What is Fridays for Future - and what is it all about?

For months, students around the world have not been going to school on Fridays, but instead gathering in public places. Our guide explains what the movement's goals are and what's behind it.

Worldwide: Fridays for Future is now a real mass movement.

Strikingly large events are taking place on Fridays in numerous cities. These are Fridays for Future.

What is Fridays for Future?

Here is the most important info on Fridays for Future:

• As part of Fridays for Future, students protest every Friday for better climate protection measures.
• The aim is to draw public attention to the issue to underline its importance.
• The most important person and at the same time figurehead of the movement is the Swede Greta Thunberg (17), who was thereby selected as one of the 100 most influential personalities of 2019. Among the best-known German activists is Luisa Neubauer (23) from Hamburg.
• What began with a single action by Greta Thunberg spread rapidly around the globe, not least thanks to social media.
• In the meantime, several thousand participants at each event are the rule, both in Germany and in other countries.
• The organization is primarily via the Internet, but also flyers are used.

Because of the size and vehemence of the movement, there is of course also criticism of Fridays for Future. This comes from various directions, such as the economy, which does not want to promote climate protection at the risk of corporate profits and politically from the right-wing spectrum, which doubts the role of humans in climate change and therefore sees the required measures as unnecessary.Nevertheless, Fridays for Future managed to global reach, from which even analogous movements of other groups emerged, such as Parents for Future and Artists for Future. Most importantly, Scientists for Future: the movement includes some 26,000 scientists who officially support Fridays for Future, giving it a rationally justifiable foundation.