Beware of Leader Figures

BEWARE OF LEADER FIGURES. Extinction Rebellion By Bettina Dyttrich [This article published on 11/28/2019 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.woz.ch/1948/extinction-rebellion/huetet-euch-vor-fuehrerfiguren .] The Briton Roger Hallam, co-founder of the climate movement Extinction Rebellion (XR), has described the Holocaust as "just another fuckery in human history". Genocide is "almost a normal event," he said in an interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit. Many, including many XR activists, react indignantly, Ullstein-Verlag has withdrawn the planned book by the British. Hallam's statements are stupid and selfish: he forces all XR activists to behave accordingly and gives those who consider the climate movement to be hysterical a reason for malice. Roger Hallam is not just one XR activist among thousands of others. The problem lies in the structure of the movement: A small group from Great Britain founded XR last year. Hallam and his comrades-in-arms were known by name from the beginning and sought contact with the media. Because many people feel the need to be active in climate policy, XR has grown very rapidly and has reached a broad public. The groups in the different countries adopt the logo, principles, and sometimes communiqués, speeches and videos of the founding group without knowing its members personally. That's practical, because it's fast. But in the end it is a top-down approach. And above all: Those who call themselves XR automatically make themselves jointly responsible for what the founding group says and does. Many left-wing basic movements reject leader figures. This is sometimes impractical for the media. But the distrust is justified - this is shown by the example of Roger Hallam. The German left has been debating XR for months now. The movement appears in its appearance like an end-time sect, so a frequently voiced criticism. And it idealises arrest as a political means - without thinking that arrests could be dangerous and traumatic, especially for people who do not belong to the white middle class. It is to be hoped that the climate movement will emerge stronger from these controversies. It is too important to quarrel.