Ordinary travellers experience airports as bizarre fortresses. They’re routinely subject to arbitrary and invasive screenings by security personnel on the pretence that policing the amount of liquid in carry-on luggage is necessary to prevent terrorism. Apparently, though, even the most naïve and inexperienced university students can just break into these terror-proof airfields with nothing more than standard tools available at every home improvement store, and move freely within them while wearing high-visibility orange reflective vests.
A look at the Letzte Generation website suggests we can expect more of this. Its online recruitment form asks respondents what they’re willing to do in order to combat climate catastrophe. Roles are listed in order of escalation – you can volunteer “in the background” or participate in “protest marches,” which involve “minimal risk”. The more daring can “block streets”, which interestingly is said to entail “limited risk,” but that’s not all. There’s a still greater level for truly insane activists who wish to contribute “spectacular” acts of resistance involving “high personal risk”. We can presume that the taxiway gluers represent the debut of the spectacular Letzte Generation high-risk commando.
