Anarchy 89/Overtaken by events: a Paris journal - Revision history

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 {{tab}}I am writ&shy;ing this in the court&shy;yard of the Sor&shy;bonne. I look up to the roof, and there flying in the wind is a sight I have never seen before: a flag with no dec&shy;or&shy;a&shy;tion, no ad&shy;di&shy;tion, no na&shy;tional symbol: a plain {{w|red flag|Red_flag_(politics)}}. And I can{{t}} stop myself from shed&shy;ding tears.
-{{tab}}'''8.45 p.m. Satur&shy;day, May 25th.'''&emsp;I ought to have kept a de&shy;tailed day-<wbr>by-<wbr>day ac&shy;count of what I have been doing and what has been hap&shy;pen&shy;ing, but I have been very busy. I have just filled in notes for the last week in my tiny diary, and this helps, but there are still {{w|la&shy;cunae|Lacuna_(manuscripts)}}. I slept most of Thurs&shy;day, pro&shy;mis&shy;ing myself I would start work the next day, and spent the even&shy;ing at the Sor&shy;bonne talk&shy;ing to people and join&shy;ing in the argu&shy;ments in the court&shy;yard. Several times I was asked by stu&shy;dents what I, as a for&shy;eigner coming fresh to these events, thought of all that I saw; they seemed heart&shy;ened by the fact that I was im&shy;pressed. One girl said, {{qq|You see, we have been in it all the time, and some&shy;times we wonder if it isn{{t}} all just talk, talk, talk.}} I told her that one of the things that had im&shy;pressed me most was the talk, the fact that people, all sorts of people, were argu&shy;ing, and par&shy;ticu&shy;larly that the argu&shy;ments so often started from prem&shy;ises which, although I ac&shy;cepted them, I was startled to find the jump&shy;ing off point of argu&shy;ments. It was not a ques&shy;tion of {{qq|Is there some&shy;thing wrong that can be put right?}}, {{qq|Should we change our so&shy;ciety and if so in what way?}}. No: so many people seemed to ac&shy;cept that the so&shy;ciety had to go, and the ques&shy;tion was, what sort of a so&shy;ciety was to take its place, and how could the change be brought about. {{p|204}}Cer&shy;tain key ideas re&shy;curred again and again; the two most im&shy;port&shy;ant as far as I could see were {{qq|{{w|auto&shy;ges&shy;tion|Workers'_self-management}}}} and a re&shy;jec&shy;tion of the {{w|con&shy;sumer so&shy;ciety|Consumerism}}. The ori&shy;ginal stu&shy;dent de&shy;mands had in&shy;cluded par&shy;ti&shy;cip&shy;a&shy;tion in the run&shy;ning of uni&shy;vers&shy;ities, but now it was a ques&shy;tion of work&shy;er{{s|r}} con&shy;trol of the factor&shy;ies as well as stu&shy;dent con&shy;trol of the {{w|col&shy;leges|Secondary_education_in_France}}. As for the con&shy;sumer so&shy;ciety, I was amazed at the vehem&shy;ence both of the posters and slo&shy;gans plastered all over the build&shy;ing, and of the people who spoke of it. Every&shy;where, it seemed, the idea of prosper&shy;ity and pro&shy;gress seen in terms of con&shy;sumer goods, money, af&shy;glu&shy;ence, tele&shy;vision and the motor car was de&shy;nounced and at&shy;tacked. Some&shy;times the argu&shy;ments against it were based on the con&shy;cept of af&shy;flu&shy;ence as the weapon of a cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ist so&shy;ciety; but quite as often, no such ana&shy;lysis was made, the speaker or writer seem&shy;ing to ex&shy;press himself from the point of view not of left-<wbr>wing polit&shy;ics but of deep per&shy;sonal aware&shy;ness that money and ma&shy;terial things do not bring happi&shy;ness. Oh yes indeed, quite the most banal and anti-<wbr>cli&shy;mactic of plat&shy;it&shy;udes, isn{{t}} it? I too cringed when I first heard it that Thurs&shy;day evening, but one of the re&shy;mark&shy;able aspects of the whole busi&shy;ness was the re&shy;sus&shy;cita&shy;tion of the plat&shy;it&shy;ude. Solid&shy;ar&shy;ity be&shy;tween worker and stu&shy;dent, unity of the left, com&shy;rade&shy;ship be&shy;tween man and man, be&shy;tween man and woman, the spirit of the bar&shy;ri&shy;cades, were con&shy;cepts which had reality and truth. Many might sneer{{dash}}few did, in fact; for me, cer&shy;tainly, the tired old ideas were reborn.
+{{tab}}'''8.45 p.m. Satur&shy;day, May 25th.'''&emsp;I ought to have kept a de&shy;tailed day-<wbr>by-<wbr>day ac&shy;count of what I have been doing and what has been hap&shy;pen&shy;ing, but I have been very busy. I have just filled in notes for the last week in my tiny diary, and this helps, but there are still {{w|la&shy;cunae|Lacuna_(manuscripts)}}. I slept most of Thurs&shy;day, pro&shy;mis&shy;ing myself I would start work next day, and spent the even&shy;ing at the Sor&shy;bonne talk&shy;ing to people and join&shy;ing in the argu&shy;ments in the court&shy;yard. Several times I was asked by stu&shy;dents what I, as a for&shy;eigner coming fresh to these events, thought of all that I saw; they seemed heart&shy;ened by the fact that I was im&shy;pressed. One girl said, {{qq|You see, we have been in it all the time, and some&shy;times we wonder if it isn{{t}} all just talk, talk, talk.}} I told her that one of the things that had im&shy;pressed me most was the talk, the fact that people, all sorts of people, were argu&shy;ing, and par&shy;ticu&shy;larly that the argu&shy;ments so often started from prem&shy;ises which, although I ac&shy;cepted them, I was startled to find the jump&shy;ing off point of argu&shy;ments. It was not a ques&shy;tion of {{qq|Is there some&shy;thing wrong that can be put right?}}, {{qq|Should we change our so&shy;ciety and if so in what way?}}. No: so many people seemed to ac&shy;cept that the so&shy;ciety had to go, and the ques&shy;tion was, what sort of a so&shy;ciety was to take its place, and how could the change be brought about. {{p|204}}Cer&shy;tain key ideas re&shy;curred again and again; the two most im&shy;port&shy;ant as far as I could see were {{qq|{{w|auto&shy;ges&shy;tion|Workers'_self-management}}}} and a re&shy;jec&shy;tion of the {{w|con&shy;sumer so&shy;ciety|Consumerism}}. The ori&shy;ginal stu&shy;dent de&shy;mands had in&shy;cluded par&shy;ti&shy;cip&shy;a&shy;tion in the run&shy;ning of the uni&shy;vers&shy;ities, but now it was a ques&shy;tion of work&shy;er{{s|r}} con&shy;trol of the factor&shy;ies as well as stu&shy;dent con&shy;trol of the {{w|col&shy;leges|Secondary_education_in_France}}. As for the con&shy;sumer so&shy;ciety, I was amazed at the vehem&shy;ence both of the posters and slo&shy;gans plastered all over the build&shy;ing, and of the people who spoke of it. Every&shy;where, it seemed, the idea of prosper&shy;ity and pro&shy;gress seen in terms of con&shy;sumer goods, money, af&shy;flu&shy;ence, tele&shy;vision and the motor car was de&shy;nounced and at&shy;tacked. Some&shy;times the argu&shy;ments against it were based on the con&shy;cept of af&shy;flu&shy;ence as the weapon of a cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ist so&shy;ciety; but quite as often, no such ana&shy;lysis was made, the speaker or writer seem&shy;ing to ex&shy;press himself from the point of view not of left-<wbr>wing polit&shy;ics but of deep per&shy;sonal aware&shy;ness that money and ma&shy;terial things do not bring happi&shy;ness. Oh yes indeed, quite the most banal and anti-<wbr>cli&shy;mactic<!-- 'climatic' in original --> of plat&shy;it&shy;udes, isn{{t}} it? I too cringed when I first heard it that Thurs&shy;day evening, but one of the re&shy;mark&shy;able aspects of the whole busi&shy;ness was the re&shy;sus&shy;cita&shy;tion of the plat&shy;it&shy;ude. Solid&shy;ar&shy;ity be&shy;tween worker and stu&shy;dent, unity of the left, com&shy;rade&shy;ship be&shy;tween man and man, be&shy;tween man and woman, the spirit of the bar&shy;ri&shy;cades, were con&shy;cepts which had reality and truth. Many might sneer{{dash}}few did, in fact; for me, cer&shy;tainly, the tired old ideas were reborn.
 {{tab}}On Friday, I did a little work at the {{w|Biblio&shy;th&egrave;que Na&shy;tion&shy;ale|Bibliothèque_nationale_de_France}}, very un&shy;en&shy;thusi&shy;astic&shy;ally. On Satur&shy;day, how&shy;ever, I got very inter&shy;ested in a par&shy;ticu&shy;lar edi&shy;tion of a novel which seemed mat&shy;ter for an art&shy;icle, and worked madly all day. I was at the Sor&shy;bonne again that evening; that was the night I went on to the Od&eacute;on.
-{{tab}}The {{w|Od&eacute;on Th&eacute;&acirc;tre de France|Odéon-Théâtre_de_l'Europe}} was taken over by stu&shy;dents, in&shy;clud&shy;ing drama stu&shy;dents, and was thrown open 24 hours a day as a free forum for dis&shy;cus&shy;sion. It is a re&shy;mark&shy;able sight, the house packed with people, and three or four organ&shy;is&shy;ers in the centre aisle try&shy;ing to di&shy;rect the dis&shy;cus&shy;sion. I say try&shy;ing, be&shy;cause it is an ap&shy;pal&shy;lingly dif&shy;fi&shy;cult task. What hap&shy;pens roughly is that every&shy;one is in&shy;vited to put forward his views, and at any given moment, in a crowded theatre, a number of people would like to air their opin&shy;ions, whether from de&shy;light in hear&shy;ing their own voice, pleas&shy;ure in show&shy;ing off before a large audi&shy;ence, viol&shy;ent dis&shy;agree&shy;ment with the last speaker or the one three before him, dis&shy;agree&shy;ment with some other aspect such as the whole idea of a free forum unless it al&shy;lows only the ex&shy;pres&shy;sion of the cor&shy;rect views, dis&shy;agree&shy;ment with the hand&shy;ling of the pro&shy;ceed&shy;ings, desire to beat the last speaker{{s}} head in, wish to break up the pro&shy;ceed&shy;ings, desire to help along the argu&shy;ment, or a wish to si&shy;lence every&shy;one who is mak&shy;ing such a racket and spoil&shy;ing the whole af&shy;fair for every&shy;one, and why do all these people yell so that you can{{t}} hear the speaker, so you bawl at the top of your voice {{qq|SILENCE}}.
