Saturday, June 20, 2009

Paris 1968


The events in Iran these past few days are sobering and sad. To see people been beaten by government militia with such viciousness and with complete disregard for human suffering is shocking and terrifying. We must all support the Iranian people seeking a better life for their culture, their society and their country.

France has had its violent protest within the last 40 or so years, but nowhere near the level of violence that we are now witnessing in Iran. Back in 1968, during the students’ May protest there was one participant that in many ways exemplified the character and the spirit of such revolt, and his name is: Daniel Cohn-Bendit. But was that a revolution? Some people argue that it was.

In many ways Cohn-Bendit became the bĂȘte noire for the government of then president Charles de Gaulle and of his prime minister: Pompidou. Cohn-Bendit was born in France of German-Jewish parents and at the time there were many people who were against him because though born in France, he had acquired German citizenship and the argument was that he wasn’t French. He was labeled: Dany Le Rouge, or Danny The Red.

As always in events such as today’s Iran there is a need to put a face on the movement. Neda Agah Soltan is now the face of 2009, Iran. For better or for worse, Cohn-Bendit did become the students’ movement face of May ’68, in Paris. So, the question is: Are things better in France when it comes to the situation of the students? And the answer appears to be more on the negative side.

There had been other protests since May ’68; in fact, many people argue that every spring French students protest, that they are unruly, spoiled, anarchists are heart. It’s a rather simplistic view; nevertheless, it is true that these students’ confrontations in France do happen in springtime.

The events of May ’68 did impact the world along with the invasion by Russia, and its Eastern European allies, of Czechoslovakia to put an end to the: Prague Spring. Czechoslovakia is now made up of two independent countries: The Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Regarding the present events in Iran, they will no doubt impact the world, probably in ways that we are not able to foresee. These things have unpredictable consequences just as the students’ revolt did in Paris, back in May of 1968.

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