Thread by @Fridays4future

Do you know what the new visual identity of FFF means? It means the movement needs to be less white-european.

We need a more queer-black-brown-indigenous-disabled RADICAL ANTI-COLONIAL movement. The most vulnerable people should not only be included, they should lead. 🧵

Btw, I’m @namevdelang (they/them) from México, and I’m taking over @Friday4Future twitter today. My dad and I did the new artwork and design for Fridays for Future. 🌻🌺

This is the first of 3 threads I’ll do today. Follow my personal account if you feel like it 😌

My dad is Jorge del Ángel. He has been an artist for more than 30 years. Check out some of his work :)

With the new design we tried to create an aesthetic that respects and visibilizes a diversity of people, collectives, and movements.

FFF has been trying to do this especially since last year, with the creation of @FFFMAPA, a network of global south and BIPOC activists globally.

We are a global movement, but systemic oppression has created a context in which white and european activists have most or all the media attention while marginalized perspectives are ignored.

This happened for example during COP26.

While most of the activists there were from the Global South and had mostly anti-capitalist and decolonial narratives, all the media cared about were the europeans. Hmm 🧐

(here some pics from me during cop because :p )

So yeah, the thing is that the effort during 2021 wasn’t enough either. But we, as Global South and marginalized activists, are still pushing for it and we will never stop. Never.

Our new design and artwork includes mostly BIPOC people because that’s how the world is. Most of the world isn’t white, and most of FFF isn’t white, so we don’t have a white majority to appeal to.

Also, it was also created by non hegemonic people from the Global South, just as the new narrative #PeopleNotProfit

From the margins, the realpolitik of some white european activists does not have sense, is just PR and opportunism.

We know tokenization is as bad as non-representation.

That’s why is important to say that even if we as activists from FFF in the Global South do have less privileges than most of the North, we are still mostly more privileged than others.

México, my country, is the second country with the most cases of environmentalists killed, but also, 80% of them were indigenous.

The thing is that the environmental struggle has always been lead by those racialized and indigenous communities that are threatened constantly.

We need an intersectional and decentralized movement based in constant deliberation, discussions, experimentation, solidarity, interdependence and more.

I think art is a great opportunity to start that changes.

In the climate movement we are thousands, millions, and that’s beautiful, we need to not only accept diversity but to love diversity.

That’s also something we tried to show with these new aesthetics. Why to mainly use green if neither nature nor our movement are homogenous? Why to care more about rules than about dynamism? Etc.

But of course, even if narratives and aesthetics are important, they are not enough.

This strike we need to resign to some of our platform as FFF and give it to all the other organizations that have projects as important, or even more important, than ours.

We need to work with the indigenous, feminists, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, queer, anti-racist movements. Climate struggle is class struggle.

We need to support liberation movements. 

Free Palestine

Free Kurdistan

Free Balochistan

Degrow the north, decolonize the South

Landback. Viva la autonomía de todos los pueblos.

Only when we support and fight for that and more, we will be heading in the right direction.

If you’re interested in my other threads for today, here I’ll be tweeting them all so you don’t get lost.
You can ask some questions also, I’ll be answering them!

https://twitter.com/Fridays4future/status/1491896368834744327?t=6n_7MB6wtUfqDk6SABHfNg&s=19