Cécile Lecomte (born 1981) campaigns for her political goals with a lot of energy and idealism. She is active in various movements, whether as a (climbing) activist or journalist. Her current focus is on anti-nuclear, climate, anti-repression and disability rights movements.

It all started with the peace demonstrations she experienced as a child on her mother's shoulders. As a teenager, she became involved in various political groups. Her consumer-critical attitude also stems from this time. While studying foreign languages and economics in Bayreuth, she got to know the German anti-nuclear movement. Since then, she has been intensively involved with the issue.

Cécile works as an independent journalist and (climbing) activist on many different topics. But she is not a lone wolf, she likes to cooperate with different organisations and initiatives. With Robin Wood, she is involved in environmental issues: against coal-fired power plants or open-cast lignite mining, against nuclear power, for a different transport policy.

Cécile also works with initiatives such as Sortir du nucléaire (French Nuclear Phase-Out Network) to network resistance across national borders. The international networking of movements is particularly close to her heart. She is convinced: "Problems cannot be solved within national borders." That is why she regularly works as an interpreter or translator. She also appreciates the strength of informal action groups, be it in blocking nuclear, coal or military transports or in tree occupations against large projects.

The focus of her work in the environmental field is currently the fight against the storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste in deep geological layers in Bure (Lorraine, France) , nuclear transports at the beginning of the nuclear cycle and the fight against the coal industry.
Cécile also sees the adoption of increasingly harsh (police) laws as a threat to the fundamental rights of protesters and far beyond. She leads numerous lawsuits against police measures, advises and supports other activists in legal issues.

An essential part of Cécile's work is her journalistic activity. She writes and translates numerous articles on France and Germany for the monthly magazine Graswurzelrevolution, where she is an active member of the editorial board, for Anti-Atom-Aktuell, for the magazine Sortir du nucléaire and others.
At the beginning of 2014, the publishing house Graswurzelrevolution published her book "Kommen Sie da runter! Kurzgeschichten und Texte aus dem Alltag einer Kletterkünstlerin". In it, she tells of her commitment. She shows that resistance can be a question of unlimited imagination. Cécile has done over 60 readings nationwide with her book. Today she still travels a lot with her lectures and for journalistic research. In 2021 she has written contributions for two books: Moon Night - Five to Twelve, with the essay "Plea for an inclusive social climate revolution" and the book "Verkehrswende", with the contribution "Resisting barriers".

Cécile is best known for her spectacular climbing actions. The former French youth champion in sport climbing knows how to use her skills. The squirrel, as her friends call her, has already climbed onto the roof of the electricity company Vattenfall, occupied electricity pylons to protest against nuclear reactors, stopped Nazi marches and nuclear transports with acrobatic air blockades and walked up Frankfurt bank towers "to dance on the nose of capitalism".

One of her best-known actions was blocking a uranium transport in early 2008 that was on its way to Russia with depleted uranium hexafluoride from the Gronau uranium enrichment plant. That year, Cécile also became a movement worker. The squirrel hung over the railway line in a rope construction and thus brought the hot freight to a halt for seven hours.
Action climbing remains her favourite form of action. "That's the art of political happening: to be there at the right place at the right time to draw attention to an issue that opponents are causing problems for."

Cécile is severely disabled due to a severe chronic disease and is dependent on a wheelchair in horizontal society. www.eichhoernchen.ouvaton.org/de/rheuma.html

Unfortunately, her chronic rheumatoid arthritis cannot be stopped. For this reason, Cécile needs support from her environment in her everyday life, so that she can switch off between activities and not constantly struggle with the pain. This is why Cécile is not active full-time; the flexibility of Bewegungsstiftung's model allows her to take breaks during episodes of illness.

Luck of the draw: climbing is easier for her than walking. The squirrel continues to climb for a better world: "Passion and adrenaline are a good painkiller," says the activist confidently. Giving up is not an option! She reports about her illness and her experiences on the topic of participation and inclusion in her blog (https://blog.eichhoernchen.fr/post/tag/ableismus/ ).

She also teaches other people with disabilities how to (tree)climb in climbing courses and shows how climbing techniques can be adapted to different disabilities. https://eichhoernchen.ouvaton.org/de/aktionskletterkunst.html

Cécile is also networked with other disability rights activists and has taken up the fight for accessibility and against rejectionism in society and in political movements. She is a member of ISL, Initiative Selbstbestimmt Leben and Weibernetz.

Climbing, writing, travelling, translating, coordinating and interpreting - the squirrel is and remains active despite and with her disability. "It is my duty to continue. You are partly responsible for the society you live in and also partly to blame if you don't change it." What does Cécile wish for? "My friends say I have utopias," she says, laughing. "But they are feasible utopias. Together we can realise a lot. Small steps, big dreams."

Associations / campaigns in which Cécile is active

Campaign against uranium transports: https://urantransport.de/

Robin Wood: https://www.robinwood.de/

ISL (Interessenvertretung Selbstbestimmt leben): https://isl-ev.de/

Weibernetz (Federal network of women-lesbians and girls with disabilities.): https://www.weibernetz.de/startseite.html

Selected reports and social media channels of Cécile

Youtube with numerous action videos, speeches, etc: https://www.youtube.com/user/klettereichhoernchen

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HoernchenCecile

Mastodon: https://todon.eu/@HoernchenCecile

Cécile's blog: https://blog.eichhoernchen.fr/

Cécile's info channel: https://t.me/HoernchenCecile

Article in Telepolis: https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Harte-Strafen-fuer-Behindertenrechtsaktivisten-6050224.html

Newspaper Graswurzelrevolution: https://www.graswurzel.net

Cécile coordinated the focus on "Ableism" for GWR 453 of November 2020: https://archive.is/v3luJ

Legal aid for anti-nuclear activists: nirgendwo.info

Selected recent reports on Cécile

Die neue Norm "It's not a question of disability, whether climate change threatens us or not": https://dieneuenorm.de/gesellschaft/umweltaktivistin-cecile-lecomte/

Deutsche Welle, Environmental activists with disabilities: creativity wins: https://www.dw.com/de/umweltaktivisten-mit-behinderung-kreativit%C3%A4t-siegt/a-58817945 '

Kontext Wochenzeitung, Medical care in detention: https://www.kontextwochenzeitung.de/gesellschaft/495/medizinversorgung-in-haft-7005.html

' Brigitte, Resistance, a necessity: https://www.brigitte.de/nachhaltigkeit/c%C3%A9cile-lecomte--widerstand-als-menschliche-notwendigkeit-11721904.html

Neues Deutschland, Resistance in wheelchairs and on climbing ropes: https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1133010.cecile-lecomte-widerstand-im-rollstuhl-und-am-kletterseil.html