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Saoi O'Connor

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Saoi O'Connor
Born
Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland
Occupation(s)Climate activist, writer
Years active2019-present
OrganizationFridays for Future
Known forClimate activism, climate justice

Saoi O'Connor is an Irish youth climate activist who began the Fridays for Future strike in Cork, Ireland in January 2019.

Personal life

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O'Connor was born in Skibbereen, County Cork, but currently resides in Glasgow[1] where they are studying History and Politics at the University of Glasgow.[2] They are autistic, transgender[3] and non-binary, and use gender neutral they/them pronouns.[4] They have an orange cat named Pumpkin.[5]

Climate justice activism

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O'Connor is a white person with short hair, wearing green overalls and holding a sign which reads "the emperor has no clothes", they are in a crouched position, Hamilton is on their left, wearing a bright pink bucket hat and holding a sign which reads "Stop Jackdaw"
O'Connor (right) attending a weekly climate strike in Stockholm, June 2022, with fellow Scotland-based activist Dylan Hamilton.

Saoi O'Connor began the Fridays For Future strike in Cork City on 11 January 2019 outside Cork City Hall[6][7] holding a poster which says "The Emperor Has No Clothes".[8] O'Connor started their activism at aged three as part of a fair trade campaign during St Patrick's Day.[9]

In order to work on climate justice activism full-time, O'Connor moved away from mainstream education at Skibbereen Community School to continue their studies home-schooling.[8][10] In September 2021 they left formal second-level education, and never sat their Leaving Certificate,[11] though they later progressed to Third Level Education at the University of Glasgow.[2]

In February 2019, O'Connor travelled to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to join fellow activists for the climate debates.[9] Between 2019 and 2020 O'Connor was followed by a documentary crew, as one of three subjects of the documentary "Growing Up At The End of The World" which aired on RTÉ in November 2021.[12]

O'Connor was one of the 157 delegates to the 2019 RTÉ Youth Assembly on Climate,[13] and one of two Irish delegates to the 2021 pre-COP youth conference in Milan, organised by the Italian Government, where they and others publicly criticised the event for "youthwashing", staging a protest inside the conference for which they were detained by Italian police and had their passports taken.[14]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person school strikes were suspended in early 2020, but O'Connor recommenced them in July 2020.[15]

In December 2020 O'Connor was part of a global group of 9 women and non-binary activists that published a letter to global leaders on Thomson Reuters Foundation News, entitled "As the Paris Agreement on Climate Change marks five years, urgent action on climate threats is needed now". The international group included Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Belyndar Rikimani, Leonie Bremer, Laura Muñoz, Fatou Jeng, Disha Ravi, Hilda Flavia Nakabuye and Sofía Hernández Salazar.[16]

For Earth Day 2021, O'Connor was one of the organisers for Fridays For Future Ireland's virtual event, which called on the Minister for Climate Action Eamon Ryan to take more and immediate action on climate change.[17]

O'Connor attended their first UN conference, COP25, at 17,[18] and was engaged in grassroots activism during COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. They stated that "None of these conferences can give us what we’re fighting for, only the people can do that.".[19] For Earth Day 2021, O'Connor was one of the organisers for Fridays For Future Ireland's virtual event, which called on the Minister for Climate Action Eamon Ryan to take more and immediate action on climate change.[17]

O'Connor attended COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt,[20] as well as SB58 in Bonn, Germany[21] and COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates where they addressed the Plenary on behalf of the Youth Constituency.[22] They are the current Global North Coordinator for the Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth[23] as well as being one of two Youth Coordinators for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.[24]

Writing

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O'Connor wrote an article for The Irish Times in January 2021 reflecting on the difficulties of preparing for the Leaving Certificate examinations during the pandemic.[25]

O'Connor was one of the contributors to an anthology, Empty House (2021), co-edited by Alice Kinsella and Nessa O'Mahony and included contributions from Rick O'Shea and Paula Meehan.[10][26]

