Youth Activism for Climate on and Beyond Social media: Insights from FridaysForFuture-Rome

The FridaysForFuture movement (FFF), launched by Greta Thumberg's school strikes in 2018, has led a new wave of climate activism worldwide. Young people are at the forefront, with social media serving both as mobilizing tools and expressive spaces. Drawing upon literature on youth and digital activism with a generational, situated approach, we account for how both the climate struggle and social media are appropriated by FFF-activists as part of their own youth grassroots politics. Moreover, we explore the activities they mix and the strategies they adopt when moving across online and offline environments. From July 2020 to January 2021, we carried out 6 months of ethnographic work with(in) the FFF-Rome group by blending participant observation of assemblies and protests with digital ethnography on the homonym WhatsApp group. Results’ thematic analysis shows that FFF-activists believe climate activism to be their own fight and social media their own battlefield. A generational understanding of digital climate activism emerges at the intersection of the appropriation of the dispute (climate change) and the digital environments (social media). Findings also account for broader logics and strategies adopted by FFF-activists, on and beyond social media. They move seamlessly between online and offline, spanning across and negotiating with different platforms according to political goals and target audiences. These results contribute to overcoming reductive or marginalizing approaches to youth activism, to legitimizing and situating young activists’ social media usage practices within an array of grassroots political practices, and to understanding how generational belonging affects such practices in the Italian context.

Urban Environmental Politics meets Urban Theory

Two claims are common in environmental discourses: that cities are key sites of intervention for a shift towards greater sustainability and that grassroots sustainability initiatives embody particularly promising drivers of such a shift. Drawing on Lefebvre, this chapter challenges ›episteme of the urban‹ that confine cities to ›sites‹ and argues that the planetary ›processes‹ that underpin given sites require more attention in light of socio-ecological crises. The chapter also challenges the common ›doxa‹ that ›truly‹ transformative interventions operate at a distance from dominant political institutions, such as law, and introduces ›heterodox right-claims‹ as an alternative political strategy - also for grassroots politics.

Political Participation of Women in Panchayats: A comparative study of Raiganj and Islampur Blocks of Uttar Dinajpur District, West Bengal, India- Issues and Trends

In recent years women empowerment has become a significant issue among academicians, social workers, and policy decision-makers in India. After the successful establishment of the Panchayat system as well as reservations for women in the local bodies, there has been a tremendous change in the number of women representatives in PRIs. But women empowerment is not an easy process rather, that needs a change in the mindset of the patriarchal society, social institutions, and far more determined effort on the part of the women representatives. Sometimes it becomes difficult to serve political duties for the women representatives in this present situation where there is a lack of proper knowledge, lack of education, lots of dependencies, family influence, and so on. In this light, the present study is an attempt to examine the socio-economic conditions and experiences of the elected women representatives of Gram Panchayats of Raiganj and Islampur Blocks and their participation in different sectors of grassroots politics. The whole study is based on empirical data which have been collected through field survey.

WADAH KOMUNITAS SEPEDA MOTOR DI KOTAMATSUM III - MEDAN

In this study aims to discuss about the third place in the motorcycle community at Kotamatsum III in the city of Medan. The purpose of this study is to propose a design urban planning in the form of both physical and non-physical needs needed in the Kotamatsum III area of Medan by designing a motorcycle community place in the area, as a suitable third place in accordance with the program that has been prepared and to support the Masjid Raya Al-Mashun area as a place of worship and tourism that is comfortable, safe and creative, which is realized in the design of architectural designs that benefit all parties and on target. Third place as a public space in a neutral place, where people can gather and interact. Unlike the first place (home) and the second place (work), the third place allows people to put aside their worries and just enjoy the company and the conversation around them. The third place “holds individual, regular, voluntary, informal meetings and are happily anticipated outside the realm of home and work.”. These spaces promote social justice by enhancing guest status, providing background for grassroots politics, creating public association habits, and offering psychological support to individuals and society. The design methods used in this study are the concept of a metaphor. Second function follows form. The results of the study produce designs that are expected to meet the needs of the motorcycle community in the area both in design, function and program. AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk menulusuri tentang tempat ketiga, dimana merupakan lingkungan sosial yang terpisah dari dua lingkungan sosial lainnya. Penelitian ini membahas tentang tempat ketiga yakni wadah komunitas motor di kawasan Kotamatsum III di kota Medan. Tujuan dalam penelitian ini adalah untuk memberikan usul perencanaan urban desain berupa kebutuhan–kebutuhan fisik maupun non fisik yang diperlukan pada kawasan Kotamatsum III – Medan, sebagai tempat ketiga yang layak sesuai dengan program yang telah disusun serta untuk mendukung kawasan Mesjid Raya Al – Mashun sebagai tempat ibadah dan parawisata yang nyaman, aman dan rekreatif yang diwujudkan dalam perancangan desain arsitektur yang menguntungkan semua pihak dan tepat sasaran. Tempat ketiga sebagai ruang publik di tempat netral, tempat orang dapat berkumpul dan berinteraksi. Berbeda dengan tempat pertama (rumah) dan tempat kedua (bekerja), tempat ketiga memungkinkan orang untuk mengesampingkan kekhawatiran mereka dan hanya menikmati suasana dan percakapan di sekitar mereka. Tempat ketiga "menyelenggarakan pertemuan individu, reguler, sukarela, informal, dan yang dengan gembira diantisipasi di luar ranah rumah dan pekerjaan." Oldenburg menjelaskan bahwa taman , jalan-jalan utama, pub, kafe, kedai kopi, kantor pos, dan tempat ketiga lainnya adalah jantung dari vitalitas sosial komunitas. Tempat ketiga yang berfungsi mempromosikan keadilan sosial dengan meningkatkan status tamu, menyediakan latar bagi politik akar rumput, menciptakan kebiasaan asosiasi publik, dan menawarkan dukungan psikologis kepada individu dan masyarakat. Metode perancangan yang digunakan dalam penilitian ini adalakonsep metafor. Kedua, menggunakan konsep fungsi mengikuti bentuk. Hasil penelitian menghasilkan desain yang diharapkan dapat memenuhi kebutuhan komunitas sepeda motor di Kawasan tersebut baik dalam desain, fungsi maupun program.