“We no longer see any prospects for success. Over the past two years, the government has demonstrated total incompetence,” the movement said in an appeal to Austrian citizens.
The organisation has ceased its activities, despite the large-scale protest action already announced for September 7. It was supposed to take place in the country’s capital Vienna, near the parliament building.
The Austrian “Last Generation” became the successor to the German association of the same name in 2021. The environmental activists protested against the use of fossil fuels, blocked roads, threw orange paint on building facades and tied themselves to the streets with duct tape. The work of their hands also became images of Gustav Klimt’s painting “Death and Life” smeared with a black oily liquid, reminiscent of petroleum, in 2022. The photos show activists dressed in black standing near the flooded canvas, with slogans on their turtlenecks calling for a move away from fossil fuels. In the following images, the activists are forcibly removed from the painting. Dozens, if not hundreds, of photographs and videos describing the actions and arrests of the “Last Generation” are available online. Almost everywhere, protesters are dressed in “branded” bright orange vests.
The protesters were, of course, not welcomed “with open arms”. The movement itself, in its farewell letter, highlighted the violence directed against them, death threats and arrests with fines of tens of thousands of euros. The head of the Austrian Cabinet of Ministers, Karl Nehammer, also condemned Generation, stating that “this is the wrong kind of protest” and “a sabotage of civil society” and of numerous politicians from various parties.
The Last Generation plans to spend all donations to pay thousands of fines imposed on activists of the movement.
Austrian politicians have already supported the organisation’s decision: “They have finally realised that there is no loophole on Austrian roads”, “drivers and passengers can breathe freely”, “the madness is over!” – this is how they commented on the end of the “Last Generation” protests in Austria, embellishing their statements with the label of “climate terrorists”.
