NeueWut

Since the 1990ies, something unexpected has been happening in western Europe -- social-democratic or "socialist" governments committed to reforms that had previously been suggested only by Margaret Thatcher and other neoliberal politicians that used to be connected to conservative parties.

In Germany, the SPD (the social-democratic party) who formed the government coalition together with the Greens, was the party which pushed neoliberal reforms that included painful social cuts. This documentary shows why there was so little opposition against this policy. The labor unions are personally to closely intertwined with the SPD that they cannot really oppose its policy. In Britain, Margaret Thatcher hat to fight and destroy the unions in order to succeed. In Germany, the unions decided to part from the social movements and essentially give up before the fight. The question posed by the film -- has a new social movement been formed during the course of the "Monday demonstrations"? -- remains unanswered so far. The demonstrations started spontaneously in many cities, unaided by unions. Coordination efforts by Attac and minor left-wing parties were largely unsuccessful.

The film maker keeps a sympathetic distance from the protagonists; he lets them (intellectuals and "ordinary people" alike) speak their minds but never gives up his observing stance. That such statements were hardly ever shown on TV remains a scandal, and I hope that after the elections, this film will finally be shown on television.

NeueWut was massively promoted in Germany by left-wing unionists and even by some independent left-wing intellectuals. People claimed it were a touching documentary of social protest inspiring hope and courage.

You could not be farther from the truth. What is shown is mostly hopeless blundering of people who have little or no experience in political activism and who mostly lack any theoretical background. Those people largely show courage and hope, but that makes the obvious futility of their efforts only harder to bear. Still worse, several of the main characters are on the verge of lunacy and should care about their mental stability and maturity rather than trying to become politicians - experience shows the kind of badly directed protest such people develop will sooner or later drift off to right-wing extremism.

If at least the film-maker would depict his characters with some basic respect... Instead, he hands them in to ridiculousness by exposing their utterly private weaknesses and mental disorders to the general public. This should not be done to any human beings, even if they must be criticized for misdirected political activism.

The social movement of the "Montagsdemonstrationen" (monday manifestations) in Germany truly lacked political maturity, theoretical foundation and clarity of political objectives. But this film picks out some its worst aspects, drawing a misleading caricature of what happened on the streets during those months of activism. There were hopeful approaches to grass root democracy and countless other nice aspects to this social movement that could have been described - had the film-maker been seriously interested in the progress of social equality and freedom. Instead, the message of this film amounts to the following arrogant insolence: In post-modern times, political activism against right-wing libertarian rollback is nothing but the despicable and absurd hobby of manic losers.

After viewing the film in a self-governing sociocultural youth center in Heidelberg that is rather famous for its brilliant selection of little known to unknown political films (and which was crowded to the brim with nearly twenty people on that evening), i felt utterly depressed. If the political culture of Germany were what this film will make us think, we could as well commit suicide now.

If you know anything about social movements in Germany, don't waste your time on this one. If you don't know much about Germany yet, don't let this film form your prejudices.