Gen Z regulates - a new wave of unrest in Germany?

Germany in crisis

The demonstration on October 31 took place against the backdrop of a general crisis. In Germany, as elsewhere in the world, inflation has been rising for six years, fueled by the pandemic, Putin's invasion of Ukraine and the associated loss of cheap natural gas from Russia and - most recently - the war between the USA and Iran.

Another growing factor influencing the economy is the climate catastrophe. It is estimated that Germany will lose around 30 billion euros annually as a result of its effects. A heat wave at the end of June claimed almost 10,000 lives within a week. In contrast to countries that have many years of experience with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, only 10% of households in Germany have air conditioning; With the exception of intensive care units and operating rooms, most hospitals and nursing homes are not equipped with it, so people who suffered heat stroke were treated in overheated rooms. Seniors and people with previous illnesses were particularly hard hit: in at least one nursing home, temperatures rose to up to 50 degrees Celsius.

Who dies as a result of climate change largely depends on social class. Germany is also facing a housing crisis - around 53% of people live in rented apartments - and the cheapest apartments are usually located directly under the roofs of multi-story buildings. These buildings were built to keep heat inside; therefore, during heatwaves, temperatures in homes at night were often higher than outside temperatures at the same time.

In addition, the government, made up of the neoliberal left (SPD) and the Christian conservative parties (CDU/CSU), introduced an unpopular austerity program to impose a massive increase in military spending that began after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It would take another article to list all the associated financial cuts. Workers and members of the middle class will receive billions less in “social benefits” – in other words, they will get less in return from the work and resources that the state and capitalists take away from them.

About 12% of all jobs in Germany are located directly in state institutions, in addition to wholly state-owned companies and other state-affiliated organizations such as statutory health insurance companies and public media companies. Many of them have imposed a hiring freeze due to the financial situation. At the same time, economic growth in Germany is stagnating. As a result, “Generation Z” young professionals are faced with a situation in which companies are trying to find ways to replace them with artificial intelligence – in a job market that is already significantly worse than that faced by previous generations. This undermines the last vestiges of a social contract between companies and the state on the one hand and sections of youth on the other.

Study, get a degree and then live a middle class life? That doesn't work anymore.

Unemployment among university and technical college graduates is increasing. The social situation is not as catastrophic as in other countries, but in contrast to many other countries, people in Germany have little experience of helping each other directly. German society has focused on viewing the state as the only conceivable source of support when people lose their jobs or suffer other setbacks.

As a result, resentment has spread among Generation Z and older generations as well. When news of the unrest in France and other parts of Europe reached Germany, many people felt inspired.

Unannounced demonstrations, clashes, riots and looting

The first call for protests on October 31st came from a loose organizing group called “Gen Z regulates” (“Gen Z regulates” or “Gen Z is in charge”). It organized protest marches in five cities and provided a website where people could anonymously report demonstrations elsewhere or announce that they would take to the streets. By the time Halloween arrived, 180,000 people had announced they would attend. The numbers on the streets were slightly lower - but over 100,000 is still an impressive number for protests that were largely organized autonomously.

Many of the demonstrations were not registered in advance. In general, organizers of demonstrations in Germany are legally obliged to register political meetings 48 hours before they are publicly announced.

There were clashes or minor riots in several cities, including Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Cologne and Stuttgart. The police themselves were the main target and were pelted with fireworks, stones and bottles. Police also reported the use of some Molotov cocktails, although German police often exaggerate the violence directed against them to portray themselves simultaneously as heroic defenders of order and as victims in need of more money and expanded powers.

The demonstrations in other cities may also have gotten a little out of control. In any case, the biggest riot occurred in Frankfurt, where people looted the famous Zeil shopping street.

German public television described how small, mobile groups of about 10 people each outmaneuvered police who moved too slowly in their massive formations. The loss of control in Frankfurt was so great that the Special Operations Command (SEK), the German equivalent of a SWAT unit, was sent in to put down the uprising. This is a rare measure, as the SEK is not trained to combat riots, but rather to deal with armed opponents. The last time this happened in a major city was during the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg.

