If you want to know what the "Last Generation" is up to, you can join their Inner Circle twice a week via Zoom call. Our editor was present at the recruitment seminar.
Cologne – Paralyzing road traffic, defiling works of art, boarding airports: the debate about the actions of the "Last Generation" does not stop. What very few people know: Twice a week you can see for yourself. Then the climate activists invite you to an online video conference.
You can take a look at it, I thought. After all, it's about the big picture. I am firmly convinced that it is already too late and that the catastrophe will come one way or another. I don't think that the "last generation" will make a difference. Probably, with my nihilism, I am of no interest to any political current.
The appointments always take place 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 low-cost social housing tune in to the Zoom call. Tim says that at the beginning of these Zoom conferences, often only a handful of people were listening. Today there are more than 50 of us in the seminary.
Who is radical here? © Last generation
"Last Generation": Finally a lecture with passion
His lecture lasts 45 minutes. Tim talks about tipping points of the climate catastrophe, the death of boreal coniferous forests and migration movements to the global North. In conclusion, most agree that the world of tomorrow will be threatening if nothing happens now. In the end, one fact in particular sticks with me: All Hamburgers can "look forward" to a weather like in Pamplona, Spain, in 2045.
Tim speaks freely, he doesn't even falter and puts a source in the note field for every statement. And he has something that is missing from almost every lecture at German schools and universities: passion. Without them, it wouldn't work, because the goal of the conference is to inspire new people for the "last generation". Again and again Tim refers to an e-mail address, where everyone who wants to participate should turn. Participation in this lecture is the first step in the logic of the "Last Generation". This is followed by action training. They are being intensively prepared to block a road. How, then, can you appease angry motorists? How can violence be prevented?
Not everyone is radical in the "Last Generation"
A young woman raises her hand virtually. In a few months, she will finish her studies. She wants to take action, but is afraid of an entry in her police clearance certificate. Tim refers to the "legal team" and emphasizes: No one is forced to do illegal things. In addition, there are a number of lawyers who help the "last generation".
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Not every seminar participant is radical. A man, for example, comes forward and says he knows the solution. So not himself, but a professor from Potsdam. Stopping global warming works without a radical change of course. The researcher has proven this in a study. Tim can't hide his skepticism, but kindly asks to send him the document. Another man suggests driving at 100 km/h on the highway – and thus throttling all traffic. "We're already doing that – but it's not spectacular enough. That's why no one reports on it," says Tim.
Hater in the Zoom call: "I wouldn't slow down for you"
The next discussant wants to know whether it really has to be with the sticking. Then a debate breaks out about the choice of means. Tim says that he used to try to change things in the traditional way: sign petitions, organize demonstrations and vote for appropriate parties. None of this worked, says Tim. One cannot help but get the impression that in the environment of the "last generation", many things are more adapted than expected – and more harmless than feared. There is a fundi and a realo wing. Tim is Fundi.
I don't have the impression that these people are dangerous. Definitely not in the way they are portrayed in public right now. On suspicion of forming a criminal organization, police searched the homes of members of the "Last Generation" throughout Germany on Tuesday. After 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 to do all this, but in this case the matter is bigger than his person.
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Also in this seminar he is not protected from his haters. "I wouldn't slow down for you," one writes in the chat. Just like that. Someone else expresses violent fantasies. Tim sees this news – and does nothing. None of the other participants responds either. Nobody can be provoked here. And at some point, the hate messages just stop. The event ends on a high note. It doesn't look good, but each of the 56 tiles is dripping with words: Together we can still do it.
Maybe I'll reconsider my nihilism.