Anthology “Tipping Points”: The long winter of the climate movement

While the climate crisis is becoming more urgent than ever, the climate movement is weaker than it has been in a long time. This is the bitter and paradoxical diagnosis of the year 2024. To put it well-meaning, the climate movement in German-speaking countries is in a “discovery process”; the author Manuel Grebenjak speaks of a “crisis”.

“At the beginning of 2024,” writes Grebenjak in his recently published collection “Tipping Points,” “the climate movement will be in the middle of a winter.” There is a lack of mobilization power and social support, there is a lack of orientation within the movement, and other crises overshadow what is happening. “At the moment it doesn’t look as if the movement will soon be able to return to its pre-pandemic strength,” Grebenstein states soberly in the introduction.

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The climate movement may be in crisis, but things are bubbling beneath the surface: away from the public eye, the movement is currently regrouping, trying out different strategies and debating the mistakes of the past. The book “Tipping Points” gives an impression of this: several dozen scientists and activists examine the question of what it takes for the climate movement to regain strength and which social and political tipping points need to be reached in order to advance a social-ecological transformation .

»Ecosystem” Movement

With the volume, the editor and activist Grebenjak provides a kind of cartography and positioning of the German-speaking climate (justice) movement. In the main part of the book, activists from the most important organizations – from Fridays for Future and Greenpeace to Lützerath Lebt! and the Last Generation – present the history, strategies, challenges and perspectives of their groups in an overview and subjective manner. Together they form what Grebenjak introduces at the beginning as an “ecosystem”: the climate movement as an open, dynamic and complex system in which every part fulfills its specific role. Through a variety of tactics and strategies that are pursued, liberal, radical and resistant actors ideally complement each other symbiotically. In order to stay in the picture, such a system also depends on a functioning “environment”; it can only thrive if the social and political conditions are right.

However, there is currently a crisis inside and outside the “ecosystem”. His individual portraits thrive on the fact that, as a whole – sometimes implicitly, sometimes explicitly – they address the central lines of conflict and challenges of the climate (justice) movement and left-wing politics in general. This concerns questions about the relationship between class and identity, strategies, tactics and alliance politics, about militancy and radicalism as well as social connectivity, the relationship to the state, institutions and the police, and how to deal with repression.

The editor Grebenjak and numerous authors succeed in contextualizing the portraits theoretically and historically and making them accessible for critical reflection. Because such a thing – there is agreement on this from the first to the last page – is needed more urgently than ever.

Climax and resignation

According to Grebenjak, the climate movement passed its peak in autumn 2019 at the latest. On September 20, 2019, 1.4 million people in Germany demonstrated for more climate protection with Fridays for Future (FFF). On the same day, disillusionment mixed with the joy: the climate protection package presented by the federal government was a slap in the face for many activists. With the package, which numerous experts rate as inadequate, the movement reached “an internal tipping point”.

“It was clear to most people,” write Etienne Denk and Greta Waltenberg from FFF Germany, “that this was the climax; the protests and the reporting on them would not get any bigger.” From then on, frustration, strategic disorientation and internal conflicts paralyzed not only FFF, but almost the entire movement, whose resources were running out after months of closely timed actions. The corona pandemic should only accelerate the downward trend. Little has changed in this regard to this day, despite intensive internal debates: “Four years after September 20, 2019, resignation and powerlessness determine the everyday feeling of many activists,” write Rika Müller-Vahl, Mara Schaffer and Niklas Droste from Alliance # We drive together.

Extinction Rebellion (XR), which pursued a different strategy than FFF and made headlines across Europe with spectacular actions, nevertheless underwent a similar development. “In the five years of its existence, the movement has not achieved its goals,” summarize the XR activists Judith Pape and Anna Kontriner. And further: “In none of the countries where XR is active has it been possible to build up enough pressure to force the government to act.”

Radical system conform

The actions of the last generation initially seemed more promising. With comparatively little effort, a manageable number of activists managed to bring the climate crisis into the public spotlight for months. In the short term, the Last Generation gave the impression that it could breathe new life into the climate movement. But the demands of the last generation were less discussed in the media than the forms of protest themselves; in plain Austrian language, above all the question: “Yes, is that allowed?” The state, industry, media and drivers quickly agreed: “No. They’re not allowed to do so.” The reaction was accordingly, with slander, physical attacks, criminalization and repressive state measures, including phone tapping and prison sentences.

Despite the reformist nature of the Last Generation’s demands – a speed limit of 100 km/h on motorways and the continuation of the 9 euro ticket – they remained unheard. Worse still, as authors criticize at various points in “Tipping Points,” the actions of the Last Generation had a negative impact on other parts of the “ecosystem.” Although a majority of Germans support an environmentally and climate-friendly restructuring of the economy, 85 percent still reject the last generation.

In public perception, according to the authors, the last generation lost a lot of trust. Road blockades would primarily focus on individual (mis)behavior – even if this is not the intention of the last generation – and would therefore be perceived as moralizing by other parts of the population. Grebenjak also sees the actions of the Last Generation as having a “clearly negative effect on public opinion regarding the climate movement.” The movement as a whole feels this. From October 2019 to June 2023, support for the climate movement in Germany halved to 34 percent. In addition, state repression – which is now viewed as legitimate by part of the population – also affects other organizations.

Historically, as Andreas Malm and Tatjana Söding from the scientific-activist research association Zetkin Collective explain in their article, the collaboration between (liberal) masses and a radical wing was in many cases quite fruitful. The only problem in the Last Generation case is that, from Malm and Söding’s point of view, the organization is by no means acting radically. Although their actions generated an unprecedented media response, they were aimed at the (enforced) mobility habits of individuals, not at a radical system change. The Last Generation attacks neither the state nor (fossil) capital, but rather appeals to politicians to finally take scientific research seriously.

Before flowering?

In a “bird’s eye view of the ecosystem,” editor Grebenjak brings together the multitude of positions, perspectives and challenges in the final part of “Tipping Points.” It is this “bird’s eye view” of Grebenjak that makes the book so worth reading: in sober, clear language, the editor organizes and systematizes the complex contributions and thus brings clarity to a confusing, sometimes heated debate.

“The friction between different movement groups has never been as great as it was at this time,” summarizes Grebenjak. In addition to strategic differences, this was also due to the lack of exchange between the wings. Nevertheless, there is still “a large and strong base and diverse actors with different approaches and strengths.” Grebenjak sees particular potential in newly emerging alliances between the climate movement and trade unions that link social and ecological issues: “A new flourishing of the movement is possible.” Before the metaphorical blossom, however, the winter must first be endured.

Manuel Grebenjak (ed.): Tipping points. Strategies in the climate movement ecosystem. Unrast-Verlag, 400 pages, br., 22 €.

The Last Generation attacks neither the state nor (fossil) capital, but rather appeals to politicians.

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