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.
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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.
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.
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.
Public transportation is pathetic in the USA. I guarantee most of the 200,000 German protestors used the U-Bahn and S-Bahn.
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.
Came here to say the same thing. Time for Americans to step up and step out.
If it helps, in 90 years Americans will have anti-fascist rallies…
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…
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!
A big thank you to every single person who showed up.
It has been a pleasure
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.
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.
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).
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.
If all 200k just walked over them… no one is to blame.
