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Police officers carry a demonstrator off the road holding a sign that reads "I'm afraid climate catastrophe kills children."
Photo: Paul Zinken / picture alliance / dpa
In many ways, what is happening to the »last generation« is a textbook example of radicalization:
In the beginning there was a big movement that brought thousands to the streets.
When the big Fridays for Future demonstrations met with a lot of sympathy but no political success, many went home;
but a small core became radicalized.
Groups like Extinction Rebellion and the "Last Generation" emerged from Fridays for Future, which mobilize fewer people but apply pressure with spontaneous actions and civil disobedience.
Their actions break the law but do not commit violence.
The next step would be targeted sabotage.
A pioneer of the scene, the Swedish human ecologist Andreas Malm, has already written the "instruction manual" for this.
The title of his book: How to Blow Up a Pipeline.
What if that doesn't work either?
Then a smaller, even harder core could become enthusiastic about kidnapping and assassination.
Not because violence against people is good, but because "conventional" means are unsuccessful;
because the climate emergency is real;
and because if nothing happens, the existence of the entire planet is threatened.
more on the subject
»Last generation« and the law: What is protest allowed to do?By Dietmar Hipp
In short: the clock is ticking;
the survival of eight billion people is at stake.
If ever there was an end that justifies the means, this is it.
The last two steps are of course projection - albeit not a completely unrealistic one.
We do not yet have a "Green RAF" and should be careful not to paint the devil on the wall.
But the original RAF emerged in much the same way as described above: through a process of radicalization in which a peaceful student movement gradually grew into a tiny but brutal terrorist group.
As early as three years ago, I warned in a British Army journal: "Once climate activists realize that the kind of radical change of course they are calling for is not possible, it will take a great deal of internal discipline to prevent violent splits".
The good news: whether the »Green RAF« will come about has not yet been decided.
Further development depends not only on the behavior of climate activists, but also on the state and society.
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Peter R. Neumann
The new world order
Publisher: Rowohlt Berlin
Number of pages: 336
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Where climate activists break the law, this must be punished logically.
The Criminal Code provides a number of options for this.
The decisive norm is "duress", but in certain cases "dangerous interference with traffic", "damage to property" or "damage to property harmful to the community" can also be applied.
Although controversial, "negligent homicide" could even be used if, for example, a roadblock leads to the death of an injured person.
In processes, "accelerated procedures" according to §417 ff. StPO should apply.
Penalties could be imposed within a few weeks.
Because it's not necessarily about harsher penalties, but about faster judgments - so that everyone can see that law and order prevail in a democracy.
Equally important, however, is that the state does not overreact.
Radical movements deliberately try to provoke the state.
The overreaction that usually follows is part of their calculation.
Because nothing promotes the radicalization of their followers more than supposed "martyrs" who are in prison for "a good cause".
more on the subject
Researchers on radical protest culture: »The greatest danger comes from the right« An interview by Martin Knobbe and Felix Bohr
From our own history we know that the shooting of the student Benno Ohnesorg in June 1967 contributed more to the radicalization of the student movement - and thus to the emergence of the RAF - than any discussion of Marxist texts.
We should avoid this at all costs.
Anyone who breaks the law must be punished – consistently, but also fairly.
The same applies to the attitude of society.
The actions of climate activists are often downplayed, especially on the left and in the middle-class.
Even the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, recently acquitted her of the accusation of extremism.
The concerns of such groups are confused with their goals.
Commitment to climate protection is important.
But groups like the "Last Generation" are pursuing goals that are incompatible with a democratic understanding of society.
They see themselves as part of the so-called degrowth movement and want to replace the social market economy with a kind of »eco-dictatorship«.
more on the subject
The dilemma of the climate movement: be nice – or annoying? A guest article by Priska Daphi
»Last generation« in museums: We have twilight of the idolA guest contribution by Philipp Ruch
There is no majority for this, and the measures demanded by the United Nations are also at odds with their radical agenda.
The order of the day is therefore critical distance.
The concerns of climate activists should not play a role either in government action or in social assessment.
Overreacting is just as harmful as playing down.
Because in truth nobody was helped by the emergence of a »Green RAF«.
Least of all climate protection.