The Spirit of 1968 – Still Alive
Today?
1968 was a
vital year for protest; it saw demonstrations and strikes around the world. At
the heart of these protests was a dissatisfaction with the political
establishment in both the west and east. These protests produced mass socialist
movements in the USA and most European countries, most notably in France. Protest
on a global scale was unprecedented; there was a passion and shared frustration
that united people. Is this “spirit” of 1968 still alive today? Could protests
on the scale of 1968 happen again in the western world, or is the spirit of
mass demonstration dead in favour of online petitions and other ‘slacktivist’ methods?
Firstly, what is the ‘spirit’ of
1968? This spirit is best seen in France where the events of 1968 reached a
point that effectively shut down the country and ground production to a halt.
The protests initially started out as student anti-capitalist protests that
quickly spread to factory workers as well. At the height of these events, around
22% of the country was on strike.[1] The common characteristic
of these strikes were the spontaneity of them, many of them were wildcat
strikes with no authorisation from unions.[2] The general attitude of
both the student protests and strikes were leftist in nature. However, even
though there was a solidarity that crossed generational lines the protests of
1968 ended up in a snap election leading the establishment Gaullist party
gaining more seats than before.
There is still a feeling of
dissatisfaction with the establishment that crosses generational lines in this
modern day. Albeit the feeling is much
less socialist than it was in 1968, this can be seen in recent events. For
example, in the US elections Trump styled himself as the ‘anti-establishment’
candidate (whether he actually is or not, is a different matter) in comparison
to Clinton who represented continuity. This in addition to far more third party
votes than ever shows a disillusionment with the political establishment that
is still present to this day and growing stronger.[3] Closer to home ‘Brexit’
was also presented as the anti-establishment choice, it seems that any change
whether the consequences are good or bad is better than nothing.
Perhaps the closest (but still distant)
recent thing to a modern day ‘1968’ in the western world is the Occupy movement.
Starting with the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protest that gave the movement
international media attention. The movement shares similar goals to the
protesters of 1968 in that it is primarily anti-capitalist and
anti-establishment. In addition, the Occupy movement was a global effort with
protests taking place across all continents including in major cities like
London, Paris and Moscow. However, similarly to the protests of 1968, the
Occupy movement proved fruitless in terms of major political change, camps were
broken up as people yearned a return to the status quo, much like in France in
1968.
The spirit of 1968 is still alive
today, but in a much different form. This is because there is still a
widespread disillusionment with the political establishment that transcends borders
and generations. However, the difference is that there is no longer a common
ideology that can unite people. The protests of 1968 could largely be defined
as ‘leftist’ in that they were mostly anti-capitalist. In the present day, it
seems the left no longer has a monopoly on anti-establishment feelings as shown
by events like the US election and Brexit.
Chris Kinslow
Chris Kinslow
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