The peoples’ mobilisation in Germany shows that society can correct itself and respond to a challenge — be it racism, fascism or authoritarianism. There was no governmental directive or order to get the people of Berlin out on the streets: They came out on their own.

Notwithstanding the bile and venom that occasionally erupts from the mouths of the right-wingers; and notwithstanding the tide of negative publicity that is heaped upon Germany’s past every year when the commemoration of the end of the World War II is round the corner, it is the people of Germany themselves who have shown — time and again — that their collective civic and civil conscience is not for sale.

This was most aptly demonstrated to me last Sunday when I walked to the centre of Berlin to witness the commemoration of the end of the war. The reason I had gone there, camera in hand, was to witness what promised to be a grand punch-up between neo-Nazis and the Berlin police. It was rumoured that the hard right had assembled several thousand skinheads and fascists ready to march through the city to demonstrate against what they regarded as a ‘shameless capitulation’ and to flaunt their extreme right-wing ideas and sentiments. The extreme right is on the rise in Germany today. The rightward shift in politics is visible everywhere — from the slogans of parties like the CDU to the growing number of fascist-skinhead groups.

Ready to meet this motley crew of fascist desperados was a force of 9,000 Berlin police personnel, armed with riot gear and prepared to give a good beating. Recalling my student days when I took part in many an anti-Nazi demonstration in the streets of London, I was ready for a good bust-up.

In the event, the expected clash did not materialise. Much bigger in numbers than the fascists and police were the ordinary people of Berlin who came out in their tens of thousands to attend the talks, seminars and concerts held all over the city. The message was clear: “Germany will never again be the home of Fascism.” This struck me as the norm.

Recalling the great demonstration in Berlin against the invasion of Iraq, when more than 1.5 million people took to the streets, I was struck by the sense of civic and civil consciousness of the people themselves. One of the civilians I met summed it up for me when she said: “We have to come to terms with our past and to remember that Nazism emerged when the public was silent and indifferent. In Germany, we have learnt this lesson well — you cannot keep quiet when Fascism is on the rise. If we don’t speak out now, we may have another Hitler one day, and we will have only ourselves to blame.”

Thanks to the level of political education in the country, this sense of civic consciousness is deeply entrenched. Following the end of the war, the partition of Germany and the decades of Cold War conflict, Germans — perhaps more than any other European nation — have come to understand the political process and how the game of politics works.

The level of civilian participation in local politics is simply astounding: from local village and town hall committees to meetings of residents in shared flats and apartment blocks. Germany’s education system, built on egalitarian principles, ensures that ordinary citizens think of themselves not as passive pawns of politicians, but as active agents in the political process which does not stop at the voting booth on election day.

This makes Germany a First World nation. More than the impressive research centres, BMW factories and the integrated transport system (which, unlike the underpaid and understaffed British one, actually works!) it is the level of public political education that guarantees the success of the nation-building project.

Compare the situation in Germany with that of developing countries in the south and we see the enormous gulf. In countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan and the like, ordinary people are told time and again that “politics is the concern of politicians” and that their obligation to the state extends only as far as voting for the next bunch of corrupt cronies.

In so many cases even the cosmetic voting process has become discredited. Vote buying and rigging are the norm in many parts of the developing world. As a result the political process is diminished and discredited. Even worse is the common assumption in many developing countries that people are powerless and that society is essentially chaotic and dangerous; and thus in need of round the clock policing and control. From this simple, yet flawed, premise so many forms of authoritarian government have emerged.

Taking a page from Germany’s book might help us here. For a start, the example of peoples’ mobilisation in Germany (like the anti-Nazi demonstration in Berlin) shows that society can correct itself and respond to a challenge — be it racism, fascism or authoritarianism. There was no governmental directive or order to get the people of Berlin out on the streets last week: They came out on their own, to demonstrate their opposition to extremist right-wing groups spreading hate and prejudice in their streets. The police turned out to be largely redundant. It was the people of Berlin who showed the Nazis: “You are not welcome here and we will not tolerate your intolerance and hate-politics.”

This reminds us that people are active agents and can change the course of their collective histories. All it takes is the will and the confidence to get out of your house and take charge of your lives rather than abdicate the responsibility to some higher power. Here lies the real difference between the First World and the Third World mindset. The question is: Can we, the peoples of the developing world, find the resources within ourselves to make this mental leap, or will we forever remain in mental bondage?

Dr Farish A Noor is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist, based at the Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin