Tag: International Workers’ Day

'Spring of discontent' But the so-called "spring of discontent", which has seen protests including student sit-ins and train strikes take place, has also evoked memories of an anti-government movement that erupted 50 years ago this month. Half a century on, the movement - which briefly threatened to collapse the status quo before parliamentary elections a month later resulted in a landslide win for de Gaulle - continues to infuse the spirit of protest in France and elsewhere today, Biba Pavard, author of Mai '68: The Second French Revolution, told Al Jazeera. "That's why I prefer to talk about '68 as many years in one. It had started before and lasted for a long time," Pavard said. If uprisings were happening in places such as Africa, South America, and, of course, the United States it was because ideas were circulating, writings were being translated, and movements shared common references like Che Guevara or Mao. 1968 uprising But whereas recent anti-government protests in France have appeared to be focused on economic and educational grievances, mass involvement in the uprising of 1968 was largely sparked by police using a heavy-handed approach against student protesters at Paris' Sorbonne University throughout early May. For Christine Delphy, now 77, it was moments such as these, of seemingly overzealous policing, that pushed her into the protest movement. Old approach, or new movement? In addition to those whose involvement in protests has carried forward from 1968 onwards, the sight of students and workers uniting in protest on the streets of France in recent days has, in appearance at least, drawn parallels between the events of half a century ago and today. We want to think that our movement has its own spirit," Starroz said.