+{{tab}}The {{w|Od&eacute;on Th&eacute;&acirc;tre de France|Odéon-Théâtre_de_l'Europe}} was taken over by stu&shy;dents, in&shy;clud&shy;ing drama stu&shy;dents, and was thrown open 24 hours a day as a free forum for dis&shy;cus&shy;sion. It is a re&shy;mark&shy;able sight, the house packed with people, and three or four organ&shy;is&shy;ers in the centre aisle try&shy;ing to di&shy;rect the dis&shy;cus&shy;sion. I say try&shy;ing, be&shy;cause it is an ap&shy;pal&shy;lingly dif&shy;fi&shy;cult task. What hap&shy;pens roughly is that every&shy;one is in&shy;vited to put forward his views, and at any given moment, in a crowded theatre, a number of people would like to air their opin&shy;ions, whether from de&shy;light in hear&shy;ing their own voice, pleas&shy;ure in show&shy;ing off before a large audi&shy;ence, viol&shy;ent dis&shy;agree&shy;ment with the last speaker or the one three before him, dis&shy;agree&shy;ment with some other aspect such as the whole idea of a free forum unless it al&shy;lows only the ex&shy;pres&shy;sion of the cor&shy;rect views, dis&shy;agree&shy;ment with the hand&shy;ling of the pro&shy;ceed&shy;ings, desire to cor&shy;rect the last speak&shy;er{{s}} facts, desire to cor&shy;rect the last speak&shy;er{{s}} opin&shy;ions, desire to alter the last speak&shy;er{{s}} at&shy;ti&shy;tude, desire to beat the last speaker{{s}} head in, wish to break up the pro&shy;ceed&shy;ings, desire to help along the argu&shy;ment, or a wish to si&shy;lence every&shy;one who is mak&shy;ing such a racket and spoil&shy;ing the whole af&shy;fair for every&shy;one, and why do all these people yell so that you can{{t}} hear the speaker, so you bawl at the top of your voice {{qq|SILENCE}}.
 {{tab}}And yet there is{{dash|to use one of the key words, even if it is over&shy;worked, of this period}}a dia&shy;logue. Work&shy;ers do manage to stand up and say their piece, people do listen, people do start to try to see other {{p|205}} people{{s}} posi&shy;tion, even learn from them. I stayed at the Od&eacute;on for four hours, till four in the morning.
-{{tab}}Then I slept on Sunday till nearly mid&shy;day, got up and went to the {{w|m&eacute;na&shy;gerie|Menagerie}} at the {{w|Jardin des Plantes|Jardin_des_plantes}}. I fed pea&shy;nuts to the ele&shy;phant, ad&shy;mired the alli&shy;gators, croco&shy;diles, turtles ant tor&shy;toises, flamin&shy;goes, saw a just-<wbr>born baby bison lying on the ground pant&shy;ing, saw several fine go&shy;rillas and some heavily moulted camels.
+{{tab}}Then I slept on Sunday till nearly mid&shy;day, got up and went to the {{w|m&eacute;na&shy;gerie|Menagerie}} at the {{w|Jardin des Plantes|Jardin_des_plantes}}. I fed pea&shy;nuts to the ele&shy;phant, ad&shy;mired the alli&shy;gators, croco&shy;diles, turtles and tor&shy;toises, flamin&shy;goes, saw a just-<wbr>born baby bison lying on the ground pant&shy;ing, saw several fine go&shy;rillas and some heavily moulted camels.
-{{tab}}I contin&shy;ued to the {{w|Bois de Vin&shy;cennes|Bois_de_Vincennes}}, and there, in search of some green and per&shy;haps a goose or two, fail&shy;ing which, a mal&shy;lard, I passed through quite the largest func&shy;tion&shy;ing fair&shy;ground I ever saw. Well, it was marked green on the map. How&shy;ever, I got to the other end and found green{{dash}}in fact, for Paris, an enorm&shy;ous ex&shy;panse of green: you can walk quite a hundred yards before coming to a {{qq|Keep off the Grass}} sign. Well, anyway, ninety yards. I walked this, and then came to a lake, with an island in the middle and a cause&shy;way to the island, so that people can saunter across to the island and walk round on the paths ad&shy;mir&shy;ing the ele&shy;gant {{qq|Keep off the Grass}} signs. I pre&shy;ferred to walk around the lake, eye&shy;ing the ten yards of water between the main&shy;land grass and the island grass, each equally combed, brushed, barbered, groomed, tit&shy;iv&shy;ated, beau&shy;ti&shy;fied, rolled and beaten into a state of supine sub&shy;mis&shy;sion. How&shy;ever, there are ducks and some swans, who do not Keep off the Grass at all, but walk flatly on it, their large flocks of off&shy;spring quack&shy;ing behind. There are a great number of duck&shy;lings, many of them swim&shy;ming in blocks of twenty to thirty, each ac&shy;com&shy;panied by several ducks.
+{{tab}}I contin&shy;ued to the {{w|Bois de Vin&shy;cennes|Bois_de_Vincennes}}, and there, in search of some green and per&shy;haps a goose or two, fail&shy;ing which, a mal&shy;lard, I passed through quite the largest func&shy;tion&shy;ing fair&shy;ground I ever saw. Well, it was marked green on the map. How&shy;ever, I got to the other end and found green{{dash}}in fact, for Paris, an enorm&shy;ous ex&shy;panse of green: you can walk quite a hundred yards before coming to a {{qq|Keep off the Grass}} sign. Well, anyway, ninety yards. I walked this, and then came to a lake, with an island in the middle, and a cause&shy;way to the island, so that people can saunter across to the island and walk round on the paths ad&shy;mir&shy;ing the ele&shy;gant {{qq|Keep off the Grass}} signs. I pre&shy;ferred to walk around the lake, eye&shy;ing the ten yards of water between the main&shy;land grass and the island grass, each equally combed, brushed, barbered, groomed, tit&shy;iv&shy;ated, beau&shy;ti&shy;fied, rolled and beaten into a state of supine sub&shy;mis&shy;sion. How&shy;ever, there are ducks and some swans, who do not Keep off the Grass at all, but walk flatly on it, their large flocks of off&shy;spring quack&shy;ing behind. There are a great number of duck&shy;lings, many of them swim&shy;ming in blocks of twenty to thirty, each ac&shy;com&shy;panied by several ducks.
-{{tab}}I stopped near a rather short middle aged man who, at a spot where the grass had been swept away to allow the gravel path to go to the edge of the water, was com&shy;plain&shy;ing bitterly. It ap&shy;pears that the gentle&shy;man was feed&shy;ing the ducks, and had thrown bread near one of two cygnets. When a duck&shy;ling had gone after it, one of the swan parents had at&shy;tacked him{{dash}}the duck&shy;ling. The gentle&shy;man did not like this, and was try&shy;ing to hit the swan with a stone. He sent his little girl{{dash|about six{{dash}}grand&shy;daughter I think}}to get him stones, but she came back with a branch, with which he tried to reach the swan, with much ex&shy;plan&shy;a&shy;tion to the people around. I en&shy;gaged a dia&shy;logue with him, ex&shy;plain&shy;ing that the swan was only trying to pro&shy;tect its young; that it was per&shy;fectly natural; that the duck&shy;ling was unhurt; that if he (the gentle&shy;man) con&shy;tinued to try to hurt the swan, I (the speaker) would push him (the gentle&shy;man) into the water. He yelled and shouted and in&shy;sulted me, and then stopped and went on feed&shy;ing the ducks. The swan came a little closer in search of food, and the gentle&shy;man reached out waving his branch and trying to hit the swan, and as I had prom&shy;ised him, I pushed him in the lake.
+{{tab}}I stopped near a rather short middle aged man who, at a spot where the grass had been swept away to allow the gravel path to go to the edge of the water, was com&shy;plain&shy;ing bitterly. It ap&shy;pears that the gentle&shy;man was feed&shy;ing the ducks, and had thrown bread near one of two cygnets. When a duck&shy;ling had gone after it, one of the swan parents had at&shy;tacked him{{dash}}the duck&shy;ling. The gentle&shy;man did not like this, and was try&shy;ing to hit the swan with a stone. He sent his little girl{{dash|about six{{dash}}grand&shy;daughter I think}}to get him stones, but she came back with a branch, with which he tried to reach the swan, with much ex&shy;plan&shy;a&shy;tion to the people around. I en&shy;gaged a dia&shy;logue with him, ex&shy;plain&shy;ing that the swan was only trying to pro&shy;tect its young; that it was per&shy;fectly natural; that the duck&shy;ling was unhurt; that if he (the gentle&shy;man) con&shy;tinued to try to hurt the swan, I (the speaker) would push him (the gentle&shy;man) into the water. He yelled and shouted and in&shy;sulted me, and then stopped and went on feed&shy;ing the ducks. The swan came a little closer in search of food, and the gentle&shy;man reached out waving his branch and trying to hit the swan, and as I had prom&shy;ised him, I pushed him into the lake.
