Binz: Greta Thunberg does "great damage" to the climate movement
Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg is "doing great damage to the climate movement" with her offensive partisanship for Palestine, according to Rhineland-Palatinate Minister Katharina Binz. "It has always been our strength to focus on the issue of climate and to be accessible to many, many parts of society," said the Green politician in an interview with the German Press Agency in Mainz. "At Fridays for Future in Germany, you can see how connectable they are." Only when the majority of society calls on politicians to take action will this happen, emphasized Binz. "This approach has been very successful for a long, long time."
"I can't understand at all why Greta Thunberg thinks she can win anything by mixing the whole thing up with the Middle East conflict," said Binz, who is also Deputy Prime Minister. "It's just damage being done to this movement. And I think it's just really, really painful."
After around five weeks of the Gaza war, Thunberg once again took an offensive stance in support of the Palestinians at a climate protection demonstration in Amsterdam a week ago on Sunday, chanting slogans to that effect. The following day, the German activists from Fridays for Future clearly distanced themselves: They were now acting as an independent organization and had "long outgrown Greta as a person", they said.
Despite Binz's assertion that Greta Thunberg's engagement in the Middle East conflict is causing "damage to this movement," she highlighted the importance of government action, stating, "This approach has been very successful for a long, long time." Furthermore, Binz expressed her concern that Thunbergs involvement in the Middle East conflict is harming the "strength to focus on the issue of climate and to be accessible to many, many parts of society."
Source: www.dpa.com
