Activists with Ende Gelande march to stage a blockade of the German Garzweiler surface mine on June 21, 2019. (Photo: Georg Kurz via Ende Gelande/flickr/cc)
Because 'Another World Is Possible,' Tens of Thousands of Activists Stage Climate Mobilizations in Germany
With anti-coal Ende Gelände action in one city and Fridays for Future rally in another, activists demand urgent climate action
Chanting "we are unstoppable, another world is possible," thousands of activists in Germany set off Friday to occupy a coal mine as tens of thousands of other demonstrators mobilized in a separate German city as part of the swelling "Fridays for Future" climate actions.
Activists Organizers with Ende Gelande (EG) mobilization say that roughly 4,000 people departed their protest camp in the western city of Viersen to head to the Garzweiler surface mine, operated by energy company RWE, some 12 miles (20 kilometers) away.
"Today we set out with thousands of people towards a future without fossil fuels, without exploitation, and without this destructive quest for infinite economic growth," said EG spokesperson Sina Reis, in a statement.
Two waves of protesters were scheduled to set off Friday, said organizers, with a third expected to depart Saturday as part of a weekend of countrywide anti-coal actions.
The blockades mark the sixth action of its kind that EG has undertaken, Agence France-Presse reported earlier this week. The reporting also noted:
In the Rhineland coalfield region, RWE operates three huge open-cast mines and three power plants which are among Europe's dirtiest.
Merkel's government has pledged to phase out coal by 2038--a time horizon the protest movement rejects as far too long as global warming is melting ice caps and glaciers, raising ocean levels and exacerbating extreme weather events.
"Nothing less than our future is at stake. We will definitely not wait until 2038 to phase out coal, we are acting now," said another EG spokesperson, Nike Malhaus.
"If we keep burning coal for another twenty years, it is impossible to stay within the 1.5degC limit," added Malhaus. "Today we are taking the coal phase out into our own hands because the government is failing to protect the climate."
The call for urgent climate action was amplified Friday in Germany's southwest.
In the city of Aachen, which sits near the Belgium and the Netherlands borders, an estimated 40,000 strong Fridays for Future rally, boasting participants from over a dozen countries, took place. There, protesters voiced their messages with chants including "Hey hey, ho ho, climate change has got to go," and banners with messages such as "Your greed costs us our future."
Youth activists with Fridays for Future announced their backing of the Ende Gelande actions--a fact that climate mobilization 350.org, in a press statement Thursday on the weekend's "historical climate protests in Germany's coal region," said was worth noting.
"This is a first," 350 said, "and it sends a powerful message to the German government--if leaders don't act with urgency required by the climate crisis, we're prepared to take the future into our own hands!"
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Chanting "we are unstoppable, another world is possible," thousands of activists in Germany set off Friday to occupy a coal mine as tens of thousands of other demonstrators mobilized in a separate German city as part of the swelling "Fridays for Future" climate actions.
Activists Organizers with Ende Gelande (EG) mobilization say that roughly 4,000 people departed their protest camp in the western city of Viersen to head to the Garzweiler surface mine, operated by energy company RWE, some 12 miles (20 kilometers) away.
"Today we set out with thousands of people towards a future without fossil fuels, without exploitation, and without this destructive quest for infinite economic growth," said EG spokesperson Sina Reis, in a statement.
Two waves of protesters were scheduled to set off Friday, said organizers, with a third expected to depart Saturday as part of a weekend of countrywide anti-coal actions.
The blockades mark the sixth action of its kind that EG has undertaken, Agence France-Presse reported earlier this week. The reporting also noted:
In the Rhineland coalfield region, RWE operates three huge open-cast mines and three power plants which are among Europe's dirtiest.
Merkel's government has pledged to phase out coal by 2038--a time horizon the protest movement rejects as far too long as global warming is melting ice caps and glaciers, raising ocean levels and exacerbating extreme weather events.
"Nothing less than our future is at stake. We will definitely not wait until 2038 to phase out coal, we are acting now," said another EG spokesperson, Nike Malhaus.
"If we keep burning coal for another twenty years, it is impossible to stay within the 1.5degC limit," added Malhaus. "Today we are taking the coal phase out into our own hands because the government is failing to protect the climate."
The call for urgent climate action was amplified Friday in Germany's southwest.
In the city of Aachen, which sits near the Belgium and the Netherlands borders, an estimated 40,000 strong Fridays for Future rally, boasting participants from over a dozen countries, took place. There, protesters voiced their messages with chants including "Hey hey, ho ho, climate change has got to go," and banners with messages such as "Your greed costs us our future."
Youth activists with Fridays for Future announced their backing of the Ende Gelande actions--a fact that climate mobilization 350.org, in a press statement Thursday on the weekend's "historical climate protests in Germany's coal region," said was worth noting.
"This is a first," 350 said, "and it sends a powerful message to the German government--if leaders don't act with urgency required by the climate crisis, we're prepared to take the future into our own hands!"
Chanting "we are unstoppable, another world is possible," thousands of activists in Germany set off Friday to occupy a coal mine as tens of thousands of other demonstrators mobilized in a separate German city as part of the swelling "Fridays for Future" climate actions.
Activists Organizers with Ende Gelande (EG) mobilization say that roughly 4,000 people departed their protest camp in the western city of Viersen to head to the Garzweiler surface mine, operated by energy company RWE, some 12 miles (20 kilometers) away.
"Today we set out with thousands of people towards a future without fossil fuels, without exploitation, and without this destructive quest for infinite economic growth," said EG spokesperson Sina Reis, in a statement.
Two waves of protesters were scheduled to set off Friday, said organizers, with a third expected to depart Saturday as part of a weekend of countrywide anti-coal actions.
The blockades mark the sixth action of its kind that EG has undertaken, Agence France-Presse reported earlier this week. The reporting also noted:
In the Rhineland coalfield region, RWE operates three huge open-cast mines and three power plants which are among Europe's dirtiest.
Merkel's government has pledged to phase out coal by 2038--a time horizon the protest movement rejects as far too long as global warming is melting ice caps and glaciers, raising ocean levels and exacerbating extreme weather events.
"Nothing less than our future is at stake. We will definitely not wait until 2038 to phase out coal, we are acting now," said another EG spokesperson, Nike Malhaus.
"If we keep burning coal for another twenty years, it is impossible to stay within the 1.5degC limit," added Malhaus. "Today we are taking the coal phase out into our own hands because the government is failing to protect the climate."
The call for urgent climate action was amplified Friday in Germany's southwest.
In the city of Aachen, which sits near the Belgium and the Netherlands borders, an estimated 40,000 strong Fridays for Future rally, boasting participants from over a dozen countries, took place. There, protesters voiced their messages with chants including "Hey hey, ho ho, climate change has got to go," and banners with messages such as "Your greed costs us our future."
Youth activists with Fridays for Future announced their backing of the Ende Gelande actions--a fact that climate mobilization 350.org, in a press statement Thursday on the weekend's "historical climate protests in Germany's coal region," said was worth noting.
"This is a first," 350 said, "and it sends a powerful message to the German government--if leaders don't act with urgency required by the climate crisis, we're prepared to take the future into our own hands!"