Berlin: Young Germans are making themselves heard with demonstrations over climate change on Friday, marking a passionate engagement with politics not seen since reunification in the fast-ageing nation.
Inspired by Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, who began going on strike from school on Fridays, thousands of under 21s across Germany have been joining weekly marches rather than sitting in class.
Their sudden engagement has left politicians at a loss as to how to react, observers said, noting that it could yet spark a change in policymaking that has long been dominated by pensioner concerns.
More than 20,000 people joined Thunberg in Berlin on Friday, many bearing home-made posters with slogans like “Our house is on fire” or “You’re never too small to make a difference”.
“We want a future, is that too much to ask?” Thunberg said, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate.
Franziska Wessel, one of the organisers of the protests in Berlin, voted: “We’re going to continue skipping classes every Friday because we can’t keep going like that with the climate. We have to pull the emergency brakes.”
For law student Franziska Heinisch, 19, the Fridays demonstrations are “not a cute, puberty rebellion”.
“It is a serious fight for our future,” she wrote in a column in Zeit weekly.
Klaus Hurrelmann of the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin noted that such teen activism has not been seen in Europe’s biggest economy since reunification in 1990. “It’s very unusual,” he said.
Youth involvement reached a trough during the 2008 financial crisis, but then slowly began to recover as online social networks provided a platform that allows for quick mobilisation.
Their engagement also comes during a sustained period of economic prosperity and low unemployment in Germany.
Analysts believe that Thunberg with her remarkable drive helped spark the change.
“Her stubbornness, her strikes, her preparedness on the climate topic is being copied. In short, Greta is a model,” Hurrelmann said.
The determination shown by the younger generation has left politicians “at once helpless and confused,” said the professor.
This is particularly the case for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc.
Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has urged students not to skip school. “The demonstrations would not be less effective outside class hours,” he said.
But the chancellor herself has welcomed their fight — something that Blasel finds “ridiculous” as “the protests are directed against Angela Beyond the climate issue, the return of youths to the streets is forcing political powers to reckon with them. — AFP
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