Uproar over road blockades: New Green leader now defends "civil disobedience" - with one but
Created: 2022-02-09 10:23 am
By: Florian Naumann
Greens leader Ricarda Lang has commented on the protests of the "rebellion of the last generation".
© Kay Nietfeld/Carsten Koall/dpa
The Greens are now in government - but climate activists are increasing the pressure nonetheless.
After a turbulent argument about road blockades, the party leader speaks out.
Berlin - Berlin, Hamburg, Munich: In the past few days, climate activists have repeatedly blocked highways and roads in Germany.
In view of the several tons of food thrown away in Germany every year, the group "Rebellion of the Last Generation" calls for a "Food Saving Law" - and the interventions are sometimes met with anger and criticism, including in politics.
The new leader of the Greens, Ricarda Lang, has now defended the approach.
At the same time, however, she named a clear condition for the legitimacy of the protests.
The debate is evidently also boiling within the left-wing political sphere.
Greens: New boss Ricarda Klang defends "civil disobedience" - and attests "great concern"
"I consider civil disobedience to be a legitimate means of political protest if it happens peacefully," Lang told the
Tagesspiegel
.
The prerequisite, however, is that the actions take place peacefully.
"It is clear that no one should be endangered," she emphasized.
At the same time, Lang explained: "But we should ask ourselves why young people resort to such means." Behind this is a great concern for the future.
“And the best answer to that is that we take political responsibility.
So do everything to finally get on the 1.5 degree path when it comes to climate protection.”
Climate actions in road traffic: CDU is annoyed by "blinded would-be revolutionaries"
In other parties, the mood is quite different.
The Berlin CDU boss Kai Wegner, for example, recently spoke of "blinded would-be revolutionaries".
Criticism of the protesters is not only pouring out on Twitter.
The "last generation" itself posted a video last week in which an angry driver hits a young woman in the face and insults the protesters with "you pisser".
Also on Friday, a reporter from the German Press Agency reported angry horns.
Traffic jams lasted up to 40 minutes.
On Friday, the group also appeared in Bavaria for the first time, blocking an intersection in Munich, as
Merkur.de
reported - with "rescued" fruit and vegetables and with the help of two activists who stuck their hands on the street.
In Berlin there was the fifth action within two weeks on the same day.
After the deadly attack on two police officers in Kusel, Rhineland-Palatinate, the group had temporarily stopped protesting.
Greens and the climate movement: "Rebellion of the last generation" polarizes strongly
The activists feel justified in their actions, they speak of civil disobedience against the dramatic climate crisis and an impending famine.
"Yes, we let ourselves be carried away, we let ourselves be arrested, we expose ourselves to the anger of motorists, because that is no comparison to the climate hell that awaits us," said 72-year-old Ernst Hörmann, according to the activists' statement.
According to their information, 50 people were temporarily taken into police custody on Friday.
Behind the actions are some of the young people who were on hunger strike in Berlin for weeks before the general election.
Pioneers are the 22-year-old Henning Jeschke and the 24-year-old Lea Bonasera, who at the end even refused liquid and thus fought for a conversation with the SPD chancellor candidate at the time, Olaf Scholz.
Both refer to scientists, especially the British chemist Sir David King, who gives humanity three to four years to change course in the climate crisis, or the German climate researcher Hans Joachim Schellnhuber.
But Jeschke and Bonasera also have something missionary that inspires some and something instructive that annoys others.
"Such idiots" is yet another of the friendlier comments from critics on Twitter.
Climate dispute: activists complain about food waste - how does the traffic light react?
The message of the activists: 18 million tons of food end up in Germany every year.
If this is avoided, 22 million tons of carbon dioxide could be saved.
They want the federal government to pass legislation to stop it.
The traffic light coalition agreement states: "Together with all those involved, we will reduce food waste in a binding manner for specific sectors, clarify liability issues and allow tax relief for donations." Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) has given signals that the so-called containers - fetching edible food Grocery from supermarket dumpsters - to go unpunished.
The activists want to continue blocking roads until this becomes concrete.
"Green RAF"?
Dispute about climate protest looms - debate with unexpected role allocation
But there are also skeptical voices from the climate movement.
Where does the protest end?
When asked about the "rebellion", Fridays for Future explains: "In times of the ever-escalating climate crisis and political standstill, determined protests are needed against the ever-increasing destruction of our livelihoods." Groups such as Extinction Rebellion or Ende Gelände have been relying on targeted protests for some time Rule Violations and Occupations.
The protest researcher Dieter Rucht assumes that the climate movement will continue to become more radical, even if some members brake, as Rucht says.
Activist Tadzio Müller
even warned of a possible “green RAF” in
Der Spiegel .
There is also a controversial debate in the taz, which is traditionally close to the Greens: the environmental activist Tino Pfaff warned there that "peaceful sabotage" as an intervention in environmentally harmful production processes is legitimate - but not the destruction of individual private property or even violence against people.
Pfaff also reprimanded the traffic light coalition and the Greens: "We are still miles away from a profound socio-ecological transformation," he emphasized.
The "last generation" sees their protest as non-violent, but their announcements are loud.
"Back in the resistance NOW on the streets!" Bonasera tweeted Friday.
They also get support for their concerns in a rather unexpected way: a Bavarian Jesuit priest, for example, wanted to provoke a conviction before Christmas with a food "theft" and draw attention to abuses in terms of food waste - he recently repeatedly pointed to the actions of the to young protesters.
(
dpa/fn
)
