Summary
Over 200,000 people marched in Munich against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, with organizers claiming 320,000 participants.
The protests, held under the slogan “democracy needs you,” warned against any party collaborating with the AfD, particularly the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), ahead of legislative elections.
Meanwhile in the US news outlets are alergic to broadcasting on protests.
Their business is more important than integrity, and they’ve seen that the president will attack anyone who tries to get in his way.
Aren’t the AfD only doing well in parts of East Germany, which had previously been under decades of Soviet rule?
This would be a more substantial counter-protest if it occurred in Leipzig or Dresden.
To claim that “Nazis are only relevant in the ex-GDPR” is part of what gave us this mess. Yes the AfD as a Party and other Fascist organizing still benefit from a lot of factors stemming from the History but fascist have a foothold and are gaining ground in the whole of Germany, as well as all other partys trolling to the right in “response” to the AfDs popularity. Friedrich Merz’s latest escapades are just a new lowlight in the “mainstream” Partys attempt of claiming they can deport better.
So no I would say protest is substantial in every part of the country and 300000 people taking to the street in one Major city is nothing to sneeze at. (There are protest happing all over the country by the way).
They poll between 11 and 18% in bavaria from what I found. They’re doing best in the east, but unfortunately the entire country has a significant part of the population voting for them.
It’s young men voting for AfD, also in East Germany, i.e. unrelated to presence of “soviet rule” (DDR was an independent state, not part of the USSR). It’s precisely the people being educated in the contemporary glorious western democracy that are turning to fascism, unsurprisingly not the ones who were drilled with antifascism since they were kids in the Freie Deutsche Jugend.
The rise of the far right is taking place all over western Europe and more so in the US, which currently has people in office doing the Sieg Heil and was, until last month, funding a genocide in an apartheid state. Blaming any of this on the Soviets (who actually defeated Nazism at tremendous cost) is ahistorical bullshit.
A big thank you to every single person who showed up.
It has been a pleasure
That’s a whole lot of people. Good on them!
America needs to learn from Germany. This example. Not the other one. We are currently FAFO on that one.
I agree. We won’t see a huge response until people start getting hit by high prices for most things and they see items missing at their grocery stores. My guess is May/June - especially when the temperatures warm up across the U.S…
Came here to say the same thing. Time for Americans to step up and step out.
They have an economic system where they can take days off without losing their homes.
We don’t. It’s part of the plan. Can’t have mass protests when you’re about to lose the roof over your head.
You can’t take days off for protests in Germany either.
Which is why protests are almost always held on the weekend to allow as many people as possible to join them, since significantly fewer people are working.
There’s also public transport, healthcare, literally weeks of paid days off. They simply have better social resources than we do.
Sure, but I’d argue the largest aspect is cultural.
There’s a reason France’s protests are significantly more disruptive than those of other European nations, despite similar social resources and significantly worse police brutality.
I mean, the US has denser cities than most of Europe. It’s not impossible to have large-scale demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of protestors in them.
I suspect it’s just that most Americans aren’t all that interested in changing the status quo for the better. The amount of apathy is perhaps only topped by Russia.
Public transportation is pathetic in the USA. I guarantee most of the 200,000 German protestors used the U-Bahn and S-Bahn.
the US has denser cities than most of Europe
Citation very needed
Ah, turns out I’m somewhat wrong. From what I can tell, the city centers in the US are denser but if you include the entire city Europe has generally denser cities.
Most US cities are significantly taller in the center due to skyscrapers and highrises. Most European cities are more “horizontal” in that regard by having many multi-story apartment blocks instead of a handful of highrises.
It’s Sunday.
And the majority of us work weekends
No you don’t. It’s high but 30% is not a majority, also, that’s 30% of people who work, not of those who could show up at a protest. Students, kids, non-working spouses, pensioners, etc, where’s them.
I can’t give you one solid answer because it’s a situation that has nuance.
Not everyone owns a car. Not everyone is educated well enough. Many times people are exhausted by the time they have a day off.
I’m not letting my KIDS put themselves in danger. That’s insane.
But okay. This is a black and white issue with easy, simple answers. Like most issues are.
You are simply making excuses. There are sacrifices to peoples time and energy to attend a protest, that is true. They may even be a bit higher in the US.
