Volcano Group switch off Telsa-Factory
When were the good and the brave ever in the majority?
Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown
Whether Eyjafjallajökull, Grimsvötn or Hekla – volcanoes are among the most spectacular natural phenomena on our planet. They stand for eruptive change, for death and devil-spewing and all-enveloping embers. But they also stand for hope, the purifying fire and the phoenix of a new beginning.
On the eve of International Women’s Day 2024, an arson attack by the volcano group on an electricity pylon paralyzed the Tesla factory in Grünheide, which symbolizes patriarchy and capitalism. Contemporary activism apparently has a new and unusually radical player. The group’s letter of confession states:
“(…) On the eve of March 8th, we therefore lit a beacon against capital, patriarchy, colonialism and Tesla. We counter the ongoing rape of the earth with sabotage. The ideology of limitless economic growth and a belief in progress based on destruction have reached their end.” (Quoted from the activist group’s letter of confession: https://de.indymedia.org/node/344525)
The Vulkan group’s text is an unmistakable statement and, in the eyes of many of the country’s outraged citizens, obviously a strong message. However, I myself have been waiting for some time for the ecological, anti-capitalist movement to become radicalized. It’s nice to see that there are still people with enough spirit and courage to step on the toes of such unpleasant figures as Elon Musk. Whereby the problem is not the person of Musk, but a form of society that allows such people to obstruct the course of history in such a disastrous way through the brazen accumulation of (material) wealth. And I am not saying this in anger, but in view of the extraordinary demands that the ecological question places on us. A question that we as a society must finally take more seriously in order to tackle the rapid and radical restructuring of our consumption patterns.
According to Telsa, the damage caused by the sabotage amounts to hundreds of millions of euros and is therefore probably the most expensive left-wing militant attack in Germany to date. The volcano group has apparently been around since 2011 and has repeatedly sabotaged the infrastructure of our society at neuronal points without being widely reported in the media. Now, for the first time, they have appeared more prominently in the media. Elon Musk wrote about the attack on Twitter or X: “Stopping the production of electric vehicles instead of fossil fuel vehicles is extremely stupid”. Musk’s statement shows how far removed he is from understanding what the act of sabotage is actually about. This is not to be expected; the world and the view of humanity of the diametrically opposed positions are too far apart.
When did we actually become a society that categorically rejects all forms of violence, while our invasive way of life is producing more and more violence all over the world? Why do we make no distinction between violence against things as a form of protest and violence against living beings? Why do we put the violence of our forms of protest so little in relation to the violence that our consumption produces every day? Have we completely lost our ethical sense of proportion or is there more moral awareness in society than is usually presented and often suggested to us in the conventional and state media?
Fight the Power!
