The marches were a prelude to what became a two-week general strike, the impact of which remains hotly debated to this day. The events of May 13, 1968 were not the world's first mass protests, but their role in the subsequent alteration of French society was widely hailed as proving the power of political action outside the electoral process. The United States also saw mass protests in 1968, but their failure to end the Vietnam War and the election of Richard Nixon that November left many activists frustrated. The successful WTO protests in Seattle reasserted the power of mass protest, but this appears to have dissipated as the Bush Administration invaded Iraq despite millions taking to the streets and the federal government failed to legalize undocumented immigrants despite the mass protests of the Spring of 2006. Can mass protest still make a difference in the United States, or is the electoral process -- embodied in the mass involvement of those in the Obama campaign -- now seen as the leading if not exclusive route to progressive change?
For forty years, the phrase "May 1968" has connoted a unique mass outpouring in Paris that many saw as the germination of a new social order. The Paris events were distinguished from mass protests in the United States by the mass involvement of workers, who occupied factories and engaged in a two-week general strike in one of the world's most advanced industrial nations.
There are enough books about May 1968 to fill entire libraries, and the UC Berkeley Art Museum currently has an exhibit of stirring photos taken by Serge Hambourg. Seeing the sense of hope and excitement on the faces of protesters, it is clear that participants believed that taking to the streets was a profoundly meaningful act--something that cannot often be said about today's mass events.
Critics of the impact of May 1968 have focused on the transitory aspect to the French protests, the lack of a concrete agenda, and the fact that a major target of the protests--French leader Charles De Gaulle--was easily re-elected in June. But less frequently noted is De Gaulle's leaving office after losing a vote of confidence a year later, and that Parisian, if not French, society was visibly changed.
For many, May 1968 showed the continued power of mass protest, and of the primacy of political engagement outside the electoral process. Even as the protests are commodified--a candy store is selling $75 chocolate bars in the shape of the pavers that protesters dislodged from cobblestone streets--their power continues to resonate.
U.S. Protests in 1968
In the United States in 1968, student and anti-war protesters saw the year end with Richard Nixon winning the presidency, and the Vietnam War's escalation. Less obvious at the time was the increasing backlash to the civil rights movement that has moved American politics largely rightward for nearly forty years.
Many young activists responded to Nixon's victory by moving from protests to voter registration and the electoral process. This effort culminated in anti-war progressive George McGovern winning the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, but his landslide defeat resurrected activist doubts about the potential of national elections to bring progressive change.
During the 1970's and 1980's, the successful mass protests against nuclear power, as well as against U.S. funding of military assistance to anti-democratic forces in Nicaragua and El Salvador, led to renewed respect for non-electoral strategies. Until at least 1992, progressive activists prioritized local and state elections over national political campaigns.
For forty years, the phrase "May 1968" has connoted a unique mass outpouring in Paris that many saw as the germination of a new social order. The Paris events were distinguished from mass protests in the United States by the mass involvement of workers, who occupied factories and engaged in a two-week general strike in one of the world's most advanced industrial nations.
There are enough books about May 1968 to fill entire libraries, and the UC Berkeley Art Museum currently has an exhibit of stirring photos taken by Serge Hambourg. Seeing the sense of hope and excitement on the faces of protesters, it is clear that participants believed that taking to the streets was a profoundly meaningful act--something that cannot often be said about today's mass events.
Critics of the impact of May 1968 have focused on the transitory aspect to the French protests, the lack of a concrete agenda, and the fact that a major target of the protests--French leader Charles De Gaulle--was easily re-elected in June. But less frequently noted is De Gaulle's leaving office after losing a vote of confidence a year later, and that Parisian, if not French, society was visibly changed.
For many, May 1968 showed the continued power of mass protest, and of the primacy of political engagement outside the electoral process. Even as the protests are commodified--a candy store is selling $75 chocolate bars in the shape of the pavers that protesters dislodged from cobblestone streets--their power continues to resonate.
U.S. Protests in 1968
In the United States in 1968, student and anti-war protesters saw the year end with Richard Nixon winning the presidency, and the Vietnam War's escalation. Less obvious at the time was the increasing backlash to the civil rights movement that has moved American politics largely rightward for nearly forty years.
Many young activists responded to Nixon's victory by moving from protests to voter registration and the electoral process. This effort culminated in anti-war progressive George McGovern winning the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, but his landslide defeat resurrected activist doubts about the potential of national elections to bring progressive change.
During the 1970's and 1980's, the successful mass protests against nuclear power, as well as against U.S. funding of military assistance to anti-democratic forces in Nicaragua and El Salvador, led to renewed respect for non-electoral strategies. Until at least 1992, progressive activists prioritized local and state elections over national political campaigns.
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