WHAT KIND OF MO(VE)MENT IS FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE? MOTIVATION, SUCCESS PERCEPTION AND CLIMATE ACTION FRAMING IN FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE CROATIA

Fridays for Future climate protests, which began as individual actions, soon morphed into a powerful global youth movement, with millions participating in Global Climate Strikes in 2019. In this study, we conducted 19 semi-structured interviews with the organizers and participants of the Fridays for Future Croatia movement and we aimed to examine the main characteristics of these protests in the context of new social movements theory and contemporary movements research, as well as in the specific national context. Challenging the suitability of the new social movements theory to adequately explain the Fridays for Future movement, we found many connections with contemporary social movements: participants are a new generation of first-time activists; social media use is crucial and qualitatively different; the organisational structure is completely loosened; and the issues encompass environmental protection and political economy, urging the transformation of both individual and social identities and socio-economic systems.