 {{tab}}That evening I dis&shy;covered the anarch&shy;ists at the Sor&shy;bonne. They are much more organ&shy;ised in France, much more polit&shy;ic&shy;ally active, and they have played a large part in the whole struggle. Since then I have had some inter&shy;est&shy;ing dis&shy;cus&shy;sions with them, and often drop in there. They hold forums similar to those at the Od&eacute;on, ex&shy;cept that theirs are held to tell people about anarch&shy;ist ideas, to answer questions, and to {{p|206}}allow debate on their the&shy;or&shy;ies. Un&shy;for&shy;tun&shy;ately, these three func&shy;tions in one meet&shy;ing live very un&shy;easily together. If you are going to tell people about your ideas, you stand up and ad&shy;dress them. If you are answer&shy;ing ques&shy;tions about anarch&shy;ism, someone asks a ques&shy;tion, say, {{qq|What, com&shy;rade, is the place of bird-<wbr>watching in the fu&shy;ture liber&shy;tar&shy;ian so&shy;ciety after the re&shy;volu&shy;tion has de&shy;stroyed the state, com&shy;rade?}} and you stand up and answer, say&shy;ing unto him, {{qq|In a liber&shy;tar&shy;ian so&shy;ciety, com&shy;rade, bird-<wbr>watch&shy;ing will be one among many activ&shy;ities en&shy;joyed by free&shy;dom-<wbr>loving anarch&shy;ists living in an inter&shy;na&shy;tional feder&shy;a&shy;tion, and there will be no fron&shy;tiers to hinder birds from migrat&shy;ing from time to time to ther places for the pleas&shy;ure of other anarch&shy;ist bird-<wbr>watchers in those other places, com&shy;rade.}} And if you are al&shy;low&shy;ing debate on anarch&shy;ist ideas, then the chair&shy;man should di&shy;rect the argu&shy;ment without enter&shy;ing into it. The func&shy;tions are in&shy;com&shy;pat&shy;ible, the con&shy;se&shy;quences obvi&shy;ous and the forums less useful than they might be. How&shy;ever, when things do not get mixed up, they do in fact give the people who come a lot of useful in&shy;form&shy;a&shy;tion on anarch&shy;ist ideas. Usually there is a brief sum&shy;mary of the idea of a feder&shy;al&shy;ist so&shy;ciety and how it might be organ&shy;ised, as well as an at&shy;tack on the par&shy;lia&shy;ment&shy;ary {{qq|demo&shy;cracy}} in which the sole polit&shy;ical activ&shy;ity of the mass, and its sole power, is to mark a cross on a piece of paper once every few years, and in France today, to say a blind un&shy;quali&shy;fied yes or no to an elderly pa&shy;ter&shy;nal&shy;ist auto&shy;crat. Also, the forums may do a little to help dispel the aura of terror which in France still sur&shy;rounds the words {{qq|anarchy}} and {{qq|anarch&shy;ist}}.

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-'''Wednesday-Thursday, May 15th-May 16th.'''&emsp;The {{w|Paris dis&shy;turb&shy;ances|May_1968_events_in_France}} have been very poorly re&shy;ported in the {{w|English|England}} press. First, the dis&shy;turb&shy;ance may have arisen out of com&shy;plaints about the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity sys&shy;tem, but it has gone far beyond that now. It started with a row at {{w|Nan&shy;terre|Paris_Nanterre_University}}, a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity out&shy;side {{w|Paris}}, when the uni&shy;vers&shy;ity was closed for an in&shy;defin&shy;ite period, and seven stu&shy;dents were sum&shy;moned to ap&shy;pear before a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity board. The {{w|Sor&shy;bonne|Sorbonne_University}} started to get active, in the big main court&shy;yard; the ''{{w|recteur|Rector_(academia)}}'' called in the police to clear out the stu&shy;dents who had gathered to dis&shy;cuss mat&shy;ters. The police carted the stu&shy;dents off and there were demon&shy;stra&shy;tions against this action, and against the police. The Sor&shy;bonne was closed, and the uni&shy;vers&shy;ities pro&shy;posed to strike on Monday, May 6th, demon&shy;stra&shy;tions all day long, fin&shy;ish&shy;ing with 20,000 march&shy;ing. The police charged the march at {{w|St. Germain des Pr&eacute;s|Saint-Germain-des-Prés}}, and the bar&shy;ri&shy;cades started to go up. The police use {{w|gas|Tear_gas}}. It fin&shy;ishes up with police hunt&shy;ing stu&shy;dents through the streets, beat&shy;ing them with {{w|trun&shy;cheons|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. On Tuesday, another long march, about 40,000-50,000 people, stu&shy;dents and work&shy;ers. The {{w|red flags|Red_flag_(politics)}} lead the march and the {{w|Inter&shy;na&shy;tion&shy;ale|The_Internationale}} is sung at the {{w|Arc de Triomphe|Arc_de_Triomphe}}. More demon&shy;stra&shy;tions on Wednes&shy;day, when the left wing parties, hostile hitherto, jump on the band&shy;wagon. Thurs&shy;day, the Sor&shy;bonne is to be re&shy;opened: the police are on the scene, and the stu&shy;dents de&shy;mand with&shy;drawal of police, open&shy;ing of all the col&shy;leges again, and the free&shy;ing of the ar&shy;rested stu&shy;dents. The {{w|Trotsky&shy;ists|Trotskyism}} hold a meet&shy;ing where the whole af&shy;fair begins to open out into a re&shy;volu&shy;tion&shy;ary move&shy;ment. On Friday comes the ex&shy;plo&shy;sion: thou&shy;sands of stu&shy;dents on a demon&shy;stra&shy;tion march are stopped by a dam of police: the stu&shy;dents re&shy;tire into the {{w|Latin Quarter|Latin_Quarter,_Paris}}, filling the {{w|Bou&shy;levard St. Michel|Boulevard_Saint-Michel}} up to the {{w|Luxem&shy;bourg|Jardin_du_Luxembourg}}. They spread out and start erect&shy;ing bar&shy;ri&shy;cades to fight the police if they charge. At 2 in the morn&shy;ing, the police at&shy;tack, using gas {{p|201}}gren&shy;ades, tear gas, trun&shy;cheons &hellip; fight&shy;ing goes on until 5:30, around about 60 bar&shy;ri&shy;cades: many stu&shy;dents are in&shy;jured and seven are still miss&shy;ing, no one knows where. On Satur&shy;day, tension: the {{w|trade unions|Trade_union}} call for a {{w|gen&shy;eral strike|General_strike}}. The stu&shy;dent milit&shy;ants oc&shy;cupy an annex of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity, and use the premises for dis&shy;cus&shy;sions and de&shy;bates. On Sunday, the unions dis&shy;cuss and pre&shy;pare their demon&shy;stra&shy;tion. On Monday the strike takes place, and work&shy;ers and stu&shy;dents march to&shy;gether to demon&shy;strate against the police and the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment. On Tues&shy;day the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment gives in, and says that the stu&shy;dent de&shy;mands for as&shy;soci&shy;a&shy;tion in the organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity will be met: and the news&shy;papers give the im&shy;pres&shy;sion that this is what it is all about.
+'''Wednesday-Thursday, May 15th-May 16th.'''&emsp;The {{w|Paris dis&shy;turb&shy;ances|May_1968_events_in_France}} have been very poorly re&shy;ported in the {{w|English|England}} press. First, the dis&shy;turb&shy;ance may have arisen out of com&shy;plaints about the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity sys&shy;tem, but it has gone far beyond that now. It started with a {{w|row|Movement_of_22_March}} at {{w|Nan&shy;terre|Paris_Nanterre_University}}, a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity out&shy;side {{w|Paris}}, when the uni&shy;vers&shy;ity was closed for an in&shy;defin&shy;ite period, and seven stu&shy;dents were sum&shy;moned to ap&shy;pear before a uni&shy;vers&shy;ity board. The {{w|Sor&shy;bonne|Sorbonne_University}} started to get active, in the big main court&shy;yard; the ''{{w|recteur|Rector_(academia)}}'' called in the police to clear out the stu&shy;dents who had gathered to dis&shy;cuss mat&shy;ters. The police carted the stu&shy;dents off and there were demon&shy;stra&shy;tions against this action, and against the police. The Sor&shy;bonne was closed, and the uni&shy;vers&shy;ities pro&shy;posed to strike on Monday, May 6th, demon&shy;stra&shy;tions all day long, fin&shy;ish&shy;ing with 20,000 march&shy;ing. The police charged the march at {{w|St. Germain des Pr&eacute;s|Saint-Germain-des-Prés}}, and the bar&shy;ri&shy;cades started to go up. The police use {{w|gas|Tear_gas}}. It fin&shy;ishes up with police hunt&shy;ing stu&shy;dents through the streets, beat&shy;ing them with {{w|trun&shy;cheons|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. On Tuesday, another long march, about 40,000-50,000 people, stu&shy;dents and work&shy;ers. The {{w|red flags|Red_flag_(politics)}} lead the march and the {{w|Inter&shy;na&shy;tion&shy;ale|The_Internationale}} is sung at the {{w|Arc de Triomphe|Arc_de_Triomphe}}. More demon&shy;stra&shy;tions on Wednes&shy;day, when the left wing parties, hostile hitherto, jump on the band&shy;wagon. Thurs&shy;day, the Sor&shy;bonne is to be re&shy;opened: the police are on the scene, and the stu&shy;dents de&shy;mand with&shy;drawal of police, open&shy;ing of all the col&shy;leges again, and the free&shy;ing of the ar&shy;rested stu&shy;dents. The {{w|Trotsky&shy;ists|Trotskyism}} hold a meet&shy;ing where the whole af&shy;fair begins to open out into a re&shy;volu&shy;tion&shy;ary move&shy;ment. On Friday comes the ex&shy;plo&shy;sion: thou&shy;sands of stu&shy;dents on a demon&shy;stra&shy;tion march are stopped by a dam of police: the stu&shy;dents re&shy;tire into the {{w|Latin Quarter|Latin_Quarter,_Paris}}, filling the {{w|Bou&shy;levard St. Michel|Boulevard_Saint-Michel}} up to the {{w|Luxem&shy;bourg|Jardin_du_Luxembourg}}. They spread out and start erect&shy;ing bar&shy;ri&shy;cades to fight the police if they charge. At 2 in the morn&shy;ing, the police at&shy;tack, using gas {{p|201}}gren&shy;ades, tear gas, trun&shy;cheons &hellip; fight&shy;ing goes on until 5.30, around about 60 bar&shy;ri&shy;cades: many stu&shy;dents are in&shy;jured and seven are still miss&shy;ing, no one knows where. On Satur&shy;day, tension: the {{w|trade unions|Trade_union}} call for a {{w|gen&shy;eral strike|General_strike}}. The stu&shy;dent milit&shy;ants oc&shy;cupy an annex of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity, and use the premises for dis&shy;cus&shy;sions and de&shy;bates. On Sunday, the unions dis&shy;cuss and pre&shy;pare their demon&shy;stra&shy;tion. On Monday the strike takes place, and work&shy;ers and stu&shy;dents march to&shy;gether to demon&shy;strate against the police and the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment. On Tues&shy;day the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment gives in, and says that the stu&shy;dent de&shy;mands for as&shy;soci&shy;a&shy;tion in the organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity will be met: and the news&shy;papers give the im&shy;pres&shy;sion that this is what it is all about.
