The “Last Generation” wants to draw attention to the existing climate crisis with a variety of disruptive actions. But road blockades and attacks on works of art go too far for the Secretary General of the SPD. Such an approach is too rigorous, says Kühnert.
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert sees climate activists as being too rigorous and has condemned this. “What fundamentally bothers me is the absolutism with which the climate activists proceed – according to the motto: What are democratic rules of the game against what we stand up for and what we want to defend?” said Kühnert in an interview with “Zeit”. . “Anyone who argues in this way consistently considers attacks on democratic parties, on critical infrastructure, and perhaps also on people’s health, to be legitimate. That’s the end for me.”
At the same time, the climate movement is very diverse and has a very important concern. “And after I’ve sat on the streets every few months for half my life to block Nazi marches, I don’t want to keep pointing the pedagogical finger at random people and pillorying civil disobedience per se,” said Kühnert. “Because of course we are still too sluggish when it comes to meeting our climate goals.”
In the past few months, the “Last Generation” group has repeatedly blocked roads, attacked works of art or temporarily paralyzed the capital’s BER airport in Berlin. For the new week, the group has announced further and increased disruptive actions.
The head of the CSU deputy in the Bundestag, Alexander Dobrindt, had warned of the emergence of a “climate RAF”. Kühnert said: “A rhetorical outbidding competition à la Klima-RAF will not get us any further.” According to him, everyone should return to political discourse. “This also includes, as an activist, recognizing that you are clearly not doing your cause a favor if you repeatedly act in areas that are highly relevant to security.”
