The Wisdom of Crowds

It is quiet in this country. No more loud protests. No rallies with tens of thousands participating. No exclamations like “We can do everything except be democratic.” No groups of one hundred police officers. No water cannons. No injured people. No “enraged citizens.” And no outrage. As if the many committed people had worn themselves out last year with their demands for more say in decisions and their desires for a balance of interests between the people and those who govern. The conflict about the railway project Stuttgart 21 and the nuclear power phase-out, as well as the protests against the monstrous financial capitalism – only a quiet echo from the recent past remains.

There is a silence over the German Republic. Or at least in some people’s minds. But this appraisal could prove to be a grave deception or even wishful thinking on the part of the established power apparatus. Because the “courageous citizens” are still around. These are the people who want to have a say. They want to participate in shaping things and making decisions. They are impassioned and want to make a difference – in a sovereign way. A loose translation of a Max Frisch quote says “Democracy means getting involved in your own affairs.” This is exactly what the people between Flensburg and Freiburg are now doing. Things are just not as spectacular and visually powerful as they were on the Stuttgart Castle Square one year ago.

Will for Resistance

But this changes little about the generally formulated aspiration of exerting an influence. Initiatives that take on power lines, airport runways, nuclear reactors, wind turbines, or secret contracts with water companies are emerging everywhere and practically every day. The will for resistance “from below” is unbroken, and may even be growing. People prefer to take their own destiny into their hands because they feel that the administrative bureaucracy, the political parties, and politics are deceiving them with increasing frequency. One thing is certain for them: Only the wisdom of the many can be pitted against the arrogance of the few, which is how the social scientist Roland Roth has basically formulated it in his polemic German-language book on “Citizen Power” that pleads for more participation.

This mood – which can very quickly develop into propaganda under certain circumstances – primarily becomes evident when people are personally affected by a decision. “If this involves their house, their land, and their daily living environment, then the citizens are very willing to get involved,” says Christoph Giesa, author of the
German-language book on “Citizens. Power. Politics.” According to him, when people get the feeling that bureaucracy is arrogantly ignoring them and their wishes, they resolutely decide not to put up with it. Micha Brumlik also has a similar perspective on this. The educationalist, who teaches at the University of Frankfurt am Main, says: People want to secure their quality of life in times of constantly increasing pressure at the workplace.” The current protests are frequently focused quite simply and very concretely on the preservation of the individuals “reproduction sphere.”

Precisely this egotism is what the historian Götz Aly believes is suspicious. He does not consider the impassioned citizens whose involvement is solely based on their own interests to be a “phenomenon that is worthy of support.” Because their acts are often to the detriment of the common good. Aly, who primarily has made a name for himself as a NS researcher, classifies strong plebiscitary elements for representative democracy as precarious. He believes that the reunited Republic of Germany is simply lacking in political maturity in this regard and proposes that institutions such as the Federal Parliament (Bundestag), Federal Council (Bundesrat), Federal Cabinet, and the Federal President should first be strengthened in order to accommodate the interests of as many people as possible.

Social Movement Today

For me, for everyone? There is no question that the protests of the present are different from the social movements of the 1970s and 1980s in some points. At that time, people went into the streets for or against abstract principles (with the common good in mind) in order to express their disagreement to the general public: emancipation, nuclear energy, environmental protection, alternative culture, armament, and peace. Although the protest was supported by a relatively homogenous background and common values, the social basis for today’s outraged appears to be distinctly broader. It extends beyond the boundaries of loyalties to political parties, societal environments, and political camps. The battle against Stuttgart 21 has made this very clear. Well-behaved Wurttembergian moms demonstrated next to rather young leftists and outraged senior citizens. Standing side by side they voiced their displeasure about the actual or presumed despotism of the state powers.


What unites people with diverse origins and socialization is the realization that they have longed stopped living in the representative democracy – even though all legitimate power should actually come from the citizen. One consequence of this is that representatives of the political will, especially the political parties, are dramatically losing their acceptance and popularity. The crisis of confidence, the gulf between citizens and decision-makers, has assumed alarming dimensions. According to surveys, every third German no longer believes that democracy will solve his or her problems. This corresponds with a rapid increase in the number of non-voters. All too often, just half of the women and men take advantage of their right to vote on new governments. The “enraged citizens” – and this term certainly applies without restriction – accuse politicians of miserable failure. This is why they find their own ways of attending to their concerns. In this process, they are not just searching for participation but also for a minimum degree of transparency.

Above all, the Pirates are profiting from this longing for transparency, openness, and a more direct democracy. Micha Brumlik is certain that the disappointed, indignant, and self-confident citizens are less likely to show their strength in the streets; instead, they are now more frequently found at the ballot box. In turn, this has made it possible for the new political party in orange to rush from one victory to another. The Pirates have not only entered the sluggish ship of the establishment as it bobs up and down, but also the minds of the voters – from young to old, from left to right.

The Pirates thank their successes – surveys now see them as the third-strongest power with 12 or 13 percent, which even puts them ahead of the Greens and the Left (Linke) Party – only to a limited extent to their propagated Internet affinity. Freedom, transparency, civil rights, and social justice in the digital age are the topics that have given them wind in their sails. “Get ready to change“ is their battle cry, which the voters are happy to follow. It is possible that they include a large number of proper, courageous, and enraged citizens who are fighting for the same goals on their small scale.

Lacking Communication

And how are the establishment politicians, the established political parties responding to the Pirates – who seem to have come out of nowhere in a certain sense? In exactly the same way that they respond to the many “outraged” people: with arrogant belittling, conceited ignoring, and naïve suppression. But reflectiveness would actually be called for here. Yet, there is almost no trace of this at the moment (the forums and suggestion boxes on the Internet are hardly more than lacklustre alibi events). Sincere dialog with impassioned citizens appears to be just as far off as the debate about with the impetuous buccaneers, who sometimes drift into the shoals with their program.

This also connects the middle-class protester with the laptop-blessed Pirates: the refreshing amateuresque approach, the likeable incompleteness, and the nice rebelliousness. And another important element makes both of them accomplices in the best sense – hope. The ZEIT journalist Khuê Pham described this aptly a few weeks ago. “The Pirates embody a great promise: the promise of a more democratic democracy. A participatory form of politics with citizen politicians. This promise is behind the catchword that is on the lips of every Pirate: transparency. Transparency means opening the back room. Asking everyone.”

However, this goal alone ensures sustainability for neither the orange-colored party nor for the citizen protesters. Social scientist Roth is correct in pointing out that when shaping the future, it is not enough to be against something in the long run. People must be committed to something. This is clearly more difficult. Strong feelings and pithy words are usually enough when being “against” something. Content hardly plays a role. On the other hand, being “for” something requires concepts and arguments. People must continually fight to be perceived by the general public. This may be a tedious business, but worthwhile because it relies on constructive dialog and the balancing of interests. Politicians are especially challenged in this respect. They must seek contact with the citizens, build trust, and simply just listen to them. If this does not succeed, then resistance will grow. And the quiet times may soon be over in this country as well.

Christian Böhme works in Berlin as a freelance journalist. He was editor-in-chief of the Jewish General Weekly Newspaper from 2005 to 2011.