-{{tab}}So it was, per&shy;haps, in the first in&shy;stance, but things have changed. The stu&shy;dents have taken over the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity com&shy;pletely. The lec&shy;ture rooms are crowded with com&shy;mit&shy;tees dis&shy;cuss&shy;ing the whole move&shy;ment{{dash}}for it is a movement: the whole struc&shy;ture of western so&shy;ciety is being called into ques&shy;tion. The groups of the left are of course very pro&shy;min&shy;ent in this ques&shy;tion&shy;ing: {{w|Mao&shy;ists|Maoism}}, {{w|Trotsky&shy;ists|Trotskyism}}, {{w|Com&shy;mun&shy;ists|Marxism–Leninism}} and Anarch&shy;ists have plas&shy;tered the Sor&shy;bonne with posters, de&shy;clar&shy;a&shy;tions, ex&shy;hort&shy;a&shy;tions; a flood of bro&shy;chures, leaf&shy;lets, pamph&shy;lets and broad&shy;sheets, as well as im&shy;pro&shy;vised news&shy;papers, pours out. The great court&shy;yard of the Sor&shy;bonne is crowded with people: stu&shy;dents and work&shy;ers, and some bour&shy;geois, argu&shy;ing, form&shy;ing groups where people stand and dis&shy;cuss, dis&shy;pute, bellow, dis&shy;agree, create an atmo&shy;sphere where one feels that they are awake! This goes on twenty-<wbr>four hours a day, while people pass in and out of the build&shy;ing, the lec&shy;ture halls wit&shy;ness con&shy;tinu&shy;ous meet&shy;ings and com&shy;mit&shy;tees and in the court&shy;yard people go on argu&shy;ing. Around the court&shy;yard are the pla&shy;cards and pro&shy;clam&shy;a&shy;tions, people sell the news&shy;papers and hand out the sheets: {{w|trestle tables|Trestle_table}} along the walls are oco&shy;cu&shy;pied by vari&shy;ous groups selling their lit&shy;er&shy;ature{{dash}}Trotsky&shy;ists, Com&shy;mun&shy;ists, Mao&shy;ists: I haven{{t}} run across the Anarch&shy;ists yet but I know they are there: their posters are edged in black. Walking out across the {{l|Place de la Sorbonne|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Sorbonne}}, you can see the same thing{{dash}}groups, dis&shy;cus&shy;sions, every&shy;where per&shy;fect strangers join&shy;ing argu&shy;ments, ex&shy;chan&shy;ging views, in an atmo&shy;sphere of charged ex&shy;cite&shy;ment which is im&shy;pos&shy;sible for me to com&shy;mun&shy;icate. The level of dis&shy;cus&shy;sion is re&shy;mark&shy;ably high, on the whole, and if you can imagine the sort of energy the French put into an argu&shy;ment be&shy;tween two drivers whose cars have col&shy;lided, trans&shy;ferred to an argu&shy;ment about the organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity, the class strug&shy;gle, the whole organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of our so&shy;ciety, the pos&shy;sibil&shy;ity of re&shy;volu&shy;tion: all this con&shy;ducted by a free-<wbr>float&shy;ing crowd of liter&shy;ally thou&shy;sands of people, in the Sor&shy;bonne, in the street, in the cafes{{dash|this all going on day and night}}then you may get some idea of the Quartier Latin at the moment.
+{{tab}}So it was, per&shy;haps, in the first in&shy;stance, but things have changed. The stu&shy;dents have taken over the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity com&shy;pletely. The lec&shy;ture rooms are crowded with com&shy;mit&shy;tees dis&shy;cuss&shy;ing the whole move&shy;ment{{dash}}for it is a movement: the whole struc&shy;ture of western so&shy;ciety is being called into ques&shy;tion. The groups of the left are of course very pro&shy;min&shy;ent in this ques&shy;tion&shy;ing: {{w|Mao&shy;ists|Maoism}}, {{w|Trotsky&shy;ists|Trotskyism}}, {{w|Com&shy;mun&shy;ists|Marxism–Leninism}} and Anarch&shy;ists have plas&shy;tered the Sor&shy;bonne with posters, de&shy;clar&shy;a&shy;tions, ex&shy;hort&shy;a&shy;tions; a flood of bro&shy;chures, leaf&shy;lets, pamph&shy;lets and broad&shy;sheets, as well as im&shy;pro&shy;vised news&shy;papers, pours out. The great court&shy;yard of the Sor&shy;bonne is crowded with people: stu&shy;dents and work&shy;ers, and some bour&shy;geois, argu&shy;ing, form&shy;ing groups where people stand and dis&shy;cuss, dis&shy;pute, bellow, dis&shy;agree, create an atmo&shy;sphere where one feels that they are awake! This goes on twenty-<wbr>four hours a day, while people pass in and out of the build&shy;ing, the lec&shy;ture halls wit&shy;ness con&shy;tinu&shy;ous meet&shy;ings and com&shy;mit&shy;tees and in the court&shy;yard people go on argu&shy;ing. Around the court&shy;yard are the pla&shy;cards and pro&shy;clam&shy;a&shy;tions, people sell the news&shy;papers and hand out the sheets: {{w|trestle tables|Trestle_table}} along the walls are oco&shy;cu&shy;pied by vari&shy;ous groups selling their lit&shy;er&shy;ature{{dash}}Trotsky&shy;ists, Com&shy;mun&shy;ists, Mao&shy;ists: I haven{{t}} run across the Anarch&shy;ists yet but I know they are there: their posters are edged in black. Walking out across the {{l|Place de la Sorbonne|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Sorbonne}}, you can see the same thing{{dash}}groups, dis&shy;cus&shy;sions, every&shy;where per&shy;fect strangers join&shy;ing argu&shy;ments, ex&shy;chan&shy;ging views, in an atmo&shy;sphere of charged ex&shy;cite&shy;ment which is im&shy;pos&shy;sible to under&shy;stand there in {{w|London}}, and which is im&shy;pos&shy;sible for me to com&shy;mun&shy;icate. The level of dis&shy;cus&shy;sion is re&shy;mark&shy;ably high, on the whole, and if you can imagine the sort of energy the French put into an argu&shy;ment be&shy;tween two drivers whose cars have col&shy;lided, trans&shy;ferred to an argu&shy;ment about the organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of the Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity, the class strug&shy;gle, the whole organ&shy;isa&shy;tion of our so&shy;ciety, the pos&shy;sibil&shy;ity of re&shy;volu&shy;tion: all this con&shy;ducted by a free-<wbr>float&shy;ing crowd of liter&shy;ally thou&shy;sands of people, in the Sor&shy;bonne, in the street, in the cafes{{dash|this all going on day and night}}then you may get some idea of the Quartier Latin at the moment.
 {{tab}}The moment being 2.15 in the morn&shy;ing (Thurs&shy;day), and the place being a crowded (at this hour!) cafe in the Place de la Sorbonne. If I were rather younger and a great many il&shy;lu&shy;sions richer, I might be tempted to be&shy;lieve in the re&shy;volu&shy;tion&shy;ary atmo&shy;sphere all around me. For {{p|202}}the atmo&shy;sphere, if not the situ&shy;a&shy;tion, is cer&shy;tainly one of re&shy;volu&shy;tion{{dash}}it reminds me a little of ac&shy;counts I have read of the so&shy;ciety in {{w|Spain}} in the first days of the {{w|re&shy;volu&shy;tion|Spanish_Revolution_of_1936}}, feel&shy;ing of ex&shy;cite&shy;ment, of ten&shy;sion, of all sorts of pos&shy;sibil&shy;ities for the future, the il&shy;lu&shy;sion that these people might, just might, put a really big crack in the struc&shy;ture of the so&shy;ciety which they are ques&shy;tion&shy;ing so fiercely. In the spec&shy;trum of opin&shy;ion you can re&shy;cog&shy;nise the pos&shy;sible chrono&shy;lo&shy;gical pat&shy;tern of hypo&shy;thet&shy;ical re&shy;volu&shy;tion, from re&shy;form&shy;ists whose ideas are lim&shy;ited to the grant&shy;ing of cer&shy;tain con&shy;ces&shy;sions within{{dash|well within}}the format of the set-<wbr>up as it is, through others who advo&shy;cate a far greater degree of change in the status of the stu&shy;dent, those who look for the fall of the pres&shy;ent govern&shy;ment without think&shy;ing much further (even those who would be satis&shy;fied with the resig&shy;na&shy;tion of a few min&shy;is&shy;ters), those who want to see the stu&shy;dents de&shy;clare their solid&shy;ar&shy;ity with the work&shy;ers, aban&shy;don&shy;ing their pres&shy;ent privi&shy;leged posi&shy;tion as those who are des&shy;tined to be the bas&shy;tions of cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ism, through to those who look to a total de&shy;struc&shy;tion of cap&shy;it&shy;al&shy;ist so&shy;ciety and the estab&shy;lish&shy;ment of a so&shy;cial&shy;ist so&shy;ciety of one sort or another, and those who talk as if the re&shy;volu&shy;tion were sched&shy;uled for to&shy;morrow, or the day after at the very latest. Here it all is, in words at least.
