Globaler Klimastreik 11.4.2025

Welcome to the global strike, great that you are all here!

Global strike really means global strike! As we stand here, people all over the world are once again taking to the streets for climate protection. Today we are demonstrating together with Mexico, Italy, Nigeria, Bangladesh, New Zealand and – yes – also with many people in the USA against Trump, against the oil and gas industry, against exploitation and destruction – a shoutout to Heidelberg Materials – and against this persistent looking away and “will do” that has overshadowed our responses to the climate crisis for 80 years now

It’s 2025 and yes, the world is looking the other way again. In the US, the press is writing about share prices, in South Africa about food shortages, in Argentina about hacker attacks and the rise of China, and in Germany – well, we know that anyway. Today, let’s think about all the things they don’t write about – I was surprised myself at how many facts about the climate crisis lie in the dark away from the oil public. And they shocked me:

The energy consumption of us humans around the world is rising faster than the share prices of German companies. In recent years, oil and gas drilling projects have been launched in Africa on an area the size of central Europe. And our Deutsche Bank is one of the twenty largest investors when it comes to precisely such projects. “But that’s so far away,” grumbles Söder from Munich? Wrong: the Climate Risk Index shows that nowhere in the world is the proportion of climate-related deaths as high as in Italy, Spain and Greece. No wonder! Less than two years ago, one in six trees burned down in the Greek vacation paradise of Rhodes – and the damage has not yet been fully repaired.

What we don’t read about is what the planet will look like if we deal responsibly with this misery. What it will really mean if we finally stop destroying our habitat and become climate neutral by 2050. If we want to make our industry climate-neutral with
renewable electricity, we will need around twice as much electricity as we do now. That means three times as many wind turbines, three times as many solar panels and three times as much hydropower.
The good thing – and you’ve probably heard this many times before – is that renewable energies
are now cheap – and fossil natural gas is expensive. How cheap? – You may not have heard this so often: with the money that eight large natural gas projects cost, you could supply the whole of Africa with clean electricity.

That means we can afford this change. We have the technologies we need. And even better: once we are climate-neutral, so many other problems in the world will be solved! Who wants to fight for pipelines when there are no more pipelines? Who wants to exploit the oil reserves of foreign countries when we no longer need oil? Who still has to freeze or live in the dark when there is cheap electricity from sun, water and wind all over the world? There is a small dip in global CO2 emissions – 2020. And then dolphins swam all the way to Venice again! What great things can we do on these Friday afternoons if neither we nor the people in Mexico, the USA or Bangladesh have to demonstrate because of a climate crisis,
that has simply been mastered and resolved?

It’s clear: even if we don’t read about it in our newspapers, there is more than enough to fight for. Tomorrow morning there will be newspaper articles all over the world about this global strike. And for all your friends that you tell where you were today, all the bystanders that we will soon pass by, the great task of our time has come back into focus. We are that nagging knock on the tooth until the dental problems are finally taken care of, we are the little voice in our head telling us to go learn. We’ve often managed to draw the attention of the whole world to this issue. If everyone brings two friends to the next demo, we’ll be three times as big. All we have to do is keep going loudly and constantly.

What do we want – Climate Justice
When do we want it ? – Now

Hello!

