Rush hour and the Last Generation is sitting on the street. On December 4, around 6 p.m., cars in Warsaw were stuck in traffic jams again – not only because of the time of day, but also because of the blockade. The police moved the protesters off the road within several minutes. These blockades are intended to draw attention to the issue of climate protection. It's just that they target ordinary people, not politicians, and it looks like they may have the opposite effect.
They do this to convince ordinary people to their eco-postulates, but the effect is the opposite. Firstly, instead of convincing, they discourage.
A group of climate activists blocks the most important arteries of the capital during rush hours, causing huge traffic jams and frustration for its residents. The government responded to their protests. The Prime Minister demands that the services “resolutely respond and counteract”.
– You cannot condone such behavior that destroys people's lives. They have a destructive impact on the everyday life of families – says WÅ‚adysÅ‚aw Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense from the Polish People's Party.
The courts seem lenient and only issue reprimands to activists. – The verdict must be fair, but the sentence must also be deterrent. If the sentence is low and inappropriate to the crime, it will not stop anyone, points out Dariusz Nowak, a former police officer.
Activists see it differently: they do what their colleagues in Western Europe do because this is the last moment – as they explain – to do something for the planet.
The actions of the Last Generation may prove counterproductive
The profit and loss account shows that there are no profits for the Last Generation, and there are quite a lot of losses: and it is not only about lack of effectiveness, discouraging politicians and people, but also undermining trust in all climate organizations.
Because the need to protect the climate is a postulate that is difficult to argue with. Greenpeace has been explaining, educating and protesting for 50 years, but its target was not residents, but politicians.
– Politicians need to be forced to take action because, unfortunately, they prefer to avoid responsibility rather than make difficult decisions – says Marek Józefiak from Greenpeace Polska.
What the Last Generation does, and does it consciously, may turn out to be counterproductive. Despite the risk, he takes it.
– We have to be on this path. We have to protest in a way that may cause traffic jams, cause disruptions in the city, but is heard and seen by everyone – says one of the activists blocking the road.
What the activists certainly managed to achieve was to focus the media's attention on themselves, not on their demands. It has little to do with environmental protection.
Main photo source: TVN24