Freedom is Participation.

Some (positive) thoughts on a big day. From Berlin, to beyond.

/ ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON BEYONDBERLIN.SUBSTACK.COM /

I'm writing from East Berlin, as you know—a corner of Europe that I'm still in love with. Here, supermarkets stay open late on Saturdays but close on Sundays. Saturday evening shopping becomes a last-minute rush. It's a local tradition, on the eve of elections, to offer special deals on the local cheap sparkling wine. As a true Italian, I used to turn my nose up at it in disgust. Not anymore: it's actually quite decent, and alongside beer, it's the perfect drink for public viewing gatherings.

Tonight in Berlin and beyond, there will be many "Wahlparties" (Election Parties) — collective gatherings held not just in private homes, but in theaters, venues, social centers, and even neighborhood cinemas.

More than ever before in the past five years. These public viewings of election results begin with the first exit polls at 6 PM Berlin CET, followed by projections at 6:30 PM. At 8:15 PM comes the so-called "Elefantenrunde" (the "Elephants Round"), a post-match-style TV debate among the top party candidates.

The whole event feels like a cross between a European soccer final and a World Cup match, given its significance. While you could watch comfortably from your own couch, many choose to gather, mingle, sing, shout, laugh, cry, and share that cheap sparkling wine — perfect for either celebration or consolation.

Freedom is participation.

Today, in Berlin and throughout Germany, we're expecting the highest voter turnout in decades—in a country that has always maintained strong electoral participation compared to the rest of the world.

Germans often criticized voter disengagement during the Merkel era ("everything was fine, so why get off the couch to vote?"), but my German friends are being too self-critical (or self-referential, some of them). Even in what they consider the worst years for political participation, turnout never dropped below 70.8% (2009). Meanwhile, Italy, which once boasted over 90% participation, has steadily declined to just 63.91% in the 2022 political elections.

If tonight here in Germany we reach or exceed 80%, we'll have another reason to pop open that bottle of sparkling wine—and that reason is called... participation.

The last few weeks have been tense. In the Bundestag we've seen unprecedented showdowns. On the streets we've seen a schizophrenic situation - violence and outbursts of anti-Semitic, anti-Western hatred, praise for the darkest past and anti-system protests, but also a democratic mobilisation that is both ironic and combative, yet gentle.

Some have invoked Weimar - those who don't understand history. No, Germany isn't Weimar: it's just confused, as we've all been for years. And remember this: Germany is a middle country, literally in the middle - exposed to everything that happens in the world. It can't hide behind its geography, its size (a big country, but not a great power) or a self-sustaining economy like France's.

But something new is emerging from this confusion: a record-breaking surge in political party membership. Die Linke (The Left) gained 10,000 new members in just over a week after the Bundestag showdown with the CDU-AFD - the party now has over 91,000 members, up from around 54,000 at the end of 2022. The Greens have also seen a significant rise, with their membership reaching almost 169,000, up from around 155,000 at the start of the year. And the AfD now claims more than 52,000 members, up from 48,000 in mid-2024.

When polarisation moves from mere social media shouting to actual participation - and remember, joining a party in this age of delegating everything to technocrats and machines is a profound act of commitment - we are still living in a space of freedom.

Freedom shaped by participation.

Freedom is participation

These are confusing times. Everyone invokes freedom, yet freedom shrinks everywhere. For libertarians, freedom means a wild space where few wield power while many must settle for merely speaking their minds without restraint. In dictatorships—still the majority of the world—freedom is reduced to a domestic space: stay quiet, and you're free to run your little personal dictatorship at home, just don't disturb those in control. In frightened democracies like Germany, freedom has become self-censored with asterisks, forbidden words, and institutional exclusions—all from fear of confronting uncomfortable opinions.

But freedom isn't fear. Freedom isn't just an open space surrounded by fences we dare not cross. Freedom isn't staying locked up at home. And freedom isn't just a word—it's action. Freedom is participation.

In 1972, at a theater in Genoa, Italian singer-songwriter Giorgio Gaber, master of teatro canzone —a politically engaged musical genre similar to Wolf Biermann's work in the GDR— performed for the first time a song that would become a cornerstone of civic education for Italians. The song, La libertà è partecipazione (“Freedom is participation” — and in German, more or less "die Freiheit bedeutet Teilhabe"), brilliantly distilled hundreds of pages of political philosophy into poetry.

Gaber explores both the primitive, individualistic desire for freedom and its positivistic counterpart —science! space conquest! individual genius!— while revealing that true freedom lies between these extremes. It exists as a dimension we can only experience through collective participation in our world, captured in his famous lines: "Freedom isn't about sitting in a tree / Freedom is participation."

Here it is, with lyrics in both Italian and English—a lucky charm for our democracies:

I want to be free, free like a man
Voglio essere libero, libero come un uomo

I would like to be free like a man
Vorrei essere libero come un uomo

Like a new born man
Come un uomo appena nato

Who only has nature in front of him
Che ha di fronte solamente la natura

Who walks in a forest
Che cammina dentro un bosco

With the joy of chasing an adventure
Con la gioia di inseguire un'avventura

Always free and vital
Sempre libero e vitale

He makes love like an animal
Fa l'amore come fosse un animale

As unconscious as a man
Incosciente come un uomo

Pleased with his freedom
Compiaciuto della propria libertà

Freedom is not being up a tree
La libertà non è star sopra un albero

It's not even the flight of a fly
Non è neanche il volo di un moscone

Freedom is not a free space
La libertà non è uno spazio libero

Freedom is participation
Libertà è partecipazione

I would like to be free like a man
Vorrei essere libero come un uomo

Like a man who needs to roam with his imagination
Come un uomo che ha bisogno di spaziare con la propria fantasia

And who finds this space
E che trova questo spazio

Only in its democracy
Solamente nella sua democrazia

Who has the right to vote
Che ha il diritto di votare

And who spends his life delegating
E che passa la sua vita a delegare

And in being commanded
E nel farsi comandare

He found his new freedom
Ha trovato la sua nuova libertà

Freedom is not being up a tree
La libertà non è star sopra un albero

It's not even having an opinion
Non è neanche avere un'opinione

Freedom is not a free space
La libertà non è uno spazio libero

Freedom is participation
Libertà è partecipazione

I would like to be free like a man
Vorrei essere libero come un uomo

Like the most evolved man
Come l'uomo più evoluto

Which rises with its own intelligence
Che si innalza con la propria intelligenza

And that challenges nature
E che sfida la natura

With the undisputed power of science
Con la forza incontrastata della scienza

With enthusiasm on him
Con addosso l'entusiasmo

To roam without limits in the cosmos
Di spaziare senza limiti nel cosmo

He is convinced that the power of thought
E convinto che la forza del pensiero

Let it be the only freedom
Sia la sola libertà

Freedom is not being up a tree
La libertà non è star sopra un albero

It's not even a gesture or an invention
Non è neanche un gesto o un'invenzione

Freedom is not a free space
La libertà non è uno spazio libero

Freedom is participation
Libertà è partecipazione

Giorgio Gaber & Sandro Luporini, 1972