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22ndMarch1968

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Saved by Annika Weinmann
on March 6, 2018 at 1:34:58 pm
 

Importance of students / student protests pre-1968 

The idea that young people play a key role in shaping or changing society is nothing new. However, for a long time they simply represented very marginalized individuals or groups and not an actual age group (Weber, 1998, pg. 100). 

That changed in the nineteenth century; ever since then the student universe has been the “potential seat of opposition, protest, agitation and even revolutionary thrusts of a political nature” (Morin, 1969, pg. 770). 

Examples for this can be seen all over the world: in France, students played a large role in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848; in Europe, there were the “liberal-national-social pushes of 1848” (Morin, 1969, pg. 770); and in Tsarist Russia a revolutionary student movement developed. In the twentieth century, students in Argentina demanded reforms and modernization of universities. 

 

Starting from 1955 / 1956, students played an even bigger and more crucial role. In America, the start of the contestation of daily life and bourgeoise civilization originated in Greenfield Village, a student quarter in New York City. Furthermore, first Berkeley university and after that other universities in America became “existential centers of counter-society” (Morin, 1969, pg. 771). At the same time, there were student unrests in Spain. In the Soviet Union, students created an anti-Stalin opposition to the process of De-Stalinization which was being carried out. In France, the "national student conference for the solution of the Algerian problem" (conférence nationale étudiante pour une solution au problème algérien) marked the beginning of a progressive resistance of the French students to the Algerian war. 

 

These dynamics heightened until 1963 - 1966, when a second phase erupted. It was particularly marked by the Cuban revolution, student riots in Latin America and the Middle East and the emergence of youth culture and protests in England (Brighton) and France (“Nuit de la Nation” in Paris). 

 

In 1967 and 1968, the different, previously isolated forces came together. The 1950s - 1960s were a period predominated by continuing tension due to an internal crisis of values in Western countries, the continuous threat of the Cold War and potential nuclear disaster, and rising opposition to the Vietnam War. In this sense Morin argues that the student revolts of 1967 / 1968 were simply new symptoms of a global humanity crisis (Morin, 1969, pg. 765 - 776).  

 

 

Background to the events of 1968

May 1968 in France is mainly known to be a student protest. It was, in its origins, “a revolt against the stifling papa-knows-best conservatism, and dullness, of General Charles de Gaulle's economically booming 1960s France” (Independent, 2008). This whole protest and questioning of everything originated in Nanterre (a campus on the outskirts of Paris for social sciences and law students). The campus of the University of Nanterre was opened in the mid-1960s, as an extension to Paris-Sorbonne, in order to accommodate the surge in university students due to the baby boom after the second World War. There were more students than ever studying at French universities: In 1962 –1963, the number of students enrolled in university was 280,000. However, this number rose in 1967 – 1968 with the number of students enrolled being 605,000 (Seidman, 2004, p.18). This demographic growth gave students huge power. The French state tried to accommodate this rise in students by expanding old universities and creating new ones.

 

Many of the students there were not content with this building as it was very isolated and students felt that it was constructed without any consideration to the ‘student life’. They didn’t have any of the regular amenities nearby that students often enjoy. This is important because this also reflects how disconnected Charles de Gaulle and the politicians were from the students as well; Charles de Gaulle later described the events in 1968 as “chie-en-lit” (“shit in the bed”). Students there have always been very vocal about their dissatisfaction and politically active. They sought to challenge both societal norms and university rules as they were displeased with the very conservative society - this is perfectly exemplified in people not having access to contraceptives or the prohibition of abortions. Furthermore, women were still very dependent on their husbands as they were in need of their spouse's approval to work and open a bank account indicating women's inferior role in society and their submission to their husbands. Also universites were subject to very strict and sexist rules for example students could not enter the rooms of the opposite sex.

 

In addition to creating new campuses to cope with the rising number of students, the government employed more university staff who were often young assistants in order to save money. This created more problems in the lead up to the events of 1968 because the younger staff identified more with the students and their cause whilst the older staff held onto university traditions. "A gulf had emerged between the baby-boom generation and its elders with the attitude of those in authority considered outdated and conservative" (Reynolds, 2011, p.87). Students and the younger staff worked together to come up with plans that would reform the university system and the assistants were eager to join in with the protests.

 

Not only were there tensions between students and the older university staff, there were also tensions present between students themselves. Extreme left-wing groups present on campus known as the 'gauchistes' who were inspired by figures such as Marx, Mao, Trotsky and Lenin. They thought that the French university system reinforced the consumer society and their primary concern was not university reform, but a socialist revolution. This difference in thinking led to an unease between students. 

 

The videos below show the university of Nanterre's surroundings (namely the slums) and the campus. As mentioned above, it is a rather bleak and grim and quite cheerless. 

 

1967, Les bidonvilles de Nanterre (Youtube / Nabil Akoff, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S8D-V7wyyM. Last accessed: 5/3/18)

 

La faculté de Nanterre en 1968 (Youtube / Ina Histoire, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzd60yw_I8. Last accessed: 5/3/18)

 

Events of March 1968

On the 20th March 1968, 300 students participated in an anti-Vietnam war demonstration organized by the CVN (Comité Vietnam National). However, this protest soon turned violent, with protesters throwing stones at the windows of an American Express branch - then a symbol of American imperialism. This resulted in six students getting arrested. 

 

2 days later, on the 22nd March 1968, around 150 students of the University of Nanterre in Paris led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit occupied the administrative building, which was of huge symbolic importance. Their main aim was to protest the student arrests and demand their release. The “Mouvement du 22 mars” was officially born; over the next few weeks, it would grow to include over 1,200 participants (until it was officially banned by the government in June 1968).

 

In an interview with Le Figaro for the 40th anniversary of the events, historian Philippe Artières described the two main consequences of this day: 

Daniel Cohn-Bendit emerged as a leader of the protests and later became a symbol of May 1968. Additionally, this day marked the entrance into the student movements of May 68 and started a chain reaction: because of the student protest in the administrative building, the entire university was shut down, which in turn resulted in the occupation and police intrusion of the Sorbonne. 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Independent, 2008. Egalité! Liberté! Sexualité!: Paris, May 1968. [online] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/egalit-libert-sexualit-paris-may-1968-784703.html. [Accessed: 27/2/18]

 

Morin, E, 1969. Culture adolescente et révolte étudiante [article] in: Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. 24e année, N.3. Available at: http://www.persee.fr/doc/ahess_0395-2649_1969_num_24_3_422094 

 

Reynolds, C, 2011. Memories of May ’68. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

 

Seidman, M, 2004. The Imaginary Revolution: Parisian Students and Workers in 1968 [eBook]. New York: Berghahn Books. Available via: Library OneSearch [Accessed 2 March 2018].

 

Weber, H, 1998. Que reste-t-il de mai 68? 

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