Rethinking Social Movements after ’68: Selves and Solidarities in West Germany and Beyond ed. by Belinda Davis, Friederike Brühöfener and Stephen Milder (review)

Reviewed by: Rethinking Social Movements after '68: Selves and Solidarities in West Germany and Beyond ed. by Belinda Davis, Friederike Brühöfener and Stephen Milder Eric Langenbacher Rethinking Social Movements after '68: Selves and Solidarities in West Germany and Beyond. Edited by Belinda Davis, Friederike Brühöfener, and Stephen Milder. New York: Berghahn Books, 2022. Pp. x + 343. Cloth 155. 00. ISBN 9781800735651. Belinda Davis, Friederike Brühöfener, and Stephen Milder's edited volume Rethinking Social Movements after '68 is a needed contribution to the study of German politics and society in the influential "long 1970s. " Overall, the diverse set of contributions adds to the ongoing recontextualization of these eventful years, not merely perceived as the culmination of the heroic efforts of "1968, " but also as representing truly novel concerns and forms of organization that still affect the present. The authors also push back at the hegemonic view of fragmented, uncoordinated, single-issue concerns and show that much more collaboration and communication was actually occurring. Instead of the conventional position that these leftist "new" social movements of the 1970s opposed the formal political system, a complex narrative of contestation, cooptation, and cooperation with various traditional authorities emerges. Another common theme throughout the volume is the importance of both local and transnational concerns. As Adam Seipp writes in his chapter: "activism in the post-1968 context needs to be understood at the juncture of the transnational and the local" (134). The volume is divided into three sections: "Working with—and—against the Past, " "Start Where You Are, " and "Learn to Live in Solidarity. " Among the chapters in Part I, Michael Hughes provides a detailed overview of deeper German traditions of representation and democracy, arguing that the more emotional new social movements of the 1970s were "new, but deeply rooted" and had broadened citizens' understandings of the possibilities of participation. Bernhard Grotto turns to the autonomous German women's movement, highlighting these activists' successful political project to change West-German emotional culture into one that could accommodate emotional expressivity as a means to liberate women. Such efforts were, however, deeply contested, and numerous cleavages between "old" and "new" women arose. Part II delves into various forms of activism inspired by Petra Kelly's famous aphorism, "start where you are. " Freia Anders looks at the "struggles for a different city" through the lens of tenant campaigns, student rent strikes, and squatter movements in various communities such as Frankfurt, Berlin, and Aachen, whereas Adam Seipp writes about the historiographically overlooked protests against US Army installations End Page 361 and maneuvers, especially the 1984 protests in eastern Hessen. Even though such protests helped to thematize the Federal Republic's semi-sovereign state, they were often resented by local inhabitants and the thousands of Germans whose livelihood was dependent on military installations. Belinda Davis's contribution on Wohngemeinschaften (WG) is an especial standout. Based on numerous interviews with former WG residents, the utopian and transformational potential of the innovative living arrangements, the rebellion against inherited petit-bourgeois norms, and the often gender-based frustrations (disputes over cleaning/cooking) all come to the fore. The larger point is that these fluid experiments became projects demonstrating the active and continuous process of making and remaking society. Friederike Brühöfer's contribution looks at the efforts of women activists to redefine identities, relationships, and society during this period. The author shows the close connection these women drew between traditional patriarchal gender norms and the threat of nuclear violence that characterized the present. New identities must be forged to express more positive feelings in a new "therapeutic society. " Part III opens with Craig Griffiths's essay on the gay movement in the 1970s. Arguing that far from a single-issue movement, the movement in this decade was deeply embedded in the left-alternative politics unleashed by "1968. " Tensions within the gay activist community are highlighted through an in-depth discussion of the so-called Tuntenstreit over the degree to which drag and gender transgression were helpful to the overall cause. Two chapters turn to the international dimension—David Spreen's analysis of efforts to decolonize Zimbabwe and Christian Helm's contribution on the Nicaraguan Sandinistas. Both. . .