Category: youthforclimate

Circus

First, Julia Klöckner, the president of the German parliament, refused to fly the rainbow flag for Berlin Pride. She had some bizarre reasons for this, culminating in a statement that the most persecuted group would be Christians, and she wouldn’t fly the Vatican flag either.

Then our chancellor, Friedrich Merz, dismissed raising the rainbow flag by saying, “The parliament is not a circus.”

Can you show your utter disdain for a minority group any more clearly?

Our current right-wing government is a disgrace. Most of its members, from CDU, CSU, and SPD, are straight out of a 50s White male superiority picture book.

They pose a grave danger to our future.

(Progress Flag, IKEA Butzweilerhof, 6/27/25)

Madleen

Last night, the Israeli government seized the Freedom Flotilla’s vessel Madleen in international waters and illegally detained the crew. The boat and its humanitarian cargo are most likely lost; we can only hope that the public visibility of Rima Hassan (MEP) and Greta Thunberg will protect all crew members and ensure their safe return.

The Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, derided and belittled the crew and labeled them as extremists. He’s following the same right-wing playbook that Donald Trump is currently following in Los Angeles. Or that Putin follows in Ukraine, or Dobrindt at our border.

Fascism is resurfacing in our time under the guise of “Law & Order”.

Instead of concentrating our efforts on mitigating the climate emergency, we need to deal with old white men clinging to their power and murdering many thousands, just because they can.

(Hope, Cologne, 5/30/25)

Riesa

Last weekend, the German neo-fascist party #noAfD had its annual convention in Riesa, Saxony.

Gone are all pretensions of being part of our country’s parliamentary system. The party fully embraced nationalist and völkische ideas, especially about asking people to leave our country that haven’t been here for generations. Much like Donald’s mass deportations, the #noAfD firmly embraces the concept of remigration.

Some other points were borderline absurd, such as tearing down wind turbines, but the direction is clear: The #noAfD wants to propel Germany back to 1930 and resurrect the Third Reich.

We were outside the convention center, with over 15,000 people, and were able to delay the proceedings significantly. While that was a strong sign, much more will be needed in the coming weeks and months to protect our democracy.

The convention in Riesa marks a turning point in the history of our republic.

(Tractor, Riesa, 1/11/25)