File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_2003/anarchy-list.0302, message 452


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I can remember just how stupid and out-of-date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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