The situation in our society at the beginning of 2024 is more dramatic than it has been for a long time. Misanthropic and fascist forces are laying an ax to the foundation of our free, democratic basic order. At the same time, the destruction of our livelihoods continues at a rapid pace. Although the Basic Law and international treaties prohibit further hesitation, people with a lot of creative power and money in our country decide to continue the political course of destruction. Whether out of fear of change or out of cynical self-interest – one can only speculate.
No matter what the underlying motive may be, continuing the “status quo” is a crime with the worst possible consequences: billions of people will suffer and die as a result.
Faced with this reality, all citizens have a democratic duty to act in such a way that they do not become complicit in this crime.
The last generation wants to live up to this democratic mandate right from the start. We are ordinary people with everyday problems who peacefully stand up for a just society. A society that once again acts in accordance with its most fundamental democratic values.
Regardless of whether we are looking at the fight for women's rights, the end of segregation or the fight for labor rights: In order to create a turnaround towards a fairer and more humane society, stubborn protest has historically been indispensable alongside other forms of participation in our democracy. Nonviolent resistance has proven to be an exceptionally efficient means. A few percent of the population can completely turn political reality upside down in a very short space of time, provided their concerns are shared by a broad cross-section of the population. This is obviously true in the case of the just rescue of our social basis of life. That's why the goal of the last generation is to mobilize the critical mass of people onto the streets that is needed to make this wish a reality.
Two years ago, 24 people blocked a road for the first time and got stuck. The sticking was important in order to avoid being pulled directly off the street and thus being able to protest in an unignorable manner. Since then, the number of protesters has increased a hundredfold with the Last Generation. This opens up new possibilities. From now on we will protest in a different form - but it will remain unignorable. Starting in March, we will call for disobedient gatherings across the country. Instead of dividing into small groups and blocking roads, we will hold disobedient gatherings with many people. And where we cannot be ignored. A new era of our peaceful, civil resistance begins - the chapter of sticking and road blockades ends.
In addition to the new main form of protest - disobedient assemblies - we will increasingly directly confront those responsible for climate destruction in the future. On the one hand, this means that we will confront politicians and other decision-makers publicly and in front of cameras, just as the successful US group Climate Defiance did with representatives of the Biden administration last year.
On the other hand, we will increasingly visit places of fossil destruction for our protest, as was the case in the past with protests at oil pipelines, airports or the RWE company premises.
We will combine this protest with a simple appeal to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. We will call on him to speak publicly and honestly about climate destruction and the necessary changes. The details of this appeal will be developed in the form of a letter in the coming months.
If the decision-makers in our country began to speak honestly about their failure, the irreversible destruction that has already occurred and the measures that are now necessary, this would create a sustainable social foundation of trust. This foundation would be the right basis on which to implement the necessary change in terms of real politics. In our view, Frank-Walter Steinmeier is highly respected and, as a neutral authority, is the right addressee for such an appeal for honesty.