The situation on Monday: The polite rebels of "Extinction Rebellion"

there is, alongside Greta Thunberg and the youth of "Fridays for Future," a second international protest movement committed to radical climate protection, the "Extinction Rebellion."

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The people of Berlin will get to know the movement better from today, for example if they do not get to work on time or miss their flight. Under the hashtag #berlinblockieren the movement announces a "rebellion against extinction". The methods are those of civil disobedience, street blockades, chaining, flash mobs. It is about disruption, attention, the demand to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025. Greta on brachial so to speak.

Anyone who fears that the famous Berlin "May 1" will be held back in October, who has burning cars and "bulls pigs" jubilation in mind and in the ears, who calmed down. The climate activists are extremely polite rebels. They apologize to angry drivers with biscuits and signs saying, "Let's go ahead." Nonviolence is one of their highest principles.

"It is a bourgeois, peculiarly well-behaved rebellion that is not about destruction but about understanding," writes my colleague Dialika Neufeld, who accompanied the activists for several weeks. I was all the more irritated when I read two sentences that the "Extinction Rebellion" co-founder, the British organic farmer Roger Hallam , SPIEGEL has said to the question why he prefers illegal methods: "Because this topic is greater than democracy, or whatever you want to describe what's left of it, if a society acts so immoral, democracy becomes irrelevant. "

But who determines which problem is "bigger" than democracy and makes it irrelevant? And how is this problem solved, if not in the democratic process? In the end, is there a dictatorship of the good, the morally overarching? Is that seriously the idea behind these two sentences?

• At the kitchen table with "Extinction Rebellion": Interior view of the protest movement "

Black and green in Sinsheim

Tim Brakemeier / dpa

At 10.30 clock it comes in Baden-Wuerttemberg today to a high-profile black-green meeting , also this is about the climate. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann meet in Sinsheim to jointly open the "Klima Arena" , sponsored by Dietmar Hopp, SAP co-founder and patron of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, as the name of the project already reveals Address (Dietmar-Hopp-Straße 6). In the center of the "innovative experience place" for especially young discoverers stands a simulated glacier.

Now one could put a lot of symbolism in this meeting: The Chancellor, who is no longer black for many in her party, meets with perhaps the darkest greens of the Republic, to talk about the meta topic of our time - it is the prelude of a new political love? Is it a sign that what has been practiced in the country since 2016 will soon be a reality in the federal government, a black-green coalition to master the great challenges of the future?

However, this thought game has a catch: Angela Merkel does not have much to decide on future alliances. She has handed over the chairmanship of the CDU - and she does not want to be Chancellor in the next legislative period. Others decide on new colors.

• Or rather yellow-green? The rapprochement of green and liberal in Baden-Württemberg

Whistleblower 002

Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

In the dramaturgy of the possible impeachment of Donald Trump, we head for an act of balance. A second whistleblower has turned to the Inspector General for US intelligence. He allegedly has first-hand information on Trump's dealings with Ukraine and whether he urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj on a phone call on July 25 to investigate Hunter Biden, son of Democratic presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden. On the one hand, that sounds like new explosives. On the other hand, now Volodymyr Selenskyj has also spoken up and said: "I was never pressurized."

For the time being it is 1: 1.

• The exact background of the Ukraine affair - a reconstruction

Winners of the day ...

Herrenknecht AG / DPA

... is Martin Herrenknecht , the world's largest manufacturer of tunnel boring machines ("We are working legally in the underground"). He enjoys the special attention of the Chancellor since he threatened last year, out of frustration over the refugee, foreign, and especially economic policy of the government to rest his CDU membership and to limit his donations for the party.

Angela Merkel then called him personally, later they met in the Chancellery for discussion. A few weeks ago, the company boss accompanied the Chancellor to Beijing, this afternoon she visited his plant in Schwanau (Baden-Württemberg). Only few economic bosses enjoy such an intensive attention of the Chancellor.

Pure coincidence is likely that both share a similar fate: the Herrenknecht AG was according to the documents of ex-NSA employee Edward Snowden on a watch list of the NSA. The intelligence service was also known to be interested in the cell phone of the Chancellor.

The compact news overview in the morning: current and opinionated. Every morning (weekdays) at 6 o'clock. Order directly here:

The latest news from the night

• Income inequality is on the rise again: the labor market has been booming for years and wages are now rising noticeably - yet, according to a study, the gap between rich and poor is greater than ever before
• Government weakens climate protection targets: The Federal Government wants to adopt its climate protection law already next Wednesday - a draft, which is available to the SPIEGEL falls, falls far short of the previous plans
• At least one other whistleblower in the Ukraine affair wants to testify against the US president: Donald Trump's usual self-defense strategy pushes his limits - the affair is becoming a political time bomb

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

• Schlangengrube Berlin: Malu Dreyer is glad that soon she will not have to be a SPD leader anymore
• Visiting carmakers, bankers, farmers: who loses in a hard Brexit - and who wins
• Young parents report: How does life work with a disabled child?
• Analysis on punitive tariffs against EU: Airbus has lost, but Europe has won

I wish you a nice start to the day.

Your Martin Knobbe