The RAF (Homework for 12/6/10)

The Causes:
-Evolved out of the student protest movement in the 1960s
-The youth did not like the fact that former Nazis help positions in government
-The youth had radically different views on things (such as women's rights) then their parents and older generations did
-A German student was shot after a peaceful protest was turned violent by officers

The Three Generations of Activists:
-The first generation was the Baader-Meinhof group
-Then it was German Autumn
-Then it was people who did attacks "in the name of" the RAF

The End of the RAF:
The fall of Soviet Russia ended up slowing the momentum of many left-wing extremist groups. This essentially led to the RAF ending, although some attacks were still claimed to be for the RAF.

Comparing/Contrasting with Modern Terrorists:

Similarities...
Both are highly idealistic, and want many extreme changes in the world.
Both have a high group mentality, and stick mainly with people of either the same nationality or religion.
Both freely use violence to try and get governments to give in to their demands.
Both will attack their own country.
Both did not care about the loss of civilian life.

Differences...
The RAF never ran their country, wheras people like Osama Bin-Laden and Taliban ran Afganistan as a sort of government.
The RAF was focused on attacking and threatning one country, wheras the modern terrorists attack seemingly anywhere and everywhere.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction

Baader-Meinhof Complex: Personal Reaction (Homework for 12/6/10)

I enjoyed this movie a lot. There was a lot of action, intruige, and political back-and-forth. Sometimes the plot was difficult to understand, but I began to make more and more sense of it as the film went on. It made me very curious to read the backstory of what caused all these events, which I'll get into once I do the other blog entry for this movie.

Sometimes the movie could be very sad; the RAF was fighting an enemy they could never hope to defeat, or even bargain with. Governments are so powerful that there is little to no chance a band of rebels (at best, terrorists, at worst) ever forcing a legitament government to give in to their demands. The film became even sadder as the terrorists resolved to more and more violent means of bargaining, such as killing innocent civilians. It was an absolutely pointless loss of life.

In one portion of the movie, a rebellious daughter takes the terrorists into her fathers home because they want to kidnap him. Things get messy, and the father ends up being shot. This destroys the daughter's mental stability completely, and tries to jump out of a fast moving car (most likely an attempt at suicide) because she has instantly gone mad. The terrorists stop her from killing herself, but seem more annoyed than anything by her. It is a very disturbing scene.

But it could be said that the entire movie is disturing. It shows what humans are capable of when they have no hope, and yet, are no longer afraid of anything. Of course, living in fear is not good, but to completely lose hope in the people around you - including the government - can lead to violence and tragedy.