“There is only the Constitution”
Ex-Interior Minister Baum admonishes climate activists
11/12/2022, 6:25 p.m
The actions of climate activists are increasingly causing resentment – and in the CSU comparisons with the left-wing terrorists of the RAF. Ex-Federal Minister of the Interior Baum considers this to be “stupid stuff”. However, he also warns the activists and refers to the constitution.
The FDP politician and former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum has called for proportionality with regard to the protests of young climate activists. “There are young people here who have a worthy motive,” said Baum on Deutschlandfunk. But you also have to tell them: “There is no right of resistance here, there is only the constitution.”
The Constitution and the Constitutional Court considered the right of assembly to be an indispensable functional element of democracy. But it must be exercised proportionately. Baum called the fact that climate demonstrators sometimes get stuck in their actions a “new dimension” that must be observed particularly critically.
However, he rejected a comparison of the activists with the left-wing terrorists of the RAF, as recently made by CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt. “This is stupid stuff, it has nothing to do with the RAF.” Baum also rejected tightening of the law and preventive detention in Bavaria as a reaction to the protests. “Let’s be careful not to exaggerate, let’s stay sober. But you have to tell the young people that you’re doing your cause more harm than good.”
Road blockades in Germany for months
Climate activists from the group “Last Generation” have been blocking important roads and sticking themselves to the asphalt for months. In this way they want to emphasize their call for a more decisive fight against climate change. Most recently, they also smeared party headquarters in Berlin and threw mashed potatoes on a Monet painting in the Barberini Museum in Potsdam.
The danger of the climate catastrophe has finally been recognized after years of doing nothing, said Baum. He understands the impatience of young people, but it is difficult to implement. “It’s also about the performance of our society and our economy. Reconciling all of this requires a change in our way of life. We have to get out of the comfortable normality.”