And we are here today to join you in demonstrating for climate justice. Because we need it more urgently than ever: we are currently seeing how the climate crisis continues to escalate, how it is costing the lives of thousands of people worldwide through increasingly devastating floods, storms and droughts. At the same time, we are seeing how this crisis is being denied by right-wing populists. They profit from crises. And from fossil fuel companies, coal, oil and cement companies that continue to fuel the climate crisis. They profit from this economic system that continues to exploit people and nature. The perpetrators of the climate catastrophe have many faces. One of them is located in the middle of Heidelberg, in the heart of the so-called “climate city”: the cement company Heidelberg Materials. Many of you know it under its old name Heidelberg Cement. It is one of the companies that is benefiting the most from the climate crisis. The Group is the largest CO2 emitter in Germany. Extremely high levels of CO2 are emitted in the cement production process, and buildings made of cement often have to be extensively renovated after just a few decades. Nevertheless, Heidelberg Materials regularly makes record profits. This is because construction policy in Germany and worldwide is heavily based on concrete. Group management is shirking its responsibility by pointing to bogus solutions such as CCS (Carbon Capture & Storage), which are not enough to compensate for the extremely high climate damage. Especially when more cement is produced every year. But this is exactly what Heidelberg Materials benefits from. No matter what Heidelberg Materials would like to tell us, it is clear that there is no such thing as sustainable cement. The only truly sustainable alternative is a socially just and ecological turnaround in construction: less demolition, better utilization of existing buildings, less new construction, alternative building materials, more living space used in solidarity! Our first demand is therefore the establishment of a local citizens‘ council in Heidelberg to deal with the issue and initiate a local, sustainable and fair building transition! Just as we need a just society for all of us here in Heidelberg, we need it worldwide, because climate justice can only be achieved globally. And Heidelberg Materials also plays a role here: the Group has been criticized for years for numerous human rights violations. Through its subsidiaries, it profits from land seizures that violate international law. It works together with governments that carry out these activities, for example in the Western Sahara. In Indonesia, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials is destroying the natural livelihood of the indigenous population in order to mine limestone. You can find out more about this in the Watch Indonesia speech. Heidelberg Materials is also breaking human and international law in Togo and the West Bank and enriching itself through local conflicts. The wealth of Heidelberg Materials is therefore also based on the colonial claim that the global North can accumulate wealth at the expense of people in the global South. Nevertheless, Heidelberg Materials likes to present itself as a sustainable and charitable company. In addition to its green corporate design, the company particularly likes to use Heidelberg’s cultural events for this purpose: the Heidelberg Spring, a festival for classical music, is currently taking place. Heidelberg Materials is a major sponsor of this event. We also think it’s important that a festival like this can take place. And we know that the organizers are dependent on sponsors. But it is unacceptable for Heidelberg Materials to use this platform to create an image that is completely at odds with reality. To draw attention to this brazen greenwashing and the massive human rights violations, we organized a festival ourselves, the End Cement Festival. For seven days, there were information events on sustainable construction and climate justice, as well as concerts, films and other programs. Around 200 people attended the festival, which took place directly opposite Heidelberg Materials‘ headquarters. Some camped out, some came from other cities like Freiburg or Berlin and maybe some of you were there too. It was very encouraging to see how many people are committed to a turnaround in construction and climate justice. And this demonstrationBei einer Demonstration treffen sich viele Menschen. Sie sagen dort ihre Meinung. Manchmal bringen sie Plakate mit. More is a great end to the camp week! But we will continue to protest, continue to stand up for climate justice together and campaign for a just building transition here in Heidelberg. Please support us and sign our petition for the Citizens‘ Council, come to our demonstrations or join End Cement. Because we can only achieve climate justice together.
(Translated with DeepL.com)

Dear friends of a climate-friendly world,

We stand here today because we will not allow Heidelberg Materials to hide its destructive activities behind a green paint. This group presents itself as sustainable, but in reality it destroys the environment, exploits natural resources and disregards human rights. Heidelberg Materials promises to be carbon neutral by 2050 – the same time the group is illegally mining karst lands, which actually serve as natural carbon stores.

For more than 20 years, Heidelberg Materials has been making huge profits in Indonesia – at the expense of nature and people. In the fall of 2023, the company again acquired an integrated cement plant from a local cement manufacturer. This new plant has a capacity of 1.8 million tons of clinker and 2.5 million tons of cement, as well as limestone reserves that last for more than 50 years.

But all these existing investments are apparently not enough for Heidelberg Materials. The company continues to seek to destroy the nature and livelihoods of the people of the Kendeng Karst Mountains with a new cement project – just to make even bigger profits.

Since 2017, local shareholders have repeatedly called on Heidelberg Materials‘ AGM to stop the planned limestone mining and cement plant project of its subsidiary, PT Indocement, in Pa. But Heidelberg Materials ignores these appeals and allows the project to go ahead. The company even allows its subsidiary to use every means available to push the project through – from manipulating environmental impact assessment data to intimidation and dividing the local community.

For Heidelberg Materials, the Kendeng Karst Mountains are merely an economic investment project. But for the indigenous Sedulur Sikep community and the farmers in Pa, it is far more: it is their livelihood, a unique ecosystem and a place of inestimable cultural and ecological value. The destruction of this area would not only threaten their existence, but would irrevocably destroy the diversity and beauty of the region.

Since 2010, the fate of the Kendeng Karst Mountains has changed dramatically. Back then, the provincial government lifted the area’s protected status and released about 5,000 hectares for the cement industry. The consequences have been catastrophic. Never before have local people experienced such extreme floods and droughts, destroying their rice fields and causing them annual crop losses of billions of Indonesian rupiah. Another major cement project would bring the Kendeng Mountains to the brink of destruction for good.

