Most young Germans see no point in politics, survey says – DW – 12/12/2024
www.dw.com
The majority of young people in Germany see no point in becoming involved with politics, according to a survey. Most see too many hurdles and believe politicians don't take their worries seriously, the report said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23060161

Summary

A survey by the Bertelsmann Foundation found that most young Germans (ages 16-30) feel disillusioned with politics, citing distrust, lack of influence, and insufficient avenues for engagement beyond voting.

Only 8% believe politicians take their concerns seriously, and fewer than 1 in 5 feel they can enact change.

Despite this, 61% still see democracy as the best system.

The findings come as Germany faces potential elections after its coalition collapse, with experts urging politicians to better involve youth on key issues like peace, education, and inflation.

    • cows_are_underrated@feddit.orgEnglish
      102·
      10 days ago

      Ah OK. But This is in no way The cause of young Germans not believing, that they are being herd. That’s caused because politicians don’t care about the younger generation at all. No one gives a fuck, since we aren’t the group that wins elections.

      • cabbage@piefed.socialEnglish
        103·
        10 days ago

        I think there’s many factors at play. If I had to cast my vote in Germany I would certainly struggle to find a party I felt represented me, and one gets the unmistakable feeling that German politicians are a bunch of old farts who are pulling in the same direction. So I completely see your point, and I agree with it. I think there has been a failure on multiple fronts.

        The only positive thing I see is that now that the Wagenknecht psychos have finally split from die Linke, maybe it can slowly begin to establish itself as a party that is not half overrun by Russlandverstehere and ostalgic authoritarians. A real alternative to the SPD is sorely needed.

        • Quittenbrot@feddit.orgEnglish
          1·
          9 days ago

          You made a statement that isn’t justified by data and now you move goalposts? Seems like you don’t want facts to get into the way of your opinions. Fine by me.

          • cabbage@piefed.socialEnglish
            12·
            9 days ago

            I believe the right to peaceful protest is fundamental for a healthy democracy. If your right to express yourself is stripped away from you if you disagree with the ruling elites, it never existed in the first place.

            That’s a goalpost I’m not willing to move.

            • Quittenbrot@feddit.orgEnglish
              1·
              9 days ago

              As I pointed out, there simply has not been the kind of right stripping you are talking about. Individual rallies have been banned, yes. As have in other contexts. As is rightfully possible. And this does not have anything to do with it being against “ruling elites” or something like that. Your statement re “banning protests” isn’t backed up by hard data. So what’s it going to be? Will you trust the data or a conspiracy stemming from your gut feeling?

      • Saleh@feddit.orgEnglish
        21·
        10 days ago

        There was a general ban in Berlin for like a month that had to be overturned by a court.

        Since then practically all demonstrations with relation to Palestine have faced police violence, often randomly attacking and arresting people, beating up people in custody, denying medical care to people they have strangled or beaten unconcious. Organizers are targeted on trumped up charges to have their homes raided multiple times and the police regularly shows up at their door threatening them, that they are watching them closely.

        Meanwhile Jewish people and organizations who are critical of Israels conduct are deplatformed, defamed and called antisemitic by government officials supposedly “combating antisemitism”.

        • Quittenbrot@feddit.orgEnglish
          11·
          9 days ago

          There was a general ban in Berlin for like a month that had to be overturned by a court.

          Do you have a source for me on this? I didn’t find anything about a general(!) ban in the last 15 months. Individual rallies have been forbidden, not least due to the blatant antisemitism displayed e.g. in Neukölln shortly after the attack by Hamas, or, as approved by court, due to security concerns on special days such as the so called “nakba day”. As stated above, overall, less than 1% of rallies have been banned. I’d be surprised if only 1% of the rallies in that time frame were connected Palestinians.

          Since then practically all demonstrations with relation to Palestine have faced police violence, often randomly attacking and arresting people, beating up people in custody, denying medical care to people they have strangled or beaten unconcious. Organizers are targeted on trumped up charges to have their homes raided multiple times and the police regularly shows up at their door threatening them, that they are watching them closely.

          Which is a different point than made initially here (banning protests). We already spoke about the aftermath of some of these protests, remember? So I’ll repeat here: there is more to this than the black and white image you try to paint here.

    • muelltonne@feddit.orgEnglish
      22·
      9 days ago

      Oh, please, my friend. Articles from 2023? There has been so much discussion, so much debate, lawsuits and political action on the topic of the Pro-Palestina/Pro-Hamas demonstrations in 2024, which you seem to have missed. So maybe try to do some reading before jumping into a thread, which is totally not about Gaza to push some strange agenda?