Communication experts say that street protests attract public attention, but they are short-lived and do not lead to political changes.
The Austrian Climate Action Group Last Generationends its street protest actions against climate change standing up to the biggest polluters by verifying that they do not influence the Governments.
They end their protests for now because they say they do not see any use in them given that the Austrian Government does not pay the slightest attention to them, nor does it respond to their requests.
Anja Windlactivist Last Generation explains: “The way protest was absolutely necessary at the time we decided to do it. We also needed a certain amount of everyday disruption. And in the end, the problem with the failure is more that there weren’t enough people who dared, who didn’t have the courage to actually peacefully rise up against the government and rebel against it.”
Street protests to shake consciences
Last Generation used various tactics, but mainly relied on forms of surprise intervention. One of the group’s repeated acts has been to block traffic sticking to the busiest roads at rush hour and airport runways.
Communication experts assure that this form of disturbance does draws the attention of the publicbut it is short duration y does not give rise to changes politicians.
The activists of Last Generation They assure that this does not imply the end of the resistance against climate change but the beginning of new, more effective forms of protest.
Additional sources • Enrique Barrueco (Voice-over)