To restore some semblance of control after the riots, the Hessian police launched a campaign of retaliation. Lines of police cars drive through downtown Frankfurt and stop to harass groups of young people - anyone the police do not perceive as “white Germans”. In one week alone, over 1,000 people were searched. It remains to be seen whether this strategy will deter people from rioting again or whether it will add fuel to the fire.

Impressions from two cities

Here we present reports from anarchists who took part in the protests in two different cities. For context, since age plays a role in the protests and reporting, the first author is a Generation Z member, while the second is a late-born Millennial.

Report 1

At the Generation Z demonstration I attended, protesters were outnumbered by police. Several stores were boarded up as if we were going to loot them. The number of participants was rather small – around 50 to 100 people, mainly students. Among them were some members of the “International Youth” and other communist youth groups.

The demonstration itself went smoothly. The speakers radiated great energy. However, they argued that these protests were simply creating a generational divide and suggested that the slogan "Gen Z will sort it out" was condescending to the older generation for not working hard enough for a better future. I disagree with this assumption. I see this as a call to action aimed specifically at Gen Z - against the backdrop of the unrest in France, which was led almost entirely by students. I think it is right to be critical of the fact that the older generations have not done enough and now we have to be the ones to take up this dirty fight.

I don't see any revolutionary potential in these protests yet, but I hope they can be a wake-up call for many.

Report 2

In the city where I took part, the demonstration remained deliberately stationary. I say “consciously” because the police, with around fifty riot police and around a thousand demonstrators, did not have the necessary numbers to stop us.

Even though we didn't realize the full potential of the rebellion that day, it still felt different than usual protests in Germany. Normally, demonstrations in Germany are dominated by political parties, NGOs or the traditional left or the Antifa scene. The Antifa and left-wing scenes have become quite liberal or social democratic in many places and mostly try to defend the status quo - or at least an imaginary status quo, a social democratic fantasy that never really existed.

The only openly present political force were authoritarian communists. The SDAJ (Socialist German Workers Youth) was clearly visible. It is the youth organization of the German Communist Party (DKP), which explicitly supports Russia and represents a political line that lies somewhere between Leninism and Stalinism.

Unfortunately, the SDAJ has grown massively in recent years as it has managed to position itself as one of the main actors behind the student strikes against the reintroduction of compulsory military service. Their strategy is to spread the myth that wars are started only by “the rich,” while obscuring the fact that not only Western capitalists but also the elites who control the state machinery on all sides of the various geopolitical power blocs are involved in starting wars. They disguise this in order to propagate the classic Marxist idea that the state can be an instrument of liberation.

Given their enthusiasm for Lenin and the Soviet Union, it is hypocritical that they pretend to be anti-militarist, especially since Lenin introduced conscription in early 1918 and the Soviet Union subsequently invaded Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan and other countries. But because of the historical dominance of Marxism in Germany and the growing number of people who did not live through the Cold War, the Soviet Union has become for many young people an imaginary projection of what they call “anti-capitalism.”

With the exception of the authoritarian communists, almost everyone I spoke to was open to anarchist ideas. As part of the promotion of some anarchist events in our region, I spoke to almost two hundred people. In addition, a few, especially punks, openly wore patches and T-shirts that expressed anti-authoritarian views.

I also saw some local anarchists that I already knew from other contexts. Unfortunately, most comrades behaved like passive observers. It would have been a good opportunity to invite people to network through an open meeting or other type of open space. Hopefully next time more comrades will participate more actively.

A wind of change?

In general, the events of October 31 can be described as a breath of fresh air in a society suffocated by cold obedience and stuck in an attempt to preserve an already destroyed status quo. It is uncertain whether this wind will become a storm or even a strong wind; Nevertheless, it is significant that more people can imagine being able to change the political landscape in Germany.

Even politicians and the mainstream media have indirectly acknowledged this. The German Interior Minister suggested that the riots were caused by “chaotics from the radical left and migrant milieu.” Leading politicians from his coalition partner, the left-neoliberal SPD, criticized the allegations regarding the “migrant-related milieu” – not necessarily out of any actual rejection of racism, but because they understand that pouring gasoline on the fire could worsen the situation even further.

It is far from certain that the state will be able to put out the fire if it continues to worsen.

