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Young people around the world are again called to go out on the streets this Friday, May 24 to defend the climate and the planet. This "global climate strike" will not have the same scale in all countries. In Russia, for example, environmental issues are hardly mentioned in the media and by the authorities, and young people who wish to speak on the issue are often very isolated. RFI met one of these young activists who are still mobilizing to denounce climate change.
With our correspondent in Moscow, Daniel Vallot
It's a fight he's been fighting alone for 11 weeks. Every Friday, Arshak Makichyan manifests with his sign in the heart of Moscow.
The 24-year-old student hesitated for a long time before starting. " At first, I was afraid to protest because in Russia it is dangerous, but I decided that we had to act for the defense of the climate and I had the idea to make a solitary picket ", he explains.
In Russia, to protest without prior authorization, it is imperative to be alone. This is the origin of these "lone pickets" become one of the main forms of mobilization in the country. But this does not prevent police checks or the sometimes malicious looks of passersby.
" I have not been hit yet, yet I have read that police sometimes send provocateurs if there is a solitary picket. So, yes, it scares me , "he admits.
Nevertheless, Arshak wants to continue to talk about ecology in a country where, he says, the issue does not interest the media or the authorities.
" Those who see me may be interested in warming, but most people in Russia do not know what it is. Or they say there is no proof, that it is an American invention . "
To participate today in the global climate strike , Arshak will once again have to do it alone with his sign. According to the young man, the authorities have indeed refused to organize a collective demonstration.
See also: Greta Thunberg, the quiet strength of the climate