Road blockades, tape campaigns, fake blood – activists are using increasingly radical methods to draw attention to the impending climate catastrophe. In doing so, they intervene in the areas of life of their fellow human beings and often risk punishment. But what have you achieved so far?
First the climate activists triggered a fire alarm at a congress with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, then it was Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s turn. Protesters forced their way into his ministry on Berlin’s Wilhelmstrasse and glued themselves in place. Eventually it hit Volker Wissing. In front of his Ministry of Transport, the “Scientist Rebellion” argued with fake blood for a speed limit. Then young people sat on motorway sign gantries. And so on.
The radical climate group “Last Generation” has counted around 370 actions since the beginning of the year: motorway blockades, protests on pipelines and adhesive tapes in museums or at sporting events. Now a new wave of protests is rolling. The activists seem to be better connected – the “Last Generation”, who joined forces in 2021 for a hunger strike in Berlin, now has an alliance with groups like “Scientist Rebellion”, “Debt for Climate”, “End Fossil Occupy” and “Eltern gegen the fossil industry”.
They risk fines for breaking the law and great frustration from people who block them. The political debate is raging, especially in Berlin, where the activists have very often paralyzed traffic recently. The CDU state politician Christopher Förster has filed a criminal complaint for forming a criminal organization. SPD interior senator Iris Spranger wants to demand recourse for false fire alarms and is angry: “That’s not funny and we don’t find it funny either.” The eddy is big, but is it good for the climate? Chancellor Scholz reacted to the fire alarm at the World Health Summit more along the lines of: best to ignore.
In English, the SPD politician explained: “Do protests about climate and things like that and think that would improve our discussions. And I think the best way to improve discussions is not to listen and to move on.” Finance Minister Linder countered the demand for a haircut for poor countries, saying he had already held talks with African countries. “So I wouldn’t have needed the action,” wrote the FDP politician on Twitter. Transport Minister Wissing said first: nothing.
The current demands of the last generation and their allies are aimed directly at him: a speed limit on motorways and a continuation of the nine-euro ticket. “A speed limit of 100 km/h would save up to 5.4 million tons of CO2 annually,” the activists explain on their website. “It can be implemented immediately and almost free of charge.” Affordable railways, on the other hand, could save even more carbon dioxide than a speed limit. At the beginning of the year, the highway blockers first called for a “Essen-Retten-Gesetz” against food waste, then for a public ban on oil drilling in the North Sea.
At least they have had this promise from the federal government since July, according to their own statements. Otherwise there are few tangible results. When asked about the government’s climate protection program, Wissing’s ministry said: “A speed limit is not part of the measures”. Criminal charges have been filed against the participants in the protest action in front of the Ministry of Transport and damages will be demanded for damage to property.
Sooner or later the FDP will also realize that a speed limit is marginal compared to the climate catastrophe, says Florian Zander from “Scientist Rebellion”. “Sooner or later there is no other option.” For the time being, the geoscientist, who has a doctorate, sees one benefit in spectacular actions: attention to mobilize new comrades-in-arms. According to him, 1,200 scientists worldwide are currently taking part in “Scientist Rebellion”, around 100 of them in Germany. They are all ready for civil disobedience to denounce the failure of politics.
From the activists’ point of view, civil disobedience is non-violent – but it usually means breaking the law, for example dangerous interference with traffic, coercion or property damage. At the Berlin public prosecutor’s office alone, there were 666 cases by mid-October. 224 penal orders were applied for at the Tiergarten District Court, and one charge was filed. 138 procedures were open. The last generation itself knows of 51 cases nationwide in which dates for a main hearing in court are scheduled. Nine activists have already been convicted. Zander has also been in court for an earlier action before the Ministry of Transport, but wants to go through the instances. The activists insist on an emergency that allows resistance.
So far, German courts have not gone along with this. Only on Tuesday did a judge at the district court in Berlin-Tiergarten send a 21-year-old home with a fine of 600 euros for coercion and a warning: “The means you used are anti-democratic. I can’t believe you can’t think of anything else, than restricting other people’s fundamental rights.” The activists publicly regret the disruption to their fellow human beings, but they declare it to be of secondary importance compared to the dramatic consequences of unchecked climate change. “The current political and social course will cost billions of lives and will very likely lead to a collapse of civilization,” declares the last generation. “We will be successful if the climate crisis is averted.” The resistance is now getting stronger week by week.