Awards and recognitions

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In December 2019, O'Connor was awarded the Outstanding Individual at the Cork Environmental Forum's Awards ceremony. During the ceremony, they remarked on how little had changed regarding climate change policy since they began their climate strike. The Fridays For Future Cork group, of which O'Connor was a member, also received a commendation from the Forum.[6]

In November 2021 O'Connor received the Young Humanitarian of the Year award from the Irish Red Cross.[27]

O'Connor has been featured in several children's books including Be Inspired! Irish Young People Changing the World (2022)[28] and Girl Warriors: How 25 Young Activists Are Saving the Earth (2021)[29] although O'Connor does not identify as a girl.

References

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  1. ^ Keogh, Jackie (30 December 2020). "Climate activist Saoi in RTÉ documentary". Southern Star. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b O'Connor, Saoi (2 February 2024). "Saoi O'Connor Linkedin". Linkedin.
  3. ^ O'Connor, Saoi [@saoi4climate] (1 April 2022). "Happy Transgender Day of Visibility/Autism Acceptance Month/April Fools day from a trans autistic fool (me)" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ O'Connor, Saoi [@saoi4climate] (8 May 2021). "Update: apparently he replied right before he blocked me. Not sure how I, a non-binary person, and the multiple other trans people who replied, were all wrong about him being transphobic, but that's what he's claiming" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Saoi's climate contribution honoured at Cork Environmental Forum awards". The Southern Star. 11 December 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  7. ^ Meath, Aisling (7 May 2019). "A Saoi of change". The Southern Star. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  8. ^ a b O'Byrne, Ellen (13 December 2019). "Cork teen climate activist: 'Terrifying' to have protested for a year with no change". Echo Live. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  9. ^ a b Dunphy, Liz (5 October 2019). "Cork climate activist Saoi O'Connor says act now or 'we may not have a future'". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  10. ^ a b Sheridan, Colette (20 April 2021). "Climate change alarm bells prompt author into action with Irish anthology". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  11. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  12. ^ McMullan, Dominique (28 December 2020). "Growing Up At The End Of The World: The documentary not to miss this week on RTE One". IMAGE.ie. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  13. ^ "Saoi O'Connor". RTÉ News. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Young climate activists denounce 'youth-washing' in Milan". AP News. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  15. ^ O'Sullivan, Kevin (2 July 2020). "Young Cork climate strikers resume outdoor protest". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  16. ^ "There's no time left for diplomacy. Now it's time for action". news.trust.org. Thomson Reuters Foundation. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Youth climate strikers demand more from world leaders". Green News Ireland. 24 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  18. ^ "Irish youth activist at COP25: 'They don't want us to understand what's going on'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  19. ^ O'Connor, Saoi (30 October 2021). "Saoi O'Connor: COP26 won't give us what we're fighting for - only the people can do that". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  20. ^ Garton-Crosbie, Abbi (28 October 2022). "Young Scots chant 'f*** the Tories' as they march through Glasgow in climate protest". The National. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  21. ^ "Day 3 SB58 Press Briefing : "COP28 President must prioritise just and equitable phase out of fossil fuels"". 8 June 2023.
  22. ^ "Instagram".
  23. ^ "ANGRY site". angryalliance.org. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  24. ^ "Our Team". The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  25. ^ O'Connor, Saoi (5 January 2021). "A Leaving Cert student writes: 'This is not a normal year. It's taking a huge toll on us'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  26. ^ Sheridan, Colette (20 April 2021). "Climate change alarm bells prompt author into action with Irish anthology". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  27. ^ Parle, Andrew. "Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards 2022". Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Awards. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  28. ^ Webb, Sarah (24 October 2022). Be Inspired, Irish Young People Changing the World. Dublin, Ireland: O'Brien Press. ISBN 9781788493284.
  29. ^ "Girl Warriors". www.google.com. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
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