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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[–] 87 points 2 years ago (2 children)

That's a whole lot of people. Good on them!

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  • [–] 43 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    America needs to learn from Germany. This example. Not the other one. We are currently FAFO on that one.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    There's also public transport, healthcare, literally weeks of paid days off. They simply have better social resources than we do.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    the US has denser cities than most of Europe

    Citation very needed

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    Most American cities aren't New York.

    We have no real public transit, and many of our cities were urbanization following the invention of the automobile and are spread out to accommodate the automobile infrastructure and longer commutes.

    Houston is our third most-populous city and has a metroplex with a Combined Statistical Area of over 12,000 square miles. That makes it roughly the size of the Netherlands, with around 40% the population of the Netherlands. Soon, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio are going to form one giant metroplex that's 60,000 square miles.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    And the majority of us work weekends

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    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..

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  • [–] 57 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    A big thank you to every single person who showed up.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago

    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.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago

    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).

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    [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Meanwhile in the US news outlets are alergic to broadcasting on protests.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    If all 200k just walked over them… no one is to blame.

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