Walking the streets of Berlin during one of the recent protests against government-mandated measures to contain COVID-19, which brought out an estimated 38,000 people on Aug. 29, felt like attending a postmodernist costume party.
A middle-aged man dressed up as the Grundgesetz, Germany’s constitution, screamed “Article 8,” which guarantees the right to free assembly, while a young student with a ponytail and flashy Birkenstocks sported the “lateral thinker” pin that is the distinctive mark of many protesters. Nearby, so-called Reichsbürger—far-right activists who claim that the pre-World War II German Reich still exists—attempted to storm the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, while bearded hipster dads pushed their kids in bike trailers festooned with anti-nuclear energy stickers. Alongside middle-of-the road types demanding that the government start allowing them to visit their parents in care homes or just registering their sense that the government is overdoing the anti-coronavirus measures were folks shouting against vaccines or meditating for world peace. An entire repertoire of conspiracy theorists warned of everything from 5G to chemtrails.
