How Greta Thunberg evolved from climate crisis protestor to Palestine justice activist
Swede, 22, denies she was only ever a one-issue campaigner but says that many things tie into climate justice
Greta Thunberg has hardly been out of the news since she first went on a school strike in 2018, but the past few weeks have been extraordinary even by her standards.
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The Swedish activist appears as passionate as ever about climate justice, which originally put her on the map as a teenager, but she has increasingly turned her focus to Palestine.
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This action culminated in her joining several hundred others on an aid flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza, and the small boats being intercepted in international waters, around 70 miles from the enclave, last week.
Ms Thunberg was one of 171 to be deported by Israel, with the 22-year-old complaining of harsh conditions with bedbugs, and too little food and water.
In the days that followed, she became the subject of complaint, first from longtime adversary Donald Trump - who said she has an “anger management problem” - and then the wider internet, when she shared a picture of an Israeli hostage to mark the plight of Palestinians.
But despite this, Ms Thunberg might be more likely to endorse Mr Trump’s longstanding desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize then she is to pip down.
This is her story so far.
Who is Greta Thunberg?
An “autistic and bipolar climate justice activist,” is how Ms Thunberg describes herself on Instagram before her 16 million followers.
Growing up, her condition, initially diagnosed as Asperger syndrome, led her to become fixated on the climate crisis and the lack of action being taken. She barely spoke or ate during a period, when she was around 11 years old, when she learned about the crisis for the first time.
The Swede came to fame in 2018 when, as a teenager, she gained fame in her native Stockholm, and then beyond, for skipping school to demand governments take action over the climate crisis. These strikes began with her skipping school all together to protest outside the Swedish parliament, but after elections she then began striking just on Fridays.
By mid 2019, more than 1.5 million students were doing the same as part of her Fridays for Future / School Strike for Climate movement.
For her activism she was named as Time’s Person of the Year in 2019, when she was just 16.
Thunberg spoke at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York that same year and turned her anger on world leaders.
"You have stolen my childhood and my dreams with your empty words," she said, having travelled by sailboat to the US from Sweden.
"You're failing us, but young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.”
Her award-winning No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference book followed on, and then came other publications in her name The Climate Book and a collection of her speeches.
Scenes from the Heart, released in 2018, is an autobiography of Ms Thunberg’s mother Malena Ernman - who is an opera singer famous in Sweden - and father Svante Thunberg, an actor and producer.
The book charted not just their careers but also what it was like to bring up their daughter with autism and bipolar, conditions which they came to see as a “superpower,” - a term also used to describe her by climate activist Naomi Klein.
“The Greta Effect,” was a term that came into being, with a popularising of environmental concerns around this time.
Pro-Palestine work
Thunberg has kept going with her eco-activism, in 2024 being detained twice by Dutch police at a protest in The Hague, but has increasingly also looked towards Palestine.
Since October 2023, following the outbreak of conflict, she has protested for help for Gaza. "We won't stop speaking out about Gaza's suffering – there is no climate justice without human rights,” she said in the Guardian around that time.
Her work shifted up from protesting and she has been one of a few participants in what has been called the “freedom flotilla,” carrying aid destined for people in Gaza.
This work has led to her being arrested on further occasions, with the flotilla being seized by Israeli authorities, who claimed that it was being funded by Hamas.
It was hailed on Monday that “war is over,” although for Ms Thunberg it might just be one battle towards her climate ambitions.
She told the media recently: “For me, it hasn't been solely about the climate at all. The media often wants to simplify things, like 'she's the one who works on climate.'
“They want to put a face to the issue. I mean, we're talking about climate justice. All forms of justice are included within climate justice. In the last year, when I started getting involved in Palestinian activism, that view has shifted.”