this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2024
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[–] Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works 72 points 8 months ago (2 children)

How likely is she to be elected there in the next decade ? Would be quite ironic to have the officer who removed the today to welcome her in a decade

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 53 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It's a little counter-intuitive, but she probably feels like she's more helpful in her current role than she would be in politics. A politician has to be a jack-of-all-trades, learning about a lot of different fields, dealing with education, military, civil law, budget, etc etc etc. Where an activist can specialize exclusively in one thing, gaining a lot of clout and helping provide leadership.

Global climate activism has long needed a leader, its own Mahatma Gandhi. Now its getting one, and it leaves her very, very influential. She can't be thrown out of office either, she could only be assassinated, which would turn her into a martyr like Navalny. So, she's steadily growing powerful and is virtually unstoppable right now.

She probably wants to keep it that way. Getting elected would derail that a little bit, and having these kinds of non-governmental civil leaders is actually very important.

[–] MotoAsh@lemmy.world 31 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (13 children)

Yea, everyone thinks politicians need those skills, but do the current bout of politicians even have those skills, either?!

There seems to be an assumed competency that doesn't match reality.

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[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago

That's almost what Jon Stewart said about him running for office. He feels he does more useful work outside of politics.

[–] rainynight65@feddit.de 23 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The problem with politics is that it tends to chew up and spit out people with a modicum of honesty, integrity and a moral compass. They either give up, or become corrupted to the point that they can no longer fulfill the purpose that they went into politics for.

[–] Macros@feddit.de 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

This is generally true, but there are also many notable exceptions. Here in Germany I could name:

  • Gregor Gysi
    • Of the left Party
    • Always does what he thinks is best for the people
    • Many political opponents tried really hard to stick dirt on him and failed
  • Nico Semsrott
    • Arguably not that long in politics
    • Took a stance against Martin Sonnenborn (who is the very popular leader of a satirical party) in an affair and is now without a party (Yes this makes it likely he will not be in the next parliament)
    • As far as I have seen votes always in favor of the people
  • Patrick Breyer -Pirate Party
    • fights for digital freedom and privacy since decades
    • Always follows the pirate paradigm: transparency. He publishes all his meeting with lobbyists.
    • Helps to educate the public and discovered quite a few hidden legislative attempts to undermine privacy
[–] rainynight65@feddit.de 2 points 7 months ago

I have great respect for Gysi, and always did since I first listened to a campaign speech from him in the mid-90s. He's a politician who has stuck to his principles and prevailed through adversities where many other people would have just given up. But, even if you disregard his flaws, blind spots around Russia, and the poor handling of the internal crises which have now led to a split of his party, he has hardly ever been in a position where he could truly make a change in politics. His party may have been part of the government in some German states, but he himself never has been. And this may sound cynical, but it's relatively easy to be a principled politician when there's not much at stake. It's when you actually have some power and influence, that the wheat separates from the chaff - when you actually have to handle all kinds of pressure from all sides and see what your principles are worth to you.

This is not a defense of any other politicians - I wish there were way more who didn't give up their principles at the first sign of pressure. I'm just saying that Gysi has rarely been in a position where he had to do that.

I am unfamiliar with the other two, but I would say similar concerns may apply there.

[–] geissi@feddit.de 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Gregor Gysi

Gysi disappointed me massively when he defended Russia in the Nawalny poisoning and speculated about who might 'actually profit' without the slightest shred of evidence.

[–] Macros@feddit.de 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In honesty I didn't hear all his statements back then. Now from a quick search I can only find his Twitter:

„Natürlich kann es so gewesen sein, wie es @derspiegel annimmt. Es kann aber auch anders gewesen sein. Ich habe als Rechtsanwalt häufig erlebt, dass alles gegen A sprach, es war dann aber doch B.“

Which just says there should be more investigation before accusations are made. Asking for evidence. If you have a link to an interview or talk where he does as you said I would be interested to hear how he phrased it.

