As a student at Amsterdam University College, Frankie was part of a group that worked on exposing and breaking the ties between the university and the fossil fuel industry. She helped to organise the first ever Dutch Local Conference of Youth (LCOY), a grassroots initiative in which two hundred young people came together to share ideas, explore new forms of climate action and connect with other youth networks around the world. On top of this she has taken part in a number of civil disobedience actions against coal and creative actions against Shell’s sponsorship of the cultural industry. Having just graduated, she is still doing lots of ‘climate stuff’ as well as working as a caregiver.

 

We need big change

When asked about the urgency of global climate action, Frankie argues that it’s spectacular and far-reaching action that we need right now, rather than people thinking it is enough to just change their consumer habits. “We need big change. And I think all individual and collective actions that focus on breaking the existing global power dynamics are really powerful. The international climate strike is a great way of showing the connection between countries. Instead of a national thing, we are making this a global issue.”

 

Going on strike to show support

As so many recent natural and humanitarian disasters prove, the climate crisis is already wreaking havoc all over the world. For Frankie, joining the climate strike is therefore a way to show solidarity with those who are suffering. “People are losing their family members, their homes, and their livelihoods to the extreme weather,” she explains, “and since I’m not currently experiencing these effects in my own life, I’m going on strike to show my support with those who are facing these things right now.”

 
 

It’s everyone’s duty to join the movement

What it ultimately comes down to, if you ask Frankie, is the issue of justice. “How can we think it’s okay,” she says, “that the people, plants and animals that contributed the least to the climate crisis now have to deal with the most acute effects of it, and we think that’s somehow justified? It’s just not.” This is why she feels it is not just her duty to become part of the movement but in fact everyone’s duty.

 

Rhythms of Resistance

So how do you ensure your message is heard at the strike? In Frankie’s case, by drumming her heart out as member of Rhythms of Resistance, an activist samba percussion band that plays at demonstrations all over the planet. “We play at a lot of different climate and social justice protests and we will be in The Hague on the 27th of September. What’s great about the band is that the music deescalates. It’s nonviolent and it’s fun to dance to. She quotes another member of the band when she says: ‘Music is a way of bringing beauty back into a world that is right now experiencing so much loss and destruction of beauty.’

It’s time to act! Come join Frankie and her fellow percussionists at the climate strike in The Hague on the 27th of September!