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Patti Smith joins Greta Thunberg’s final school strike

By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 12 June 2023

Patti Smith joined Greta Thunberg at her weekly school strike on Friday. Now, you might have noted that Smith is not a Swedish school student, but then again, neither is Thunberg anymore – Friday’s protest was her 251st and took place on the day she graduated from secondary school.

“This is Greta Thunberg, faithfully taking her Friday school strike for climate action”, wrote Smith in a post on Instagram. “She graduates today, and we extend our gratitude and congratulation”.

In a second post, Smith added that she was “privileged to join the activists for climate action” and to get “a moment with the bold and benevolent leader”.

Writing on Twitter, Thunberg said: “When I started striking in 2018 I could never have expected that it would lead to anything. After striking every day for three weeks, we were a small group of children who decided to continue doing this every Friday. And we did, which is how Fridays For Future was formed”.

“We who can speak up have a duty to do so”, she concluded. “In order to change everything, we need everyone. I’ll continue to protest on Fridays, even though it’s not technically ‘school striking’. We simply have no other option than to do everything we possibly can. The fight has only just begun”.

Thunberg began her weekly climate protest outside Sweden’s parliament in 2018, aged fifteen. Now 20, she finishes her secondary education a year later than a typical Swedish student, as she took a year out in order to more widely campaign for action on climate change.

Smith was in Stockholm to play two shows at the city’s Filadelfia Convention Center venue.