Everywhere around the world life is moving in a very scary direction, also here where I live: in Germany.

I am Kelyne Reis, German -Brazilian born- visual Artist, and today I will be talking about waking up, and protesting against extrem-right political parties and their associates.

Maybe you are asking yourself why a visual artist is talking about something not related to art, aren’t you?! But artists are human beings like you …. we just react to our environment (facts, situations…) in a little different way than you do. We need the interaction with everything around us to be able to do our work… this exchange is what give us our fuel. 

Hannover is the city which has chosen me as a resident 30 years ago. Not too large, not too small, just the right size to offer a nice and peaceful life to its residents. But life is changing everywhere in Germany, and of course here in Hannover too! Part of the German population feels forgotten, invisible…not being taken seriously by the government (like in many other countries around the world), and feeling so they are a very easy target for populists…. they believe voting for these politicians would shake up the others, make so much noise that the “good” politicians and the rest of the population would wake up and change something. But they don’t realize that what they are doing is not a protest, indeed they are giving a lot of power to a group of people with “not very good intentions”. 

Is the History repeating itself here?! What is going on?! Why nobody is turning the lights on?! 

This past week something changed…. Hundred thousands around Germany woke up, and went to the streets protesting, chanting, showing the world that Germans learned from the past, they won’t let Democracy get erased….. no place here for discrimination, racism, authoritarianism!

Yesterday, January 20th, a demonstration took place in Hannover (and in other cities around Germany too). 10.000 people were expected, more than 35.000 came…. I was one of them!!!! 

Oh my goodness, what a feeling, what an emotion!!!! People from all kinds of believes, social levels, backgrounds, skin colors ….children, teenagers, adults …. even dogs were there too. 

No violence, just a peaceful representation of a resolut position for Democracy, and against hate and false Saviors!