German researcher predicts limited scale for upcoming youth protests

Christian Volk, a protest researcher, believes the demonstrations organized by the initiative “Gen Z regelt” are unlikely to reach the scale of the recent protests in France.

Speaking to MDR AKTUELL, Volk acknowledged that while not entirely impossible, he currently sees “neither the breadth nor the dynamics of the French mobilization.” He noted France has a distinct protest tradition with historically different forms of confrontation.

Volk, a researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin, explained that the educational protests in France are directly aimed at the national government. In Germany, responsibility for education is distributed among 16 federal states, making it more difficult to consolidate discontent into a unified political conflict and to clearly assign political responsibility.

“That makes it naturally more difficult to bundle dissatisfaction into a common political conflict – and sometimes also more difficult to clearly name political responsibilities,” Volk stated.

He emphasized that disruptive protest is a vital component of a functioning democracy. “Democratic protest may be uncomfortable.”

Volk cautioned that disruption and violence are not equivalent, adding that protest should interrupt daily life and exert political pressure. “That is precisely its function,” he said. However, he drew a line at instances of targeted physical harm.

Protests are planned in several cities in Central Germany, including Leipzig, Dresden, Magdeburg, and Erfurt.