Gen Z is ruling Berlin: a movement is forming

Organizing, blockades, demonstrations: resistance to German politics has been stirring among young people in Berlin for some time. After the first blockades at various high schools, Generation Z - teenagers and young adults between the ages of 14 and 30 - want to take their frustration to the streets next Saturday.

The newly founded initiative Gen Z has called for a protest in front of the Brandenburg Gate at 2 p.m. According to the website, more than 8,000 people have signed up for it so far. Berlin is just one of more than 20 cities nationwide where young people want to protest on this day against educational cuts, social cuts and conscription.

Gen Z is a nationwide initiative made up of individuals who have recently come together via social media - but it encounters existing structures, especially from the radical left-wing, anti-imperialist spectrum, which have recently been most successful in recruiting young activists. It is groups like Socialism from Below, Communist Construction and Young Struggle that have been pushing ahead with protests against conscription for months.

But it is still hard to tell who will be in charge on Saturday. Because while the left-wing political groups are pushing mobilization - often with posts that are also distributed by Gen Z's official channels - their first official spokesman, the Berlin influencer Gianni Matheja, announced his withdrawal on Monday. In a statement, he justified this by saying that “different groups” come together under the label: “Under these circumstances, I no longer see a common peaceful framework as being adequately secured,” said Matheja.

There is also confusion among the police. After there was initially no registration for the protest, the first registration was withdrawn. Since Tuesday, however, there has been another demonstration by Gen Z, a police spokeswoman told the taz. 10,000 participants have been announced under the motto “More money for the climate, schools, affordable living for everyone”. The police speak of calls “from the left-wing political spectrum”, but also say: “We currently do not have any reliable information about targeted extremist influence or control of the group.” Around 1,000 emergency services will be on site.

The police union (GdP) in Berlin even spoke of a “large-scale demolition”. Your country's head Stephan Weh warned: "We have to be very careful that radical forces do not appropriate democratic protest, as in France, to live out violent fantasies, abuse freedom of assembly and feed the narrative of an anti-citizen police force." The date, which falls on Halloween night, is also unfavorable, when “pyrotechnics are often used on our streets”.

How the movement is taking shape has been visible for a few weeks. The taz was there when around 150 students came together in the conference room of the Junge Welt editorial building in mid-October - two days after the first school blockade in Berlin at the French high school in Tiergarten.

Gen Z and the Neukölln youth organization of the Left Party had invited people to the meeting just a few hours beforehand on Instagram. The school strike against compulsory military service initiative, which has organized four days of protest since December last year, actually met that evening. But then there was a flag hanging on the podium with the inscription “GenZ regulates it – Berlin.” A student from Paris explained to those present how school blockades work. Flyers with the inscription “The spark from France has ignited” went through the rows, with a step-by-step explanation for setting up school blockades.

Two days later, on October 16th, the Berlin youth started a wide blockade at the Andreas-Gymnasium in Friedrichshain. Between 100 and 200 students and supporters from left-wing organizations barricade the entrances to the building from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. In addition to banners with slogans like “Merz leck Eier” (Merz leck Eier), the Gen Z flag with the orange squirrel could also be seen.

It is still unclear what character the protests will take on Saturday and how many young people who have not yet been politicized or organized will take part. But the fear of violence is primarily a way of creating a mood. Even though radical left-wing groups are driven by a longing for anything that sounds like revolt, there have so far been no riots during student protests. The school strikes against conscription were all peaceful. Gen Z wants to keep it that way. The website says: "Our protest is peaceful, without exception. Violence against people or things contradicts everything we stand for."