The climate activists of the “Last Generation” have summed up their plan for the coming weeks in two simple words: “Many will.” Under this motto, the group is currently once again mobilizing supporters. As can be seen from documents available to WELT AM SONNTAG, the activists plan, among other things, to “paralyze” Berlin with numerous blockades from April 19; the offensive in the capital should last a total of two weeks.
According to messages in the organization’s internal chat groups, the “Last Generation” assumes that 160 people will be needed to bring the capital “to a standstill” temporarily. So far, more than 650 supporters of the group have announced that they will “put up civil resistance” in Berlin from mid-April, according to the group’s website. In addition to road blockades, with supporters of the group sticking themselves to the roadway at intersections, the “Last Generation” are also planning protest marches. They should take place unannounced and also serve to obstruct traffic.
When mobilizing, the “Last Generation” uses data sets that activists have been creating for months. It includes the names and cell phone numbers of thousands of people who had previously come into contact with the group at information events and who gave their details there. In coordinated sessions, “Last Generation” supporters are currently calling these contacts and soliciting support.
Activists wrote down how to proceed on the phone in an internal guide to conducting the conversation. Among other things, sentences like the following should be used: “That may sound ambitious at first, but projections show that it takes 160 people to block roads every day for the city to come to a standstill. We can do that.”
According to the documents, the strategy also includes promising quick successes. Doubters about the strategy of “civil disobedience” should be recommended to come at least to the registered meeting on April 23 in front of the Brandenburg Gate “to express their solidarity with the ‘last generation'”. A separate working group has provided the necessary accommodation for activists – its members are said to have recently rented dozens of apartments for the protest period.
In order to get easier access to educational institutions, according to the “Last Generation”, a cooperation with “Teachers for Future”, an association of more than 500 teachers nationwide, should be established. This should enable the activists to make regular appearances in classrooms. The teachers’ association, it was said at an internal information event, will also officially name the “Last Generation” as a partner in the future. Among other things, this could result in a large number of invitations to give lectures in schools, the activists hope.
“Teachers for Future” itself was more reserved about WELT AM SONNTAG. Individual representatives of the group were asked for discussion rounds and an “event-related exchange”, but there was no cooperation, said the deputy federal chairwoman Inga Feuser.
The teachers’ alliance is currently designing a “multi-perspective” workshop on the history of civil disobedience, which, among other things, is about “critically discussing current protest actions such as those of the ‘last generation'” with students. Feuser said that fears that the activists at these events would advertise “illegal methods of protest” or be presented uncritically are “unjustified and unfounded”.
The education policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group, Ria Schröder, finds it fundamentally questionable that activists from the “last generation” speak in schools: “People like that are not suitable as role models for schoolchildren.” Instead of the activists “the political youth organizations should rather “ of the parties are invited. The “last generation” is doing climate protection a “disservice”.
