'Authoritarian, Anti-Democratic and Outright Dangerous': Greta Thunberg Roasted Over COP26 Summit

As the political editor of one of Norway's leading dailies put it, Greta Thunberg's rhetoric sows polarisation and division and spreads only contempt and hopelessness.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has received harsh criticism in Scandinavia, where politicians and opinion makers have accused her of luring other climate activists in an extremist and anti-democratic direction.

In connection with the Glasgow climate summit, Greta Thunberg called the meeting of world leaders a fiasco, “full of empty talk”. She called the conference a festival of “greenwashing” and accused politicians of only engaging in “blah blahblah” and only faking involvement instead of actually doing something about the climate.

Thunberg's tirades and tone made Norwegian Climate Minister Espen Barth Eide see red.

“When you say that politics has no meaning, then we are on a slightly dangerous course. I believe that the strong and sensible commitment to make something happen must be transformed into political action – not into rejecting the whole idea of democratic political change,” Barth Eide told national broadcaster NRK.

Newspaper Aftenposten's political editor Kjetil Alstadheim minced no words as well in his criticism of Thunberg's rhetoric and how it can affect other climate activists, sowing more polarisation and division.

“She risks leading them into something authoritarian, anti-democratic and outright dangerous. Her rhetoric is just a single step short of demanding anything beyond civil disobedience. And what she says is not true. Progress is being made, even if it may not be enough,” he wrote in an opinion piece. “We need a Greta Thunberg and activists who push from the outside. There is no need for Greta Thunberg who only spreads contempt and hopelessness,” he concluded.

Lisa Nåbo, the leader of SSU, the youth wing of Sweden's ruling party, the Social Democrats, slammed Thunberg for making demands without coming up with solutions.

“Greta, you have said that the most important thing young people can do is become activists. I don't agree with you. No solution to the climate crisis will be politically neutral. The most important thing you as a young person can do is to get involved in politics and make sure that the right decisions are made,” Nåbo told SVT.

Nåbo ventured that if only a fifth of all the youths who demonstrated for the climate in Stockholm had joined the Social Democrats, they would have taken over this party and “dictated the rules” for Sweden's largest party.

Thunberg, a teenage activist and an international media darling venerated as some sort of a climate guru, raised eyebrows during the COP26 summit, as she sang “you can shove your climate crisis up your a***” and then saying “no more whatever the f*** they are doing inside there”.

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the COP26 assembly, is dedicated to measures to avert the climate change. It has made headlines not only due to environmental resolutions agreed upon by politicians, but also because several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, appeared to drift off to sleep during its proceeds.