Last Generation (climate movement)

Last Generation (climate movement)
The Last Generation (German: Italian: ) is a group of climate change activists mostly active in Germany, Italy, and Austria.
Last Generation describes itself as an "alliance" and was formed in 2021 from participants in the "last generation hunger strike". The term was chosen because, in their view, there is a risk that tipping points in the earth's climate system will be exceeded. According to the activists, they belong to the last generation that is still able to stop the total collapse of the earth.
Since their formation in 2021, they have staged direct non-violent actions, and regularly committed crimes like numerous road blockades (276 in Germany over the course of 2022) and using paint to vandalise yachts, notorious paintings, buildings, restaurants and private jets.
In Germany the group has three central demands: a speed limit of 100 km/h on Autobahnen, a cheap universal ticket for nationwide public transport and a "social council" with 160 drawn members, which will make a plan to end the use of fossil fuels in Germany by 2030.
In Rome, they threw soup at a van Gogh painting behind glass, called . In Potsdam, they threw mashed potatoes onto a Monet painting. None of the artworks they attacked were damaged. Their civil disobedience methods have met with mixed reactions from the public, including expressions of outrage and threats of violence.
The group was formed by participants of the 2021 which had blockaded highways in Berlin. They chose their name to signal that Earth is approaching climate tipping points, and that their generation is the last one that can prevent climate collapse.
Goals and topics
The group states that there is a climate emergency, and demands that citizens decide their own future by implementing society councils, while the cost of solving the climate crisis should not be borne by workers, but rather by the rich. The group demands a debt cut and payments to states of the Global South as compensation for climate change, the introduction of a general speed limit of 100 km/h on the autobahn, and a permanent 9-Euro-Ticket.
In early 2023, the group declared parliamentarian democracy to be unfit for dealing with the climate crisis and demanded the implementation of "Society councils" to work out emergency measures. The members of those councils should be selected by sortition from various backgrounds and age classes. Existing conventional political institutions would be obliged to implement the councils' decisions exactly as agreed.
Methods
The Last Generation's main method is road blockades, while at the beginning of the movement, the group also frequently distributed food from dumpsters for free.
The group also used paint to vandalise property. An example of this is their vandalism actions in Sylt, where the group used paint on several buildings and a private jet.
History of actions
The Last Generation state that they performed 370 actions between January and October 2022.
In October 2022, two Last Generation activists threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting behind glass, titled Grainstacks. The painting is part of the impressionism collection of Hasso Plattner, a German billionaire, at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. Plattner reportedly paid 111 million euros for the painting in 2019. The painting was left undamaged. However, the museum stated that the frame was damaged, and estimated that its restoration would incur a five-figure cost in euros.
Similarly, in November 2022, the Last Generation threw soup at 'The Sower' by Vincent van Gogh, also behind glass, at the Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome, Italy. The painting, which was on loan from the Dutch Kröller-Müller Museum, suffered no damage, like another van Gogh painting targeted by a similar protest by Just Stop Oil two weeks earlier in London.
In February 2023, motorists attempted to remove Last Generation protesters from a motorway near the event venue ICC Berlin, with one car driver running over a protester's foot. The police were at the scene and initiated criminal proceedings against the driver, on suspicion of simple bodily harm.
In April 2023, the group protested at the Berlin ePrix, a Formula E electric car race, by gluing themselves to the track and support vehicles right before the start. That same month, the use by police of pain compliance techniques to disperse a Letzte Generation road blockade came under public and legal scrutiny in Germany.
In May 2023, Letzte Generation spray-painted a Piper PA-23 'Aztec''' private airplane at Berlin airport, causing an estimated 72,000 worth of damage to the aircraft. In the same month, in Vienna, an emergency patient died in congestion caused by the group. A speaker of the group stated that it had made the mistake of not informing the ambulance service centre.
On 23 May 2023, two activists from the group poured mud over themselves outside the Senate building in Rome to protest fossil fuel use. They also drew attention to the devastating effects of floods linked to climate change, such as those which had recently hit the Emilia-Romagna region. The group had previously poured black liquid into the Trevi Fountain in Rome and glued themselves to a piece of art in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.In May 2023, 170 police officers conducted raids on flats around Germany, arresting activists, shutting down the group's website, and freezing accounts linked to the group. The investigation was being led by the Bavarian central office for combating extremism and terrorism. The authorities claimed the group was using the website to raise funds for "further criminal acts", stating at least 1.4 million euros had been collected. Two of the group's members were alleged to have planned an attack on an oil pipeline in Bavaria.
During June 2023, the group performed vandalism on the wealthy island of Sylt. They most notably sprayed orange paint onto a private jet (reported as make Cessna CJ1), as well as several buildings. In the same month, Letzte Generation spray-painted the Lady M, a 30-metre private yacht of a German company owner on the German Baltic coast. The yacht was designed for a crew of four staff members and six guests, and comes with a 29,000-litre fuel tank.
On 25 June 2023, the Munich public prosecutor's office confirmed that German investigators have been tapping and monitoring several communications from the climate activist group, following revelations in the German press about the case.
Funding
According to their own statements, the group is mainly financed by donations or crowdfunding. In early 2022, Last generation released a transparency report. Accordingly, last in 2021 they received more than 900,000 euros in donations and spent around 535,000 euros.
In late 2022, the Axel Springer newspaper Welt am Sonntag puplished a story, according to that Last Generation pays some activists up to 1,300 euros per month. The money is paid out by an organisation called "Wandelbündnis" in Berlin, but originates from the Climate Emergency Fund in the United States.
Last Generation (Germany, Austria, and Italy) are part of the A22 network funded by the Climate Emergency Fund, together with Renovate Switzerland, in France, Just Stop Oil in the UK (in Norway), and other groups in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and the US.
Controversy
Two Last Generation activists did not appear in court in Bad Cannstatt, Baden-Württemberg state in early 2023. They were on trial for blocking a federal highway in late 2022. News reports emerged that they had flown to Bali on holiday. However, the Last Generation issued a statement pointing out that their members had actually travelled to Thailand and that this had been agreed to by the court. They booked the flights as private individuals, not as activists, the group said. These two things should be treated differently, the statement went on.
Reception
In 2022 the Association for the German Language chose "Climate-terrorist"'' as Un-word of the year 2022. The expression was used in public discourse to discredit activists and their protests for more climate protection, the jury justified their choice. Member of Last Generation were titled as Climate-terrorists. Some politicians spoke about a „Climate-RAF“ or „Green RAF“, referring to German post-war terrorist movement Red Army Fraction. The term "Green RAF" was first used by climate activist Tadzio Müller in 2021.
References
External links
Website for Germany
Website for Austria
Website for Italy
Civil disobedience
2021 establishments
Environmental organisations based in Germany