A new wave of self-inflicted spectacle has unfolded in Germany, where climate activists literally encased their own hands in concrete and epoxy to glue themselves to roads and even runways — and then appeared surprised when they couldn’t get free. These stunts weren’t symbolic courage; they were calculated disruptions that endangered travelers and tied up emergency resources while producing viral footage of people stuck to their own protest props.
The group behind many of these actions, known as Last Generation, has repeatedly escalated from gluing hands to blocking city intersections to occupying airport tarmacs, forcing cancellations and snarling travel for innocent families and workers. There is nothing noble about holding the public hostage in the name of an ideology; you do not win hearts by making everyday life harder for people who go to work, pick up children, or fly to see dying relatives.
When authorities moved in to free the protesters, police were forced to chip, drill, and even chisel away at the pavement around the activists’ hands to prevent serious injury — a dangerous and time-consuming operation that put officers and demonstrators at risk. The dramatic images of officers using tools to remove hardened concrete should be a wake-up call: these actions create avoidable hazards and strain public safety resources.
Political leaders across the spectrum have been forced to respond to this chaos, and even some on the left have expressed exasperation with tactics that veer into public nuisance and potential criminality. When the cause is sincere but the tactics are reckless, it’s the rule of law and common sense that must come first — allowing anarchic stunts to set the public agenda is a slippery slope nobody should tolerate.
Worse still, these publicity stunts divert attention from constructive debate about energy policy and national security. Instead of engaging voters and policymakers with persuasive arguments and practical solutions, the activists hand the microphone to the hard right and the cynics who rightly ask whether the movement is serious about governing or only about spectacle. Authorities must protect critical infrastructure and ensure that civil disobedience does not morph into a license for danger.
Hardworking Americans watching this drama should take note: genuine patriotism looks like stewardship and sacrifice that respects fellow citizens, not attention-seeking stunts that inconvenience and endanger them. If you believe in the environment, do the hard work of persuading your neighbors, supporting innovation, and holding elected officials accountable — don’t celebrate stunts that amount to self-harm and public harassment.
