For almost a year, “last generation” activists blocked morning traffic in Vienna in particular. The anniversary will be in February, when the next week of action is scheduled to start on February 13th. In an online press conference today, speaker Florian Wagner and co-founder Martha Krumpeck took stock and announced the time and place for the start of the next “wave”, which should last at least two weeks.
“Because this time we are so many people”
“On February 13th, we will start where we left off last time: at the Naschmarkt near the Getreidemarkt, on Monday at 8am sharp,” announced Krumpeck. This time, the place and time can be mentioned in advance, “because this time we are a lot of people”. Such a protest can be avoided with certain methods, but it would show “how far the government is willing to go to not have to admit how it is failing when it comes to climate protection”.
However, there were not only traffic blocks with the well-known sticking actions in the last eleven months, Wagner recalled November 2022. At that time, a glass-protected painting by Gustav Klimt in the Leopold Museum in Vienna was buried, and there was also a collage action at the base of the hall of dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum (NHM) in Vienna.
A big success for Krumpeck was that around 50 scientists supported actions during the lockdowns in January, including “the ‘Scientist of the Year’, Franz Essl”, emphasized Krumpeck. Furthermore, there would be many new supporters and other activists – and initial successes in politics, because there was a voice from the Vorarlberg ÖVP who argued that the required speed limit of 100 km/h on motorways should at least be considered.
“Disturbing even more and longer than before”
However, after almost a year of activity, the protest will be expanded again: “We will be back on the 13th of February”, announced Krumpeck, “and we will disrupt even more and for longer than before because it seems necessary to make the government comply its own government program to remember”. Because the government’s course is nowhere near climate neutrality, nor is there a concept for the Paris climate agreement: the government continues to refuse to implement the “simplest measures for our survival”.