From: "Dave Coull" <coull2-AT-btinternet.com> Subject: May 1968, March 2003 Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 12:52:10 -0000 In reply to Patrice saying that the French were sheep who only demonstrated in the streets when told to do so, I wrote >> Nobody told them to do so in 1968. It all happened >> spontaneously. The trade unions and the political >> parties first tried to cool things down, then >> struggled to put themselves at the head of >> the strikes and demonstrations that were >> happening spontaneously. and gr3g comments > we're a long way from 1968.... > > no one's protesting anymore.... > > why? because ppl, excluding the few who try > in vain to make a difference, realize that > they're powerless against the powers that be gr3g, I am old enough to remember what it was like _before_ 1968. Before 1968, there were loads of people making defeatist noises like yours. Before 1968, there were plenty of people saying that we would never again in history see rioting on the streets of any major country in Western Europe. Since then, the 80s saw loads of rioting on the streets of English cities, and 1990 saw the big anti-poll-tax riots, and of course we have had big anti-globalisation protests and so on. But it was May 1968 in France which proved just how wrong that view was. Before 1968, there were people saying that the class struggle was a thing of the past. Since then, we have seen massive working class struggles in many countries. But I can remember just how stupid and out-of-date the views of the "realists" suddenly sounded in May 1968. What you fail to realise, gr3g, is that the defeatist noises you are making now have been made countless times in the past, and proved wrong countless times in the past. > corporations, militaries, gov'ts, etc are > just too strong of a force. why protest? > so you can be gassed by the police or get > beat up by them. better yet rubber bullets > that's something to hope for.and for what? > so you can be demonized in the headlines > as the disenfranchised. The French CRS, the notoriously violent riot police, threw everything they had at student protesters in 1968. The result of this police violence was that ten million workers went on strike and brought the French state to its knees. President Charles De Gaulle fled the country. He went to Germany, not to see the German chancellor, but to see somebody far more important, the General commanding the French armed forces who were based in the Rhineland since they entered there as an occupying force in 1945. He wanted these French forces in Germany to invade France. Frankly, de Gaulle was shitting himself. > While i have all the respect in the world > for ppl who go to the rallies and protest, > i don't think it does any good. Of course it does some good. At the very least, it shows publicly that the government does NOT have the support of the people. At best, it can actually change things. You are arguing with somebody who was part of the anti-poll-tax movement which defeated the Iron Lady, Maggie Thatcher, in the early 1990s. And yes, there were people making defeatist noises like yours then, too. > ppl don't believe they're repressed When people turn out in massive numbers to protest (as has been happening in this country and many others) and when they know that public opinion is on their side (as they do) and yet the government ignores them, then they start to feel a bit repressed. > and so they don't see the need to fight, > or if they do, they realize they're powerless > in an age of militant individualism. Just ten days ago, far more than a million people took to the streets of London in opposition to war. Over a hundred thousand protested in Glasgow. All around the world, similar protests took place. More than ten million people demonstrated against war. Apparently, gr3g, that's ten million people who disagree with your defeatist views. Since then, anti-war protests have been continuing, and will almost certainly soon be entering a new direct action phase. So where are you going to be, gr3g? Watching it all on television? Dave Coull
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