Ridiculous, the free courage of these affluent children

You have to let the sentence melt in your mouth: "But it can't be that during the Christmas season every person with a lifting platform on a Christmas tree is put under general suspicion." Now please read it out loud again, with the Brasige Berliner Dialect, something like: "Jeneralversucht jestelle". Well, guess who says that?

Right! A spokeswoman for the Berlin police explains that a whole emergency vehicle (in Berlin we say "tub") full of officials (here "room security forces") watched calmly as members of the "Last Generation" climate camaraderie, who had no fear of heights, climbed the top two meters of the Christmas tree sawed off at the Brandenburg Gate. Why did they do this? You don't really know exactly, because neither the approach with the lifting platform (diesel!), nor the Christmas balls (glass) trickling down not so quietly, nor the plastic transparency that they revealed will really help the climate.

It read: "This is just the top of the Christmas tree." This is pretty aptly described in the news, but has no further statement. In fact, the “last generation” only cares about one thing, which becomes all the more obvious the more absurd their actions become: criminal awareness. A thirst for adventure, playing pranks, getting into a bit of a riot and being happy when others get upset (like here) or get into danger (at the autobahn pasting shop).

What is most ridiculous is how cheap the courage of these affluent children is. Driving onto Pariser Platz with a lifting platform is as brave as illegal parking. Sneaking into a museum to throw pea soup at artwork is as risky as throwing a Frisbee. The climate comrade, who with an expression of suffering his hand, which had only roughly been beaten out of the asphalt, which had entered into a grotesque symbiosis with the road, is practically the - haha ​​- tip of the free courage.

Years ago I was traveling in the South Pacific for a few weeks to report on the French nuclear tests on the Mururoa Atoll. Greenpeace was also there, founder Dave McTaggart repeatedly took on the crossing French warships with his nutshell "Vega". Elsewhere in the world, Greenpeace people maneuvered their ships between illegal whalers and animals to be protected. In return, a Greenpeace flagship was sunk by the French secret service. You don't have to agree with Greenpeace. But the only ones who put their activists in danger were themselves.

Our sticky men and women mess with who? I agree. With the Berlin police. And here we are again at the beginning. Sticky Smurfs meet Tub Smurfs. What should you think when suddenly a group with a lifting platform appears at the Christmas tree? Maybe they wanted to redecorate? Or pour?

You could have strolled over and asked: "So, Madame, now tell me what you are planning to do with your device..." Keyword room protection. But, as I said, you can't place general suspicion on every person who turns up with heavy equipment.