Sometimes it feels like every day of 2020 can’t get any worse…and then it does.

Caught in the standstill of Covid-19 malaise, I find myself paying rapt attention to everything happening in the USA. Seattle, where I hale from, is one of the places at the epicenter of the protests and everyone I know has an opinion on it. My parents told me about Proud Boys invited to my hometown to defend against an imaginary Antifa invasion where they ended up intimidating and assaulting high school protesters. I see my friends at CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) lying out on the grass or dancing to street musicians, stubbornly defying the media reports of protester-led violence.

I listen to the people on the ground and social media as official news sources seem to have lost all veneer of authenticity. National news sources offer partisan and biased views and are easily mislead by false statements from opposing sides. It is horrifying.

Black Lives Matter Mural in CHAZ PHOTO: Kyle Kotajarvi – Wikipedia

I can’t believe we are in this situation. The last four years have been grueling for progressives, not to mention the hundreds of years BIPOC have been fighting for equal footing. At times, it feels like we are actively going backwards with no chance of moving forward as a people. The protests are one thing giving me hope.

I feel lucky that I am able to watch this unrest unfold from the safety of my perch in Berlin. While I am deeply saddened by the events in the USA, it doesn’t have a direct effect on my day-to-day life. The privilege of my skin color means I can continue as if nothing is happening. Recognizing that and becoming actively anti-racist is a process, one that I am heartened to see so many tackling in their own way. Whether you are reading, changing your purchasing habits, or even just challenging your way of thinking, you are doing necessary work for the future of humanity.

Protests in USA

Protests are where the attention is. They are loud – even when they are silent – and attract the cameras. They are also effective (reference the Boston Tea Party, Stonewall Riots, etc.).

For everyone disgusted by the looting or violence that often accompanies a riot, they should examine why they are so bothered about property when human lives are being lost. These two things are not equal, especially when the big businesses themselves are saying (in essence) “don’t worry about us, we will be fine“.

Peaceful protests have come at great personal loss to people like Colin Kaepernick and have not resulted in the widespread change he hoped to inspire.  My favorite among the landslide of highly shareable posts on protests is @maxwellstrachan‘s:

still waiting to hear about the socially acceptable protest that everyone respected in the moment and led to dramatic social change

— maxwell (@maxwellstrachan) May 30, 2020

There is a lot of concern about violence right now as protests and violence always seem to go hand in hand in the USA. (Again, reference Boston Tea Party, Stonewall, etc.) Today’s protesters appear sophisticated, armed with the knowledge from Hong Kong protesters that an umbrella can block a baton, a rubber traffic cone and bottle of water can diffuse a tear gas canister, and cameras should be filming and sharing things live always.

I went to very few protests in the States and tension filled the air as the threat of the police – the people  whose job it was to protect us – hung over the crowds. It was and is us versus them.

This is the way I thought protests were until I came to Germany.

Protests in Europe

Our first protest in Berlin was more of a party. Erster Mai, also known as May 1st or Labor Day, has transformed into a neighborhood-wide festival with hundreds of musical acts and thousands of people sitting on the grass, drinking, and dancing. After dark, the vibe gets darker with people lobbing bottles at the cops and cars getting set on fire, but this trouble-making is generally handled quickly and non-violently by well-equipped riot police. Dressed all in black the Polizei are intimidating, but I have found them almost friendly. After many beers that first May Day my husband asked a police officer for a picture. He hesitated, then agreed and we have a picture of a giddy young American and a policeman amid the protesting that day.

Hanging with the Polizei on Erster Mai PHOTO: Erin Porter

I hadn’t realized how much my views about protest had changed until my parents joined us for a tour of Budapest, Bratislava, and Vienna and we were overrun by a demonstration. The streets were tight and a mob of people with a sign we couldn’t understand chanting in a language we didn’t know marched by, pressing us to the side of the building as they passed. We were casual, even curious, but my parents were a bit scared. To find themselves in the middle of a protest was more than an unusual occurrence, it was to be in an environment where violence was imminent.

There was no reason to fear. People were speaking out in a democratically approved manner. This is the way protest should be treated. Not a call to arms, but a call to discussion. It is only when these are not met with a listening ear that there is a turn to violence.

Since then we have joined in on many protests, including one with the Hof (David Hasselhof) at East Side Gallery!

Protest at Berlin’s East Side Gallery with the Hoff PHOTO: Erin Porter

My experience with protest in Germany is far from all-inclusive. I know many people of color have had far different interactions with the police and protest here is not always peaceful (I highly recommending reading Chiponda Chimbelu posts in DW, among others). It took decades and persistent hard work for Germans to establish the Green Party, force change with the anti-nuclear movement, and the cataclysmic events of the 1968 West German movement that came to be known as the 68ers.

Protest here is still painful, but is protected. Among the many conversations that are taking place today about protest, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) called demonstrating “an important basic right”. Let’s keep it that way. When dialogue between the least powerful and most powerful people in a nation fails, a protest allows people to be heard once again. And that makes for a successful democracy.