‘Unfuck Germany’ comes to Leipzig on 25 August: a 695-kilometre walk against political powerlessness

Two people, 695 kilometres and a political question: what happens when people who feel powerless on their own realise that, together, there are quite a lot of them? Since 28 July, Oliver Möller and Simon Kieke have been walking from Trier to Berlin with the citizens’ movement Unfuck Germany. They have been travelling on foot for around a month. They talk to people, discuss extreme wealth and political power, and invite others to join them for a kilometre or a longer stretch of the route. On Tuesday 25 August, the pair will pass through Leipzig.

“It’s highly unlikely that such a small action will bring about a major change. But it is possible,” says Oliver Möller. This statement also encapsulates the core idea behind the “It is possible” campaign. It does not promise that a single walk will change politics. It aims to see what might happen when people do not just agree or complain, but take a first step together.

On Saturday 22 August, Unfuck Germany was in Jena. Over the coming days, the route will take them through the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt to Leipzig. From 25 August, the citizens’ movement will be in Leipzig. It will then continue via northern Saxony and the Wittenberg district, passing through Saxony-Anhalt once more on its way to Berlin.

Goodbye to powerlessness: one kilometre to start with

Unfuck Germany describes the campaign as a ‘participatory revolution’. It is deliberately designed to be easy to get involved: walk one kilometre, say in one sentence what needs to change, and speak to one other person. The principle is: ‘1 kilometre · 1 sentence · 1 fellow human being’.

Anyone who doesn’t live along the route can also walk the kilometre from their own home. Not everyone can walk all the way to Berlin in a month. But almost everyone can take a manageable first step. The focus here is not on athletic performance.

The campaign is aimed at countering the feeling that, as an individual, one cannot make a difference politically anyway. It seeks to connect people who believe change is necessary but who, until now, have not known where to start.

Excessive wealth is a question of power

The movement’s first political priority is fairer taxation of extremely large fortunes and inheritances. For Unfuck Germany, extreme wealth concentration is not just a question of money. Those who possess hundreds of millions or billions have opportunities to influence businesses, the media, lobbying and political debates that ordinary people do not have.

Taxing huge fortunes and inheritances more heavily is therefore more than just a single issue of tax policy for the movement. It is about how economic and political power should be distributed in a democracy.

As the entire route will be covered on foot, exact meeting points and times may change at short notice. Unfuck Germany publishes up-to-date information on its own website and social media channels.