Global warming: Last generation also plans climate protest under a new name

The Last Generation climate initiative wants to continue protesting and disrupting even after its planned renaming. “It is very clear to us that there will continue to be protests, they will be diverse, they will also be disruptive and loud,” said activist Carla Hinrichs of the German Press Agency. “But it is also clear to us that we want to form a new form of community. We want to make democracy more democratic.”

Hinrichs had previously announced in “Spiegel” that the group wanted to change its name. Blockades in front of cars, airports and roads are no longer the focus. The 27-year-old told the dpa that she could not yet say when exactly new protests could be expected.

The group has begun a major process of change. There is no new name yet. “But it is very clear to us: we are simply no longer the last generation, and that is also something that should give us pause: we are no longer the last generation before the climate catastrophe, but we are right in the middle of it.”

“Protect what we hold dear”

The group was formed after a climate hunger strike in Berlin and is calling for more measures to protect the climate. Since the beginning of 2022, she has repeatedly made a name for herself with blockade campaigns. Earlier this year, the group announced a change in strategy and a move away from sticky blocks.

Hinrichs defended the forms of protest at the time, which were consciously chosen. “We knew there could be prison time involved,” she said. Such punishments are very frightening for those involved. But: “We say: Now is the time to protect everything we hold dear, now is the time to really sound the alarm, and if that’s too loud for some people and they lock us up for it, then so be it. But I I think the future will show that it had to be that loud.”