In the recruitment seminar of the "last generation": That's how radical and dangerous the climate activists really are
Created: 12/15/2022 10:16 am
By: Max Mueller
Who is radical here?
© Last generation
Anyone who wants to know what's going on with the "last generation" can join their inner circle twice a week via zoom call.
Our editor attended the recruitment seminar.
Cologne – Paralyzing road traffic, soiling works of art, boarding airports: the debate about the actions of the “last generation” does not end.
What very few people know: you can see for yourself twice a week.
Then the climate activists invite you to an online video conference.
You can take a look, I thought.
It's all about the big picture, after all.
I am firmly convinced that it is already too late and that the catastrophe will come one way or the other.
But I also don't believe that the "last generation" will make a difference.
With my nihilism, I'm probably uninteresting in any political movement.
The appointments are always on Thursdays and Sundays.
I'll be there on a Thursday in November.
The instructor's name is Tim.
Tim is in his mid-twenties, has clichéd long hair and is a full-time climate activist with the “Last Generation”.
Old and young, men and women from expensive old buildings or cheap social housing turn on the zoom call.
Tim says that when these Zoom conferences started, there were often only a handful of people listening.
Today we are more than 50 in the seminary.
"Last Generation": Finally a lecture with passion
His presentation lasts 45 minutes.
Tim talks about tipping points of the climate catastrophe, the dieback of boreal coniferous forests and migration movements to the Global North.
Most agree on the conclusion: the world of tomorrow will be threatening if nothing happens now.
In the end, one fact stuck in my mind in particular: In 2045, all Hamburg residents can “look forward” to weather like Pamplona in Spain.
Tim speaks freely, he doesn't even falter and provides a source for each statement in the note field.
And he has something that almost every lecture at German schools and universities lacks: passion.
It wouldn't work without them, because the aim of the conference is ultimately to get new people excited about the "last generation".
Time and again, Tim refers to an email address that anyone who wants to take part should contact.
Participating in this lecture is the first step in the logic of the "Last Generation".
This is followed by action training.
One is intensively prepared to block a road.
How can you appease angry drivers?
How can violence be prevented?
Not all are radical in the "Last Generation"
A young woman virtually raises her hand.
In a few months she will finish her studies.
She would like to become active, but is afraid of an entry in her police clearance certificate.
Tim refers to the "Legal Team" and emphasizes that nobody is forced to do illegal things.
There are also a number of lawyers who help the "last generation".
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By no means every seminar participant is radical.
A man, for example, answers and says he knows the solution.
So not himself, but a professor from Potsdam.
Stopping global warming works without radical reversal.
The researchers proved this in a study.
Tim can't hide his skepticism, but kindly asks that the document be sent to him.
Another man suggests driving at 100 km/h on the Autobahn - and thus slowing down all traffic.
“We're already doing that – but it's not spectacular enough.
That's why nobody reports about it," says Tim.
Hater in Zoom call: "I wouldn't brake for you"
The next woman to discuss wants to know whether the sticking really has to be done.
Then a debate breaks out about the choice of means.
Tim says that he used to try to change something in the traditional way: sign petitions, organize demonstrations and vote for appropriate parties.
Nothing has worked, says Tim.
You can't help but get the impression that in the environment of the "last generation" things are much more adapted than expected - and more harmless than feared.
There is a Fundi and a Realo wing.
Tim is Fundi.
I don't get the impression that these people are dangerous.
Definitely not in the way they are currently being portrayed in public.
On suspicion of forming a criminal organization, the police searched the homes of members of the “last generation” across Germany on Tuesday.
After the 90 minutes of discussion, this assumption seems grotesque.
In addition, it is the climate activists who are putting themselves in great danger.
Tim says that he has often experienced physical violence from angry drivers.
He doesn't like doing any of this, but in this case the matter is bigger than his person.
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In this seminar, too, he is not protected from his haters.
"I wouldn't brake for you," writes one in the chat.
Simply that way.
Someone else expresses violent fantasies.
Tim sees these messages - and does: nothing.
None of the other participants responded either.
Nobody can be provoked here.
And at some point the hate messages just stop.
The event ends enthusiastically.
It doesn't look good, but each of the 56 tiles is dripping: we can do it together.
Maybe I'll reconsider my nihilism.
