Everyone, as long as they reach a certain age group or receive a certain level of education, they will naturally pay attention to and participate in politics. Such "political awakening" is a manifestation of a person's sense of responsibility and collectiveness, and should be promoted and encouraged. However, looking back on history, I see that many such participations have brought endless conflicts and painful consequences.
I'm in an age group that pays attention to politics and participates in politics, so the thinking of watching the whole process of Der Baader Meinhof Komplex reflects this problem. In the 1970s, when the red storm was high and the cult of personality prevailed, anti-imperialistism reached a high level, especially in Germany, where the Nazis were born. Former Nazis like Georg Kiesinger went to lead the country. They worshiped Guevara, Mao Zedong, Martin Luther King, and when Guevara was arrested and killed, Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, the more America raged in Vietnam, the more their resistance grew, and eventually , this group of "Urban Guerrilla" began the transition from attention to participation.
At the beginning of the film, Meinhof is still an ordinary reporter, and occasionally writes some political comments pointing to current affairs. However, the deterioration of the situation in Vietnam and the indifference of the German government gradually make young people lose their confidence. They spontaneously conduct peaceful protests and demonstrations, but they are met with violent repression. Seeing this, I am filled with infinite sympathy for this group of young people, and infinite indignation at the repression they have suffered. This is also the reason why many political groups in history have emerged, such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Reform Reform in the Qing Dynasty. They had a very legitimate and lofty starting point and a leader full of romanticism and idealism. Many people understand and support.
The film continues, RAF gradually formed a fixed "small gang", started some trouble-making shops and conducted military training in the Jordanian desert. These behaviors can still be understood. The support of countless German youths makes Baader full of confidence, and the team continues to grow. Naturally, the struggle should be pushed to a higher level. But I also vaguely sensed the dangers hidden in these actions. People who are new to politics are easily carried away by the victory in front of them, and this is the beginning of the RAF pioneers' feverishness. The more they pay attention to the details of the struggle, their The lofty goals are blurred.
The RAF's "just" operations continued like a domino effect, but the attacks on US diplomatic establishments and right-wing publishing houses heralded their beginnings as a "terrorist organization". By the time the bank was robbed for "legitimate" reasons, some calm folks had already left the RAF, feeling that something was wrong, and the Baader-Meinhof quarrel reminded us that this political group had gone astray. At this point, although the danger has been perceived, the persistence of the idealists has surpassed the calmness of the realists, and what we see is the continuation of the violence.
So many people have died and so much damage has been done, and the balance of justice has already tipped to the side of the rulers, so the government's arrest of the first-generation RAF leaders will not make the public feel that this is any injustice. If the campaign ends here, then the historical evaluation of RAF is far from being ranked as a terrorist organization, and everything that happens in the future is basically not what the first-generation leaders such as Baader and Meinhof decided and hoped to see. From here, it also reflects the importance of leaders to a new political group. The level of leaders determines the future of this group. The first-generation leaders of RAF were righteous. Although they had been crazy, they corrected those naive thoughts after facing the walls of the prison and thought calmly. They saw the ignorance of the people behind RAF, and finally chose to commit suicide. Since then, the RAF leaders have fallen short of each generation, and as a result, terrorism has been pushed to the extreme and eventually self-destructed.
After watching the movie, I felt sad. RAF, a group full of ideals and vitality, has carried out the most appalling terrorist activities in human history. This is a history that we must accept. As a counterexample and a lesson, I think this is worthy of understanding and reflection by any young person.
The huge gap between the ideal and the reality is often invisible to those with lofty ideals, so many times we go towards the ideal, but we do not know that we are far away from the reality. The root cause of the failure of the RAF is not actually the terrorist actions. They were wrong from the beginning. They pursued the dream of communism with empty ambitions and completely ignored the living conditions of the people of East Germany under centralization. I think as long as they analyze it calmly, they will Certainly not going to revolution for such a result. The complexity of participating in politics is more difficult to figure out and deal with, which is why countless pioneering political groups have ended in failure. Criticizing reality and pointing out the problems existing in society is a good starting point, but it does not mean that we know how to make society better, or that we can change the status quo and handle things better by participating in politics. Outside of politics, it is easy for people to look at it with an idealistic eye, but when they enter it, they still insist on their own fantasies and delusions, and what awaits them is endless conflict.
Therefore, I think that before a calm, objective, and comprehensive analysis of the social situation, it is the wisest choice to choose "do nothing", rather than being a Don Quixote-style revolutionary leader. After all, politics is no child's play.
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