The German Last Generation (LG) climate activists’ group said it would change its name to adapt to what it called changes in the world climate.
At the same time, LG said it also intended to end its practice of blocking German roads and airports.
LG spokeswoman Carla Hinrichs told German magazine Der Spiegel on December 19 that the group was changing its name as members could “no longer be sure that we are truly the last generation before the tipping point”.
Hinrichs said the “climate catastrophe” she claimed could have been avoided when LG was founded in 2021 was now a reality.
“The situation is escalating before our eyes,” she insisted.
She said she could not yet reveal the new name for LG yet but added that saying it out loud “gave her goosebumps”.
Hinrichs also said the group would not continue blocking roads and airports for the time being.
In the past, small bands of climate activists had routinely blocked German motorways and even got onto the tarmac at major German airports to halt air traffic.
The authorities have been accused of not responding adequately to their disruptive action.
Instead, Hinrichs said, the new LG would “try to build something that better copes with the new reality”, such as, she claimed, helping old ladies in neighbourhoods who suffered in the sweltering summer heat.
In a 2023 poll, 75 per cent of respondents said they had no sympathy for the climate activists’ protests. In August 2024, Last Generation Austria announced its dissolution over a lack of success as Austrians had opted for “fossil ignorance”, an apparent reference to coal and oil usage.
Hinrichs also acknowledged that “the masses did not show up”. Pressed on popular discontent with her group’s numerous blockades, she said: “There will not be any apologies.
“Capitalism and our political system are plunging us into the abyss,” Hinrichs concluded.
German police have searched the homes of Last Generation members after the group’s protests at several German airports. https://t.co/cBMiDldbXs
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 8, 2024
