Infrared - Against the utopia of total life

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Infrared - Against the Utopia of Total Life is the title of a collection of personal-political essays that was published in 1983 as an anthology by Rotbuch Verlag . The volume was edited by Matthias Horx , Cora Stephan and Albert Christian Sellner . Fifteen years after 1968, the book questioned the radical utopias of the time and generally propagated a departure from the ideas and ideals of the '68 generation ( fundamental opposition , fundamental criticism of the system). It advertised u. a. for ecology , responsibility and a new realism , and had an influence on discussions within the Greens at the time, also in the run-up to later red-green coalitions ( Realpolitik ). But the book was also received as "reactionary".

content

introduction

The introduction says: » We refuse to disdain the experiences of the“ wild time ”, to return to the brutal security of the existing and to declare failure with broken resignation. But we also turn against self-pity, as especially those who still hold the flag high. “ Marxist “ revolution roadmaps ”have been discussed for too long , but revolutions in Vietnam , Cambodia and Iran have only led to“ bloody terror regimes ”.

After the events of the " German Autumn " 1977 ( RAF ), "anti-totalitarian" and "cultural revolutionary elements" were instead condensed into a vision of "total life".

Ethnology, psychology, and anthropology took the place of the old leading sciences, sociology and economics , and instead of revolutionary hope they shifted to the gesture of daily revolt . Everyday life became political. They withdrew to "islands" and "niches", the scene was supposed to replace the warmth of the family .

The own achievements are questioned:

“ We don't have the power in the state. But we played a part in that: the work ethic has slowly deteriorated; Performance can no longer be demanded without being asked; Progress, which was enthusiastically celebrated fifteen years ago, must be viewed with skepticism everywhere. «

They exerted influence in society and helped shape public opinion . Although there are still nuclear power plants and environmental destruction, values ​​of the 68s were also "marketed and integrated". The "iron market" rules.

But projections of an approaching 1984 , a new fascism and the apocalypse did not actually materialize. One should therefore no longer deny reality, even in the face of green successes:

" Today we want to work, but not a new work ethic, we are for performance, but against a performance principle, we value competence, but not the hierarchy of" qualifications " ". One has become more gracious .

Essays

  • Matthias Horx : The fairy tale of growing up
  • Cora Stephan : Basically fundamentally against it - basis or democracy?
  • Richard Herding: In the beginning there was the collective ...
  • Willi and Friedrich Barabas: Must be punishment? About the state monopoly on the use of force and basic justice
  • Matthias Beltz : Only rascals are modest - avant-garde, elite and me (Beltz sees ex-68ers as the new "anarcho-elite" and the new "nobility")
  • Albert Christian Sellner: The chaos as a force for order. On the generation history of the Federal Republic
  • Matthias Horx: We always have to do what we want - follow-up research on anti-authoritarian child rearing
  • Jimmy Cooke / Dieter Kleinschmidt: Become rare!