"Not an easy time"

From boom to bust: is the climate movement dead?

A movement that questions itself: Fridays for Future acknowledges its failings and yet does not want to give up in the fight for the climate.

(Bild: Mathis Fotografie)

Fridays For Future - a name that is - or was - well known. Just a few years ago, hundreds of thousands followed the call to take to the streets for climate protection - above all schoolchildren who were campaigning for a progressive and sustainable future. But the issue seems to have been forgotten, the movement exhausted. Have people become tired?

"When I have children, I want them to know that I didn't sit around idly at school" - this sentence was often heard at the Fridays For Future demos back then. Pupils who, at such a young age, have the foresight to deal with such a complex and unapproachable topic that even many adults and politicians are afraid of and like to suppress. With anger and determination, they demanded to be heard and could no longer be ignored by their elders.

A youth protest conquers the world
August 20, 2018: The starting signal for the initially singular climate protests was given by the Swede Greta Thunberg, who later toured the world as the head of the movement and spread it worldwide. It was not until the start of the Gaza war that Thunberg attracted attention through anti-Semitic symbolic politics. Fridays for Future (FFF) eventually grew out of the Friday school strike. Almost seven years have passed since then, and during this time the organization has gone through many different phases of development. And today?

A warning call: climate change and migration
Shortly before the general election in Germany, the issue seems dead, the movement exhausted. "It's not an easy time, everyone here is aware of that," admits FFF spokesperson Pauline Brünger in an interview with ntv. This is clearly visible in the political debate, as climate protection is playing a rather subordinate role in the election campaign. Instead, the headlines are dominated by the polarizing power struggle over the controversial asylum policy in Germany. With the help of AfD votes, CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz pushed through a Union motion in the Bundestag which, according to Brünger, would cross "100 red lines".

The young climate activist recognizes an increasing exhaustion in the population to continue to stand up for climate protection - not least due to the corona pandemic and the ongoing shift to the right.

(Bild: X I Pauline Brünger)

Asylum is a human right, but instead of developing effective measures for migration and integration, people are constantly arguing about the constitutional law. It is not an assignment of blame, but according to Brünger, the climate debate is currently going in the "completely wrong direction". Scientists are already warning of a climate-induced influx of refugees, as extreme weather events, such as the flood of the century in Austria last fall, are increasing and depriving many of their livelihoods.

This is another reason why FFF has increasingly organized demonstrations for right-wing extremism in recent years; the issue is also connected. "There is certainly a danger that people will work off the issues of others, but it also makes no sense to talk past reality," says the 24-year-old climate activist.

FFF also stood side by side with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to protest against the shift to the right in Germany:

FFF seems to have to justify itself for the most part these days, rather than focusing on the fight for the climate. MDR reports on a shrinking movement in Magdeburg. The Südkurier asks whether the movement has given up the fight against climate change. And on SWR, the local branch has to explain that Fridays for Future has not lost any of its significance. Here, too, Brünger justifies himself: "Everyone here is aware of this and we also ask ourselves internally: how do we deal with it?"

Corona as a turning point: how the pandemic damaged the movement
The movement probably began to crack at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Brünger, at the height of the protests in 2019, more than a million people took to the streets on a single Friday. The movement took the risk of infection into account by ordering lockdowns, which is why the FFF movement obviously had to press the pause button. Brünger has no clear answer to the question of why the movement was unable to find a way to mobilize large numbers of people for the climate protests. Over the years, this "could not have been maintained anyway", it would have been an "illusion".

I definitely hope to be irrelevant one day and no longer have to organize demonstrations. When talking about the climate crisis, however, it is clear that we have not yet reached that point.

FFF-Sprecherin Pauline Brünger

Nevertheless, we can also look back on successes in taking to the streets for the climate, despite the population's visible fatigue. "We had great momentum, a lot has happened. However, you only see the successes with a time lag," explains the FFF spokesperson. It would take a few years before the social changes could be incorporated into laws. In any case, the topic is still relevant, as was made clear at the World Economic Forum in Davos in a report on the biggest global risks: five of the ten biggest are climate-related.

Nevertheless, a certain exhaustion can be seen in the topic: At present, regression rather than resignation or even progress can be observed. Brünger also sees a shift in the discourse, "nobody wants to talk about the climate anymore". So have people been too overwhelmed by negative headlines since coronavirus? Is this obviously unapproachable and complex topic triggering such stressful actions that, according to Brünger, "right-wing voices and conservative liberals are talking en masse about attacking the successes of recent years"? The 24-year-old warns against ignoring these voices, as they could put their promises into practice if they were to join the government. 

An open offer for all generations
Despite everything, Brünger and her movement are not giving up: "Anyone who wants to take to the streets with us really only has to agree with two points: We want people to be able to live longer on this planet and we want politicians to live up to this responsibility. That's what we're fighting for." However, it is not enough for children alone to campaign for this.

We need farmers who stand up for their crops or older CDU voters who don't feel properly protected from heatwaves - that would give the debate new energy. Perhaps this would be the turning point at which older generations are finally prepared to listen to the concerns of younger generations.