This big problem is culture. North Americans lack the culture of protest. We’re all too wrapped up in our lives with little thought for the collective at large. We live in urban sprawls where we feel disconnected. We need to get together to change this culture or we’re going to get trampled.
If it helps, in 90 years Americans will have anti-fascist rallies…
“Ah, here’s the problem: Germany didn’t control the most powerful military force on the planet and was therefore defeated. Won’t happen this time!”
Unfortunately people are just showing up to the protest but they aren’t fighting the creep of right wing extremist rhetorics into centrist parties and mainstream media.
I was there, it was awesome. Bit short though and the audio equipment wasn’t suitable for so many people.
Thank you for showing up!
Munich’s virtue carnival hits 200k clowns – unions and churches suddenly care about ‘democracy’ after decades of enabling the same neoliberal rot they’re now protesting. How quaint. The AfD’s deportation fantasies are just the latest distraction pantomime – focus on the real witches: a system where all major parties gut social programs while waving rainbow flags at cameras.
This protest reeks of legacy media’s last gasp. Remember when these same orgs called anti-war marches ‘naive’ in 2003? Now they’re rebranding obedience as ‘resistance.’ Democracy isn’t dying – it’s a Weekend at Bernie’s corpse propped up by people who think hashtags count as civil discourse.
Your comment almost gave me an aneurysm from how nonsensical it is.
You need to see the corkboard with all the red string to see the full explanation.
Ah, the classic “red string” quip—a tired trope from someone too lazy to engage critically. Keep parroting memes while the rest of us dissect the system you’re too afraid to confront.
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OK automod deleted my post for not being civil? By suggesting the poster is a bot, which it looks like to me?
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Do you actually have an idea, or are your just minimizing stuff you don’t agree with?
Why are your so angry with the people you are supposed to convince to join you? Or are your just trying to cyinically convince everyone that nothing is possible by criticizing everything that isn’t a molotov?
Ideas? Sure, here’s one: stop mistaking performative outrage for meaningful action. If 200k people can gather to wave placards but can’t organize to challenge the system that keeps them in chains, what’s the point? You’re cheering for a parade, not a revolution.
Angry at “my people”? Who are they? The unions that sold out workers for decades? The churches that moralize while hoarding wealth? Or the hashtag warriors who think posting is praxis? If you’re looking for someone to pat them on the back, keep scrolling.
Criticism isn’t cynicism. It’s clarity. If your big plan is to chant slogans while the machine grinds on, maybe it’s time to rethink who’s really convincing everyone that nothing is possible.
I think all your criticisms are valid, but I sense a generalized vitriol born from disappointment of specific entities or people, while you’re criticizing what’s possibly the first “big” political for many of those people, and you risk of alienating everyone potentially capable or willing to do more by talking this way. No political community is sustainable if there cannot be clemency for the inadequate actions of ignorant people.
Accountability is important, criticism is important, but self criticism and self accountability are the most important of all.
Acting high and mighty towards the “less politically pure” than you will not pressure anyone into doing more, you might not like to hear it, but to many what you wrote can be equally seen as virtue signalling.
I write this with no animosity, just trying to form a constructive criticism for your justified frustration
Crazy, I got the impression that a lot of people complain that the current governemt was too social, and Bürgergeld is too high and not harsh enough.
Ah, the classic “too social” complaint—because heaven forbid a government prioritize basic human dignity over corporate dividends. Bürgergeld isn’t some utopian giveaway; it’s the bare minimum in a system that already demands your soul for scraps.
What you’re hearing is propaganda-fed resentment, weaponized to pit people against each other while the real looters—banks, multinationals, and their political puppets—laugh all the way to their offshore accounts.
If “too social” is the problem, then maybe the solution isn’t harsher policies but dismantling the rigged game that makes people beg for crumbs in the first place.
I think you should go outside and talk to real personsat at times.
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Don’t frown at me, you’re the one that invented Schrödinger’s socialism.
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Intellectualism? Are you member of the NSDAP or what?
You know why I dig into you? People like you always poppig up close to an election spouting discouraging propaganda of a dead democracy and implying that people should better stay at home instead of voting.
Coincidentially with a core message most of us would agree with.
You are spreading the propaganda we should be aware of that you pretemnd to warn me from.
That would imply we in turn are conversing with a real person above.
Touché
To be fair, there’s an off chance they are a real person, e.g. paid state actor. ;)
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If all 200k just walked over them… no one is to blame.
