America considers itself the best at pretty much everything worldwide. Whether that is arrogance, hyperbole, or fact, America is known around the world for going big. Taylor Swift, the Super Bowl, Las Vegas; America is the land of plenty. However, when it comes to protesting, perhaps the United States could take a few notes.
While we have BLM and Antifa running around burning down cities and causing chaos, we don’t have Volcano. The Volcano Group is an “eco-terror” group in Europe that specializes in random attacks on remote locations that usually supply power. They set fires to electric cables that control such things as telecommunications, trains, and manufacturing facilities.
Recently, the group struck again, setting ablaze a single high-voltage power mast near the Tesla factory in the German town of Grünheide. Power to more than 60,000 residents was cut to residents in nearby Brandenburg, with even parts of Berlin being affected. This attack has raised new concerns about how to protect remotely located towers that are vital to the power grid in Germany.
The mysterious group sent a statement to the media saying: “The complete destruction of the Gigafactory and the lopping off of technofascists like ‘Elend’ Musk are a step on the path towards liberation from the patriarchy.” It is unclear how inconveniencing citizens and shutting down production at a Tesla plant by starting a fire, which is also bad for the planet, is a blow to the patriarchy. Still, protesters don’t always make sense with their methods.
The plant makes the Model Y crossover for the German market, and production is expected to be down for the rest of the week, costing in the “high hundreds of millions, “ according to the plant’s senior director, Andre Thierig. The plant’s ventilation was also knocked out, forcing all 12,500 employees to be sent home for several days.
The more significant concern moving forward is how to protect vulnerable targets so this type of attack doesn’t happen again. The Federal Association for the Protection of Critical Infrastructures (BSKI) in Germany said: “We need to protect these objects just like we might with a military installation,” and suggested that drones could be a possibility to prevent future damage.
This is the second attack on a Musk plant by the Volcano Group. During the construction of the plant, the terror group targeted the power supply in May of 2021, just months before going online. Brandenburg Industries minister Jörg Steinbach said at the time: “We demonstratively stand with Tesla and will do everything in our power to prevent any further attacks.” Elon Musk, never one to be shy about calling out his critics, said on X: “These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals. Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm.”
Shutting down the production of a plant that makes supposedly eco-friendly electric vehicles seems like an odd way to make a point. However, from gluing oneself to the ground to chaining oneself to the net at a Grand Slam tennis event, European protesters just party differently from American protesters. Given the choice between burning cities, looting stores, and setting fire to power stations, neither would be the best choice for most folks.
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