One lesson I'd like to share about organising protests against the far-right and authoritarianism. Here in Munich, where we had protests with 200.000+ participants in 2024 and 2025, there was one simple rule.

No politicians were allowed to speak on stage. Only activists and victims speak.

The politicians, no matter what they promise at a protest, go back to their parliaments, think they've done enough and continue with business as usual. So remember: It's our protest. Not their photo-op. 1/4

(A repost for #solarpunk and #resilience folk of today’s edition of my #PowerOnStoryToot series)

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You always felt kind of sad when walking past an overgrown, sometimes half-buried railway line. So much work went into connecting communities and providing a network of low-cost transport, that you feel a rip in your heart over your grandparents act of letting the vines of connection wither in favour of expensive, inefficient BORING automobile carriages.

The joy of watching the countryside slide by while reading a book or having a face to face conversation can’t compare to being stuck at the levers and dials of those darn cars. You wonder at the hubris of attempting to make cars self-driving, as if Gödel and Murphy hadn’t seen right through that in advance.

The train line to your daughter’s house runs past a scrapyard. The tower of Teslas is particularly tall today, must be the crusher operator’s day off. Hey, what if…

An idea-candle lights in your mind.

The scrapyard was puzzled when you wanted to buy a dozen Teslas, they run fine but who can bear the shame, they said. Won’t be keeping the bodywork, you answered.

The old spur line that terminates at the abandoned rail yard near your home was a perfect testbed. Plenty of roof space for recycled solar panels, old wooden passenger carriages that can drop on to the new teslabogeys. Your impromptu market day service between here and the next town became a celebration of community spirit, sunbonnets and sunglasses, baskets of produce, flocks of kids and dogs. The idea-candle lit other fires.

Visiting your kid last week, you noticed the scrapyard looking rather bare.