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The Swabians who are attracted to Berlin have a certain tradition. In this sense, it is perhaps not surprising that one of the initiators of the demonstration against the federal government’s crown measures last Saturday in Berlin is a native of Stuttgart: Michael Ballweg, IT businessman and head of the movement of “lateral thinking 711 ”From Stuttgart. Before anywhere else, Ballweg began organizing demonstrations against the Corona measures in Stuttgart in mid-April.
Why Stuttgart of all places?
Thousands followed his call, together they organized the so-called “vigils for the Basic Law”. Those who respected themselves on the scene passed through Stuttgart: Ken Jebsen, YouTube conspirator, Max Otte, member of the Union of Values, and Heiko Schöning of the so-called “Doctors for the Enlightenment”, to name just three. The question that arose then: why is the core of this protest in Stuttgart?
A connection to the growing protest culture of Stuttgart 21 opponents seemed obvious, but it wasn’t. Although there may be some overlap between the two movements, especially among all the overly esoteric opponents of vaccination, the Stuttgart 21 protests were mostly characterized by a high rate of scientists and science believers, which can’t really be said. of the crown protesters. Organizers of the S21 protests were also quick to distance themselves from the new movement.
Parallel to Stuttgart 21?
There are other explanations. The Suebi cannot be denied a certain skepticism of authority, pietism and anthroposophy have always been more widespread here than elsewhere. Those who don’t take the findings of conventional medicine so closely when it comes to vaccination may also more quickly believe in a worldwide crown conspiracy.
[Alle aktuellen Entwicklungen nach den Corona-Demonstrationen finden Sie hier in unserem Live-Blog]
Plus – and that’s a parallel to the S21 protests – the Stuttgarters impressively managed to position themselves professionally early on. TI businessman Ballweg created a structured website right at the start of the protests, which provides his followers with all the information. He publishes speeches and interviews on his YouTube channel, announces appointments via Telegram and, with a partner, offers bus trips to demonstrations in Berlin. When a fire broke out in his technical team’s trucks in May, Ballweg raised almost € 225,000 in donations in just a few days.
Conspiracy merchandise
At the same time, he supplies merchandise to his followers. There are side thinking t-shirts, sweaters, gym bags, stickers. Depending on the city you come from, you may have the appropriate area code printed on your shirt: 711 for Stuttgart, 615 for Darmstadt. And Ballweg knows the hype surrounding his demonstrations not only economically, but he is also capitalizing politically: In November, he announced, he wanted to be elected mayor of Stuttgart.
As structured as Ballweg’s economic and political ambitions seem, his worldview is so intricate. He likes to say that the left and the right do not exist for him, but that he proclaims love and freedom. Anyone who has heard for the last time in Berlin how he distanced himself from the imperial flag bearers on the steps of the Reichstag might take him for a downright no-nonsense voice among the many deniers of the crown.
Half distance
However, anyone who attended his demonstrations in Stuttgart, for example at the stock exchange in early June, could see that Ballweg did not always take it too seriously when it came to distancing himself. In addition to esotericists, vaccine opponents and Trump fans, right-wing agitators with crossed out Star of David and Compact magazine were already at work in Stuttgart. A man at the rally warned journalists who were taking notes to write “the right thing” – he would check. If they asked him what was the right thing to do and, above all, who he was, he would openly say: “I am a nationalist.”
“Don’t buy from the Jews”
A demonstration, Ballweg said meanwhile on stage, is not an event with tickets and entrance controls. I wanted to emphasize that right-wing, fascist and inhumane ideas still have no place in the movement, as do left-wing extremists. As he spoke, a man in the crowd stood up and yelled, “Don’t buy jerks from the Jews.”
Since no one reacted to the weirdo, we posted the anecdote on the Tagesspiegel. Ballweg reacted promptly: by email he stated that he wanted to sue the author of the text “after consulting with our legal counsel for not providing assistance.” Instead of writing down the anecdote and describing it in the Tagesspiegel, one should have intervened. Which paragraph he based his complaint on Ballweg did not reveal and has not yet arrived.