I want to point out one thing I have seen far to often in recent times: If a person or group of the left make a wrong statement others which previously followed them are quick to change their view and declare them as persona non grata. On the other hand we have the far right which spills out lies after lies and their followers are so used to it that even disproving them in multiple points does not touch their loyality in any way. I think we should focus more on welcoming people who try to do good thing. If they make a wrong step we should not shun them but try to show them why they did wrong. At least hey try to better themselves and you/we have a good chance to convince them of the better way.

See for example Snowden. He made the mistake to believe Russia would never invade Ukraine. An easy mistake if you have to live inside Russia propaganda machine. Upon realizing his error he was so struck by it, because he uses his social media reach to better the world and now trough a mistake he abused it for spreading propaganda, that he apologized and stopped tweeting for many months.

[–] geissi@feddit.de 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

im MDR erklärte der ehemalige Fraktionschef und inzwischen außenpolitische Sprecher der Bundestagsfraktion, Gregor Gysi, zum Giftanschlag auf Nawalny:
"Es kann ja auch sein, dass es ein Gegner der Erdgasleitung nach Deutschland war. Oder ein beauftragter Gegner, der wusste: Wenn man einen solchen Mord inszeniert, der dann der Regierung in die Schuhe geschoben wird, führt das zur Verschlechterung der Beziehungen."

https://politik.watson.de/deutschland/meinung/135709990-warum-der-fall-nawalny-zeigt-dass-die-linke-nicht-regierungsfaehig-ist

Auf einer Wahlkampf-Veranstaltung seiner Partei am gestrigen Donnerstag in Bochum sagte Gysi wörtlich:
„Der Putin muss doch bescheuert sein, wenn er sowas macht. Er weiß doch, dass das die Beziehungen zum Westen noch mehr verschlechtert.“

https://www.ruhrbarone.de/gregor-gysi-verdaechtigt-nord-stream2-gegner-des-nawalny-giftanschlags/189721/

I understand being cautious and not pre-judging before all the facts are known but what Gysi said back then went beyond that to actively dismissing the idea that it might have been Russia after all.

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[–] JayDee@lemmy.ml 39 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's super bizarre seeing this girl grow up exclusively by photos of her being arrested.

[–] Facebones@reddthat.com 16 points 8 months ago
[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 20 points 8 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Two officers lifted Thunberg and dragged her away before putting her down on the ground about 20 metres away from the door she had been obstructing.

Thunberg and dozens of other environmental campaigners started blocking the main entrances to Sweden’s parliament on Monday in a sit-down protest against the effects of the climate crisis and what they said was political inaction.

The activists left on Monday afternoon but returned to protest again on Tuesday morning.

Thunberg, 21, became the face of youth climate activism as her weekly protests, which started in 2018 in front of the Swedish parliament, quickly grew into a global movement with large rallies across continents.

Last year she was detained by police or removed from protests in countries including Sweden, Norway and Germany.

A British court last month acquitted her of charges of a public order offence as a judge ruled that police had no power to arrest her and others at a protest in London last year.


The original article contains 186 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 13%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I'm out of the loop, what is she doing these days? How does she make a living?

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 60 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

She's constantly doing political activism in the name of ensuring environmental policies and getting into a lot of trouble with the law because of it.

She's not throwing tomato soup at Da Vinci, mind you, but she was present during the environmental protest occupation when Germany decided to start mining brown coal again. You'll know it; it's the same protest with the mud wizard meme.

For all the disgruntled people saying she's a family funded shill she seems rather dedicated to her cause. A shill would've stopped ages ago when they're no longer front page news.

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[–] Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works 54 points 8 months ago

Full time political activist is a legit job. But she's only 21, at this age many people are student and don't make any money

[–] SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works 30 points 8 months ago (2 children)

She wrote a book that has a lot of reviews in Amazon. Arguably, that's probably enough to allow her to continue doing activism for the time being.

[–] JustUseMint@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Good for her, nice to hear

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That and family. I mean, typical 21yo won't take a charter flight to another continent for some eco-event.

Frankly anywhere near me in the social fabric she's a joke, but you never know.

[–] Sizzler@slrpnk.net 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 2 points 8 months ago

OK, that's better.

I'll clarify that if she was a joke yesterday that doesn't mean she still is today.

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

The force is strong, with the swedish police!

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