Students on strike – shirkers or protesters?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52610/rhs.v27i86.305Keywords:
Fridays for Future, rhetorical citizenship, rhetorical exclusion, youth climate activism, school strikeAbstract
The public debate about the Norwegian climate strikes mainly revolved around whether pupils should be granted authorised absences from school to strike or if their activism was to be recorded as truancy. In the article, I examine how politicians and other public actors argued about this issue. By doing so, I uncover significant yet contradictory assumptions about and ideals for children and youth’s democratic participation. In the debate, the young activists are portrayed as immature individuals who should remain in school to learn to become citizens that serve society and follow established democratic rules. However, this view of the young activists is also challenged by discourses about them as mature citizens fighting for system change and democratic rights. In the article, I discuss how these conflicting views and ideals for young people’s democratic participation include or exclude them from the rhetorical and political community
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