-{{tab}}And what will come out of it? Not much perhaps: in fact, my guess would be, con&shy;ces&shy;sions in words from the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment, soothing noises, a few re&shy;forms, a scape&shy;goat or two{{dash|the {{w|Pr&eacute;fet|Prefect_(France)}} {{w|of Paris|Paul_Delouvrier}}, for in&shy;stance, who did not want to send the police in to the Sor&shy;bonne in the first pace}}and then, nothing. For a while, the ques&shy;tion is: is the feel&shy;ing under&shy;ly&shy;ing this re&shy;volt so strong that it will break out again? I be&shy;lieve it is: this is abso&shy;lutely not a ques&shy;tion of mild stu&shy;dent dis&shy;con&shy;tent within the frame&shy;work of the edu&shy;ca&shy;tion sys&shy;tem, although it may ap&shy;pear that way, and may have started that way. It looks to me like a deep-<wbr>rooted dis&shy;con&shy;tent and dis&shy;like of the whole struc&shy;ture of so&shy;ciety together with a total dis&shy;trust of the dis&shy;cred&shy;ited lead&shy;ers of the left. Those of the right are scarcely men&shy;tioned, even {{w|de Gaulle|Charles_de_Gaulle}} and {{w|Pompi&shy;dou|Georges_Pompidou}} are not names one hears often, and when one does it is in tones of dis&shy;missal. There is no need to at&shy;tack them in words: they are there, that{{s}} all. In fact, there is a very re&shy;mark&shy;able lack of names{{dash}}plenty of ini&shy;tials of left wing parties, but no names. No {{qq|Leaders}} in the old sense: no&shy;body{{s}} lead&shy;ing.
+{{tab}}And what will come out of it? Not much perhaps: in fact, my guess would be, con&shy;ces&shy;sions in words from the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment, soothing noises, a few re&shy;forms, a scape&shy;goat or two{{dash|the {{w|Pr&eacute;fet|Prefect_(France)}} {{w|of Paris|Paul_Delouvrier}}, for in&shy;stance, who did not want to send the police in to the Sor&shy;bonne in the first place}}and then, nothing. For a while, the ques&shy;tion is: is the feel&shy;ing under&shy;ly&shy;ing this re&shy;volt so strong that it will break out again? I be&shy;lieve it is: this is abso&shy;lutely not a ques&shy;tion of mild stu&shy;dent dis&shy;con&shy;tent within the frame&shy;work of the edu&shy;ca&shy;tion sys&shy;tem, although it may ap&shy;pear that way, and may have started that way. It looks to me like a deep-<wbr>rooted dis&shy;con&shy;tent and dis&shy;like of the whole struc&shy;ture of so&shy;ciety together with a total dis&shy;trust of the dis&shy;cred&shy;ited lead&shy;ers of the left. Those of the right are scarcely men&shy;tioned, even {{w|de Gaulle|Charles_de_Gaulle}} and {{w|Pompi&shy;dou|Georges_Pompidou}} are not names one hears often, and when one does it is in tones of dis&shy;missal. There is no need to at&shy;tack them in words: they are there, that{{s}} all. In fact, there is a very re&shy;mark&shy;able lack of names{{dash}}plenty of ini&shy;tials of left wing parties, but no names. No {{qq|Leaders}} in the old sense: no&shy;body{{s}} lead&shy;ing.
-{{tab}}4.10 a.m.&emsp;{{w|Les Halles|Les_Halles}}, always a sight worth seeing{{dash}}Paris{{s}} belly, {{w|Zola|Émile_Zola}} called it, with its almost blocked streets, its furi&shy;ous activ&shy;ity, its enor&shy;mous {{w|arti&shy;cu&shy;lated lorries|Semi-trailer_truck}} bring&shy;ing in fish from {{w|Brittany}} and the {{w|south-<wbr>west|South_West_France_(wine_region)}}, cheese from {{w|Normandy}}, milk from all over the place. How very far from the atmo&shy;sphere of the Sor&shy;bonne: the stu&shy;dents may ex&shy;press solid&shy;ar&shy;ity with the work&shy;ers, but how much solid&shy;ar&shy;ity do these work&shy;ers feel for the stu&shy;dents? A cer&shy;tain amount, per&shy;haps, since one of the stu&shy;dent griev&shy;ances{{dash|not one that is well pub&shy;li&shy;cised however}}is that so few chil&shy;dren of the work&shy;ing class get to uni&shy;vers&shy;ity.
+{{tab}}4.10 a.m.&emsp;{{w|Les Halles|Les_Halles}}, always a sight worth seeing{{dash}}Paris{{s}} belly, {{w|Zola|Émile_Zola}} called it, with its almost blocked streets, its furi&shy;ous activ&shy;ity, its enor&shy;mous col&shy;lec&shy;tions of fruit and veg&shy;et&shy;ables, its stink&shy;ing fish market with the enor&shy;mous {{w|arti&shy;cu&shy;lated lorries|Semi-trailer_truck}} bring&shy;ing in fish from {{w|Brittany}} and the {{w|south-<wbr>west|South_West_France_(wine_region)}}, cheese from {{w|Normandy}}, milk from all over the place. How very far from the atmo&shy;sphere of the Sor&shy;bonne: the stu&shy;dents may ex&shy;press solid&shy;ar&shy;ity with the work&shy;ers, but how much solid&shy;ar&shy;ity do these work&shy;ers feel for the stu&shy;dents? A cer&shy;tain amount, per&shy;haps, since one of the stu&shy;dent griev&shy;ances{{dash|not one that is well pub&shy;li&shy;cised however}}is that so few chil&shy;dren of the work&shy;ing class get to uni&shy;vers&shy;ity.
 {{tab}}9.20 a.m.&emsp;This morn&shy;ing I have been with Sor&shy;bonne stu&shy;dents ef&shy;fect&shy;ing li&shy;aison with the med&shy;ical stu&shy;dents, who are not so enthu&shy;si&shy;astic or so {{p|203}}well organ&shy;ised. In fact, the Sor&shy;bonne people were on picket duty, per&shy;suad&shy;ing the med&shy;ical stu&shy;dents to keep up the strike and not enter into dis&shy;cus&shy;sions with the teach&shy;ing staff. It is re&shy;mark&shy;able to see: dis&shy;pute, argu&shy;ment, per&shy;sua&shy;sion, but never the faint&shy;est sug&shy;ges&shy;tion of a fist raised in anger. If in normal times Sor&shy;bonne stu&shy;dents went to the Fac&shy;ulty of Medi&shy;cine and dared to try to tell them what to do, they would be thrown out, but now the stu&shy;dents must above all stay to&shy;gether, other&shy;wise the move&shy;ment is done for.

@@ Line 122: / Line 122: @@
 </div>
-{{DEFAULTSORT: Reflections on the revolution in france}}
+{{DEFAULTSORT: Overtaken by events : a paris journal}}
 [[Category:Anarchist history]]
 [[Category:Labour and industry]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:58, 12 April 2018
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−	'''Wednesday-Thursday, May 15th-May 16th.'''&emsp;The {{w\|Paris disturbances\|May_1968_events_in_France}} have been very poorly reported in the {{w\|English\|England}} press. First, the disturbance may have arisen out of complaints about the University system, but it has gone far beyond that now. It started with a row at {{w\|Nanterre\|Paris_Nanterre_University}}, a university outside {{w\|Paris}}, when the university was ~~close~~ for an indefinite period, and seven students were summoned to appear before a university board. The {{w\|Sorbonne\|Sorbonne_University}} started to get active, in the big main courtyard; the ''{{w\|recteur\|Rector_(academia)}}'' called in the police to clear out the students who had gathered to discuss matters. The police carted the students off and there were demonstrations against this action, and against the police. The Sorbonne was closed, and the universities proposed to strike on Monday, May 6th, demonstrations all day long, finishing with 20,000 marching. The police charged the march at {{w\|St. Germain des Prés\|Saint-Germain-des-Prés}}, and the barricades started to go up. The police use {{w\|gas\|Tear_gas}}. It finishes up with police hunting students through the streets, beating them with {{w\|truncheons\|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. On Tuesday, another long march, about 40,000-50,000 people, students and workers. The {{w\|red flags\|Red_flag_(politics)}} lead the march and the {{w\|Internationale\|The_Internationale}} is sung at the {{w\|Arc de Triomphe\|Arc_de_Triomphe}}. More demonstrations on Wednesday, when the left wing parties, hostile hitherto, jump on the bandwagon. Thursday, the Sorbonne is to be reopened: the police are on the scene, and the students demand withdrawal of police, opening of all the colleges again, and the freeing of the arrested students. The {{w\|Trotskyists\|Trotskyism}} hold a meeting where the whole affair begins to open out into a revolutionary movement. On Friday comes the explosion: thousands of students on a demonstration march are stopped by a dam of police: the students retire into the {{w\|Latin Quarter\|Latin_Quarter,_Paris}}, filling the {{w\|Boulevard St. Michel\|Boulevard_Saint-Michel}} up to the {{w\|Luxembourg\|Jardin_du_Luxembourg}}. They spread out and start erecting barricades to fight the police if they charge. At 2 in the morning, the police attack, using gas {{p\|201}}grenades, tear gas, truncheons … fighting goes on until 5:30, around about 60 barricades: many students are injured and seven are still missing, no one knows where. On Saturday, tension: the {{w\|trade unions\|Trade_union}} call for a {{w\|general strike\|General_strike}}. The student militants occupy an annex of the University, and use the premises for discussions and debates. On Sunday, the unions discuss and prepare their demonstration. On Monday the strike takes place, and workers and students march together to demonstrate against the police and the government. On Tuesday the government gives in, and says that the student demands for association in the organisation of the University will be met: and the newspapers give the impression that this is what it is all about.	+	'''Wednesday-Thursday, May 15th-May 16th.'''&emsp;The {{w\|Paris disturbances\|May_1968_events_in_France}} have been very poorly reported in the {{w\|English\|England}} press. First, the disturbance may have arisen out of complaints about the University system, but it has gone far beyond that now. It started with a row at {{w\|Nanterre\|Paris_Nanterre_University}}, a university outside {{w\|Paris}}, when the university was closed for an indefinite period, and seven students were summoned to appear before a university board. The {{w\|Sorbonne\|Sorbonne_University}} started to get active, in the big main courtyard; the ''{{w\|recteur\|Rector_(academia)}}'' called in the police to clear out the students who had gathered to discuss matters. The police carted the students off and there were demonstrations against this action, and against the police. The Sorbonne was closed, and the universities proposed to strike on Monday, May 6th, demonstrations all day long, finishing with 20,000 marching. The police charged the march at {{w\|St. Germain des Prés\|Saint-Germain-des-Prés}}, and the barricades started to go up. The police use {{w\|gas\|Tear_gas}}. It finishes up with police hunting students through the streets, beating them with {{w\|truncheons\|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. On Tuesday, another long march, about 40,000-50,000 people, students and workers. The {{w\|red flags\|Red_flag_(politics)}} lead the march and the {{w\|Internationale\|The_Internationale}} is sung at the {{w\|Arc de Triomphe\|Arc_de_Triomphe}}. More demonstrations on Wednesday, when the left wing parties, hostile hitherto, jump on the bandwagon. Thursday, the Sorbonne is to be reopened: the police are on the scene, and the students demand withdrawal of police, opening of all the colleges again, and the freeing of the arrested students. The {{w\|Trotskyists\|Trotskyism}} hold a meeting where the whole affair begins to open out into a revolutionary movement. On Friday comes the explosion: thousands of students on a demonstration march are stopped by a dam of police: the students retire into the {{w\|Latin Quarter\|Latin_Quarter,_Paris}}, filling the {{w\|Boulevard St. Michel\|Boulevard_Saint-Michel}} up to the {{w\|Luxembourg\|Jardin_du_Luxembourg}}. They spread out and start erecting barricades to fight the police if they charge. At 2 in the morning, the police attack, using gas {{p\|201}}grenades, tear gas, truncheons … fighting goes on until 5:30, around about 60 barricades: many students are injured and seven are still missing, no one knows where. On Saturday, tension: the {{w\|trade unions\|Trade_union}} call for a {{w\|general strike\|General_strike}}. The student militants occupy an annex of the University, and use the premises for discussions and debates. On Sunday, the unions discuss and prepare their demonstration. On Monday the strike takes place, and workers and students march together to demonstrate against the police and the government. On Tuesday the government gives in, and says that the student demands for association in the organisation of the University will be met: and the newspapers give the impression that this is what it is all about.

