The Spontis or ''Sponti movement'' was

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

movement in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1970s-1980s. the name is an abbreviation for the word "spontaneous", in reference to their preference of "

revolutionary spontaneity Revolutionary spontaneity, also known as spontaneism, is a revolutionary socialist tendency that believes the social revolution can and should occur spontaneously from below by the working class itself, without the aid or guidance of a vanguar ...

of the masses" over theoretically- and party-based movements. A significant force of this movement were university students.

Sponti-Sprüche

A notable feature of the Spontis was their ("Sponti-Sprüche") - slogans and adages, often humorous and sarcastic, parodying various political slogans and mottos or twisting the well-known proverbs and sayings. For example: "Yesterday we were on the edge of the abyss. Today we are stepping forward," or " Liberté, Égalité, Pfefferminztee". Some of Sponti sayings, such as "Wissen ist Macht, nichts wissen, macht auch nichts" ("

Knowledge is Power The phrase "" (or "" or also "") is a Latin aphorism meaning "knowledge is power", commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon. The expression "" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's ''Meditationes Sacrae'' (1597). The exact phrase "" ( ...

, (but) knowing nothing does not matter anyway") survived for many years after Sponti times, sometimes acquiring different meanings. Ulrike Rechel says that it "probably belongs to the top 5 of all slogans on toilet walls in universities or schools". She further comments that not knowing something seems to be not critical today, in the time of Google and Wikipedia, and smartphones, when any piece of knowledge is a couple of keyboard clicks away, in contrast to the times of

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

, when gaining knowledge was associated with much effort. But this attitude eventually leads to various social problems.Ulrike Rechel
"MACHEN WISSENSLÜCKEN UNS IMMER DÜMMER?"
("Do knowledge gaps always make us dumber?") (See also ''Wissen ist Macht'' in Germany.)

Notable members

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fis ...

Daniel Cohn-Bendit Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (; ; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician of Jewish descent. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and was also known during that time as ''Dany le Rouge'' (French for "Danny the Red" ...

Sponti-Sprüche

Notable members

References

Further reading