Church gives platform to climate civil disobedience. Priest becomes Climate Father.....

"Climate Father" Alt: Ecological turnaround requires blocking of roads

Jesuit Fr. Jörg Alt and young activist of the "Last Generation" come together at "Long Night" on the topic "Climate Catastrophe: Bucking and blocking as the last chance?" come to a clear conclusion: the broadest possible civil resistance to policy failures is needed.

Sympathy for climate protests in the form of sit-in blockades and sticking on streets was expressed at a "Long Night of the Churches" event with the German social scientist and Jesuit P. Jörg Alt in the Jesuit Church in Vienna. Not only by the speaker himself, who was supported in his stirring remarks by the 18-year-old Upper Austrian student Jonas - a member of the "Last Generation" associated with the Catholic Youth - but also in many voices by the audience. The tenor of the talk by the religious, who had already become an "offender" for his commitment, and of the comments afterwards: Drastic measures are needed to initiate the turnaround to a sustainable lifestyle.

For Alt and his young co-speaker on the topic "Climate catastrophe: Bucking and blocking as the last chance?", the facts have long been clear: if CO emissions continue at the current rate, the world is heading for a catastrophe, irreversible environmental damage is already being suffered and politicians are failing to meet the climate protection targets they have set themselves. According to the Jesuit and frequent book author, the assurances of the people's representatives that environmental policy is on the right track and that the ecological turnaround can also be achieved with the help of new technologies are not true. Only a few years ago, his own eyes were opened to the fact that the warning voices of science are still understated and that ecological "tipping points" are being reached much faster than predicted. "The time for action is running out," Alt called for decisive counter-measures.

It had become clear to him that giving relevant lectures and writing texts was not enough. As a "Jesuit who became a radical climate activist" - as it was called in "Der Spiegel" in Advent 2022 - Jörg Alt has been making headlines for months. He supported the street blockades of the "Last Generation" in word and deed and also risked fines and prison sentences himself. On 16 May 2023, the Munich district court sentenced the religious to a fine of 10 daily rates; for Alt, who is bound by a vow of poverty, a daily rate of one euro was imposed, according to his own statement. This was preceded by a street blockade in front of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice. Alt had already taken part in similar protest actions together with the "Last Generation" and in publicly announced fare evasion in Nuremberg. He said that he had been a "good middle-class child" and never thought he would commit a crime.

"Climate gluing as a legitimate protest"

The Jesuit described the "climate glueing" on motorways with traffic jams as a consequence as a necessary symbolic act to literally stand in the way of the negligent tardiness of politics. At the same time, Alt gave free rein to his anger at a Federal German minister who had simply ignored legal requirements for climate protection in his area of responsibility. Thus, the "Last Generation" rightly felt legitimised to use non-violent forms of protest for an environment worth living in. There are numerous other forms of resistance, but only the street blockades have made it into the headlines and gained public attention alongside war and inflation.

The religious referred to surveys according to which 70 per cent of the German population are in favour of speed limits in road traffic. And other studies show that people do not want a car-oriented but a people-oriented world and associate personal happiness with qualities that cannot be obtained for money. Alt also reported on the German Climate Council, consisting of a representative cross-section of citizens, who - as in Austria - proposed far-reaching measures against advancing global warming. However, these were then "praised to death" by politicians and disposed of in drawers.

According to the conviction of the two activists, the people would be much more ready for a reversal than the politicians. Maturant Jonas said that even a decisive small minority could cause a social "tipping point" towards sustainability. With Jörg Alt, the young man called for different variants of civil resistance - even if it was only attempts at persuasion in private or letters to MPs and the media. The audience of about 100 in the Arrupe Hall of the Vienna Jesuits responded with words of thanks and much applause.

Source

Jesuit who has the curriculum vitae of a political activist.   This is adding to the shortage of priests.