At Bayern Munich’s annual general meeting on 25 November 2021, a member had moved that the club end its sponsorship by Qatar Airways. The motion was not put to a vote. The vice president said: Ich werde hier nicht zulassen, dass wir über rechtswidrige Anträge abstimmen. I will not allow us to vote here on unlawful motions. Many members missed an open debate on Qatar and human rights. They chanted Wir sind Bayern – und ihr nicht, we are Bayern, and you are not. After midnight, president Herbert Hainer closed the list of speakers, and the meeting ended amid protests. The member who had made the motion later reported that Hainer had called him.
The Spiral of Silence
In the 1970s, the opinion researcher Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann formulated the theory of the Schweigespirale, the spiral of silence. Most people fear social isolation. Those who believe they are in the minority therefore tend to fall silent. The Allensbach Institute has asked Germans for decades: Haben Sie das Gefühl, dass man heute in Deutschland seine politische Meinung frei sagen kann, oder ist es besser, vorsichtig zu sein? Do you feel that one can say one’s political opinion freely in Germany today, or is it better to be careful? In October 2025, only 46 percent said that one can express one’s political opinion freely.
The question is about political opinions in public life, not about sharing knowledge in a meeting at work.
Words for Speaking Up, and for Saying Too Much
Schweigen im Walde — silence in the forest. Duden: out of embarrassment or fear, nobody dares to say anything.
sich einbringen — to bring oneself in, to take part and make one’s contribution felt.
den Mund aufmachen — to open one’s mouth, to speak up.
seinen Senf dazugeben — to add one’s mustard. Duden: to give one’s opinion on everything, unasked.
einen langen Senf machen — to make a long mustard. Duden: to use unnecessarily many words.
Stille Wasser sind tief. — Still waters are deep. Duden: behind quiet people who do not express their feelings and views, there is more than one thinks.
Weigh the Votes
Man soll die Stimmen wägen und nicht zählen. Votes should be weighed, not counted. The line comes from Schiller’s unfinished drama Demetrius, in the scene of the Polish parliament in Cracow. Prince Sapieha speaks it against the assembly: Was ist die Mehrheit? Mehrheit ist der Unsinn, Verstand ist stets bei wen’gen nur gewesen. What is the majority? The majority is nonsense. Understanding has always been with the few only.
In the play, the line argues against majority rule. As a saying, it is used to judge a contribution by its weight.
Faust to Wagner
In the scene Nacht in Goethe’s Faust I, published in 1808, Faust’s assistant Wagner says: Allein der Vortrag macht des Redners Glück, delivery alone makes the speaker’s fortune. Faust answers: Es trägt Verstand und rechter Sinn / Mit wenig Kunst sich selber vor! / Und wenn’s euch Ernst ist, was zu sagen, / Ist’s nötig, Worten nachzujagen? Understanding and true sense present themselves with little art. And if you are serious about having something to say, do you need to chase after words?
Heard After 30,000 Signatures
Anyone in Germany may address a petition to the Bundestag. A public petition is published online, and others can sign it. Since 1 July 2024, a petition that gathers 30,000 supporters within six weeks reaches the quorum. Before, 50,000 were needed within four weeks. If the quorum is reached, the petitioners are as a rule heard in a public session of the petitions committee, and they present their case to the members of parliament. In 2023 the Bundestag received 11,410 petitions.
The Trainee Nurse and the Chancellor
On 11 September 2017, in the ARD program Wahlarena, citizens questioned Chancellor Angela Merkel. Alexander Jorde, a 21-year-old nursing trainee from Hildesheim, told her that the dignity of patients was violated thousands of times every day. He said that there were shifts with 20 patients for one nurse. Sie sind seit zwölf Jahren an der Regierung und haben in meinen Augen nicht viel für die Pflege getan. You have been in government for twelve years and, in my view, have not done much for nursing care. Merkel acknowledged einen riesigen Personalmangel, a huge shortage of staff. Jorde was praised on social media for his persistent questions.
Every Participant Writes a Card
The Metaplan method structures discussions on pinboards. It comes from the firm that the brothers Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle founded in 1959. In 1961 the firm moved to Quickborn, near Hamburg. A teaching paper of the University of Cologne names its aims. Es werden Arbeitsformen verwendet, in denen sich alle Teilnehmenden äußern. It uses forms of work in which all participants speak up. It aims to limit the dominance of those who talk a lot, and card queries can be anonymous if wanted. A handout on the card query from the Bavarian state institute for school quality puts it simply: Wichtig: die Beiträge von allen Teilnehmenden werden gebraucht! Alle Beiträge finden Beachtung! Important: the contributions of all participants are needed. All contributions receive attention.
A Seat for What You Know
In North Rhine-Westphalia, a city council’s committees can include sachkundige Bürgerinnen und Bürger, citizens knowledgeable in the matter. They are not elected members of the council, and they must be at least 16. The City of Cologne says they have a full vote in the committee. Their number must stay below the number of council members, and a committee has a quorum only if more council members than knowledgeable citizens are present. In Baden-Württemberg, the council may bring knowledgeable residents and experts into its deliberations on particular matters.
The Citizens’ Assembly
Bavaria’s municipal code gives citizens a Mitberatungsrecht, a right to take part in deliberation. In every municipality, the mayor must hold a Bürgerversammlung, a citizens’ assembly, at least once a year. Empfehlungen der Bürgerversammlungen müssen innerhalb einer Frist von drei Monaten vom Gemeinderat behandelt werden. The council must deal with the assembly’s recommendations within three months. Munich holds one each year in each of its districts. All residents of the district may speak and put motions. The assembly usually limits each speaker to five minutes.