	{{tab}}So it was, perhaps, in the first instance, but things have changed. The students have taken over the University completely. The lecture rooms are crowded with committees discussing the whole movement{{dash}}for it is a movement: the whole structure of western society is being called into question. The groups of the left are of course very prominent in this questioning: {{w\|Maoists\|Maoism}}, {{w\|Trotskyists\|Trotskyism}}, {{w\|Communists\|Marxism–Leninism}} and Anarchists have plastered the Sorbonne with posters, declarations, exhortations; a flood of brochures, leaflets, pamphlets and broadsheets, as well as improvised newspapers, pours out. The great courtyard of the Sorbonne is crowded with people: students and workers, and some bourgeois, arguing, forming groups where people stand and discuss, dispute, bellow, disagree, create an atmosphere where one feels that they are awake! This goes on twenty-<wbr>four hours a day, while people pass in and out of the building, the lecture halls witness continuous meetings and committees and in the courtyard people go on arguing. Around the courtyard are the placards and proclamations, people sell the newspapers and hand out the sheets: {{w\|trestle tables\|Trestle_table}} along the walls are ococupied by various groups selling their literature{{dash}}Trotskyists, Communists, Maoists: I haven{{t}} run across the Anarchists yet but I know they are there: their posters are edged in black. Walking out across the {{l\|Place de la Sorbonne\|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Sorbonne}}, you can see the same thing{{dash}}groups, discussions, everywhere perfect strangers joining arguments, exchanging views, in an atmosphere of charged excitement which is impossible for me to communicate. The level of discussion is remarkably high, on the whole, and if you can imagine the sort of energy the French put into an argument between two drivers whose cars have collided, transferred to an argument about the organisation of the University, the class struggle, the whole organisation of our society, the possibility of revolution: all this conducted by a free-<wbr>floating crowd of literally thousands of people, in the Sorbonne, in the street, in the cafes{{dash\|this all going on day and night}}then you may get some idea of the Quartier Latin at the moment.		{{tab}}So it was, perhaps, in the first instance, but things have changed. The students have taken over the University completely. The lecture rooms are crowded with committees discussing the whole movement{{dash}}for it is a movement: the whole structure of western society is being called into question. The groups of the left are of course very prominent in this questioning: {{w\|Maoists\|Maoism}}, {{w\|Trotskyists\|Trotskyism}}, {{w\|Communists\|Marxism–Leninism}} and Anarchists have plastered the Sorbonne with posters, declarations, exhortations; a flood of brochures, leaflets, pamphlets and broadsheets, as well as improvised newspapers, pours out. The great courtyard of the Sorbonne is crowded with people: students and workers, and some bourgeois, arguing, forming groups where people stand and discuss, dispute, bellow, disagree, create an atmosphere where one feels that they are awake! This goes on twenty-<wbr>four hours a day, while people pass in and out of the building, the lecture halls witness continuous meetings and committees and in the courtyard people go on arguing. Around the courtyard are the placards and proclamations, people sell the newspapers and hand out the sheets: {{w\|trestle tables\|Trestle_table}} along the walls are ococupied by various groups selling their literature{{dash}}Trotskyists, Communists, Maoists: I haven{{t}} run across the Anarchists yet but I know they are there: their posters are edged in black. Walking out across the {{l\|Place de la Sorbonne\|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Sorbonne}}, you can see the same thing{{dash}}groups, discussions, everywhere perfect strangers joining arguments, exchanging views, in an atmosphere of charged excitement which is impossible for me to communicate. The level of discussion is remarkably high, on the whole, and if you can imagine the sort of energy the French put into an argument between two drivers whose cars have collided, transferred to an argument about the organisation of the University, the class struggle, the whole organisation of our society, the possibility of revolution: all this conducted by a free-<wbr>floating crowd of literally thousands of people, in the Sorbonne, in the street, in the cafes{{dash\|this all going on day and night}}then you may get some idea of the Quartier Latin at the moment.

@@ Line 80: / Line 80: @@
 {{tab}}I went to the Sor&shy;bonne and had a talk with some people I had ment, two couples, one an eld&shy;erly rail&shy;way&shy;man and his wife, all anarch&shy;ists. I don{{t}} know what time it was when I left them, but we had heard that there was al&shy;ready trouble at the Place St. Michel, and I headed back there.
-{{tab}}That was the flash&shy;point of Thurs&shy;day night{{s}} riots. The police bar&shy;rier had at&shy;tracted a large crowd, many of them stu&shy;dents, and in&shy;sults had been hurled at the CRS. It is farily cer&shy;tain that many of those who hurled the in&shy;sults were {{qq|{{w|pro&shy;vocateurs|Agent_provocateur}}}}, in&shy;tend&shy;ing to start trouble; it is less easy to say whether they were ex&shy;trem&shy;ists from the left wing or the right, or even, im&shy;prob&shy;able though it sounds, work&shy;ing for the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment, {{p|209}}to give the public the im&shy;pres&shy;sion that the stu&shy;dents were in the wrong for start&shy;ing it all. Anyway, the in&shy;evit&shy;able fin&shy;ally hap&shy;pened, stones and rub&shy;bish were thrown at the CRS, back came gas gren&shy;ades, and the Place St. Michel and the {{l|Place St. Andr&eacute; des Arts|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Saint-Andr%C3%A9-des-Arts}} be&shy;came a battle&shy;field. The {{qq|service d{{a}}ordre}} of the stu&shy;dents tried in every way they could to stop it, but it was use&shy;less, partly be&shy;cause of the ex&shy;aspir&shy;a&shy;tion, partly be&shy;cause of the feel&shy;ing of solid&shy;ar&shy;ity. The police ad&shy;vanced, the gren&shy;ades and the stones flew, and soon the {{w|pav&eacute;|Cobblestone}} was being dug up, the thick pierced iron plates that sur&shy;round the base of the trees pulled up, and bar&shy;ri&shy;cades went up on the Bou&shy;le&shy;vard St. Michel.
+{{tab}}That was the flash&shy;point of Thurs&shy;day night{{s}} riots. The police bar&shy;rier had at&shy;tracted a large crowd, many of them stu&shy;dents, and in&shy;sults had been hurled at the CRS. It is farily cer&shy;tain that many of those who hurled the in&shy;sults were {{qq|{{w|pro&shy;vocateurs|Agent_provocateur}}}}, in&shy;tend&shy;ing to start trouble; it is less easy to say whether they were ex&shy;trem&shy;ists from the left wing or the right, or even, im&shy;prob&shy;able though it sounds, work&shy;ing for the gov&shy;ern&shy;ment, {{p|209}}to give the public the im&shy;pres&shy;sion that the stu&shy;dents were in the wrong for start&shy;ing it all. Anyway, the in&shy;evit&shy;able fin&shy;ally hap&shy;pened, stones and rub&shy;bish were thrown at the CRS, back came gas gren&shy;ades, and the Place St. Michel and the {{l|Place St. Andr&eacute; des Arts|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Saint-Andr%C3%A9-des-Arts}} be&shy;came a battle&shy;field. The {{qq|service d{{a}}ordre}} of the stu&shy;dents tried in every way they could to stop it, but it was use&shy;less, partly be&shy;cause of the ex&shy;aspir&shy;a&shy;tion, partly be&shy;cause of the feel&shy;ing of solid&shy;ar&shy;ity. The police ad&shy;vanced, the gren&shy;ades and the stones flew, and soon the {{w|pav&eacute;|Sett_(paving)}} was being dug up, the thick pierced iron plates that sur&shy;round the base of the trees pulled up, and bar&shy;ri&shy;cades went up on the Bou&shy;le&shy;vard St. Michel.
