The death of a cyclist in Berlin brings massive criticism to climate activists. You are blamed for making it difficult to rescue an accident victim. Right? Luisa Neubauer sees no reason to distance herself from these forms of protest. She tries a rhetorical balancing act.
The forms of protest differ, but they fight for the same cause: Both Fridays For Future (FFF) and the "Last Generation" are committed to more vehement climate protection and more drastic measures in the fight against global warming. But while some made the headlines a long time ago because they mobilized thousands of schoolchildren across the country, others are currently in the crossfire of criticism because of more radical actions. Even Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser feel compelled to make statements that are clearly directed against the activists.
As the most prominent face, Luisa Neubauer represents the mass movement Fridays For Future and knows how to stand against the wind. But now she is being pushed into the role of a more moderate supporter of the climate movement, who is supposed to judge the "deeds" of what many observers consider "black sheep". On Thursday evening, in an interview with ZDF, the 26-year-old tried the balancing act between sympathy for the death of a cyclist in Berlin and justifying the civil disobedience that groups like the "Last Generation" currently embody.
"The protest that we stand for as the climate movement and that we also stand for as Fridays For Future is categorically peaceful," she said, admitting to sometimes feeling "that people are peaceful with, so to speak, 'cosy' or 'comfortable ' Confused. Because that's not what it means. Protest can be annoying, sometimes it has to be annoying. Sometimes it's annoying, sometimes people get upset about it. But it's and remains peaceful. We see that everywhere, too."
The fact that Neubauer and Co. are under pressure to justify themselves has to do with a fatal traffic accident. The following is known: A 44-year-old cyclist was hit by a concrete mixer on Berlin's Bundesallee on Monday morning. She fell and was hit by the truck. A special vehicle from the Berlin fire brigade, which was called to the scene of the accident, only reached it late due to increased traffic and could no longer be used to rescue the trapped woman.
The traffic jam was mainly due to the morning rush hour on the Autobahn 100 and a protest action by the "last generation". The "Tagesspiegel" has reconstructed the journey of the emergency vehicle. Accordingly, it took 19 minutes instead of the 10 to 12 minutes to the scene of the accident, which would have been sufficient under normal traffic conditions. Although there was a rescue lane, the sheer width of the car made it difficult to get through. The woman succumbed to her injuries in a hospital on Thursday evening. According to the newspaper, she is the eighth cyclist to die in a traffic accident in Berlin this year.
What is not known: Could the woman's life have been saved if the special fire brigade vehicle had arrived at the scene of the accident earlier? This question is currently being clarified by the competent authorities. The police are investigating the two 63 and 59-year-old climate activists who climbed onto a highway sign and stayed there for hours because of the failure to provide assistance or the disability of people providing assistance.
However, they are relieved by a current report: As the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" writes, citing an internal note from the fire brigade, the treating emergency doctor came to the conclusion that Monday morning that lifting the concrete mixer with a special vehicle is not necessary. Instead, the vehicle involved in the accident should "move with its own engine power". Even if a crane or rescue vehicle had been available immediately, their use "was not medically indicated," writes the SZ. The reason: "A lift was briefly considered, but it would probably have taken longer as the medical situation worsened."
In a press statement, the "Last Generation" describes their view of the accident, which took place several kilometers away from each of the chosen locations. "We were on a gantry of signs on the A100," it says. The police independently regulated the traffic underneath and reduced it to one lane. "We informed the police before entering the gantry and asked for emergency vehicles to be diverted and the A100 to be completely closed to traffic." And further: "We always have a rescue lane in all our protests."
Therefore, Neubauer also has to answer uncomfortable questions. Who is responsible for the cyclist's death? Does she condemn the street protests of the "Last Generation"? Not so right. "Civil disobedience stands and falls with the 'civil' in there. That means non-violent," she said on Thursday evening, when the emergency doctor's assessment was not yet public. "And people shouldn't be endangered. That's what we stand for as the climate movement." That also includes the "last generation". Basically, the transport infrastructure in Germany is unsafe, especially for cyclists, according to Neubauer.
As far as the security concept for the "last generation" is concerned, she does not want to speak for the group. In contrast to FFF, this is more about the "drastic nature of the situation" and more "attention to this acute crisis". You can read that as criticism. The fact that no majorities were generated in this way is not decisive, explained Neubauer. In case of doubt, that is not the aim of these forms of action. "Creating majorities is something Fridays For Future is very good at."
The "Last Generation" puts it this way: "We took to the streets because we no longer want to accept the incomprehensible injustice in our society. Because we feel morally obliged to act and to walk into the abyss with our eyes closed. And because history has shown that peaceful civil resistance works." The activists write that they were aware that they would make "enemies" with their actions. "Because we interrupt people. Because we disturb. Because we bring the terrible to the public."
However, according to their own statements, the climate activists did not expect the extent of the outrage that the chain of events surrounding the death of the cyclist triggered. "The fact that the cyclist had an accident on the road is terrible. We are dismayed and in mourning." But her death should not be exploited.
Luisa Neubauer sees it that way too. In the morning she tweeted: "It should be possible to trust the death of a cyclist, to pause, to show empathy." It must be possible to investigate the circumstances of death - "without instrumentalising him, without soaking him in long-disproved allegations against climate protests." She does not write what she means by that. "The resistance continues," the "Last Generation" made clear in its statement. Until the federal government gets the climate crisis under control.
Note: After the publication of this article, the report on the assessment of the attending emergency doctor was supplemented.
