“Climate RAF”, “Taliban”, “extremely dangerous”: parts of the climate movement are being attacked with harsh words, not only by the conservative opposition, but also by government representatives. Thomas Haldenwang is now trying to objectify the debate.
How is the behavior of activists to be assessed, who glue themselves to the streets and hold up traffic, chain themselves to factory gates, shower paintings and sculptures with paint – all with the aim of forcing politicians to respond to their demand that is there to avert the climate catastrophe?
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt, for example, warned in view of the protests of the emergence of a “climate RAF” that members of the “last generation” were in danger of becoming radicalized and slipping into violence in a similar way as the terrorists around Andreas Baader and Gudrun did back then Ensslin and Ulrike Meinhof in the early 1970s. It is hardly surprising that opposition Union politicians are positioning themselves against the radical climate movement in order to score points with their middle-class electorate. But the outrage about the “last generation” extends far into the government camp. FDP leader Christian Lindner, for example, called the protests “extremely dangerous”. And SPD politician Michael Roth went even further in his exaggeration and compared the methods of the activists with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Now a man has spoken out who, in case of doubt, would be authorized by office to give an assessment of whether the behavior of the “last generation” should be regarded as civil disobedience or poses a threat to the free democratic basic order: Constitutional Protection President Thomas Haldenwang.
In an interview with the editorial network Germany, Haldenwang tries to objectify the debate: He currently sees no sufficient evidence to assess the climate group “Last Generation” as extremist. The fact that the group sometimes acts criminally does not change that.
However, one is vigilant and has an eye on possible radicalization in the climate movement. “The Office for the Protection of the Constitution takes a close look every day at how the situation is developing,” said Haldenwang. The Mirror reported at the weekend that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had already declared the “last generation” a “test case” six months ago and initiated a corresponding procedure. The President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution said that he was “prohibited from speaking about test cases”. However, Haldenwang pointed out without reference to the “last generation” that a test case is a standardized procedure that must be initiated so that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution can even begin with an examination. This is not automatically associated with a qualitative assessment.
The “Last Generation”, which was founded at the end of 2021, blocked the motorway access for the first time on January 24 last year. Thereafter, with interruptions, such blockades followed almost daily, as well as protests in museums, stadiums, at oil pipelines and airports. The activists call for a general move away from fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Concrete demands in the current political debate are a nine-euro ticket for everyone and a speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour on motorways.