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"Why are there so few here?"

It was supposed to be the big start to the “Solidarity Autumn”.

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"Why are there so few here?"

It was supposed to be the big start to the “Solidarity Autumn”. A broad protest alliance of trade unions, social organizations and climate activists invited to Invalidenpark in Berlin on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate for a fairer distribution of the burden of the crisis and the ecological transformation of the economy. But just under 2,800 people gathered in Berlin-Mitte.

In the run-up to the event, the organizers were primarily concerned with distancing themselves from right-wing and Russia-friendly protesters and demonstrating solidarity with Ukraine. It was feared that "lateral thinkers" could undermine the event. A concern that turned out to be unfounded. The few demonstrators with provocative placards only attracted the attention of the press. A man with a "Europe deep in the ass of the USA" sign did complete a marathon of interviews but was otherwise largely ignored.

But: There was obviously a lack of mobilization. “Why are there so few people here?” a woman on the sidelines of the demo asked an attendant. According to the organizers, there were 6,000 participants in Berlin and a total of 24,000 at parallel events in other cities. The police are not only assuming far fewer participants in Berlin.

The manageable number should give the organizers food for thought. The Ver.di trade union, which is also involved in the mobilization, has around 1.9 million members, and the BUND nature conservation association has 674,000 members.

Various right-wing groups in small towns regularly gather several thousand demonstrators in East Germany. The left-liberal protest of the "Solidarity Autumn" could not counter this in terms of mass mobilization and is unlikely to develop enough clout to exert any real influence on federal politics.

On the stage in Invalidenpark, the speakers were largely unable to spark a mood of protest. They demanded excess profit taxes, redistribution and opposed hatred and racism. When a Kaufhof trade unionist reported on the struggle of the workforce for their own jobs, many participants did not even listen.

Only the city cleaning trade unionist Michael Erdmann was able to generate real enthusiasm, who created a real atmosphere of class struggle in a broad Berlin dialect. "Everything has become more expensive, tell me, do they want to take us for fools, how stupid or arrogant does the government have to be not to give us anything (of the billions in additional tax revenue from the price increases)?" shouted the man in the orange sweater into the microphone. Erdmann called out to the employers, who were resisting the demand for a ten percent increase in tariffs: "Don't they have all the slats in their fence anymore? We have ten percent inflation, that (the Ver.di demand, the ed.) is a zero round.”

Anyone who asked around among the participants only got evasive answers to the question of expandable mobilization. Too many ecological demands in a social crisis? The topics belonged together, said participants. And Ulrich Schneider, Managing Director of the Paritätisches Gesamtverband, said at the final rally at the Brandenburg Gate: "The best social policy makes no sense if we don't do something massive and consistent about climate change."

Was it because of the given foreign policy position on Ukraine? There is no answer to this question this Saturday. When asked about the position of the Left Party rebel Sahra Wagenknecht, who above all calls for a break with the "economic war" against Russia to combat poverty, a poverty-affected activist told this newspaper: "Ms. Wagenknecht is not relevant to me."

And so the impression remains that the "Solidarity Autumn", which actually wanted to bundle the social protests, ultimately remains just one of many alliances in the rugged German protest landscape, despite prominent supporters.

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast. The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or directly via RSS feed.

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