Interview with Rainer Langhans Pt. 1/3

Written by Stefan Piterna

Saturday, 05 December 2009 00:00

Matchlessmagazine met the writer and famous participant of the ’68 students revolts for an exclusive Interview. In the first part of our talks Langhans outlines his opinions about the present student protests.

M: What opinion do you have of the current student protests? For the first time in years something happens in the Universities…

R. Langhans: Yes, I’ve already received invitations from students of the LMU and the University of Augsburg…

M: And what’s your impression? Was this only a matter of time?

R. Langhans: I think the problems with the transformation of Universities into a more school-like system ferment for decades! The majority of the people are sick of it. Some of them have done smaller protests in the mean time. But now I think that it might be that’ll they deal with these issues for a longer time and more profound, because things just went on and on without any improvements.

Hence I think a long time due internal transformation might now be considered a profound necessity. And I think that the students will maintain their protests for a while as this now is an eruption, resulting from ten to twenty years mismanagement. I welcome this!

M: … so you’d say that their demands are legitimate?! ...

R. Langhans: First of all I’d say that the demands of the students are nothing more than basic, inevitable requirements and processes: they want their studies to work differently!

Even the professors – I know some personally – say that it is horrible. Even for them this is crap! You have barely any possibilities for your research, as your only task is to teach the students this huge amount of material. Furthermore you don’t even know the students due to their huge numbers.

M: What could the students now do better or differently?

R. Langhans: The decisive point is, and this is today clearer than ever: Knowledge-based society! And I think that’s something that the students do not underline enough! What’s this? The raw material, by the way for the first time in the history of mankind, the main raw material especially in a society like ours is knowledge! Hence a non-material thing, which nevertheless has to be created and cultivated. And by now the studies must be adopted to these new circumstances. But this is by no means the case!

M: Which mistakes made the policy?

R. Langhans: They [the politician] have totally missed out on the knowledge-based society. Instead, they’ve created a school-like university system, which exactly does not create science but solely memorized shit! The goal must be to create a society based on science with the help of our universities, because science is the raw material of our future. We’ll certainly need more of it.

M: But you believe that the students will finally have success? Especially in Bavaria it’s almost a physical impossibility for students to convince the ruling party [CSU] of their concerns…

R. Langhans: Well, the problem in Bavaria certainly is that they’ve severely restricted the admissions for the Unis. They’ve got their elite system in which they believe. That’s right, and that’s a problem. But maybe we do not have this problem in another direction: the need for a broader, completer transfer of knowledge is obvious, even in Bavaria. And that’s where even they can’t refuse to take actions… but they’ll always toil more than elsewhere (laughs)

But this is part of the folklore. This state is simply not yet a very democratic Free State! (laughs)… And they’ll need more time, as education is the responsibility of the states.

M: Are there any parallels to the student revolts, which took place some 40 years ago?

R. Langhans: Well, in comparison to us, of course… But you have to see it this way, you never know: As today, everything back than started also with simple problems in our education system. Actually similar demands: the study is too much school-like, you can’t study properly, because there’s too much pressure etc. Similar than today. Nevertheless the structures of our time were certainly much worse: the autocratic, almost feudal system of our time.

M: Are today’s students underestimated?

R. Langhans: Well, even back than one didn’t know how things would develop. At that time Sociologists have conducted these famous investigations in which concluded: these students, forget about them, they’re all good-for-nothings, and lazy, there’ll come no actions from their side. But then it turned out to be completely different. So you never know, even today!

M: What’s your general impression of today’s students? Are they just pulling their studies through and have as a matter of the conditions of their studies lost more or less their political thinking and acting?

R. Langhans: I don’t know it. I’d say, if you take a look at the younger people, not only the students, I see things differently than most of the people. Many say that students are lame, have no ideas about their life, they just want to pull off their studies… You can see things this way, but I think there’s something behind this! And I back on this, and find it outstanding and absolutely not apolitical. Where are you political today? And what is it all about? It’s about you doing something in the net. And that’s where they are doing things, where they are creative and active. But if we take a look around here, and see the leftovers, which they show us, the minor rests, well, than ok…

But if you recognize that they aren’t there (on the streets), that they are in the web, than it’s amazing. And that’s where should get connected with them!

M: Which results are you expecting? A compromise?

R. Langhans: It could amount to that they (the politicians) now finally take actions in the demanded direction, that they finally hire more Professors etc., so that we’re ready for tomorrow. If it’ll exceed this is a question I can’t answer. We didn’t know in the past so neither we know now.

M: Why do you think it becomes tougher and tougher to study? Why do politicians no recognize that education is our most valuable item? Instead of free education they put more and more obstacles in the students way, like student fees etc.

R. Langhans: That’s simply because most people, in fact I’d say all including the students, do not know and understand what a knowledge-based society is. They do not know how different it is, and what you can do for it. There’s much talk but little actions. That’s the great problem. You can see this behavior clearly when it comes to the Internet. Many people, including the well educated ones, see it even today with great suspicion. That’s because they still don’t understand what it actually is, and how we’ll finally change ourselves with it.

In the second part of our talks with Rainer Langhans, he will outline in broad what he understands of a knowledge based society. Moreover he'll draw interesting comparisons between the Internet and the '68 movement.

For further information on Rainer Langhans and his projects please visit:

http://www.philibuster.de/

http://rainerlanghans.de/

http://interessantundneu.blogspot.com/