 {{tab}}The CRS had four enorm&shy;ous lorries side by side across the whole width of the Bou&shy;le&shy;vard, ad&shy;van&shy;cing slowly up&shy;hill. Night had fallen, and the tear gas was so thick that it was dif&shy;fi&shy;cult to see even if your eyes were not stream&shy;ing tears. Through the haze came flashes{{dash}}some&shy;times the lights of news photo&shy;graph&shy;ers, some&shy;times, I think, some form of gren&shy;ade strik&shy;ing. The CRS don{{t}} throw the gren&shy;ades, they have mech&shy;an&shy;ical throw&shy;ers which send them a long dis&shy;tance and with con&shy;sider&shy;able velo&shy;city, which in itself con&shy;sti&shy;tutes a con&shy;sider&shy;able hazard when the gren&shy;ades are thrown hap&shy;hazard into a crowd. I can test&shy;ity to this, as I in&shy;volun&shy;tar&shy;ily stopped a gas gren&shy;ade with my left leg, get&shy;ting a large bruise and a severe limp.

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:02, 9 April 2018
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	{{tab}}That evening there was a big demonstration, called by the students to protest against the government{{s}} action in forbidding [[Author:Daniel Cohn-Bendit\|Cohn-Bendit]]{{s}} return to France. I took part, and it was indeed an amazing affair. A crowd of up to 10,000 people, chanting slogans, but most of all, singing the {{w\|Internationale\|The_Internationale}} and chanting {{qq\|Nous sommes tous des juifs allemands}} (We are all {{w\|German Jews\|History_of_the_Jews_in_Germany#Jews_in_Germany_from_1945_to_the_reunification}}). I was enormously moved{{dash}}as I have been time after time in these last days. We marched towards the {{w\|Assemblée Nationale\|Palais_Bourbon}}, but were not allowed through to demonstrate in front (that evening they were debating the {{w\|opposition\|Federation_of_the_Democratic_and_Socialist_Left}} foredoomed {{w\|censure\|Censure}} motion). There I had my first sight of the CRS drawn up for action. I had seen them often enough in the days before, in coaches with the windows protected by thick mesh, hanging around the {{w\|Pont des Arts\|Pont_des_Arts}}. But here they were drawn up in line three or four deep right across each of several side roads off the {{w\|Boulevard St. Germain\|Boulevard_Saint-Germain}}, where we were, and across the boulevard itself. We were thousands, they were I suppose under a hundred in each side street, considerably more on the boulevard: but, but. They wear close-<wbr>fitting, gleaming {{w\|helmets\|Riot_protection_helmet}}, with a double thonged strap under the chin; {{w\|jackboots\|Jackboot}}; thick black uniforms with broad heavy belts; carry heavy {{w\|truncheons\|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. They are armed also with grenades discharging not only {{w\|tear gas\|Tear_gas}}, but other {{w\|gases\|Chemical_weapon}} of various sorts, some of them said to be banned by the {{l\|Geneva Convention\|https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol}}, some, certainly, of which the details are secret, so that the civilian doctors who treated victims after the first night of the barricades had themselves no accurate information to guide them in treatment. The CRS look awfully like the {{w\|SS\|Schutzstaffel}} men of the war films. Certainly they would have made excellent SS men. They are, whether by nature or by training, fitted to be {{w\|concentration camp\|Internment}} guards. If called on to support my assertion that man is a stain on nature, the catastrophe of this planet, whose destruction would be a blessing of unimaginable magnitude; if challenged by some {{w\|humanist\|Humanism}} to support this contention not by history, but {{p\|208}}by living specimens, and if I couldn{{t}} for the moment find any concentration camp guards or {{w\|Ku Klux Klanners\|Ku_Klux_Klan}} (I have mentioned only two, and those chosen only from the ranks of those who persecute their own species){{dash}}why, then a CRS man would refute my hypothetical humanist quite as adequately as {{w\|Johnson\|Lyndon_B._Johnson}}{{s}} stone refuted {{w\|Berkeley\|1960s_Berkeley_protests}}. (I am quite aware of the implications of this comparison.)		{{tab}}That evening there was a big demonstration, called by the students to protest against the government{{s}} action in forbidding [[Author:Daniel Cohn-Bendit\|Cohn-Bendit]]{{s}} return to France. I took part, and it was indeed an amazing affair. A crowd of up to 10,000 people, chanting slogans, but most of all, singing the {{w\|Internationale\|The_Internationale}} and chanting {{qq\|Nous sommes tous des juifs allemands}} (We are all {{w\|German Jews\|History_of_the_Jews_in_Germany#Jews_in_Germany_from_1945_to_the_reunification}}). I was enormously moved{{dash}}as I have been time after time in these last days. We marched towards the {{w\|Assemblée Nationale\|Palais_Bourbon}}, but were not allowed through to demonstrate in front (that evening they were debating the {{w\|opposition\|Federation_of_the_Democratic_and_Socialist_Left}} foredoomed {{w\|censure\|Censure}} motion). There I had my first sight of the CRS drawn up for action. I had seen them often enough in the days before, in coaches with the windows protected by thick mesh, hanging around the {{w\|Pont des Arts\|Pont_des_Arts}}. But here they were drawn up in line three or four deep right across each of several side roads off the {{w\|Boulevard St. Germain\|Boulevard_Saint-Germain}}, where we were, and across the boulevard itself. We were thousands, they were I suppose under a hundred in each side street, considerably more on the boulevard: but, but. They wear close-<wbr>fitting, gleaming {{w\|helmets\|Riot_protection_helmet}}, with a double thonged strap under the chin; {{w\|jackboots\|Jackboot}}; thick black uniforms with broad heavy belts; carry heavy {{w\|truncheons\|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. They are armed also with grenades discharging not only {{w\|tear gas\|Tear_gas}}, but other {{w\|gases\|Chemical_weapon}} of various sorts, some of them said to be banned by the {{l\|Geneva Convention\|https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol}}, some, certainly, of which the details are secret, so that the civilian doctors who treated victims after the first night of the barricades had themselves no accurate information to guide them in treatment. The CRS look awfully like the {{w\|SS\|Schutzstaffel}} men of the war films. Certainly they would have made excellent SS men. They are, whether by nature or by training, fitted to be {{w\|concentration camp\|Internment}} guards. If called on to support my assertion that man is a stain on nature, the catastrophe of this planet, whose destruction would be a blessing of unimaginable magnitude; if challenged by some {{w\|humanist\|Humanism}} to support this contention not by history, but {{p\|208}}by living specimens, and if I couldn{{t}} for the moment find any concentration camp guards or {{w\|Ku Klux Klanners\|Ku_Klux_Klan}} (I have mentioned only two, and those chosen only from the ranks of those who persecute their own species){{dash}}why, then a CRS man would refute my hypothetical humanist quite as adequately as {{w\|Johnson\|Lyndon_B._Johnson}}{{s}} stone refuted {{w\|Berkeley\|1960s_Berkeley_protests}}. (I am quite aware of the implications of this comparison.)

		+	{{tab}}But the CRS have made their first appearance, having shown themselves sinister, bulky, black, black, medium long shot, a brooding presence which we know we shall see more of; so, we shall leave them. They will be heard from. To be continued in our next.
		+
		+	{{tab}}On Thursday morning I went again to J.P.{{s}} flat, and confirmed that the {{popup\|ms.\|manuscript}} was indeed part of the {{qq\|unfinished}} novel. When I told J.P. this he was incredulous, and we decided I should look through the documents for the ms. of the published section; it was missing, and I could not find it. The new ms. is about 30,000 words long, and I estimated that with the already published section we had at least 80 per cent of the novel. I left a note for J.P.{{dash}}I was now very excited about this find.
		+
		+	{{tab}}(From a literary point of view we are doing well; we have two good plots going, one social and political, one academic and personal. Will the sinister CRS destroy the valiant anarchist forum by asking them questions they can{{t}} answer? Is our hero{{s}} find really the long-<wbr>lost finale of {{w\|Schubert\|Franz_Schubert}}{{s}} {{w\|Unfinished Symphony\|Symphony_No._8_(Schubert)}}? Will the black uniforms tear up the black flag of the anarchists and steal the precious manuscript? Will the goodies beat the baddies in the end? Read tomorrow{{s}} breathtaking thrill-<wbr>a-<wbr>minute edition of {{w\|''Le Monde''\|Le_Monde}}.)
		+
		+	{{tab}}Coming back from J.P.{{s}} flat, I had something to eat (I had not stopped all day) and then walked through the {{w\|Place St. Michel\|Place_Saint-Michel}} on the way to the Sorbonne. It was about six o{{a}}clock, and the usual strollers were around. There was no disorder: yet a squad of CRS had just formed up at the end of the {{w\|Pont St. Michel\|Pont_Saint-Michel}}, across the whole width of the road, blocking the bridge, carrying their large black {{w\|shields\|Riot_shield}}, ready for action. There was not the slightest need for this: no demonstration had been called for that evening, and none was taking place. If the authorities felt the CRS were necessary to keep order (which seems unlikely, since the effect of their appearance in this way served exactly the opposite purpose), they could have stayed in their coaches, parked nearby, as they had done before, ready to intervene if needed.
		+
		+	{{tab}}I went to the Sorbonne and had a talk with some people I had ment, two couples, one an elderly railwayman and his wife, all anarchists. I don{{t}} know what time it was when I left them, but we had heard that there was already trouble at the Place St. Michel, and I headed back there.
		+
		+	{{tab}}That was the flashpoint of Thursday night{{s}} riots. The police barrier had attracted a large crowd, many of them students, and insults had been hurled at the CRS. It is farily certain that many of those who hurled the insults were {{qq\|{{w\|provocateurs\|Agent_provocateur}}}}, intending to start trouble; it is less easy to say whether they were extremists from the left wing or the right, or even, improbable though it sounds, working for the government, {{p\|209}}to give the public the impression that the students were in the wrong for starting it all. Anyway, the inevitable finally happened, stones and rubbish were thrown at the CRS, back came gas grenades, and the Place St. Michel and the {{l\|Place St. André des Arts\|https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Saint-Andr%C3%A9-des-Arts}} became a battlefield. The {{qq\|service d{{a}}ordre}} of the students tried in every way they could to stop it, but it was useless, partly because of the exaspiration, partly because of the feeling of solidarity. The police advanced, the grenades and the stones flew, and soon the {{w\|pavé\|Cobblestone}} was being dug up, the thick pierced iron plates that surround the base of the trees pulled up, and barricades went up on the Boulevard St. Michel.
