Little was heard from the environmental activists over three months. On Friday there will be the first rally after the break. This is how Fridays For Future wants to go public again.
Photo: Daniel Peter
The last Fridays For Future demo was held in Würzburg in February. The Corona crisis made it quiet about the environmental movement of schoolchildren, students and many more. But on Friday, the activists return to the streets. A rally will take place on the Mainwiesen from 11 a.m. In addition to two Fridays For Future activists, representatives of the Würzburg pier, the offshoot Health For Future and the Ende Würzburg site will also speak. On the occasion of the return to the street, this editorial team spoke to the two founding members Josefine Feiler and Benedikt Schürzinger. She sits for the Greens in the municipal council in Veitshöchheim, while he is studying music in Würzburg and actually comes from Lower Bavaria. A conversation about the goals of the first demo, the corona crisis and who Fridays For Future is in Würzburg.
Photo: Peter Brueckner
–Question: How have you used the last three months without demos?
Benedikt Schürzinger: We have undergone further training internally and made many webinars on the environment and social policy issues. Among other things, Katja Riemann gave a lecture. Two weeks ago there was a poster campaign in the city with lots of posters from us. We weren’t behind it, but we were very happy about it.
What can one take from the corona crisis for the climate?
Schürzinger: How weak our system is. How few adjustment screws have to be turned so that we get problems. It’s nice to see that we didn’t have any workers harvesting the asparagus because this work is so low on our list. We have a socially inadequate system and we need a more ecological system. Such a lockdown of a few weeks cannot be compared to what happens when the sea takes away the first two meters of coastline. We will have to solve bigger problems there.
Josefine Feiler: The central reason for the large scale of the corona crisis is globalization. For example guest workers or medical care: During the pandemic we noticed how quickly we can reach our limits here because we rely on outside help and do not have our own backup.
How is Fridays For Future defined in Würzburg? What is the group?
Filer: We are not an association, so anyone who feels they can belong can count themselves. Especially during Corona it was very difficult to find new people. We have a group of 20 to 30 people who do organizational things, but they are no more important than anyone who goes out on the streets with us.
Schürzinger: We do not define ourselves as a closed circle, but if you want to contribute something, you should show that you are behind the cause. We have group policy principles, such as human rights, and otherwise we are very accessible.
Photo: Josefine Feiler
–Has the movement in Würzburg changed in the past year and a half?
Filer: We had a lot of students, but all of them have finished school and are now studying.
Schürzinger: I think especially in the minds of the younger ones the movement has recently gotten a negative stigma. At schools, students reacted very negatively to advertising for climate strikes. We no longer have the insane tailwind we once had. It is different in other cities. We’re just a student city here.
Many people at Fridays For Future only think about climate protection. How is it with you
Filer: Fridays For Future is much broader. For me, climate protection cannot be thought without social issues and vice versa. It is such a shame that farmers feel cheated by us because we are actually trying to meet their needs and create a system in which the problems that farmers are experiencing would not be there.
The demands of Fridays For Future in Würzburg
Already in September 2019, the Fridays For Future activists handed over a list of demands for Würzburg to the city. This is an extract of the measures that Fridays For Future requires.
Public administration
- All city groups are to become climate neutral by 2030
- No domestic German flights
- Conversion of our own vehicle fleet to emission-free vehicles
- Adjust the menu in the city canteen. Goal: More vegan, more vegetarian
Public transport and mobility
- Tempo 30 in the urban area, tempo 10 in the city center
- App for mobile payment in public transport
- More bike roads and an improvement of the bike infrastructure. Plus a “green wave for cycling”
- Higher parking fees in the city center and core
Source: Fridays For Future Würzburg
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Wurzburg
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Tim Eisenberger
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Vehicles and transportation
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Katja Riemann
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Climate protection
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Coastline
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Cycling
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Pupils
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City councils and councilors
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Students
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Environmental activists
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Environmental movements
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Public transportation
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