Red Dot Action

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Red Dot Action or Red Dot Action , also known as Red Dot Action , was the name of a series of protest actions in many cities in the Federal Republic , mainly in the years 1968–1971, during which demonstrations were made against fare increases in local public transport . The best known and most momentous actions took place in June 1969 in Hanover and in March 1971 in Dortmund . One of the initiators was the German satirist Dietrich Kittner .

Action locations

Red dot campaigns took place in particular in the cities of Bremen , Buxtehude , Darmstadt , Dortmund , Duisburg , Essen , Esslingen am Neckar , Flensburg , Gelsenkirchen , Hanover , Heidelberg , Herford , Leverkusen , Mannheim , Marburg , Minden , Oldenburg , Schweinfurt , and Stuttgart Wuppertal instead.

Objective and practical procedure

The starting point was fare increases of up to 33 percent in some cases. First and foremost, students , schoolchildren, trade unions and young people organized in associations and parties called for protests and demonstrations . Together with fellow citizens, they blocked buses and trams and at the same time, with the help of the Red Dot campaign, ensured alternative, largely self-organized local public transport in order to reduce the fare increase.

The logo of the campaign was the red dot , which could be seen as a sticker on the windshield of private cars, which enabled alternative transport, but also on posters and banners. The protest actions were usually organized by the Red Dot Action Committee .

Practical process

The practical process of red dot campaigns is outlined using excerpts from leaflets in Dortmund and Bochum:

  • We give the red dot to drivers who show solidarity with us.
  • We practice practical democracy by voicing the opinion of those affected, the tram users.
  • We travel by bus and tram without payment. In groups. And tell the passengers why this protest is necessary.
  • We discuss with the responsible politicians.
  • Please place the red dot clearly visible in your car as a sign that you are ready to take passengers with you!

What does a motorway yard look like?

  • 30–50 m in front of the autobahn yard there is a sign: “Drivers who want to take them along, please turn right!” (2–3 helpers).
  • Collect the destinations of the drivers on the traffic islands and pass them on to the megaphone speakers (5 helpers).
  • Collect destinations for passers-by (5 men).
  • In any case, avoid stalling! Free one lane.

Red Dot campaign in Hanover in 1969

The “Red Dot Campaign” in Hanover in June 1969 made headlines across Germany. It was initiated by student organizations (such as the AStA of the Technical University ) and left-wing groups from the APO . Large sections of the population later took part in the campaign, at times half of the cars are said to have had a red dot. The action was directed against the fare increases by the local transport company Üstra . On June 1, 1969, they were increased from 50 to 66.67  pfennigs (+ 33%) for the most frequently used group ticket.

A first demonstration took place on June 7th with around 300 participants in front of the New Town Hall , during which the tram traffic was only obstructed. Two days later, on June 9, another demonstration against the fare increases was held in front of the opera house , in which around 1,000 people have already participated. At the same time, tram tracks were blocked at key points in the city center and tram traffic had to be temporarily suspended. The demonstrators painted the first red dots by hand on pieces of paper, the AStA of the TU printed a large number of leaflets with the 'red dot' and thus expanded an already existing 'student carpooling ' into a general self-help campaign by the Hanoverians to increase the mobility of the citizens to maintain despite the blockage. On June 10th there was another demonstration with 2000 participants and track blockades. These could not be eliminated even with the deployment of five hundred police forces. After these initial protests and attempts by the police to prevent tram and bus blockades, after a few days there was broad solidarity among the residents of Hanover, which was joined by works councils, unions and political parties. Even the city council gave out 50,000 red dots and the local daily newspapers printed them out for cutting.

On June 11, 5,000 people demonstrated and blocked. The protests were peaceful, but individual demonstrators caused damage to trams, ticket machines and the headquarters of the transport company. The tracks and switches were also poured over with concrete.

Because of the demonstrations and blockades, there were no trams or city buses in Hanover from June 12 to 19, 1969. Despite the blockade of local public transport, there was no traffic chaos : The “Red Dot” campaign, supported by many volunteers, completely and smoothly regulated inner-city traffic by using bus and tram stops as pick-up points for “Red Dot passengers”. Numerous leaflets and radio reports from the NDR informed the Hanoverians about the intentions of the demonstrators and their reactions to the city's first offers.

