In demonstrations against the right, people gather who otherwise would not gather. That should be a reason to be happy instead of being a know-it-all.

Demonstration against the AfD in Darmstadt on January 23, 2024 Photo: Boris Roessler/dpa

At least 820,000 people across the country are in the streets against the right. That's the number from last weekend. It is said that in Düsseldorf and Hamburg there were up to 100,000. According to conservative estimates, a week earlier there were 100,000 in Berlin and Munich.

There are also demonstrations in many medium and small cities. More have been announced for next weekend. On Saturday, the “Hand in Hand” alliance wants to form a human chain around the Reichstag building in Berlin. According to their own statements, more than 1,200 organizations have signed the alliance's call. Yes, exactly, more than 1,200 organizations, not more than 1,200 people!

Great right?

Not everyone thinks that. The mass protests that followed the investigation into deportation plans by AfD politicians and other right-wing extremists were quickly followed by criticism of these protests in the press and social media. For some, the desire to know better seems to outweigh political concerns.

The demonstrations that were mobilized at very short notice were not diverse enough for them; there were too many white Germans there who were too bourgeois; And of course these bourgeois white Germans can't have any fun at these demonstrations, which they only go to anyway to make sure they are the good guys and on the right side.

A movement that splits before it has really formed; That only happens with progressives.

please look sad

When I attended the first demonstration in Berlin, I was also sad to discover that, unfortunately, Pariser Platz had not suddenly transformed into a place of complete egalitarian utopia.

I was still happy that, for a change, the place was not occupied by corona deniers or Putin fans, but by people who came from somewhere different from me and certainly thought differently, but who at least had a problem with it. The Nazis will deport me and other people like me. In other words, people who, if asked about it, may also be open to the criticism that the parties they vote for do not weaken the AfD with their restrictive immigration policies, but rather strengthen them.

In this moment of confidence, I had to think about a detail from Correctiv's research: one of the organizers of the Potsdam Nazi rally was happy that deportation fantasies were uniting right-wingers despite all the points of contention. Your opponents, I obviously thought a little prematurely, also have many differences, but they are also united in their opposition to you fascists!

The issue of diversity remains an important point. I remember my first political experiences as a newly enrolled student, the intimidating appearance of some activists at demonstrations, the reprimands and codes that I only understood much later, if at all.

I wonder how enthusiastic working-class immigrant kids can be at protests if some super-critical people lecture them insightfully about how real anti-fascism works. And that they should please look sad enough instead of having fun with the experience that they are not alone.