Luisa Neubauer says activists need not agree on every form of protest
Luisa NeubauerFridays for Future activist, in an interview with WELT TV from the COP31 climate conference
Neubauer says climate activists do not have to agree on everything about forms of protest or narratives. She tells WELT TV she has become more relaxed about individual clips and will not let them distract her.
“We don't have to agree on everything when it comes to forms of protest, when it comes to narratives. (Translated from German. Original: Wir müssen uns nicht in allem einig sein, was Protestformen betrifft, was Narrative betrifft)”
Reporting
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Greta Thunberg laughs at a German Fridays for Future protest in a documentary, then says the movement distanced itself from her over Palestine
In a documentary by German filmmaker Hubertus Koch, released on YouTube on October 28, 2026, Greta Thunberg laughs when Koch mentions that a Fridays for Future demonstration is taking place in Berlin that day, and asks whether the group still does that. The clip spread on X from November 11. Some commentators criticized her for mocking the movement she founded, while others said the clip lacked context. On November 13, Thunberg said on Instagram that the protest came from the German climate movement that had distanced itself from her over her statements on Palestinians.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
German-language report on the documentary scene and reactions on X. It quotes Luisa Neubauer's interview with WELT TV. WELT shared the article on X on November 12, 2026; the page shows a November 14 publication time.
Reporting
About this source
German-language wire report on the documentary scene. It reports that Neubauer told WELT TV the movement would stay focused and that protests continued in about 70 places in Germany that Friday.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
WELT TV asked Neubauer, who was at the UN climate conference in Turkey, about the clip of Thunberg laughing at a Fridays for Future demonstration in Berlin.
After the quotation
Asked whether she was brushing Thunberg's reaction aside, Neubauer said she had become more relaxed about individual clips after many years of climate protests. She said she wanted to stay focused and keep working for climate protection with many others.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Neubauer acknowledges a disagreement over forms of protest but plays down the clip, saying she has become more relaxed about individual clips and will stay focused, so we labeled it as minimizing.
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More from this case
Read the full caseDoris Akrap says it would be legitimate even if Thunberg laughed at the Friday protests
“Even if she really has to laugh that the Germans still demonstrate against climate change every Friday and she knows nothing about it, that would also be legitimate. (Translated from German. Original: Selbst wenn sie wirklich darüber lachen muss, dass die Deutschen immer noch jeden Freitag gegen den Klimawandel demonstrieren und sie davon nichts weiß, wäre auch das legitim.)”Read statement
Greta Thunberg says she laughed at a protest by the German movement that distanced itself from her over Palestinians
“For context, this was the same days as we were blocking a weapons manufacturer there, and just found out there simultaneously was a police permitted climate demonstration in a famously white middleclass area by the very same German climate movement who cancelled and 'distanced themselves' from me for saying that Palestinians are humans too and that when we call for justice, Palestinians have to be included in those calls too.”Read statement
Boban Dukic writes that Thunberg now treats the students she inspired as a punchline
“Somewhere in Berlin, then, a schoolboy holds up his homemade cardboard sign because a Swedish woman showed him eight years ago that you are allowed to do that. And that very Swedish woman now thinks he is a punchline. (Translated from German. Original: Irgendwo in Berlin hält also ein Schüler sein selbst gemaltes Pappschild hoch, weil ihm eine Schwedin vor acht Jahren gezeigt hat, dass man das darf. Und genau diese Schwedin hält ihn heute für eine Pointe.)”Read statement
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- Luisa Neubauer says activists need not agree on every form of protest
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The Dispute Index. "Luisa Neubauer says activists need not agree on every form of protest". First published: 2026-11-15. Last updated: 2026-11-15. https://disputeindex.com/events/8994-neubauer-says-climate-activists-do-not-have-to