The “Last Generation” has received more than 350,000 euros in donations so far. Among the financial supporters of the climate protest group is the former Greens member of the Bundestag Hans-Josef Fell, as WELT learned from activist circles on Thursday. Fell is considered one of the fathers of the Renewable Energy Sources Act. He left the German Bundestag in 2013.
Fell initially left an inquiry from WELT about his donation to the group unanswered. A little later he published a statement on his website. It states: “The last generation deserves our support because of their courageous nonviolent resistance. I would like to encourage the older generation in particular to stand behind them with statements of solidarity.”
Fell reminds the media coverage of the “Last Generation”, as he writes, “of the fossil-fuelled media campaigns against the most important climate protection measures of the last decade”. At that time there was a whole wave of reports and comments against renewable energies as alleged price drivers. Again and again journalists from the “Springerpresse” – that is, from WELT and “Bild” – “who discredit the last generation as human beings,” Fell claims.
In his statement, Fell also criticized the use of the term “extremists” for the activists. The members of the “Last Generation” used “peaceful civil disobedience in acceptance of the punishments awaiting them”, they are thus entering into “the tradition of the civil rights movement, suffragettes and the freedom movement of the GDR – which, by the way, were also described by the GDR leadership as ‘extremists ‘ before they were later celebrated around the world as heroes of German unity”. Nobody would call the women protesting in Iran “extremists,” Fell continued. “In this country, we tend to describe the Iranian state power and its compliant state media as extremists.”
His donation, he said by e-mail, went to the non-profit association Wandelbündnis e.V., which finances the educational work for the “last generation”. The amount of the donation is unknown.
In recent weeks, the climate protest group “Last Generation” has drawn attention to itself with blockades in road traffic, but also with attacks on works of art in museums – the activists have been criticized for this by numerous politicians. Most recently, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) expressed his opposition to the actions of the “last generation”. “Here we are witnessing a radicalization of the few. That’s bad,” Habeck said in an interview with “Stern”.
In addition to their regular street blockades, the climate activists also attracted attention last week by invading the runway at Berlin Brandenburg Airport. As a result of the action, air traffic was interrupted for around two hours.
The Berlin prosecution authorities recently dismissed the call for a tougher legal approach. An initial suspicion for the classification of the “last generation” as a “criminal organization” is currently not recognizable, said the spokesman for the Berlin Attorney General, Sebastian Büchner.
The “Last Generation” is calling on the federal government to introduce a speed limit on motorways and a “climate ticket” for local public transport. According to the group, several CDU representatives are among the donors for the protest campaign.
With the money they raise, the activists pay for dunning notices and court costs, organize training and education, and pay for the housing and maintenance costs of the members. Many activists have quit their jobs and are dedicating themselves to the protests full-time.
