2023-07-31 16:02:30
This is the latest installment in Anselm Neft’s humorous column Spot the Error.
So far, the so-called climate stickers have mainly caused traffic jams on motorways and in city traffic. But now the last generation has apparently changed their strategy. In the last few weeks there have hardly been any activists on public streets. The activists Lotte Pritt and Axel Uhu told us what they do instead.
“We won’t stop!” the 32-year-old carpenter from Berlin-Hellersdorf declared confidently right at the beginning of the conversation. “We’re just changing the way we operate.” She and other members of Last Generation were inspired by the change in strategy of the UK branch of Extinction Rebellion. They already had at the beginning of the year stopped blocking public roads, in order to win more people for more collective forms of protest instead. In Germany, the last generation is now “going one better”, as Axel Uhu, 52-year-old business administrator from Wilmersdorf, explains. “We now run a double track,” says Uhu. “On the one hand, from now on we will no longer block the citizens, but corporations, parliament buildings and yachts.”
Ad | Scroll to read more
Focus on factory farming, politics and the rich
Concrete goals of the activists are, for example, the access roads to the factory premises of large meat companies such as Wiesenhof, Tönnies, Vion and Westfleisch. On the other hand, protesters from the last generation are now sticking themselves in the entrances to the Bundestag and in front of selected buildings in the European Quarter in Brussels. In a short time, significantly more people would have joined them than with their conventional street blockades. According to Pritt and Uhu, there is also a lot of support for the blockades of super yachts and cruise ships.
Traffic jam helpers as a special highlight
“Our second line,” explains Uhu, “is to support people who are stuck in traffic on German autobahns or city streets.” Pritt explains what that means: “For example, we wipe their windows free of charge, hand them small refreshments, play with them the children ‘connect four’ or tell jokes.” According to Pritt, jokes such as “Did you run over the climate sticker on purpose? – No, with all-wheel drive.” Or: “Are you vegan because you love animals? – No, out of plant hatred.” They would only not tell jokes about tofu, it was tasteless.
Maren Kaschner
To the author
Anselm Neft, born near Bonn in 1973, studied unrelated subjects, wrote his master’s thesis on contemporary Satanism, worked through jobs ranging from dishwasher to management consultant and now lives as a freelance author and writer in Hamburg. There he runs the literary podcast “laxbrunchand writes articles and books. His latest novel is called “Late Children” and was published by Rowohlt-Verlag. He writes the humorous column “Find the error” for the Berliner Zeitung.
There has already been a great deal of positive feedback
“It’s amazing,” says Uhu. “People react much friendlier to friendliness than to passive-aggressive traffic blockades.” Pritt is also surprised at the great popularity that the group has experienced since the change of strategy. “Some of the people we told jokes in the traffic jam sign up for our ‘traffic jam crew’ when they get there,” she says. “Others sell their car or swear never to have children.” Owing to the sheer volume of inquiries and the associated administrative workload, Owl and Pritt hardly have time to protest themselves. Both appreciate the contact with people.
people change their minds
Pritt tells us about one of the many heart-rending encounters: “In a traffic jam on the A7, I went to an SUV with a ‘Fridays for Hubraum’ sticker with fellow campaigner Joscha Pattex. Inside sat a bad-tempered man and a sparingly looking woman. We both wanted to give them a homemade lemonade, but the man grumbled: ‘I don’t accept anything from the Klima-RAF!’ We stayed friendly and sang ‘The Cuckoo and the Donkey’ for the two of them in two voices. The man suddenly had to cry and wanted my email address. A short time later he wrote to me: ‘You opened my eyes. So far I have not believed in climate change and have been against refugees. Now I believe in climate change and I am against climate refugees!’”
At the end of the conversation, we want to know from Lotte Pritt and Axel Uhu whether everything they are saying is true. “Of course not,” both say in unison. “But it would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
Do you have feedback? Write us! [email protected]
#generation #strategy #conquers #hearts #population