On June 18, the Red Dot campaign was declared over by the demonstrators in Hanover after the goals had been achieved: A council decision by the city introduced a drastically reduced standard fare of 50 pfennigs per trip. In addition, a decision was made to localize the previously private transport company ÜSTRA . Such considerations had already existed in the city administration before the actions, but the ideas had not been implemented. On June 20, the ÜSTRA was able to resume bus and tram operations unhindered, 2000 police officers from the Lower Saxony riot police standing by did not need to intervene.

After the protest action, Großraum-Verkehr Hannover (GVH) was founded on March 4, 1970 , a transport association with an initially uniform, later tiered tariff system in today's Hanover region . In the same year, the Großraumverbund (forerunner of today's Hanover region) took over the majority of shares in ÜSTRA AG from Preussen Elektra . Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft Hannover mbH (VVG) was founded as a holding company for the municipal companies Stadtwerke and ÜSTRA . In 2009, ÜSTRA presented an exhibition in its customer center that dealt with what happened 40 years ago.

Action Red Point in Dortmund 1971

Although the German Communist Party (DKP), as well as the Young Socialists and Maoist groups, had expressed displeasure about an impending fare increase in the SPD-ruled city since January 1971, the actual start of the Dortmund Red Dot Campaign was one of the Christian Workers' Youth (CAJ) and the Junge Union registered demonstration on March 1, 1971, to which initially only about 100 participants came. At this demonstration the idea arose spontaneously to block tram tracks for a short time. Since the police were completely surprised by this and, on the other hand, numerous (mostly young) passers-by supported this action, the inner-city tram traffic came to a complete standstill. Members of the Socialist German Workers' Youth (SDAJ) , the youth organization of the DKP, then called out of the crowd to take further action the next day, and between March 2 and March 15 there were blockade actions and demonstrations every day sometimes several thousand participants.

Although the Westfälische Rundschau recently spoke of a “test case for KP action in the Ruhr area”, there is no indication that the DKP is planning actions of this kind . However, in the Red Dot Action Committee in Dortmund, functionaries of the DKP and its youth organization SDAJ were recognizable as spokesmen - but the willingness to participate in these actions reached far beyond the communist groups. Among other things, employees of the Dortmund steel works also took part in the campaigns.

The local press named 13 groups as the organizers of the protests. According to Dietmar Kesten's research, they included:

With the help of the Red Dot campaign, an attempt was made to replace bus and tram traffic by forming car pools and offering carpooling until the fare increase was withdrawn .

Maoist groups like the KPD-ML but were not involved in this committee, presented at the demonstration further demands, especially for a zero rate for public transport.

In the second half of March 1971, participation in the demonstrations crumbled. The last documented demonstration took place on April 5th. The social protest had no tangible success.

Red dot and clay stones shards

In 1971 the rock band Ton Steine Schherd released a film single with the song “Mensch Meier”, which dealt with the high fares of the BVG . On the B-side was the piece “Zero Tariff”, a compilation of interviews with passengers about the BVG fare increases.

The back of this single read:

  • Mr. Blödke pays the new BVG prices. Meier drives for free with his colleagues. It's better to drive black with the BVG. Zero tariff! The BVG prices have been increased. Why? Because the Senate doesn't spend our money on us, but on things that don't use us. The Senate lies to us that the BVG has a deficit, but the “ Voluntary Police Reserve ” costs just that . For the Starfighter of the German Armed Forces we could drive 10 (ten) years for free all over Berlin. We're supposed to pay, pay, pay until we go black. We'd rather drive black straight away. Therefore: Do not pay at all - BLACK DRIVING !!!!!

See also

literature

Filmography

  • Thomas Garzke (camera, editing, production): Rote-Punkt-Aktion in Hannover, 1969 (= DVD edition “Hannover Films” ), second edition, DVD (5 minutes) with an insert and a commentary by Heinz Koberg , ed . by the Society for Film Studies , 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flyer of the Dortmund Action Committee Red Dot , 1971
  2. ↑ Manfred Knieps: Development of the transport associations in Germany, in: VDV / VDV-Förderkreis (Hrsg.): Verkehrsverbünde - Transport Alliances . DVV, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7771-0403-4 , p. 16.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Dietmar Kesten: Dortmund. On the history of the “Red Dot” 1971, The Activities of Left and Other Social Groups, 2004
  4. ^ A b Hans-Heinrich Bass: traffic policy under the pressure of the street. The Dortmund fare unrest of 1971, in: Werkstatt Geschichte , ed. from the Association for Critical Historiography eV, No. 61: "geschichte und kritik", 2013, pp. 49–64.
  5. ↑ Red Dot Action Committee, Bochum