In my generation, we’ve had demonstrations against the Iraq War, Wall Street and against marriage inequality, but today’s climate change protests will stand alone. 

I have spent almost two decades protesting for the causes I care most about. In all of these years, perhaps only three demonstrations actually felt like a seismic shift was taking place — and that we were part of a massive social upheaval that would turn the world in a more positive direction.

In 2003, there was mass mobilisation to stop the United States from invading Iraq — the largest global peace protest since the Vietnam War era. On a single day in March, some millions of people protested around the world, including over 200,000 in my hometown of Sydney.

I was 19 years old and felt inspired by the numbers —with so many of us against the invasion, there was no way that we could be ignored. As we know, the disastrous and brutal Iraq War went ahead anyway and has never really ended. We were ignored.

I had recently moved to New York when I was accidentally caught up in the early Occupy Wall Street protests. Held against a wall by police for simply being an onlooker, I was terrified of losing my visa status as I watched protesters rounded up and handcuffed on the other side of the street.

But by the next demonstration, Occupy had become mainstream — attracting thousands of people from all demographics in a display of collective rage against systemic inequalities. I was 27 years old, and I was sure that 2011 would go down as a change-making year in history, one that started with the Arab Spring and reverberated around the world. But, as we know, the Occupy movement petered out with no real agenda achieved.

And then two years ago, tens of thousands of people in my new city of Melbourne rallied in favour of marriage equality — and this time, we won (albeit only after a cruel referendum). When same-sex marriage was legalised in 2017, I felt hopeful in a way that I haven’t since before the Iraq War protests. With so many of

After a teenager was auctioned off on their platform, many are wondering why Facebook took so long to act. In response, the company has said nothing.

Officially, the slave