GRETA IN EDMONTON: Counter protest? What counter protest?
When news broke that Greta Thunberg was coming to Alberta, and to Edmonton, social media exploded.
On the one side were people excited that the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist superstar would be taking her message to the Oil Capital of Canada.
On the other side were those who felt that Greta and her peers are out to destroy the oil industry. A barrage of insulting online comments demonstrated just how this young woman has taken the world by storm. She’s hit a nerve, and galvanized the global climate action movement.
Greta is not the first young person to be up in arms over the state of the environment. Indigenous activists have been rallying for years over issues pertaining to water, land, and air. There have been dozens of rallies in Edmonton over the past few years, with attendance ranging from a couple dozen to a couple hundred. Greta’s rally on Friday, Oct. 18 drew an estimated 10,000 people, who marched from Beaver Hills House Park (spilling over with people by 10:30 am), down Jasper Avenue and finally to the Alberta Legislature.
Greta didn’t lead the march – ceding that honour to area Indigenous youth and people of colour, who were at the front behind the main banners. People with disabilities were next. Everyone else was asked to move to the back; the media were moved to the side to make way for the impending takeover of the streets. Towards the back of the march was Greta herself, flanked by other teens, looking almost inconspicuous.
It took constant ushering and announcements by marshals with megaphones to keep things orderly. No violent incidents were reported, and there were no arrests.
As expected, pro-oil counter-protesters appeared at various points along Jasper Avenue, including familiar faces from the Yellow Vests, Proud Boys, and other extreme right-wing groups. Marshals joined hands to form a buffer between the two groups. A convoy of about a dozen trucks had also driven up from Red Deer for a pro-oil convoy, but were relegated to distant streets. Their honking eventually faded away.
It was a slow march. By the time Greta and the throng arrived at the legislature, several thousand people were already waiting. Jason Kenney and the UCP already stated that they were not interested in meeting with Greta (nor she with them). No elected officials spoke. The voices here were of the young climate activists, once again mostly Indigenous people and people of colour, speaking about the colonial and capitalist systems which have been factors in the climate crisis.
A few counter-protesters could be heard making noise in the background, if one really strained their ears to listen – including some booing during Greta’s speech. Perhaps if they took the time to listen they would have heard nothing that should have offended them at all. Greta did not specifically discuss Alberta or oil. She explained her concern for the future, and didn’t lay blame on any one political party or industry.
“Young people all around the globe are today sacrificing their education to bring attention to the climate and ecological emergency,” she said. “We’re not doing this because we want to. We aren’t doing it because it’s fun …
“We are doing this because our future is at stake.”
While she’s the obvious draw, Greta was really not the centre of the event. A movement cannot be sustained on the back of one celebrity, however influential – but there are many other voices joining the cause of climate action, and thanks in part to people like Greta, their numbers are growing.
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