The desperate last stand to save a forest from Tesla

Grunheide Forest, Germany – At 8am on a morning in late November, on the outskirts of Berlin-Brandenburg, hundreds of police officers have entered the Grunheide Forest, which has been occupied by activists from the “Stop Tesla” movement since the end of February.

The area, referred to as the “water forest occupation” has been the focus of a battle against expansion plans for Tesla’s gigafactory – its fourth in the world and the first in Europe – which environmentalists say is causing irreparable damage to local water reserves in a region already suffering from drought.

Tesla’s factory, which already spans 300 hectares (741 acres), produces just less than 4,000 electric cars per week – or about 190,000 per year. The expansion plans, which are on hold for the time being because of “low demand”, according to Tesla”, would enable the facility to increase production to 1 million electric vehicles per year on a site some 100 hectares (247 acres) larger than it is now.

In 2023, Tesla was the second-largest electric vehicle (EV) company globally, selling more than 1.8 million vehicles. The Tesla Model Y, which is also produced in the German factory, was indisputably the best-selling car worldwide, achieving sales of more than 1.2 million in 2023.

This morning – November 18 – the police have issued three warnings via loudspeakers, ordering protesters to vacate the area in the forest. Equipped with climbing gear, the police have begun evicting people from the more-than-20 treehouses that the activists have built here since February.

The municipality of Grunheide has made use of a wartime ordinance order to clear them out – an order has been given to search for unexploded bombs from the second world war.

Karolina Drzewo, spokesperson for “Tesla den Hahn abdrehen” (“Turn off Tesla’s Tap”), is among the first to be removed from the treehouses. She tells Al Jazeera, “The right to assemble, which has always been upheld in this forest, is being suppressed, and Elon Musk’s will is being supported under a flimsy pretext.

“In reality, the ordinance would only pose a danger if deep excavation were to begin for the factory’s expansion. We are here to protect this forest and its water, which is why we refuse to cooperate with the authorities. This is just the beginning: we will reclaim the forest and stop Tesla from taking over this land.”

During the nine months that it was “occupied”, the Grunheide Forest became home to hundreds of people – some for a few days at a time, while others remained for months – and is described as “a space for living and activism”.

But within three days, all occupants will have been evicted from the forest and 18 people will have been arrested; ground structures – which served as meeting places and communal areas, as well as treehouses, are completely destroyed.

Tension had already been palpable weeks earlier, with law enforcement vehicles frequently parked on the road outside the forest.

The protesters were living together in one community here. One of them, identified only as “Max” and equipped with climbing gear and a walkie-talkie ready to act in case of an eviction alert, spoke to Al Jazeera before the evictions took place. “I’m here because, in one place, we are opposing many issues such as green capitalism, extractivism in the Global South, patriarchy, racism, and the plans of a wealthy and powerful individual like Elon Musk,” they said.

“I feel safe in the forest and love the community and welcome for who I am. We try to live the utopia we want to see in society while confronting a model that is destroying the world.”

Nevertheless, tension was running high in the lead-up to the evictions, as the occupants defended not only the local ecosystem but also vital reserves of drinking water.

‘A massive injustice’

The local resistance to Tesla’s plans by Grunheide citizens began in 2020 following the announcement of the construction of Tesla’s factory. Manu Hoyer, 64, co-founder of the Grunheide citizens’ initiative, is gazing thoughtfully from the balcony of her apartment in Grunheide which overlooks the Spree River as she shares her concerns.

“This region is one of the driest in all of Germany, and climate change is worsening the consequences year by year,” she says. “There’s little rain, and while there are many lakes, they are surface waters, not aquifers or underground reserves. People here have always been taught not to water lawns or flower beds in the summer to save water. Yet, the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, can extract 1.8 million cubic meters (63.5 cubic feet) of water a year and pollute the groundwater in a protected area. To me, it’s incomprehensible.”

Hoyer and the citizens’ initiative have held protests and gone door to door, distributing flyers to raise awareness about the issue. In a non-binding local referendum held in February, 65 percent of residents of the nearby town of Grunheide said they opposed Tesla’s expansion plans.

Objectors are not just motivated by environmental concerns, they say, but also by concerns about inequality within the global economic model that Tesla represents.

“With the extraction of lithium and cobalt, the Global South is being exploited to produce electric cars for the Global North. It’s a massive injustice,” says Hoyer. “My views on electric mobility have completely changed. After many discussions and reading articles and books, I’ve realised it’s not the solution. We need to expand public transport, not build more SUVs and electric cars.”

Water is overused and polluted in the production of consumer goods, she says.

The issue has given rise to an alliance between residents and the climate activists living among the pines. Over time, this connection has been strengthened through joint events, such as monthly forest walks and shared concerns about the area’s water basins.

Before the evictions took place, one protester in the forest told Al Jazeera while sitting on a self-built bench made from reclaimed materials, “It looks like a forest occupation, but it’s really more of a water occupation because what we’re fighting for is the water. Of course, we are also fighting for this ecosystem, but the main thing we are fighting for is groundwater.”

Another longtime resident of the occupation, named Elster, said, “I studied environmental engineering for my bachelor’s [degree] and environmental education for my master’s, focusing on climate crisis issues.

“There are many reasons to occupy this forest. First, to save the forest itself. They want to cut it down just to expand Tesla’s factory.”

Gesturing to the surroundings, Elster added, “The Brandenburg Forest is special – it’s not a monoculture but a forest with significant biodiversity, on its way to becoming climate-resilient.”

Elster emphasised the broader implications: “This isn’t just a local issue but a global one, concerning the impacts of electric cars and batteries, and the way lithium in Latin America, cobalt from Congo, and many other materials are extracted. We’ve tried to raise awareness about anti-colonial issues with exhibitions, events, screenings in the forest, and through social media.”

Before the police intervention, treehouses and colourful banners could be seen through the pine trees, with messages such as “Water is a human right” and “Hands off Congo”. Activists say they support both local and global struggles, including the mining of minerals essential for electric vehicle batteries in countries in the Global South. Cobalt, for instance, is an important raw material mined in Congo, where conditions for workers and local people are poor.

A clash between competing visions

The German Tesla factory has faced controversy since its opening in March 2022. Among the issues reported by IG Metall, the workers’ union, are safety concerns and overwhelming workloads for its 12,000 workers, with many stating they are treated as “robots, not humans” according to an investigation by Stern, a German magazine.

Then, there was the March 2024 sabotage of Tesla’s electrical grid, claimed by the far-left activist group Vulkangruppe that halted production for nearly a week. In May, more than 800 activists staged a week of protests close to the factory, combining direct action with workshops and ecological group meetings.

As a result, Grunheide Forest has become a flash point for a broader clash between competing visions: one of rapid industrial expansion, driven by billionaires like Elon Musk and the promises of a “global green transition”; and the other of localised resistance advocating for socio-ecological alternatives. Where this battle will end is unclear.

One thing is clear, however. The eviction of the activists has not silenced the resistance. Just three days after the operation, opponents to Tesla’s expansion plans organised a symbolic “forest walk” featuring Carola Rackete, an activist and Member of the European Parliament. She emphasised the global stakes, warning of Musk’s increasing influence – especially given his role in Donald Trump’s upcoming US administration.

Rackete called for sustained resistance to Tesla as part of a broader confrontation with global power dynamics.

Grunheide Forest now stands as a symbol that transcends national borders, intertwining local, national, and global issues in the fight against climate injustice and unchecked industrial expansion.