		+
		+	{{tab}}The CRS had four enormous lorries side by side across the whole width of the Boulevard, advancing slowly uphill. Night had fallen, and the tear gas was so thick that it was difficult to see even if your eyes were not streaming tears. Through the haze came flashes{{dash}}sometimes the lights of news photographers, sometimes, I think, some form of grenade striking. The CRS don{{t}} throw the grenades, they have mechanical throwers which send them a long distance and with considerable velocity, which in itself constitutes a considerable hazard when the grenades are thrown haphazard into a crowd. I can testity to this, as I involuntarily stopped a gas grenade with my left leg, getting a large bruise and a severe limp.
		+
		+	{{tab}}I was very frightened. I do not think I am a coward. I think that given a rifle and preferably a little training, I could fight. If they are over there with rifles and wee are over here with rifles, I do not think I would run. But to stand your ground with no weapon, no protection{{dash\|God, how delicate and fragile this flesh stuff is when there is a bang, and you find you are running}}to ignore the tear gas{{dash}}which is bad, there is no doubt: you can stand it quite a time, at least I can, but comes a moment when you are blinded, when your eyes burn uncontrollably and you are in the middle of the Boulevard St. Michel and there are two enormous bangs, you can{{t}} open your eyes and you are running across this naked flat plain stretching away to the kerb, and blundering into people as blind as you, your eyes burning, until you stagger into a shop front and put something hard between you and the flying grenades and then stumble away along the houses trying to keep your eyes shut with the terror of the newly blind forcing them open, trying to see to run away from this hell. And if you run far enough, out of the worst of the gas, and your eyes stop burning, you look back and see that you have escaped from hell, the hell of the medieval painters. All around, blackness, and in the centre, illuminated by the tall licking flames from the barricades, hazy and flickering against the fires, through the steam-<wbr>cloud of gas you see dancing figures, male and female, yelling and jumping, bending down to pick up something to throw it through the flames into the cloud and darkness beyond. Around them, crashes and bangs, and from a cylinder on the ground the smoke rushes as if an imprisoned genie had been let loose: you expect him to form in the upper darkness and loom above the figures, who duck and run, and then go back to face that huge darkness beyond. And you know what sort of courage that is, and you know you haven{{t}} got it.
	</div>		</div>

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:07, 9 April 2018
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	{{tab}}On Monday I went to the {{popup\|BN\|Bibliothèque nationale de France}}, but they were short-<wbr>staffed because of the {{w\|Métro\|Paris_Métro}} strike and were not opening the Réserve, where my books were. I went to the {{w\|Bibliothèque de l{{a}}Arsenal\|Bibliothèque_de_l'Arsenal}}, but they were not issuing books for the same reason. So I went back to the Sorbonne. That afternoon I met an American law teacher and freelance journalist called Joe, who was trying to get some personal stories on the {{qq\|nuit des barricades}} of 10-11 mai; as he speaks no French, I went along with him for the evening, and heard a remarkable account by the daughter of a French ambassador, a first-<wbr>year medical student, about seventeen, tiny, with a very young face; she told of what had happened and how she had got on, and I was moved and appalled at the barbarity of the events, but much more at their juxtaposition to this little girl. I was conscious not so much of her sex, but of her youth; at the total incongruity of this tender thing, and the shields, the yard-<wbr>long weighted truncheons, the nerve-<wbr>jumping crack of grenades and the blindness and tears of the gas, the noise and the dirt of the street, and the fear. The fear of the {{w\|CRS\|Compagnies_Républicaines_de_Sécurité}}.		{{tab}}On Monday I went to the {{popup\|BN\|Bibliothèque nationale de France}}, but they were short-<wbr>staffed because of the {{w\|Métro\|Paris_Métro}} strike and were not opening the Réserve, where my books were. I went to the {{w\|Bibliothèque de l{{a}}Arsenal\|Bibliothèque_de_l'Arsenal}}, but they were not issuing books for the same reason. So I went back to the Sorbonne. That afternoon I met an American law teacher and freelance journalist called Joe, who was trying to get some personal stories on the {{qq\|nuit des barricades}} of 10-11 mai; as he speaks no French, I went along with him for the evening, and heard a remarkable account by the daughter of a French ambassador, a first-<wbr>year medical student, about seventeen, tiny, with a very young face; she told of what had happened and how she had got on, and I was moved and appalled at the barbarity of the events, but much more at their juxtaposition to this little girl. I was conscious not so much of her sex, but of her youth; at the total incongruity of this tender thing, and the shields, the yard-<wbr>long weighted truncheons, the nerve-<wbr>jumping crack of grenades and the blindness and tears of the gas, the noise and the dirt of the street, and the fear. The fear of the {{w\|CRS\|Compagnies_Républicaines_de_Sécurité}}.
		+
		+	{{tab}}On Tuesday, I went to the BN, but they were all on strike, so I could not do anything. (These two days I was trying to contact J.P. which I finally did, and arranged to call on him on Wednesday at 10 a.m.) I read a little on Tuesday afternoon, both work and current events. You must imagine too the enormous amount of newsprint being devoured in Paris by everyone in these tense days. The strike was spreading and spreading; by Tuesday the number of strikers was in the millions. On Tuesday evening I met a {{w\|Finnish\|Finns}} girl, journalist and {{p\|207}}translator, and talked about translation and events in Paris until 2 a.m.
		+
		+	{{tab}}Wednesday morning I called on J.P., who seems to be quite a pleasant fellow. I worked there from 10 till 1, poking by nose in that time into all twenty-<wbr>five box-<wbr>files of papers, taking note of one or two interesting things. At a rate of seven minutes per box two inches thick, I obviously did nothing but skim through: but I found one particularly curious thing, a manuscript which appeared to be the last half of a novel, but which I did not recognise at all. It looked to me like the second half of a work wof which the first had been published as an {{qq\|unfinished}} novel. I put it aside for further study.
		+
		+	{\| style="text-align:justify; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-collapse:collapse; float:right; margin-left: 10px; width: 50%;" cellpadding="4"
		+	\|-
		+	\| <font size="2">'''View from the {{w\|East\|Eastern_Bloc}}'''
		+
		+	{{tab}}''France is the first Western country to demonstrate that the social mechanism created two centuries ago does not correspond to the needs any more. The revolutionary action that has served notice that the idea of a worker{{s\|r}} self-<wbr>managed society is knocking on all doors of the rich industrial countries of the {{w\|West\|Western_Bloc}}.''
		+
		+	<div style="text-align: right;">{{dash}}{{w\|{{sc\|borba}}\|Borba_(newspaper)}} (''{{w\|Belgrade}}''), 28.5.68.</div></font>
		+	\|}
		+	{{tab}}That evening there was a big demonstration, called by the students to protest against the government{{s}} action in forbidding [[Author:Daniel Cohn-Bendit\|Cohn-Bendit]]{{s}} return to France. I took part, and it was indeed an amazing affair. A crowd of up to 10,000 people, chanting slogans, but most of all, singing the {{w\|Internationale\|The_Internationale}} and chanting {{qq\|Nous sommes tous des juifs allemands}} (We are all {{w\|German Jews\|History_of_the_Jews_in_Germany#Jews_in_Germany_from_1945_to_the_reunification}}). I was enormously moved{{dash}}as I have been time after time in these last days. We marched towards the {{w\|Assemblée Nationale\|Palais_Bourbon}}, but were not allowed through to demonstrate in front (that evening they were debating the {{w\|opposition\|Federation_of_the_Democratic_and_Socialist_Left}} foredoomed {{w\|censure\|Censure}} motion). There I had my first sight of the CRS drawn up for action. I had seen them often enough in the days before, in coaches with the windows protected by thick mesh, hanging around the {{w\|Pont des Arts\|Pont_des_Arts}}. But here they were drawn up in line three or four deep right across each of several side roads off the {{w\|Boulevard St. Germain\|Boulevard_Saint-Germain}}, where we were, and across the boulevard itself. We were thousands, they were I suppose under a hundred in each side street, considerably more on the boulevard: but, but. They wear close-<wbr>fitting, gleaming {{w\|helmets\|Riot_protection_helmet}}, with a double thonged strap under the chin; {{w\|jackboots\|Jackboot}}; thick black uniforms with broad heavy belts; carry heavy {{w\|truncheons\|Baton_(law_enforcement)}}. They are armed also with grenades discharging not only {{w\|tear gas\|Tear_gas}}, but other {{w\|gases\|Chemical_weapon}} of various sorts, some of them said to be banned by the {{l\|Geneva Convention\|https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/bio/1925-geneva-protocol}}, some, certainly, of which the details are secret, so that the civilian doctors who treated victims after the first night of the barricades had themselves no accurate information to guide them in treatment. The CRS look awfully like the {{w\|SS\|Schutzstaffel}} men of the war films. Certainly they would have made excellent SS men. They are, whether by nature or by training, fitted to be {{w\|concentration camp\|Internment}} guards. If called on to support my assertion that man is a stain on nature, the catastrophe of this planet, whose destruction would be a blessing of unimaginable magnitude; if challenged by some {{w\|humanist\|Humanism}} to support this contention not by history, but {{p\|208}}by living specimens, and if I couldn{{t}} for the moment find any concentration camp guards or {{w\|Ku Klux Klanners\|Ku_Klux_Klan}} (I have mentioned only two, and those chosen only from the ranks of those who persecute their own species){{dash}}why, then a CRS man would refute my hypothetical humanist quite as adequately as {{w\|Johnson\|Lyndon_B._Johnson}}{{s}} stone refuted {{w\|Berkeley\|1960s_Berkeley_protests}}. (I am quite aware of the implications of this comparison.)

	</div>		</div>