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Demo on Leipzig's Johannisplatz in January: The commitment of us students is in demand

Photo: Christian Grube / ARCHEOPIX / IMAGO

At the end of January, I stood with tens of thousands of demonstrators on Leipzig's Johannisplatz and gained courage again.

When we lit a sea of ​​lights from cell phone flashlights and sang a song against the AfD's deportation fantasies and for a colorful society, I realized how much demonstrations move me, how they connect people.

And how I had missed political engagement in the previous months.

In the summer of 2022 I moved to Saxony to study, and since then I have been concerned about the political mood there.

According to current surveys, the AfD could win up to 35 percent of the vote in the upcoming state elections in my adopted hometown.

The same party that, according to “Correctiv” research, made deportation plans for people with a migration background at a secret meeting.

The reporting was the trigger for the Germany-wide protests.

The demos are becoming rarer now, but they have shown me that I want to get involved politically again, especially now.

Because studying is the perfect time for this.

In previous generations, political engagement was an inseparable part of studying.

In the 1968s, it was considered the task of aspiring academics to determine the political discourse.

Today, at least that's how it seems to me, students have become tame.

Instead of changing the world, many people are primarily concerned about exam phases and credit points.

Instead of on the street, they sit obediently in lecture halls.

An exception are the various groups that have been opposing each other on campus since October 7th in a dispute over the war in the Gaza Strip.

It would be all the more important right now to have more moderate voices who get involved but also want to exchange ideas with each other.

But hardly anything is heard from them.

I have to admit: I also slipped into political lethargy when I moved to Leipzig.

Skills that are helpful at university

Before the corona pandemic, I helped organize Fridays for Future protests in my home on Lake Constance and was a member of the Jusos.

Through my involvement, I learned to give speeches to large crowds, plan demos, and work together in groups.

I learned to talk to passers-by and local decision-makers and thus influence them.

And above all, I learned a lot about politics over the years, formed opinions and practiced constructive discussions.

Things that are also helpful at university.

But there's something else that matters to me: Anyone who works full-time, perhaps also has children or relatives in need of care, automatically has fewer hours and less energy to get involved in politics.

My semester schedule still leaves me room for this despite my part-time job.

Apart from exam dates and compulsory events, I am not tied to much.

And yet my commitment fell asleep when I started my studies.

Although I knew that I wanted to work for climate protection, for marginalized groups and against fascism.

The reason: I was literally overwhelmed by the size of the left-wing scene and the large number of political university groups in Leipzig.

There is, for example, the “BIPOC” university group, i.e. the group for “Black, Indigenous and People of Color”, there is Fridays for Future, and also “Leipzig takes place”, a network that organizes demonstrations against the right-wing extremist scene in the city organized.

Which of these groups would be right for me and where would my efforts have the most impact?

Because I had already been involved with Fridays for Future, the movement would also have been a logical starting point in Leipzig.

I didn't just want to get involved in climate protection, but at the same time I wanted to get involved in university politics.

I now regularly go to the meetings of the Students for Future university group and help organize the “Public Climate School”, an annual educational week about the climate crisis at the university.

That’s why I invite guests and plan events.

I would also like to continue to campaign against right-wing extremist positions – especially now that the mass demonstrations seem to be subsiding.

In the past few weeks I have taken to the streets several times, for example for the climate strike or for International Women's Day.

I hope many of my fellow students do the same.

We students are in demand, especially in a state like Saxony, where the AfD's poll numbers are at a peak.

Even though I haven't lived in Leipzig for long, I feel responsible for my new home and want to defend it against anti-democratic forces.

The values ​​that I uphold – diversity, openness, tolerance – not only protect democracy, but also my studies.

Because without them, teaching and research at universities would not function at all.

If we students get more involved, we are doing ourselves a favor.