For generations, the people at the foot of the Kendeng Mountains have lived in harmony with nature. They are determined to defend their homeland – even if it means risking their own lives. Their strong attachment to the land and their sense of responsibility for future generations drive their resistance. The implementation of the cement project by PT Indocement would not only lead to the forced displacement of the people, but also endanger their lives. Only by stopping the project can the impending human rights violations and environmental disasters be prevented.

Let’s be loud together! Let’s fight together! Support the resistance against Heidelberg Materials and join us in demanding the immediate stop of the cement project in Pa!

Hello!

The Kurdish liberation movement understands war as the ultimate expression of patriarchy, through which not only people but also nature are harmed. For this reason, the ecology of the Kurdish liberation movement is based on self-sufficiency and self-defense, solidarity, and collective life.

War has devastating effects on the environment and society, often with long-term consequences for the affected regions. The war against Rojava is not only being waged militarily. The revolution—and thus an alternative to capitalism and patriarchy—is to be prevented at all costs.

One of the most direct consequences of war is the destruction of habitats and the degradation of agricultural land, often leading to the loss of fertile soil that is essential for food production. The Turkish state deliberately exploits this in its attacks on Rojava. For example, grain fields are repeatedly set on fire shortly before harvest, or water reservoirs are bombed. In addition, olive trees are deliberately cut down—particularly insidious, as Turkey is attempting to create economic dependence through the import of Turkish olive oil.

Water plays a central role in all war and crisis zones. The Turkish state has begun filling the Ilisu Dam in Northern Kurdistan and flooding the ancient city of Hasankeyf, while also planning the construction of further dams and hydroelectric power plants along the main waterways of the Middle East. These plans are officially justified by the goal of hydroelectric power generation—but the real objective is to dry out Rojava and, through sudden actions, flood certain areas.

In 2018, activists from the Internationalist Commune in Rojava launched the ecological campaign Make Rojava Green Again. The campaign focuses on three central goals:

1. Education
   Education and access to education for all—especially for girls and women, who are often deliberately denied this right—are essential for societal change.
2. Promoting ecological projects
   This involves the implementation of ecological projects in Rojava and cooperation with the self-administration structures in North and East Syria.
3. International solidarity
   The organization of international solidarity and the promotion of Democratic Confederalism are seen as concrete proposals for solving the ecological crisis in ecological struggles worldwide. Implementing such ecological projects within the Rojava revolution is viewed as a practical expression of internationalism, even if ecology often receives little attention in public discourse and reporting.

In the years following the launch of the campaign, various projects were implemented in Rojava. For example, several communal gardens were established, and a river restoration project was carried out by the Ecology Committee in Dêrik.

In 2020, a street in Qamişlo was to be redesigned according to ecological principles. The aim was to create a beautiful and green space for exchange, networking, and various art and cultural projects. However, Turkey blocked the project. The plans still exist digitally and are intended to be implemented nonetheless.

A central aspect of the campaign was to connect its work and projects with various women’s structures. To that end, several women from the campaign spent time in the autonomous women’s village of Jinwar, where they gained valuable experience. One outcome of this was the idea to create a brochure about edible and medicinal plants.

The campaign has been repeatedly hindered and temporarily shut down by the Turkish military. This raised the question of what ecology means in times of war. I quote:

„War kills people and destroys nature, but war is also met with fierce resistance. Resistance can create beautiful things—like community, organization, mutual aid, and solidarity. These values form the foundation of a revolutionary society: a politically conscious and ethical society capable of defending itself. Not even a thousand bombs can destroy a revolutionary society that is ready to defend itself. The struggle we are waging in Rojava is part of a global struggle. And we will continue our efforts for a free and green Rojava with all our strength. Only by defending Rojava can hope continue to flourish here.“

Rojava demonstrates what a liberated and solidarity-based society can look like. It stands in direct opposition to a system based on exploitation and oppression, on racism, ableism, anti-feminism, queerphobia, and capitalism—a system that will stop at nothing to protect its wealth and white supremacy.

Right-wing and racist politics aim to push through capitalist interests unimpeded, to crush all anti-capitalist critique, and to suppress the development of class consciousness from the outset. But we will continue to resist! We are angry, we are loud, and we are taking to the streets!

We demand a society free from domination, exploitation, and oppression—free from patriarchy and free from capital.
Long live international solidarity!