Media, memory, and activism: Rudi Dutschke and the Politics of Commemorating West Germany’s New Left

Abstract

The paper discusses the ways in which the former student leader Rudi Dutschke encouraged alternative memories of 1960s activism to legitimize the burgeoning social movements of the 1970s and to undermine the mainstream media which linked the West German New Left of the 1960s with the revolutionary violence and "terrorism" of urban guerrilla outfits throughout the 1970s. On the one hand, the paper offers new insights into Rudi Dutschke's post-New Left activism, his "march through media institutions," his engagements with fellow extra-parliamentary activists, and his prioritization of "authentic" memories of the past. On the other hand, with its focus on memory, its processes of production, and its political "stakes," the article exposes the importance of memory for the reconfiguration of the West German radical-left following "1968" as well as for activists who attempted to challenge mainstream media narratives by undermining those institutions from within.