While the expected condemnations of violence and extremism were heard across the country, Germany's largest public news program, the "Tagesschau", openly discussed whether the riots were planned by "outside extremists" or whether they arose spontaneously from the anger of neglected young people. The Tagesschau also interviewed a movement researcher who described the unrest as a normal part of a movement in such a crisis. Some second-rate journalists in the newspapers and online openly questioned whether violence might be the only way young people could get politicians to listen to them.

This suggests that the more intelligent elements of the elites are aware that the status quo is coming to an end. This is an immense change for Germany. The left-wing and liberal elements of the elite have so far remained outside of social reality, and this includes many left-wing activists from the middle and upper classes. If their internal consensus breaks down, the resulting conflict could undermine their ability to pacify social movements.

A growing problem for the police?

One of the basis of state control of demonstrations in Germany is that organizers who do not register their demonstrations with the state can be charged with a criminal offense (except in Berlin, where it is merely an administrative offense), punishable by a prison sentence of up to two years or a fine, which can also lead to imprisonment if not paid. While it is legal to participate in an unregistered demonstration organized by someone else, police often use more aggressive tactics and charges against unregistered demonstrations.

This pushes public gatherings toward self-policing. Registrants can even be required to use a certain number of stewards at their demonstrations. This, combined with German police's tactics of going straight into crowds to target those they deem criminals, has created an environment in which almost all demonstrations are registered and those who do not want to give the state a say in how they protest are increasingly isolated.

If a culture of not registering demonstrations develops, this would undermine the German police's strategy. The German police's standard tactic is to plan in advance and concentrate large forces to suppress demonstrators with a mix of arrests (often mass arrests in which demonstrators are surrounded in a "cauldron") and hand-to-hand combat using pepper spray and batons.

If undeclared demonstrations increase, leaving the state no longer sure where to send its forces, and other confrontational tactics become more widespread, the situation could escalate. With a population of 80 million, Germany only has 21,000 riot police. Although there are about 200,000 regular police officers, they are not really prepared for confrontations with determined crowds. This has been shown again and again on the streets over the past decades. German police also lack sufficient quantities of tear gas or “less-lethal” ammunition to quell mass unrest. Water cannons are the only medium-range crowd control weapon they can rely on on a large scale; consequently they rely on close combat.

On the way to anarchy

Of course, it is not certain that this movement will continue to grow. Halloween 2026 could be a once-in-a-lifetime event where people vent their anger and then return to normality. However, if this movement or something like it continues - even if it plateaus without growing - it would still represent a significant change and provide opportunities to reach new people outside the framework of the statist left.

It would be a big mistake if anarchists and everyone else who dreams of radical change ignored these developments. Rather than trying in a quixotic manner to impose a unified anarchist program on these protests, we should understand that the strength of the protests lies in the diversity of participants, issues and tactics, which makes them harder to control than previous movements. Anarchists should share their knowledge, skills and suggestions to empower people to organize themselves and act independently.

In Germany it would be helpful if more people learned to do things without political parties, without academic theorists and without instructions from Marx, Lenin and Stalin. This kind of thing can only be learned through direct experience, by meeting as equals - and not in a movement that is divided into leaders, activists and followers. This does not mean that anarchists should hide their positions; The problem is not radicalism, but politics.

We also need to find ways to confront authoritarian communists in these protests. Leninists and Stalinists will certainly see anarchists as a threat that could undermine their dominance, and they will fight anti-authoritarianism in various ways, including violence. While this means taking risks, if we fail to join these protests to offer alternative visions of resistance and change, these ideological forces will only increase in number and become even more dangerous in the future.

A grim smile

The mood in the discussions between long-time anarchists and those just joining the movement can best be described as a mixture of grimness and joy. People are aware that the road ahead will be dangerous and that the state will retaliate in many ways for any unrest that could cause further unrest. But there is also relief on some faces when they see that the anger that this society has generated is directed against the institutions that oppress us, and not (as is more often the case here) against those beneath us.

It is said that Germans tend to be obedient subjects. The anarchist movement here is not exactly at its peak at the moment. Still, the Halloween breeze breathed some warmth into many faces and hearts. And more and more people of all ages who care about freedom and self-determination agree that we should set our sails for a sustained wind.

In any case, the future is once again unwritten - and that is much more than we could have hoped for for a long time.

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Note: The text was translated using freely accessible translation software and then slightly adjusted for idioms and genders.

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