As of: February 7, 2024, 5:55 a.m
By: Giorgia Grimaldi
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Germany has been taking to the streets for weeks.
But according to the author Friedemann Karig, that is not enough.
How protest really works and what needs to happen now.
Hundreds of thousands once again gathered in city centers last weekend to demonstrate against right-wing extremism and the AfD.
It's not the only unrest that is breaking Germany out of its usual rut: farmers blocked roads and the Last Generation announced that it would pursue a new strategy.
The activists from Fridays For Future are forming an alliance with the Verdi union for warning strikes as part of the mobility transition.
There are also strikes by the GDL and the Lufthansa ground staff, who are demanding better working conditions.
All of Germany is protesting.
But why now and is this protest changing the country in the long term?
“The greatest achievements of our coexistence were won through protest”
The author Friedemann Karig, who researches protest in the footsteps of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi in the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles, can provide answers to these questions.
The idea for a book didn't just come about in light of current developments, but was already a few years old, says Karig.
Above all, the project was triggered by a contradiction.
“The greatest achievements of our social and political coexistence, democracy and the right to vote or freedom of expression, were also achieved through protest.
And yet we in Germany are very skeptical about protest.” His book, “What you want.
How Protest Really Works”, which deals with the mechanisms and effects of collective rebellion, will be published in mid-March.
Karig shares a few findings from his research with
BuzzFeed News Germany
, a portal from
Ippen.Media
.
Friedemann Karig on protests in Germany © Bildgehege/IMAGO
German protest is in its infancy
“In the 80s I remember my first demonstration against nuclear power plants when I was four or five years old, so I narrowly missed the peace movement.
In the 90s there were fairy lights against the right - but apart from Fridays For Future, hardly anything really big, sustainable happened.
Mass protests in large numbers are simply not particularly common in Germany,” summarizes Karig.
In addition, protest must constantly justify itself, the author points out using the example of the last generation.
But “only” because hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets against right-wing extremism for three weeks now, Karig still hesitates to speak of a historic movement.
“If you look at the black civil rights movement in the USA, you can see: It was a decades-long, violent struggle against severe repression that was also overshadowed by great violence.
This means that the role models that one could follow are very large.
But it’s an important start.”
Climate movement goes “across society”
Things are different with the climate movement, which can be included in the series of major protests.
“It is very diverse in terms of mobilization and means, it argues on many levels, cuts across society.” It has mass potential, with Fridays For Future, which moves millions, but also “a disruptive potential”, i.e. a disruptive moment, for example with the last generation and the end of the terrain, which occupy the Hambacher Forest.
“And they have science, and if you will, solid ethics, on their side,” explains Karig.
The climate movement is therefore a positive example.
What the latest anti-fascist movements can actually achieve remains to be seen.
But: “If you persist now, many things are possible.”
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“Nothing to do with the magic of the moment” - How protest really works
But what are the requirements for a successful and long-lasting protest?
We quickly think of the crises of the past few years – Corona, war, inflation – to explain the current mood.
Or, if the protest is successful, you can see key figures like Greta Thunberg for Fridays For Future or the face of the German climate movement Luisa Neubauer.
But after extensive research, Karig comes to a different conclusion.
Protests don't necessarily need that, on the contrary: the longing for iconic figures and heroes would even inhibit us.
“If you look at the movements, such as the Black Civil Rights Movement, you realize that figures like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were not as important as you might think.” Karig says that in retrospect we also romanticized them and describes this as “ “Externalization of responsibility”.
“As long as we wait for a charismatic leader, we can easily relieve ourselves of the burden.”
What protests thrive on and what causes them to fail
Protest lives from each and every individual.
“And only when everyone develops a feeling that 'something is happening here' can the historical momentum come.
Protest always creates its own historical moments in the sense of a self-fulfilling prophecy. It keeps telling itself that a historical moment is coming until it really works."
The author explains that there are many examples in which we say in retrospect, "That has Yes, that’s how it has to come.”
But if you look closer, you will notice: “The same movements have failed 20 times before.
It has nothing to do with any magic of the moment, but with the persistence of many people.”
“In six months there will be a reckoning” – what has to happen now with the demos against the right
“With three weeks you change little.
What has to happen now is not at all magical or diffuse.
“You can copy it very well from previous movements,” says Karig.
And that is above all a higher level of organization.
People must now show a willingness to take on voluntary positions, organize themselves into associations, join a party and take on responsibility.
Because: “We know from research that if you want to influence election results, that only happens when there are elections.
You can't influence election results six months in advance.
Polls are not election results.”
The fact that the AfD is now losing percentage points shows that protest is working, says Karig.
A communications expert explains how the AfD gets nervous and what mistakes it makes.
“But that doesn’t mean much.
The bill will be settled in six months.
The first local elections are in May, followed by the European elections.
And if you don’t demonstrate, January wasn’t worth much,” says Karig.
Karig sees only two options for Germany's future path.
“Either we carry on as before – i.e. not politically organized, not politically effective across the board.
Or we change our very own attitude towards politics, take to the streets, think differently about how we can have an influence: it has to become normal, not the exception, to argue politically for something and to really become active.”
More: 5 things you can do if you want to take a stand against the right