In this Radio Spaetkauf miniseries, presenters Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison take a journey through the main waves of Germany’s climate movement.
This podcast centers on the people behind the headlines: from the tactics of the anti nuclear movement and activists clambering onto coal excavators in the early 00s, to striking school children and folks gluing their hands onto roads. We find out what motivates activists and why they are willing to turn to increasingly radical means to force change.
Episode #1: From Nein Danke Nuclear to Coal Isn’t Sexy
Climate activists today are redefining civil disobedience, but how did we get to young Germans gluing their hands to busy autobahns and throwing soup at art? To understand that, Izzy and Anne-Marie take us back to Germany’s famously effective anti-nuclear movement. Regine Richter of Urgewald, a fossil fuel divestment organization, traces the anti-nuclear movement from the 1970s and climate journalist Paul Hockenos historicizes the climate movement’s modern-day tactics.
By 2014, climate activists took the fight directly to the coal mines. This is how the group Ende Gelände made the movement sexy, says German climate activist Tadzio Müller, by stopping “insane, apocalyptic machines” from pillaging the earth—even if only for a day. Being harassed and humiliated by cops during these occupations is what made Christopher Laumanns forge ahead, growing Ende Gelände and getting the attention of the German press. A new era of climate activism in Germany had dawned.
Credits:
Editing: Anne-Marie Harrison
Producing: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Script: Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison
Technical Support: Daniel Stern
Art Work: Daniel Stern
Additional Support: Joel Dullroy
Music: Tom Evans
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