GERMAN great-grandmother Lisel Heise’s ambition to enter politics crystalised a few years before her 100th birthday, when organisers of a public hearing cut off her microphone. Heise, who retired from teaching school 40 years ago, was arguing for the reopening of an outdoor pool. “When I started out, some people really didn’t want to listen to me apparently — they even pulled the plug!” she said, still stunned by the impudence. “Now people from around the world are coming to talk to me. Who’s laughing now?”

What changed was Heise’s election, against the odds, to the town council of Kirchheimbolanden in south-western Germany just weeks after she embarked on her second century on the planet. It was no accident that the pool galvanised Heise, given two issues close to her heart: young people and public health. Those concerns have also dovetailed in another pet cause: climate protection. The remarkably spry Heise says she has taken inspiration from the “Fridays for Future” youth protest movement. “The kids really give me hope. There is a tendency in politics to favour the car industry and that’s counterproductive,” she said. “It’s great that the youth aren’t just waiting for the grownups to do something.”

Heise, who takes daily walks through the quaint old town of Kirchheimbolanden, population 8,000, is part of a groundswell of seniors unwilling to sit out their dotage on the sidelines of public life. The “Omas Gegen Rechts” (Grannies Against the Right) action group fighting extremism launched in Austria in 2017 and has since expanded to Germany. It regularly rallies elderly women, drawing on the lessons of history to stand up to racism.

Heise’s political career began in earnest earlier this year when a town council member, Thomas Bock, 59, saw her as a potential ally. Bock runs the political group Wir fuer Kibo (WfK, roughly We for Kibo, the town’s nickname), which is agitating against the established parties for more transparency and accountability. He needed a candidate who would have the gravitas and passion to fight the powers that be. “She’s got a strong character and bundles of energy,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019