Modern Art.

Translation: Nathaniel Espino

Publish date: 22.07.2019

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Paulina Wilk:

used be an editor of the Culture & Society section. She is a writer and journalist focusing on global development.

“We are facing a disaster of unspoken sufferings for enormous amounts of people. And now is not the time for speaking politely or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now is the time to speak clearly,” says the Swedish schoolgirl, brave enough to tell the adults that they are bringing doom upon their children.

She’s small for her age. When she meets journalists from the most prominent media, they always seem surprised by this fact – how come such a tiny, unsmiling teenager is making such poignant, uncompromising statements? She calls the world leaders out on their indifference and hauls them over the coals.

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