Stop the expansion of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide.
In Grünheide, near Berlin, 1 million new Teslas will roll off the production line every year, joining the avalanche of cars on the motorways. After three more expansion phases, the plant on the outskirts of Berlin will be the largest car factory in Europe. We want to stop that. More than 250,000 new cars are already produced there every year, adding to the useless electric and combustion engine junk that clogs up our roads and that no one needs in a future where mobility belongs to everyone.
The mysogynistic Twitter fascist Elon Musk has used his brand to establish the electric car as a 'green' alternative to the internal combustion engine. But electric cars are not the solution. They are the continuation of the individual transport madness by other means. And that is neither sustainable nor green. The production of an electric car creates a huge ecological footprint through the consumption of resources and thus drives the global climate catastrophe even further.
The cost of neocolonial supply chains
The extraction of lithium - the main raw material for batteries - causes incredible destruction in the mining areas. Whole swathes of land and ecosystems are devastated as water is either used for mining or returned to contaminated groundwater. And the people who live in these areas, often in the global South, are being robbed of their livelihoods by mining in the Atacama Desert in Chile, for example. They have to make way for the green transformation plans of the global North, and if they resist, the response will be in the old colonial manner: or in the words of Elon Musk: "We coup who we want!”
Water for all, not just the few
The impact of production is also already felt locally. Brandenburg, already suffering from drought due to the climate crisis, is being further drained by Tesla to ensure production. Residents are already having to ration water while the taps at the factory are turned on full blast and sometimes a little paint is spilled in the water conservation area. And Berlin's water supply is also at a tipping point because of the fossil fuel industry. Instead of thinking about how to distribute water according to people's needs, the government continues to focus on water-intensive industries.
Forest instead of roads
The forest around the plant, criss-crossed by chequered economic routes, is already struggling to survive because of the drought. Now it is to be cleared to make way for a huge car park for cars and construction machinery for the expansion. This is supposed to create climate-resilient forests. Absurdly, this was one of the conditions imposed on Tesla, which was supposed to ensure the creation of mixed forests in the neighbouring forests, but these compensation areas with the newly planted trees are now falling victim to the clearing for the expansion.
Against the German car state
One thing is certain: depending on the model, electric cars are less harmful to the climate than internal combustion engines only after 60,000 to 110,000 kilometres. Therefore, only a massive reduction in car production is an adequate response to the challenges of the climate crisis. But a rethink towards dense, functioning public transport for all is unthinkable under capitalism. Too much of Germany's value creation depends on the car industry. If the car industry in Germany falters because of crises or new EU emission standards, the German state reliably stands by the industrialists and either invests billions in scrappage schemes or prevents restrictions wherever possible. Last but not least, the car is defended as an ideological promise of freedom, allowing wage-earners to travel back and forth between work and home every day, free of constraints. And it works.
Public transport instead of individual transport
The CDU won the elections in Berlin with a car campaign, among other things. However, more or less all parties are arguing in favour of retaining the car. The lack of alternatives to the car is being deliberately reproduced by the political players by placing as many obstacles as possible in the way of all other means of transport. The alternative to individual local transport cannot be electric cars, but only local transport that makes mobility possible for everyone. This is exactly what we are fighting for together with public transport employees and the „Wir fahren zusammen“ campaign. After all, in the end it doesn't matter whether you are run over on the corner by a BMW combustion-powered SUV or a Tesla Cybertruck in apocalypse mode.
Feminist anti-fascism instead of Elon Musk
Unfortunately, Elon Musk's activities are not limited to Tesla. He is also increasingly acting as an actor of the new right. On the Twitter platform he bought, Musk spreads conspiracy theories and anti-emancipatory, racist and right-wing content. He thus joins the ranks of fragile men who have joined the crusade to preserve patriarchal privileges. He also spread statements on migration from accounts close to the fascist AfD. This wouldn't be so bad if he were a wretch without reach or means. But when the richest man in the world supports movements and parties that are diametrically opposed to our idea of society, that's a problem.
Stop the plant, stop Musk
The idea of another huge car factory in Germany is absurd in the face of the climate catastrophe. That is why we must make a concerted effort to stop this trend. When it comes to mobility, the climate justice movement has often focused on the expansion of roads and motorways. This is absolutely right. But if we want to stop the flood of metal, we must also tackle the source of the problem, the production sites and German car capitalism.
So let's join forces to stop the expansion of the Tesla factory before the supposed alternative of electric cars becomes a real nightmare. We want to stop the expansion of the factory. Every tree felled for Tesla is one too many, and every litre of water taken from the ground is wasted.