Climate protests in the heatwave
Climate change is once again showing its brutal side with Southern Europe experiencing extreme temperatures. As the holiday season gets under way, Last Generation climate activists have disrupted operations at several German airports by gluing themselves to the runways. Tempers also flared during a road blockade in Stralsund. Europe's press asks: are such protest actions appropriate?
We must prepare for the consequences
The heatwave should convince even the most unbending climate sceptics to take action, says Postimees:
“What does it mean when heat and agricultural degradation mobilise large crowds? It's hard to say who's to blame, and the sense of frustration this causes has driven climate activists to downright unconstructive forms of protest. Addressing the climate issue seems politically inevitable, but given what is happening in the world the response clearly cannot be limited to CO2 emissions. We also need to look at the issue in terms of medicine, saving lives, immigration, agriculture, fresh water and many other aspects.”
Why go on warning?
Commenting in Krytyka Polityczna, journalist Paulina Januszewska has the feeling that her warnings about climate change are becoming pointless:
“In 2022 I realised I was running out of hellish metaphors to convey the seriousness of the problem of global warming and the severe consequences of the oppressive heat. This summer too, we will not be spared from temperatures which Grzegorz Walijewski, a spokesman for the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, has also described as 'hellish'. So I officially declare that I am withdrawing from the competition for the most incendiary words, because how often can you write the same thing at a time when we are having to get used to high thermometer readings whether we like it or not?”
Activists shaking up creatures of habit
The angry reaction of a lorry driver who drove his lorry towards a climate activist who was blocking his way garnered praise on Czech social networks. Český rozhlas finds this lamentable:
“When young climate activists stage protests away from the main roads no one takes any notice of them. Everything carries on as usual. But when they block a main road, suddenly they and their concern for the future of the planet get written about. They are right to shake us older people up. Otherwise we don't hear or see anything, because we don't want to drive through densely populated urban areas at a maximum speed of 30 km/h, because we don't want to be humiliated and have to give up our beloved combustion engines - in other words: because we don't want to change our ways.”
The wrong protest methods
Hospodářské noviny has its reservations about this form of protest:
“What is the point of blocking traffic if all this does is endanger ordinary citizens? ... Their frustration and resentment could end in a tragedy brought about by the climate activists. ... Greenpeace, for example, took a more targeted and well-considered approach. When they quite rightly felt that the energy companies were not doing enough to switch to renewable energy, they blocked the excavators, smokestacks, the headquarters of the relevant companies and demonstrated outside the buildings of the decision-making bodies. Not everyone might agree with activists of this type, but you couldn't say they were in the wrong place.”
Civil disobedience out of place here
Jyllands-Posten shows little understanding for such protests in functioning democracies:
“Civil disobedience is understandable in the case of women removing their headscarves in protest at the oppressive regime in Iran, or black communities liberating themselves from apartheid in South Africa. There are necessary struggles for democracy, but no excuses for fighting against democracy. We cannot understand why climate activists in one of the world's largest democracies turn against the community and put themselves above the rule of law by paralysing our shared infrastructure. This is an expression of blindness to the privileges offered by democracy. And no trivial offence.”
Avoid setting unrealistic goals
Although climate change must be recognised as a real threat, the authorities must not build castles in the sky when it comes to countermeasures, T24 stresses:
“Record temperatures are being reported in almost every region of our planet. Turkey is one of them. ... Even if we fail to meet climate targets, the efforts we make to achieve them are crucial for our future. But if we focus on unattainable goals in the fight against climate change, our country could find itself in a situation with far more serious consequences than the earthquake which caught us off guard. Perhaps the time has come to be more realistic.”