The climate youth raised the climate to their task of the century, because the task of the previous century, peace, seemed to be solved. Now she combines both.
On Saturday there were demonstrations for peace in Bern.
Peace flags fluttered in the air, flared trousers on the ground. John Lennon could be heard singing the peace song “Imagine”, and SP President Cédric Wermuth spoke on stage in a tone reminiscent of speakers from historical films. Saturday’s peace rally in Bern felt like time travel, but it was more.
A protest against the Federal Council’s sanctions policy, an outburst of anger against Putin. A sign of solidarity with the people in Ukraine and also the answer to a question that had been on the mind of long-time pacifists in the days before:
Can you mobilize young people for peace who, until recently, knew nothing else?
Politicized without block thinking and without war
For a long time, the peace movement remained calm in the face of the impending war. “Where has the Swiss peace movement gone?” asked the SRF on Wednesday. The “NZZ am Sonntag” had previously devoted a long article to the “silenced pacifists”.
The author suspected the reason for the stagnation of the movement in a kind of bite inhibition against the enemy in the east. But there are many young people in today’s peace policy organizations. They became politicized after the fall of the Wall, without bloc thinking, but also: without any real awareness of the possibility of war.
For many young people, Russia’s attack is the first war they consciously experience. They only know about rearmament and nuclear danger from history lessons, and few young people even experienced the wars in Yugoslavia consciously. When the news from the war zone ran in the “Tagesschau” at the time, the 30-year-olds were children.
The most political generation in a long time is the climate youth. When the United States invaded Iraq, its members were just being born. The climate youth raised the climate to their task of the century, because the task of the previous century, peace, seemed to be solved. Now the Russian war of aggression in Europe is causing some confusion. But also together.
The organizers speak of 20,000 participants.
The new need for security
SP, Greens and the group Switzerland without an army (GSoA) are still collecting signatures against the purchase of the F-35 fighter jets for the Swiss army – the chances of the initiative falling to zero this week. The FDP President Thierry Burkart called on Friday to end the collection of signatures: “The argument that there is no more conventional war in Europe is obviously wrong,” he wrote.
Changing times have it in them that some people always look old afterwards. But it is also the paradox of the peace movement that it always exists when war is raging or war is threatening.
Long-time pacifist and Green politician Jo Lang believes that the Russian attack is evoking two forces: “A need for security, but also the realization that war and weapons are not the solution.” Which of the two impulses will prevail is still open to him, says Lang.
The potential of climate youth
When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, tens of thousands protested against the war in Switzerland. In the Switzerland without Army (GSoA) group, this enabled a generational change: many young people who joined the peace movement at the time later made careers in the left. One example is Tom Cassee, who later became campaign manager for the Responsible Business Initiative and is now Secretary General of the SP.
The GSoA is now recruiting among climate activists. Jo Lang recognized the potential of the young movement early on. Today, the GSoA secretariat is prominently staffed by climate activists. You can’t “arrange” that, people have to be convinced of the pacifist cause, says Jo Lang. “But it wasn’t pure coincidence.”
Anja Gada, climate activist and secretary of the group Switzerland without an army for several months, spoke on the stage of the rally on Saturday. Gada sees climate protection as a form of war prevention: “Where the climate crisis hits people hard, conflicts will arise, including armed ones.”
The moderator of Saturday’s rally was Julia Küng, President of the Young Greens from Zug. Küng had demonstrated in front of the Nord Stream 2 operating company long before Putin invaded Ukraine. “The climate movement has had access to the raw material issue in this war for a long time,” says Jo Lang.
Seen in this way, not only conservative and pro-army forces feel vindicated by Russia’s attack, but also the Greens and the left. That also became clear at the rally on Saturday. Green and pacifist demands mixed, Green President Balthasar Glättli said: “The fossils have been deadly for far too long, for people and the planet.”
Like back then «in Vietnam»
Jo Lang sees Saturday’s rally as proof that the “synergy” he is aiming for between the climate and peace movements is working. “I had hoped for 10,000 participants. 20,000 came.”
There were many young people among the participants, including those with climate strike buttons on their backpacks. On Friday, Greta Thunberg publicly showed solidarity with Ukraine and posted a picture of a rally.
But the peace movement – that also became clear on Saturday – is still a concern of the older generation. Two women in their 80s were there, they said this rally was really big. They remind you of “back then, near Vietnam”.
The women couldn’t recap exactly what it was like back then in Vietnam. Memories fade, even those of the war. This was also known in the peace movement. So you made provisions.