Introduction
Anuna De Wever (born 2001) is a Belgian student and climate activist, one of the leading figures in the School strike for the climate movement in Belgium.
Biography
De Wever was born in Mortsel, Belgium. With Kyra Gantois and Adélaïde Charlier, De Wever became one of the leading figures in the School strike for climate movement in Belgium. As a result, from February to May 2019 she had a weekly column in the magazine HUMO.
In October 2019, De Wever was among the youngest climate activists to set sail on the Regina Maris for a low-carbon trans-Atlantic journey to the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Santiago, Chile.
In aftermath of the school strikes in Belgium Centre-right Flemish minister for the environment Joke Schauvliege was obliged to resign after falsely claiming that the Belgian State Security Service had information indicating that the climate strike was a political front organisation.
Personal differences led to a fracture within the Belgian Youth for Climate movement leading to the departure of co-founder Kyra Gantois in August 2019.
The celebrity that De Wever gained through the school strikes has led to her being personally targeted by the far right, most notably with young men hurling bottles of urine at her during the Pukkelpop music festival, and nocturnally ransacking festival-goers' tents in an attempt to locate her. The politics of the young men involved was symbolised by their brandishing a variant of the Flag of Flanders that excludes all red elements, and which is used by militant right-wing elements of the Flemish Movement.
Awards
- In May 2019, De Wever and Kyra Gantois jointly received the Ark Prize of the Free Word.
- In September 2019, De Wever and Adélaïde Charlier received Amnesty International Belgium's Ambassador of Conscience Award on behalf of Youth for Climate.