Conclusion of “Gen Z regulates”: Gen Z argues about future course

After the start of the “Gen Z regulates” demonstrations, the federal initiative is drawing positive conclusions. Despite the horror scenarios that had been set up beforehand, it was a big, loud and peaceful protest, said Lina Friedrich, 21, a spokeswoman for the initiative, to the taz. “We proved the media wrong,” said Friedrich.

She welcomed the fact that the police and the press would distinguish between the demonstrations and the riots that occurred in several cities that evening. But you can't separate them completely: "I think you still have to say that it's the same anger." Violence against police officers, Friedrich adds, is never okay.

Meanwhile, in politics there is an outpouring of voices demanding consequences for the riots. “This destructive anger against the country in which you live is inexplicable to me,” said CDU General Secretary Franziska Hoppermann. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) told Bild that “violent left-wing groups and chaotic people from the migrant milieu” had “hijacked” the peaceful protests. He announced “harsh punishments” for “rioters and looters”.

The SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag is now calling for a national education summit to discuss the demands of young people. Their concerns should be taken seriously, said Dirk Wiese, parliamentary director, the Rheinische Post. It is important to restore the promise of advancement of the 1970s. Wiese also spoke out in favor of a “consistent crackdown” where protest turns into violence.

Left MP Lea Reisner, on the other hand, spoke on social media on Saturday evening about “absolutely unacceptable” and “unbelievable” violence by the police in view of the demonstration in Cologne. This apparently specifically tried to create the images that the “disgusting, racist agitation beforehand” conjured up. The young people's frustration was met "with water cannons and with blatant police violence."

There is also debate within the movement about why the riots occurred - as well as about the direction of the movement as a whole, which is only a few weeks old. On the one hand, there are persistent complaints that the federal organization “Gen Z regulates” is poorly organized - which also made the riots possible. Mubarak Sabir, spokesman for “Generation Awakening”, spoke on Hessian television that evening about “grossly negligent” behavior by “Gen Z regulates”. “There has been a lack of transparency and structure to work with them properly,” he said.

On the other hand, the organizers of the Stuttgart demo, who say they belong to the “International Youth”, an organization associated with Communist Construction (KA), criticized: “Gen Z is regulating” attempts to take over the protests. "They try to speak for us. We perceive them as an external element," said a spokeswoman in advance to the Südwestpresse. One should not allow oneself to be “divided by the issue of violence”. This is also why the Baden-Württemberg State Student Council did not take part in the protests in Stuttgart.

Nationwide, socialist youth groups were in fact the leading actors in the protests. The fact that “Gen Z regulates” had already distanced itself from pyrotechnics or masks in many places was perceived in these circles as an attempt at containment. But these conflicts are not surprising. The slogan “Gen Z regulates” has so far been the less concrete slogan of a movement whose direction has not yet been determined.

There will be a protest on November 20th, but not under the aegis of “Gen Z regulates”: The next nationwide school strike against compulsory military service will take place there - as part of an international strike call by youth groups.