Global youth strike reaches Malta as students prepare 20 November protest

Maltese youth are joining students across the world in a strike on 20 November, demanding meaningful political, social, and environmental change.

Youth Strike Malta is calling on young people in Malta and across Europe to mobilise against genocide, corruption, and environmental destruction, while protesting inadequate investment in public services as governments channel increasing funds towards weapons and military spending.

While protests will take place internationally, students in Malta are being called to gather at the University of Malta’s quadrangle in Msida at noon on 20 November.

The peaceful demonstration aims to amplify local and international voices while expressing solidarity with students worldwide who are mobilising around shared struggles and demands.

What’s there to protest about in Malta?

As a Maltese student collective, Youth Strike Malta will also protest against national issues directly affecting local communities, with particular emphasis on students.

“We believe that change in Malta and abroad is urgently necessary,” the collective said, calling on public and private institutions to support its cause.

“We, the future, will strike to be seen, will strike to be heard, and will strike to defend our concerns from being discarded outright, for the present and beyond require our unity.”

At the centre of its mobilisation is the recent budget, which the collective argues disproportionately targets third-country nationals (TCNs) and places additional financial pressure on TCN students, further exacerbating the rising cost of living.

The strike will also address corruption, overdevelopment, and over tourism, particularly their impact on Malta’s environment and local communities.

Furthermore, Youth Strike Malta raised concerns over the use of Maltese maritime spaces and Maltese-flagged vessels to transport resources to Israel amid its ongoing genocidal war on Gaza.

“We demand that Malta’s complicity in the genocide of Palestinians cease immediately, and that government firmly condemns the crimes being committed by the Israeli state,” the collective declared.

Attention will also turn to the University of Malta, with the collective raising concerns over its mounting debts, the growing use of artificial intelligence, and the quality of education.

Freedom, justice, and solidarity

At an international level, the 20 November strikes are organised around a manifesto outlining a set of collective demands rooted in the shared struggles of young people worldwide.

The manifesto argues that military spending is reaching historic highs while education, healthcare, housing and public services are being sacrificed to finance rearmament.

It points to initiatives such as the €800 billion ReArm Europe plan, the expansion of military alliances like NATO, and growing calls for conscription as evidence that governments are preparing a generation for war rather than securing its future.

“We reject that future,” the manifesto states.

Among its central demands is greater investment in public services, welfare, and young people, rather than weapons and military expansion. It also calls for an end to conscription, particularly within educational settings.

The manifesto further demands “freedom, justice, and solidarity with all oppressed people, and the end of colonialism,” while calling for ties to be severed with “genocidal states” including Israel. It condemned government complicity in oppression and colonialism.

Climate justice is another key demand, with the manifesto calling for an end to fossil capitalism, extractivism, and environmental destruction.

Finally, it calls for the rejection of authoritarianism, repression, racism, and patriarchal ideologies, alongside the defeat of far-right movements worldwide.

“History has never changed because those in power chose justice. It changed because people organised and fought for it. Now it is our turn,” the manifesto concludes.