The day begins with the sinking of three cars. Greenpeace has sunk a BMW, a Mercedes and a VW in the exhibition lake. The message in front of the main entrance to the trade fair shortly before the start of the IAA Mobility: “Auto industry sinks climate protection”. The scene is reminiscent of images from storm areas, where people and their cars sink into the water. When asked, a Greenpeace spokeswoman assured that only the upper parts of the bodywork were carried into the water, so there was no danger to the water.
The IAA week promises to be a protest week – against cars, for an ecological turnaround in traffic. Numerous groups accuse the IAA of greenwashing. On Monday, activists from Extinction Rebellion lowered themselves from a bridge over the Mittlerer Ring, next to the BMW World, with a banner between them: “Climate protection instead of the IAA. Money for public transport, not for the motorways”. This is reminiscent of the freeway blockades at the IAA 2021. At that time, the actions were unannounced, which is why the police blocked several freeways in the city. This time everything is registered, the police let the vehicles drive through slowly. Above, on the bridge, an elderly woman is being pushed in a wheelchair, holding a sign in her hand: “Mobility for everyone! #block IAA”.
On Monday afternoon, members of “Extinction Rebellion” abseiled down the Georg-Brauchle-Ring near the BMW World.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
The hashtag is the motto of various left-wing climate protection groups, whose center can be found in Luitpoldpark. The “Mobility Turnaround Camp” is taking place there, to which up to 1,500 participants from all over Germany are expected. Groups such as “Smash IAA”, “No Future for IAA”, “Sand im Getriebe” and “Formando Rutas”, a Chilean group, are behind the tent camp and are active against lithium mining in the Atacama desert.
In addition to the demonstration planned for Sunday, which should end not far from the Königsplatz used by the IAA, the initiatives want to disrupt the fair, which they justify: “Within parliamentary politics there is no appropriate reaction to the urgency of the climate crisis. We therefore take climate protection into their own hands and enforce the traffic turnaround with civil disobedience.” The fact that more and more large cars are being built is “legal by law”, but: “For us it is an injustice that we cannot tolerate. We are many and we can oppose the power of the corporations with the power of our physical presence. ” This is legitimate “given the destructive effects of the auto industry”.
Lisa Poettinger from the demo’s organizing team emphasized that the activists did not want to brand individual drivers as the culprits for the climate crisis. It is the political leaders who have to offer better public transport so that not so many people are dependent on cars. Mira Klein from “Smash IAA” bemoans the profits of some corporate owners, while many people can hardly afford Munich anymore. “We want to abolish capitalism,” that’s the goal of her group.
Luise Weil from “Sand im Getriebe” calls the IAA a “festival of exploitation and destruction”. With natural disasters, the global South is already experiencing the consequences of the climate crisis, which will soon be felt even more strongly in Europe. People in countries like Chile, where lithium for car batteries is mined, suffer twice as much from private transport in Europe. This was also pointed out by Juan Donoso from Formando Rutas. The lithium mining threatens the groundwater, the affected people there feel powerless against the mining interests.
The camp organizers promise to treat the park with care
In contrast to these reports is the green ambience of the camp in the Luitpoldpark under shady trees. The organizers had to go there because the Theresienwiese is occupied by the Oktoberfest. The district committee (BA) Schwabing-West is upset because the city only casually informed the district committee about the camp. Citizens who are concerned about their local recreation area have reported to the BA that meadows could be “trampled and dirty”. The camp organizers promise to treat the park with care. The police also assume that there will be no trouble: the previous camps have “always run smoothly”.
In an open letter to Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD), several environmental protection organizations, including Bund Naturschutz, Verkehrsclub Deutschland and Greenpeace, demand that he clearly commit to the mobility turnaround in view of the climate crisis. He should learn from other European cities and do everything to ensure that the number of cars in Munich does not continue to increase. The city must invest in the environmental association instead of in new feeder roads. “We miss visionary and sometimes uncomfortable decisions by the city leaders to set an example for a Munich worth living in.”