UK Student Climate Network

The network have 4 demands.

DEMAND 1-SAVE THE FUTURE The Government is to declare a climate emergency and implement a Green New Deal to achieve Climate Justice. DEMAND 2-TEACH THE FUTURE The education system must be repurposed and reformed around the climate emergency to better teach young people about its urgency, severity, scientific basis and methods of mitigation. This demand has now evolved into the Teach the Future campaign which is supported by the School Group Developmental working group[4] as well as SOS-UK and various partner organisations.

DEMAND 3-TELL THE FUTURE The Government communicate the severity of the ecological crisis and the necessity to act now to the general public.

DEMAND 4-EMPOWER THE FUTURE Young people must be included in policy making, and no one should be excluded from participation in our democracy on the basis of age, citizenship, permanent address, incarceration or anything else. For as long as UK democracy is conducted through a representative system, everyone living in the UK over the age of 16 must have the right to vote in elections, conducted via proportional representation, so that everyone’s vote is reflected in our government and is worth the same. [5]

The organisation is divided into the regional groups of: South East, South West, Midlands, North East, North West, Isle of Man, Wales and, as of July 2019, London. UKSCN is part of the Youth Strike 4 Climate movment in the United Kingdom representing England and Wales. However some of the UK is hosted by separate organisations, in Scotland by Scottish Youth Climate Strike (SYCS) and in Northern Ireland by the Youth Climate Association Northern Ireland (YCANI). YCANI previously were affiliated with UKSCN, however split away from the group due to cultural, legal and political differences between the two groups respective countries they operated in.

UKSCN is however not responsible for the organisation of strikes, they act as a support network that consists of over 100 active local groups who have ran strikes in over 200 locations around England and Wales[6]. It has a national organising team which is split into several working groups that take part in campaigns and work with other movements. The number of volunteers helping the group grew from around 30 in early March 2019 to an estimate of 300 by the end of April that year. In addition, it also provides a platform for connection to around 350 youth strikers, whom are unaffiliated to the group specifically.

UKSCN is an ideologically far left organisation campaigning for the end of consumerism and the capitalist system behind it. However these demands have had an extremely polarising effect on the organisation leading to the Scottish branches and Northan Irish branches leaving as a result over internal political differences.

There have been further disputes over weather UKSCN is an anarchist organisation with widespread affiliations to the Green Anti-Capitalist front and Rising Tide along with Extinction rebellion. This position of being anti capitalist is also reflected in the movements social media bios where they read "striking for the climate / teenage eco angst / obeying authority? can't relate"[7]

They have also come under fire for their controversial stance on prisons[8] that has been repeatably represented by UKSCN London who have public ally demanded the complete abolition of prisons[9].

On top of this UKSCN has also had a problem within the movement around racism with one National organiser acting as a whistle blower. In a statement on twitter they reported "i can’t put into words just how racist UKSCN is"[10]

Some third parties have raised concerns at the precedence of over 18s operating in the national team because of safeguarding risks where activists are working within closed groups. However it should be noted no major issues have arisen over this yet.

Youth Strikers in Bristol in February 2019

UKSCN's first strike was held on 15 February 2019, under the name YouthStrike4Climate. It saw 15,000 English and Welsh school students strike from schools in protest, with strikes in Scotland and Northern Ireland organised by different organisation's [11][12]

This was followed by a second strike on 15 March 2019 which was coordinated with global Youth Strike 4 Climate protests that were held across the world, which saw 1.6 million students worldwide go on strike.[13] The organisation's demonstrations have grown in popularity, with an estimated total of 20,000 people in attendance at the demonstration held outside Parliament Square in London on 15 March and 50,000 nationwide. The strikes are in solidarity with other Youth Strike 4 Climate protests taking place across the world.[14][15]

Strikes have since taken place on:

• 12 April, 2019

• 24 May, 2019
• 21 June, 2019
• 19 July, 2019
• 20 September, 2019 which was a general strike of adults and students; this was the largest climate mobilisation in UK history with an estimated 100,000 people in London alone.[16][17]
• 29 November, 2019
• 14th February, 2020
• Digital strikes under knockdown

The only nationally-coordinated strikes of 2020 were on the 17th of January and the 14th of February. Local group Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate organised and held a strike on the 28th February 2020 that was attended by over 30,000 people along with Greta Thunberg[18], although this was organised with limited input from UKSCN. Any further demonstrations were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic[19] however youth strikers have been engaging in online actions such as Fridays for Future Digital and Polluters Out's Twitter Storm.