Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Protesting Against Yourself

Every year, the town of Wunsiedel receives unwanted guests. Neo-Nazis march in commemoration of Rudolf Hess. The townsfolk have tried to get them to stop. In some German towns, there has been a history of violent clashes between extreme left-wing and extreme right-wing groups. This time, rather than confront these marchers, they merely undermined them. As the WSJ reports:
Instead, the group Rights versus Rights (Rechts gegen Rechts) had come up with a new way to protest the annual neo-Nazi march: For every meter the neo-Nazis walked, local businesses and residents would donate $12.50 to a nongovernmental organization devoted to making it easier for neo-Nazis to leave behind their hateful politics.

The group changed the payoffs of the game in order to change the behaviors of the participants. Do see the short video here in which the bewildered marchers are encouraged by banners and notices along the way of how much funds they have generated. :)

2 comments:

  1. This was a brilliant idea! The Group, Rechts gegen Rechts, did everything correct. They changed the payoff of the neo-nazi's actions to be in their favor and directly responded with the idea of having the neo-nazi event counteract what they were trying to accomplish. By "accommodating the neo-nazi march, they in turn created profits for their own organizations.

    Jackie Yee #XXXX921

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  2. This is a really good use of the strategic games and turning the odds around so they are in your favor. The town realized that what they had been doing in the past was not accomplishing their goal of getting the marchers to stop coming back each year. By turning the “game” around, they are able to help their town by creating extra funds showing the marchers that their negative can be turned into a positive. Before reading this article I was confused on how to turn the game around so it becomes in your favor. This article helped me to realize that it could be something simple or something large, but it is meant to through the opposing side for loop per say. To make them stop and think, well I didn’t see that one coming and make them go back to the drawing board. It allows you gain a competitive advantage even if for a short time.

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