Report on recruitment plans
Politicians want to keep the last generation out of schools
04/08/2023, 10:30 p.m
With their roadblocks in the name of climate protection, the last generation is polarizing. A report that the activists specifically want to recruit young people at schools causes outrage.
A report that last-generation climate activists are trying to recruit kids in schools has sparked concerned reactions from politicians. Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger calls on the state governments to take action against the group’s recruitment campaigns in schools. “The countries have to put a stop to this,” she told the “Tagesspiegel”.
“It’s right when young people work for climate protection. But they shouldn’t be recruited in school for illegal actions by the so-called last generation. The activists seem to be losing their last inhibitions,” said Stark-Watzinger. “It would also be an important signal if Fridays and Teachers for Future distanced themselves.” These two alliances are more moderate than the Last Generation.
The “Welt am Sonntag” had reported that the group wanted to specifically recruit young people at schools – especially in the upper school. Activists of the group regularly tape themselves to streets in protest to demand a change in the fight against the climate crisis. The group is planning massive street blockades and other protest actions in Berlin in the last week of April and well into May. “From Monday, April 24th, we will peacefully bring Berlin to a standstill with street blockades,” says the website. A meeting was planned beforehand on Sunday, April 23, from 3:00 p.m. at the Brandenburg Gate.
Teacher president warns school administrations
Oliver Kaczmarek, spokesman for education policy for the SPD parliamentary group, told the “Tagesspiegel” that the school had to ensure political neutrality. Thomas Jarzombek, education policy spokesman for the Union faction, demanded that schools should not become “an acquisition site for activists”. In any case, unfortunately, the actions of the last generation have changed the mood of many people when it comes to climate protection.
The CDU also rejects possible appearances in schools. “Our schools must not be misused as a platform for a radical group whose members do not shy away from criminal acts,” said Thorsten Frei, Parliamentary Secretary of the Union in the Bundestag, the “Welt am Sonntag”. Members of the Last Generation have long since left democratic discourse, so the group cannot be a partner for schools.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told the “Welt am Sonntag” that the ideas of the last generation could be critically discussed and classified in class. “But no one who represents such ideas should be rolled out the red carpet in a school.”
Peter Meidinger, President of the German Teachers’ Association, sees the permissible limit being exceeded when “school management or teachers invite organizations and speakers to the school who explicitly promote participation in illegal activities and use the school as a kind of recruiting scene”.