Friday, September 24, 2021

Thunberg tells Germans 'no party' doing enough on climate

Issued on: 24/09/2021 -
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg told cheering supporters they need to keep the pressure on Germany's politicians after the election too
 Tobias SCHWARZ AFP

Berlin (AFP)

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg told thousands of demonstrators in Berlin ahead of Germany's general election on Sunday that "no political party" was doing even nearly enough to fight the climate crisis.

Speaking at a rally on Friday in front of the Reichstag parliament building, Thunberg told cheering supporters they needed to keep up the pressure on Germany's political leaders past election day.

"It is clearer than ever that no political party is doing close to enough. But it's even worse than that. Not even their proposed commitments are close to being in line with what would be needed to fulfil the Paris Agreement" on curbing climate change, she said.

"Yes, we must vote, you must vote, but remember that voting only will not be enough. We must keep going into the streets."

As Germany's top parties were set to hold final rallies, the Fridays for Future youth movement said it was holding strikes in more than 400 German cities and towns.

  
Thunberg's Fridays for Future youth movement said it was holding strikes in more than 400 German cities and towns 
Tobias SCHWARZ AFP

At the largest event in Berlin, Thunberg said the political class was failing younger generations.

"We need to become climate activists and demand real change because remember: change is now not only possible, it is also urgently necessary," she said.

"When enough people demand change, then change will come on election day."

The race has boiled down to a two-way contest between Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, the centrist finance minister, and Armin Laschet from Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats. They were set to address crowds later Friday, in Cologne and Munich respectively.

Polls give Scholz a small lead with about 26 percent over Laschet at 22 percent. The candidate from the ecologist Greens, Annalena Baerbock, trails in the mid-teens.

Thunberg stopped short of endorsing the Green party, whose programme Fridays for Future activists argue falls short of what is needed to effectively curb global warming.

© 2021 AFP

German youth returns to the streets to fight climate change

Issued on: 24/09/2021 -

Young people around the world began taking to the streets on Friday to demand urgent action to avert disastrous climate change, in their largest protest since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. FRANCE 24's Emmanuele Chaze reports from the streets of Berlin, Germany.



In German election, young hunger strikers seek climate promises

Issued on: 24/09/2021 - 

Video by:Douglas HERBERT

In one of the world's most aged countries, some young people are resorting to drastic measures to voice their frustration at politicians' failure to tackle climate change. Outside Germany's parliament, a group of activists have been on hunger strike since Aug. 30, bringing their demands for more action on climate change in person to the three candidates to succeed Angela Merkel.


   


Thunberg rallies climate activists for German vote 'of a century'

Issued on: 24/09/2021 -

Tens of thousands of climate activists, including Greta Thunberg, rallied in cities across Germany Friday ahead of the weekend general election to crank up the pressure on the candidates to succeed Angela Merkel. Speaking at a rally in front of the Reichstag parliament building in the run-up to Sunday's poll, Thunberg told cheering Fridays for Future youth supporters that they needed to hold Germany's political leaders to account past election day.



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