Beware the Child Activist

Greta Thunberg is the latest manifestation of the “child activist” phenomenon. In less than a year the Swedish teen has become the world-wide poster child for climate change action. Greta seems an inspiration to many people, and is unafraid to put other people’s money where her mouth is. Just now she is on her way to New York aboard a five million euro racing yacht to attend multiple photo-ops. In this, she is leading by example; in a perfect world we’d all make our transatlantic crossings by sailboat, thereby saving the planet by eliminating the carbon footprint of trans-Atlantic flights.

This is a publicity stunt, of course. I have a hunch that there’s nothing remotely “carbon-neutral” about building a sixty-foot racing yacht, and we’d have to build one hell of a fleet if they’re to replace air travel!

Before Greta, we had little Bana, the plucky seven year old Aleppo girl whose moving tweets implored the West to do more to save Syria’s children from Assad and Putin. Within months of leaving Syria, Bana was at the Oscars, rubbing elbows with the Hollywood elite. Her first book, a memoir, was recently published by Simon and Schuster.

Before Bana, we had Malala, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history. Malala campaigns for the rights of women and girls in Muslim countries. This is a popular cause among the Western NGO class. Who can be against equal rights for women and girls? In fact, one of the rationales for the initial occupation of Afghanistan was that we were improving the lives of women and girls there. Ironically, eighteen years later the same do-gooders are complaining that if the US quits Afghanistan, all their hard-won gains will be erased.

Before Malala, we had Craig Kielburger, the twelve year old Canadian kid who launched the Me to We non-profit (and the shadow for-profit that cleverly sprang up alongside it.) Craig too wants to help the downtrodden and oppressed in less fortunate lands.

These idealistic children have in every case been “managed” by media-savvy adults working in the background. As such, they are being used to advance the agendas of the grown-ups around them.

Child activism, or child exploitation?