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Journalism of Courage
Manipuri climate change activist Licypriya Kangujam may often be referred to as the ‘Greta of India’, but in a post on social media has asked that she be recognised for her own work.
The eight-year-old took to Twitter on Monday to reject all comparisons with Thunberg and wrote: “If you call me ‘Greta of India’, you are not covering my story. You are deleting a story,”.
In a series of tweets, Kangujam described her journey as an activist and said that her fight against climate change started much before Thunberg.
“Stop calling me “Greta of India”. I am not doing my activism to looks like Greta Thunberg. Yes, she is one of our Inspiration & great influencer. We have a common goal but I have my own identity, a story,” she wrote.
Kangujam said that she had addressed world leaders in Mongolia at a UN event on July 4, 2018. She then started a children’s movement to ask world leaders to take immediate action against climate change.
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She said that it was on July 21, 2019 that the media took notice of her because of a week-long protest in front of India’s Parliament. According to the tweet thread, the young activist had to drop out of school due to her frequent sit-in protests in front of Parliament.
Kangujam’s viral tweet thread met with mixed reactions:
https://twitter.com/Lawrenc43852075/status/1221793966875504640
https://twitter.com/puruswanihemant/status/1221702928500551681
https://twitter.com/soniagupta504/status/1221779066401017856
https://twitter.com/z3kem0rgan/status/1221777423047393281
https://twitter.com/Theshells1111/status/1221736517489565697
