Many emotions are felt in the demonstrations: because, despite everything, there are many democratic things in our democracy in danger of extinction.
Participants in a demonstration against the far right in front of the Bundestag on February 3, 2024 in Berlin. Photo: bildgehege/imago
The third advantage of the demonstrations is that conservatives also participate. So are those who defame the left as “right”. So critics wonder if these demonstrations are leftist enough, bourgeois enough, inclusive enough, or even evocative of a “movement”: people just leave. On the street. Because he cares. Because in some ways it seems that democracy is in danger.
The second best thing about demos is that no one can agree with everything that is said there. People come to protest who disagree, with themselves, with others: to disagree together, to be diverse, to be demos, that is, the people of the state. This demopluralism rallies not only against “ethnopluralism,” crazy pure-race plans and the need for clarity, but also against disunity. Perhaps that's where this jolt of relief comes from: because the incestuous character that comes from the new right-wing “Aryans”, the exclusivism, the cancellation of those who think differently, the externalization of “evil” threaten also and especially among leftists.
Because you remember that the only thing that helps against uncertainty is not the certainties of a past that never existed, but simply doing something with it. Something democratic. Demonstrations, for example. And they dust off the old idea that the other person, as long as they act democratically, could also be a little right, even if they are “right-wing.”
That's why you shouldn't agree with slogans like “human rights instead of right-wing people” or with “anti-right” demonstrations, but if you don't, you can bring your own sign and make yourself unpopular. Each of them can contribute to the general discomfort that we so need.
Because the best thing about demos is the unpleasantness. The incongruous. What constitutes a democracy: (self) uncertainty and consideration. Perhaps that is why there is so much emotion: because despite everything, there is much that is democratic about our democracy in danger. So many demonstrations!