Climate change rebellion, anyone? Aussie Gen Z says...Meh!

Perhaps young climate activists in Australia could put pressure on their government to help our neighbours, by stopping the continuing fossil fuel developments that are driving the planet to destruction, writes Dr Mark Beeson.

ONE OF THE MORE STRIKING features of the present historical juncture is the difficulty of taking collective action to address the many problems that threaten the continuation of human civilisation. War, technological innovation and – most problematically of all – climate change mean the prospects for the young look increasingly bleak.

Or they are unless such problems are managed effectively, of course. None of them are.

Not only are two pointless and avoidable wars continuing to rage in Iran and Ukraine, but Israel still manages to find things to blow up in the rubble of Gaza.

Equally alarmingly, technological development not only looks likely to decimate the future workforce but also, some fear, threaten our very existence as the dominant species on the planet.

In the meantime, self-interested oligarchs from the AI and fossil fuel sectors attempt to influence Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic foreign and domestic policies in ways that will, at least in the short term, further enrich them. If that fails, as it surely will, they can always escape to their post-apocalyptic boltholes.

Unfortunately for the younger generation, this may occur sooner than it did for privileged Boomers, many of whom are still in powerful positions that they refuse to give up. The big question in such circumstances is: why are the young often quiescent when their very lives and future livelihoods are in real danger?

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To be fair, there have been some impactful youthful uprisings in the Global South, where Gen Z are especially exposed to the impact of demographic change, economic marginalisation, and the actions of repressive and/or incompetent political elites.

They’ve also had some noteworthy successes, too. In addition to helping to overthrow the leaders of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, Gen Z protests have also been agents of change in Madagascar, Peru, Morocco, Kenya and Indonesia — all since 2025.

The most recent and in some ways surprising youthful revolt has occurred in India, courtesy of the ‘cockroach movement’, which emerged after the Chief Justice described unemployed youth as cockroaches and parasites.

Thanks to social media, a protest movement rapidly developed and focused on allegations of corruption and incompetence in the administration of all-important national examinations. In a classic example of ‘pressure from below’, the education minister was forced to resign.

Understandably, perhaps, Gen Z protests are primarily consumed with issues that are circumscribed by national boundaries and addressed to local leaders. Even where the environment is a major focus, it is invariably seen through a local prism, and the chances of international cooperation are reduced.

On the contrary, the redoubtable Greta Thunberg has been criticised for privileging the concerns of the Global North at the expense of their counterparts in the Global South in places such as Uganda.

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The good news is that Gen Z movements are learning from each other when thinking about how to protest effectively and trigger change. In some ways this is unsurprising given that the young are digital natives and capable of using social media to great effect.

The bad news is that such protests still occur primarily within rather than across national borders.

This is also unsurprising: if national leaders are incapable of cooperating effectively with their international counterparts despite the presumed legitimacy and state capacity they enjoy, why would we expect young people, who enjoy neither of these advantages, to fill the gap?

The one advantage the young do have is that they are not constrained by traditional notions of the "national interest" or captured by powerful vested interests in the fossil fuel or defence industries.

And yet there is hope, and it is unambiguously driven by climate change and cross-border interaction. It is also happening close to home, amongst what is rather patronisingly known by Australian policymakers as "our Pacific family".

The Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) grouping has not only reached out to other island states in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, but it has persuaded national governments in the Pacific to take a more proactive role in pushing for climate justice and action in a region threatened by an unambiguously existential threat in the near future.

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True, the Pacific states are small, and the difficulty of influencing distant elites is not so great as it is in Australia, but it does suggest that international cooperation amongst non-state actors is both possible and potentially effective. Cooperating with endangered Pacific communities should not be driven simply by a geopolitical calculus and the presumed threat of Chinese influence, either.

Perhaps the members of PISFCC could encourage their respective governments to play one state off against another to get real action on the root causes of climate change, rather than trying to pick a side.

Perhaps young climate activists in Australia could put pressure on their government to help our neighbours, too, by stopping the continuing fossil fuel developments that are driving the planet to destruction.

It might also do wonders for the political environment as well as the natural variety.

Dr Mark Beeson is an adjunct professor at the University of Technology Sydney and Griffith University. He was previously Professor of International Politics at the University of Western Australia.