People love to march in droves

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Parade, march, walk or demonstration: we Swiss are decent and sociable people who like to walk together in large groups. Military parade, Morgestraich, Sechseläuten or rally – there are many possibilities for which we can meet and determine the direction together. Even if we complain about the stress of density and 9 million Swiss: we actually love the crowds – as long as we are among ourselves.

“Masses in Motion” is the title of a corresponding book by the German scientist Karl-Heinz Göttert (80), which he recently published. In it, the professor emeritus argues that human trains are a global phenomenon that began in the Neolithic and extends to Friday for Future protest marches and coronavirus deniers. With this book, Göttert wants to present “a kind of evolution of walking together” – a project in which he masterfully succeeds.

The starting situation seems rather adventurous: Göttert wants to see Roman parades, Christian processions and Pegida protests as one. But what do the military, religion, and angry citizens have in common? “If there is to be something timeless, universal in walking together,” he writes, “then this “belief,” “truth,” always has something to do with the number of those who put forward or represent it.”

Gettert begins his speech with a crowd that combines everything: military order, religious solemnity and political demands. On March 3, 1913, at the inauguration of US President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), about 5,000 women gathered in Washington, D.C. and demanded the right to vote. “Nine bands were involved, including women trumpeters, four horsemen, two dozen floats and banners, which were also carried as banners,” says Göttert.

Demonstrations may have been less planned since 2000, but by no means have they diminished. Quite the contrary: the hoarding prompted the American Time magazine on December 26, 2011, to declare the “protester” “Person of the Year”, because at that time the demonstrations “rang from the Arab Spring to Athens, from Occupy Wall Street to Moscow”. Göttert: “All this was part of further protests in 900 cities and 80 countries around the world.”

The “Arab Spring” has come to naught, Wall Street has long been empty, and Moscow is in the thrall of Putin. Are mass casseroles obsolete today? The German linguist calms down and sees only temporary weakness. “People on the train may know business cycles, but know neither temporal nor spatial constraints,” Göttert writes. There is the strength of the masses who have taken to the streets. “And they’re still coming.”

Karl-Heinz Göttert, The Masses in Motion. About trains of people”, Another library

Source: Blick