Teenager "Sina"
began her German
environmental activism
by joining a demonstration
against coal power plants,
organized by Greenpeace
and WWF,
Then she became a press
spokesperson for "Greta
Thunberg's" Fridays For
Future ( FFF ) movement
in March, 2019.
Sina was an FFF
spokesperson in a city
in the German state
of North Rhine
Westphalia.
Sina soon found out
about the movement’s
“cult-like” structures
which did not tolerate
questions.
By November, 2019,
she began questioning
the FFF movement.
Sina tells all to German
GROSSE FREIHEIT TV
( Great Freedom TV )
in an interview:
As a press
spokesperson,
she always had an
older organizer,
constantly standing
at her side during
demonstrations,
to make sure she
said “the right things”
when interviewed
by radio or television.
“No matter
what was asked,
it had to be answered
like this, or like that”
and we had to
“sound dramatic
and to not express
any doubts about it,”
“We have to
act immediately,
otherwise things
will go like so,
and the world
will fall apart
if you don’t
take to the streets,
and those who don’t
are to blame for
the world collapsing,
and all such things
that put pressure
on people,”
said Sina, when
explaining what the
organizers expected
the press spokes-teens
to say to the media.
"One question
from the press
has always been
very popular,
and that is
what you
do yourself
for climate
protection.
A very
clear guideline
was the answer
that one should
live vegan,
plastic-free,
seasonal and
regional,
as well as
avoid
car journeys
and flights
as far as
possible.
I believe
that is also
the first thing
I learned there.”
The teenager said
doubts about the
movement came up
after her father
had doubts about
their demands
for a CO2 tax.
“The demands
were so dogmatic
and radical”
that
“they they could not
really be implemented,”
She explains how
she researched
the subject,
and found out
that the 97%
claimed
consensus
was bogus.
When her skepticism
became known, she was
immediately accused
of acting like a Nazi,
and called a “climate denier”
and “future destroyer”.
At that point
she left the cult.
“In my view, it (FFF)
has a sort of
cult character
because you have to
have that opinion.
Otherwise you’ll be
insulted out, if you will.”
“They make demands
without even thinking
about solutions and
thinking about
the consequences of
immediately exiting
coal power.”
“High taxes
is not going
to buy the CO2
out of the air.”
“Do a little research.”
At school some of the
more extreme teachers
“couldn’t understand”
why she exited the
movement, and
she was confronted
by other radical
classmates:
"If you don’t take part,
then it will be your fault
that none of us
will have a future,
and we’ll all die.”
She responded to them:
“Just do a little research!”