Status: 10/11/2022 11:14 am
The village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia is to give way to lignite mining – despite the decision to phase out coal. Green politicians are responsible, climate activists feel betrayed and want to fight.
For 29-year-old Julia Riedel from the anti-lignite initiative “All Villages Remain” and the other activists, it is clear that they will stand in the way of RWE’s excavators. The fact that the decision was announced by Green Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck and Green NRW Economics Minister Mona Neubaur outraged the activists at breakfast at the long wooden table in the resistance camp near Lützerath.
A year ago, Neubaur demonstrated with climate activists for the preservation of the settlement. They remember that very well here. “The Greens have proven again and again that they betray their ideals when they are in government.”
place with symbolic power
The two Green politicians Habeck, Neubaur and RWE announced last week that the lignite phase-out in the Rhenish mining area would be brought forward by eight years to 2030. Nevertheless, the Lützerath settlement is to be demolished for lignite mining.
tents and tree houses
“We will not give up Lützerath,” says Julia, who has been here for a year. And this fight has long been international. Activists from all over the world are now arriving and settling in the tents, tree houses and abandoned farms not far from the edge of the huge pit of the Garzweiler II opencast mine. They come from France, Norway, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, but also from Australia.
“We are here because we are also fighting for the people in the Global South, because whole areas there are already uninhabitable,” says Julia, who is actually a doctor. That’s why she decided to resist here. “It’s as if the house is on fire and RWE and the Greens are now pouring over 200 million tons of coal into it.”
Julia Riedel has been part of the protests to preserve Lützerath for a year.
Image: WDR
Every day that people stick to coal is a catastrophe for the people who are already feeling the effects of the climate catastrophe, says Julia. And “Fridays for Future” also sharply criticizes the plans to burn the coal under Lützerath and refers to a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). She came to the conclusion that the coal under Lützerath would not be needed for energy security in Germany even in times of the gas crisis. One will call for protests in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Duisburg and in Lützerath.
Does the deal help the climate?
The green NRW Economics Minister Neubaur, on the other hand, is convinced: the coal is needed in the crisis. In order to ensure security of supply this winter and next, the coal under Lützerath has to be mined. Three independent reports came to the same conclusion, explained Neubaur when asked again tagesschau.de. In addition, the Garzweiler II opencast mine has been approved for a brown coal quantity of 560 million tons. The earlier exit left 280 million tons of lignite in the ground. RWE has also committed to investing in renewable energies.
“Fridays for Future” speaks of a “clear success of the climate movement that RWE is committed to the coal phase-out in 2030”. In view of this, however, it is a disaster that the government is still not taking serious measures to save energy and reduce emissions in all sectors. She sees the compromise as an attempt “to cover up the inaction on accelerated energy transition and rapid public transport expansion,” says spokeswoman Darya Sotoodeh.
Lützerath is to give way to the Garzweiler II opencast lignite mine.
Image: dpa
Is there a scenario like that in the Hambach Forest in 2018?
In the region between Aachen and Cologne, many Greens have been active in the anti-lignite movement for years, such as Antje Grothus, who campaigned to save the Hambach Forest. “For me as a climate activist, the compromise is not easy,” said the green member of the state parliament. “Especially those people who made this success possible through their commitment should now give up the place that is so important for them and the climate.” The Green Youth agrees that the decision to go to Lützerath is destroying social peace and is fatal in terms of climate policy.
“I can understand that not all climate protectionists agree with the decision that has now been made,” admits Neubaur. She hopes that the activists will see “what a great success the coal phase-out in 2030 is for climate protection,” she said tagesschau.de. In order to protect the climate for future generations, one must take pragmatic steps. Lützerath sees them as a symbol of exactly this: the early phase-out of coal, which they have promoted.
When the clearing of the camp with about 100 activists will begin is not clear, says Julia Riedel. Since the beginning of October, the excavators have excavated the quarry edge to less than 100 meters from the town limits. “If the authorities try to evacuate, tens of thousands of people will come to Lützerath and oppose them,” Julia is convinced.