Hello everybody! I'm a student living and studying in south Italy. As you might already know, there have been a few protests made by Ultima Generazione (Brutally translated: Last Generation) which have been object of debate and disputes (and mostly critiques)
I'm afraid that Italian politicians are now exploiting these protests to indoctrinate people into hating environmentalism. In my personal experience, I've seen plenty of people who used to support environmentalist protests starting to, I wouldn't say hate, but at least distancing themselves from the environmentalist cause (regardless of the age)
Know here's the question: Have there been similar protests in your country? What about the reaction of the media and the public?
EDIT: i put a random pic of Fridays for Future and Extintion Rebellion militants helping with the flood in Emilia Romagna
As @sexy_peach@feddit.de said, there is "Last Generation" here in Germany, too. And as you said about Italy, here they are doing more harm than good for climate protection. People who are already convinced that we need urgent climate action like the last generation. But they don't need to be convinced because they already are. And the people who are not fully convinced, they get very angry about the climate movement. In Berlin an ambulance on duty was hindered by the "Klimakleber" (climate gluers) who glue their hand to the street.
I don't think that they are doing their cause a disservice. Yes, a lot of people are annoyed by them, but that doesn't mean they don't have their opinion on climate change shifted. Also they do set the topic on the news, which otherwise would 100% have ignored climate change, as always.
"100% have ignored" Yeah sure, then you don't read newspapers. It is not ignored.