Understanding the Spanish 68 requires an understanding of the rise of anti-Francoism in the previous years and its evolution after the state of exception declared in January 1969.
Trade Union Power and Democratic Transition in Tunisia - The UGTT: A Unique Story, An Unprecedented Experience
19 June 2018, byIn the wake of the collapse of the dictatorship in Tunisia, the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) constituted a key player in ensuring the country stayed on track for a peaceful transition to democracy. This article is intended as a guide facilitating better understanding of the UGTT’s power which allowed the trade union to assert itself and serve as a balancing force in a national context marked by strong political competition and significant social instability. In this context, the authors explore the origins of the UGTT’s power and analyse how these power resources were articulated and combined in the national dialogue (between October 2013 and November 2014), a process that allowed the country to extricate itself from the political impasse, earning the UGTT and three other civil society organisations the Nobel Peace prize in 2015
Fifty years after the revolutions of ‘68
18 June 2018, byThe fiftieth anniversary of May ‘68, like the centennial of the Russian Revolution, is far from a mere ritual commemoration. Both mark high points of the struggle of the workers for their self-emancipation, and their lessons are incorporated into our history and give continuity to the struggle for socialism. History is alive in these central events of the class struggle. The revolutions of 1968 had objective and subjective consequences that have been fundamental in the last decades of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st.
The spirit of 1968 is inextinguishable – even 50 years later
17 June 2018, byThis rebellious era shaped radical activists – and aggressive capitalists. What can we learn from 1968, for democratic change today?
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia: 1968 as the antipodes of 1989
16 June 2018, byFrom March 2 to April 14, 2018, a series of initiatives dedicated to "May 68 seen from the South" were held in France, initiated and supported by the Sortir du colonialisme network, Cedetim, the Institut Tribune socialiste (ITS), the IPAM Foundation, the Gabriel Péri Foundation, the Fondation de l’écologie politique, the Copernicus Foundation, Espace Marx and the Centre d’histoire sociale du XXe siècle. The French magazine “Contretemps” will be publishing articles on “the 1968 years” including some contributions on “May 68 seen from the Souths” throughout 2018. This article by Catherine Samary is a modified version of her contribution to the latter.
1968: a revolution too early to judge
16 June 2018, byThe events of 1968 have been stripped of their meaning and are now more a symbol of capitulation than revolution. Accepting this is the first step to making its legacy relevant again
Malaysia’s “Second Emergency” (1968–89)
13 June 2018, byThe impact of revolutionary developments in Vietnam and China on the May events of 1968 in France and other Western countries has long been acknowledged. Less notice has been paid outside Asia to their repercussions on other Southeast Asian countries, which also experienced a revolutionary high tide in 1968. The upsurge of armed struggle in Malaysia in 1968 is rarely mentioned in general studies on the period, and is not often talked about even in Malaysia.
Storm in the Philippines
9 June 2018, by“1968” came to the Philippines two years late. When it did arrive, it exploded with fury. In 1970, the Philippines was a democratic republic but president Ferdinand Marcos’ authoritarian tendencies and desire to remain in office beyond his term limit were already visible. There were many other grievances that added fuel to the fire, such as the corruption, poverty, and deep inequality in what was then one of the most prosperous countries of South-Asia, and, as in many other places across the world, the war in Vietnam was a cause of anger.
Just Short of the "Conscious Leap": Ernest Mandel in 1968
26 May 2018, byJan Willem Stutje’s Ernest Mandel: A Rebel’s Dream Deferred, published by Verso in a translation by Christopher Beck and Peter Drucker in 2009, is the first biography of the great Belgian intellectual and militant of the Fourth International.
1968: A Crushing Defeat for the Indonesian Left
25 May 2018, byIn 1968, Suharto’s authoritarian New Order regime obliterated the Indonesian Communist Party’s efforts to rebuild after the 1965 massacre.