Matthias Hornschuh is angry. He should not be. Especially on this Saturday morning, it should actually be about "objectifying" the debate around copyright reform, as the invitation to the initiative called copyright. Artists, authors and recyclers have invited journalists to a media brunch in the Berlin Academy of the Arts - hours before demonstrating with large-scale demos in many cities against what is being fought for here: the new European copyright directive.

The proponents want to bring a factual tone in the heated debate - but at least this morning hardly succeeds. At least not when it comes to the other side, the predominantly young people who go out on the street that day.

The composer Matthias Hornschuh says he was described in the debate over reform as one of the "old men" for whom the Internet allegedly "consists only of e-mail and pornography," and that very old men built that law. Hornschuh recalls that even the old men are among the digital users "for whom one also has to design the net." It is "not just about 16-year-old YouTube users and BibisBeautyPalace", but about all people who are on the net. Many would simply be excluded by the opponents: "This is so irresponsible and that is so undemocratic that I'm really full of anger." Although he and his colleagues tried "not to express this anger, but to always argue in the matter, this is becoming more and more difficult for us every day." It shows how the political discourse about the controversial copyright directive is now - on all sides.

Polemical insults on the posters

Because not only Hornschuh is angry. Thousands of other people are so angry that they loudly protested the controversial copyright line this Saturday. They did not save with polemical insults of the politicians: The responsible rapporteur Axel Voss (CDU) is called on posters as "Vollvossten" or "stupid" on other posters is "If you have no idea - just shut up".

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Article 13 and upload filter: This was protested in German cities

Axel Voss himself has repeatedly complained about the insults: many had lost "measure and center" completely, he said at a press conference last week. He is constantly being defamed in social media. It can be clearly seen that the politician is constantly tampering with his person.

The demonstrators, however, also feel the other way round: Their protest was discredited from the beginning. First they were accused of having been instrumentalized by YouTube for its interests, the EU Commission was talking about a "mob", and then MEP Sven Schulze (CDU) also alleged that he was involved in the flood of protests. Mails are a Google initiated "fake action".

Politician assumes "bought protesters"

When many tens of thousands of people in German cities took to the streets on Saturday, Daniel Caspary was quoted in the "Bild" on the same day as "apparently trying to prevent the adoption of copyright even with the purchase of protesters a so-called NGO for the demo. " The money seems to be "at least partially sourced from major American Internet corporations." Now the demonstrators are supposed to have been paid - the outrage in the network was not long in coming.

Who is not a lawyer and reads the text of the proposed European copyright directive, it can happen that his head falls after a few pages from boredom on the edge of the table. It is all the more surprising that the very text that drives people onto the streets and causes political roars on all sides. Young demonstrators scold politicians and - much more uncommonly - politicians scold young protesters. The camps face each other irreconcilably, long ago it's about more than copyright.

"Legislation is a competition"

The protesters do not feel taken seriously in Brussels, they feel the European policy as far away from, from reality, from today's Internet. "Democracy instead of plutocracy" is repeated on a demo poster in Berlin a well-known reproach, which was particularly nourished in this case. For example, by sentences like this one by Axel Voss at the press conference last week, referring to the lobbying: "I say: Legislation is also a competition and who does not present his interests there, which then just not exist."

For many, this statement may be a joke. However, such a sentence can hardly be conveyed to freshly politicized young people; it once again demonstrates little tact in communication. The protesters are accordingly angry. "I'm not just about copyright, but also about how to handle the matter with voters and young people," says demonstrator Frauke (21).

Together with her friend Daniel (27) she traveled from the Rhineland to the demo in Berlin. "Five million people have signed the petition against the directive, and then they say they are all bots," says Frauke, which is frustrating. It creates a sense of powerlessness that has also made them take to the streets for such a dry topic as copyright. "Actually, I thought it was long over the table since it was voted against last summer, but when the topic came up in my timeline, I got the impression it's trying to push through it."

Argumentatively, things are mixed up

Mistrust of the policy and distrust of the classic media meet again and again in the talks with the young demonstrators on Saturday in Berlin. YouTube creators are sometimes more trusted than traditional journalists, and the fear of content filtering goes hand in hand with the fear of losing certain information. "What if all the little channels on YouTube have to shut down someday?" Asks an 18-year-old protester. He is afraid of that. He can not justify them.

Even if some argumentatively confused: The protesters do not demand, at least, copyrighted works on the net for free. So that is the reproach of the authors and recyclers at the brunch, the proponents: The demonstrators speak of "freedom", but said "free", it said in a speech. This claim is just as unjustifiable.

Time and again, the proponents emphasize that artists must finally be remunerated online fairly. This demand would probably sign even most protesters. All the more bizarre is that, because of less controversial passages, almost a whole directive has been compromised, which in its entirety is wanted by most. It shows how much the fronts have hardened, how little understanding and accommodation there are between the camps. The copyright reform has become a copyright reform.

The proponents' camp seems to be hoping that the protests will soon pass. "When the demonstration is over, the sun is still shining," says Gerhard Pfennig, spokesman for the copyright initiative, in his speech on Saturday morning. But the more often the demonstrators are labeled "undemocratic," "bought," or "misinformed," the greater their anger may be. Quite independently of the vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday. And also independent of copyright.