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Meet the Shadowy Network Vilifying Climate Protestors
There have been some serious discussions here on DU about non-violent climate demonstrations and what the appropriate public reaction to them should be. I hope this article will give some insight as to how that public reaction is being manipulated and by whom. All emphasis below is mine. -Think. Again.
Original article by Amy Westervelt and Geoff Dembicki, Sep 12, 2023
Full Article: https://www.desmog.com/2023/09/12/atlas-network-vilifying-climate-protestors/
The Atlas Network is behind the effort to brand climate activists as extremists, and to pass anti-protest legislation.
Earlier this year, news footage began making the rounds on social media of young activists from the German climate organization Letzte Generation (Last Generation) being assaulted by their fellow citizens as they obstructed streets in an effort to draw attention to the German government’s inaction on climate. A young woman, with her hand glued to a road was ripped off the road by her hair; a young man was run over by a truck driver; a passerby punched the protestors and was cheered on. A few months later, German police raided the homes of Last Generation activists and seized their bank accounts. It all seemed like a gross overreaction to a pretty tame form of protest. Although Last Generation stands out for its willingness to inconvenience everyday people’s lives to draw awareness to the severity of the climate crisis, the tactic of road blockades is not a new one — it was commonly used by suffragettes, civil rights activists, and anti-war activists in the pasts, and has been used by cycling advocates for decades as well. During the same year that Last Generation was blocking roads in Germany, farmers used the exact same tactic, blocking roads with their tractors to protest a renewable energy policy that they don’t feel provides enough incentives for biogas. Not a single farmer was punched in the face or dragged off the road by their hair. What was making everyone so irate about Last Generation?
Activists from Last Generation block a road in Berlin. Credit: Stefan Müller (CC BY 2.0)
It makes slightly more sense if we go back in time a couple of years and follow how one right-wing politician has been talking about The Last Generation. Frank Schäffler, of the Free Democratic Party, or FDP, is a member of the German parliament, or Bundestag, and is well known for hard-right positions. He came to some prominence several years ago as the leader of a small but loud contingent of German politicians who did not want Germany to bail out other EU countries like Greece during the 2011 debt crisis. More recently he’s been the primary block to a national green building policy that would shift the country away from gas heating in new buildings, using a lot of the same tactics the fossil fuel industry has used to fight against gas bans in the United States: accusing the government of taking away citizens’ freedom of choice, spreading fear that the bill amounts to a “heating ban,” and general anti-regulatory rhetoric. Schäffler has described himself as a “climate skeptic,” and says things like “Climate protection is only possible with [economic] growth.”
Almost as soon as Last Generation began staging protests, in early 2022, Schläffler began describing them as extremists. When they threw mashed potatoes on a Monet in Potsdam, Schäffler took to Twitter to describe the act as “terrorism.” He made a similar statement just a few weeks later, comparing Last Generation to the Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhoff Gang—a leftist group categorized as terrorists by the West German government in the 1970s after they committed multiple kidnappings, bank robberies, bombings, and assassinations, killing more than 30 people. Last Generation, by contrast, are unarmed activists who have committed no acts of violence. Yet Schläffler has continued to call Last Generation terrorists in one way or another; Schläffler also began describing the group as a “criminal organization,” and publicly calling for it to be investigated for organized crime. It’s a lot easier to justify ripping an activist off the road by their hair, or punching them in the face, when a prominent politician is comparing them to violent terrorists, and a major media outlet is repeating that frame, as both conservative publisher Welt and the more mainstream Der Spiegel have done with Schläffler.
Last Generation Activists at the Ministry of Transport advocate for one of their primary asks: the institution of a 100km speed limit on the Autobahn. Credit: Stefan Müller (CC BY 2.0)
It’s hard to believe that a relatively young politician known primarily for a crusade against Greece that no one really took seriously has had such an outsized role in blocking climate policy and locking up climate activists. And of course, Schäffler is not acting alone. But something important happened between his debt and climate crusades that helps to explain his sudden influence: Schäffler started a think tank — The Prometheus Institute — and he plugged that think tank into a little-known but enormously powerful network called the Atlas Network.
-snip-
Activists from Last Generation block a road in Berlin. Credit: Stefan Müller (CC BY 2.0)
It makes slightly more sense if we go back in time a couple of years and follow how one right-wing politician has been talking about The Last Generation. Frank Schäffler, of the Free Democratic Party, or FDP, is a member of the German parliament, or Bundestag, and is well known for hard-right positions. He came to some prominence several years ago as the leader of a small but loud contingent of German politicians who did not want Germany to bail out other EU countries like Greece during the 2011 debt crisis. More recently he’s been the primary block to a national green building policy that would shift the country away from gas heating in new buildings, using a lot of the same tactics the fossil fuel industry has used to fight against gas bans in the United States: accusing the government of taking away citizens’ freedom of choice, spreading fear that the bill amounts to a “heating ban,” and general anti-regulatory rhetoric. Schäffler has described himself as a “climate skeptic,” and says things like “Climate protection is only possible with [economic] growth.”
Almost as soon as Last Generation began staging protests, in early 2022, Schläffler began describing them as extremists. When they threw mashed potatoes on a Monet in Potsdam, Schäffler took to Twitter to describe the act as “terrorism.” He made a similar statement just a few weeks later, comparing Last Generation to the Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Meinhoff Gang—a leftist group categorized as terrorists by the West German government in the 1970s after they committed multiple kidnappings, bank robberies, bombings, and assassinations, killing more than 30 people. Last Generation, by contrast, are unarmed activists who have committed no acts of violence. Yet Schläffler has continued to call Last Generation terrorists in one way or another; Schläffler also began describing the group as a “criminal organization,” and publicly calling for it to be investigated for organized crime. It’s a lot easier to justify ripping an activist off the road by their hair, or punching them in the face, when a prominent politician is comparing them to violent terrorists, and a major media outlet is repeating that frame, as both conservative publisher Welt and the more mainstream Der Spiegel have done with Schläffler.
Last Generation Activists at the Ministry of Transport advocate for one of their primary asks: the institution of a 100km speed limit on the Autobahn. Credit: Stefan Müller (CC BY 2.0)
It’s hard to believe that a relatively young politician known primarily for a crusade against Greece that no one really took seriously has had such an outsized role in blocking climate policy and locking up climate activists. And of course, Schäffler is not acting alone. But something important happened between his debt and climate crusades that helps to explain his sudden influence: Schäffler started a think tank — The Prometheus Institute — and he plugged that think tank into a little-known but enormously powerful network called the Atlas Network.
-snip-
Much more in-depth information on the ATLAS NETWORK in the full article found here:
Full Article: https://www.desmog.com/2023/09/12/atlas-network-vilifying-climate-protestors/
16 replies
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multiple times for simply defending climate activists and setting the record straight. Lots of people here insist the activists have destroyed priceless Monet's and Van Gogh's.
Kind of strange that "liberals" get so worked up and spew hatred towards protestors doing things that they know will go viral and get media attention. I've seen them called terrorists.
... and a main point is also to get other groups to sympathize, who would normally not be in your corner. Many of the actions, I have joined, was more directed at such possible sympathizers.
We would attack the military system without attacking its officers. We had meetings with the leaders of the police to make sure, that they knew what we would do - since we were not fighting them, but the ways they themselves were being abused. We actually once coordinated the time for an action, so it would fit both their schedule and ours the best 
.
An aim can be to let the family of the politicians like our fun way of protesting, and bý this be influencing the politicians. Show them we are not enemies. I was once asked, what we would do when the police would be send in against us - my answer was: Offer them coffee. That made very positive coverage and photos.
