Forget 68

The 40th anniversary of May 68 has brought forth a proliferation of publications of variable quality, not to mention accuracy. Amongst the various books, articles, poster and photo albums, two stand out as genuine efforts by participants to reflect seriously on its legacy, from what appear at first to be quite different current political positions. The first (written jointly with his son Raphael) is by Andre Glucksmann, whose decision to vote in the recent presidential election for Sarkozy aroused the ire of many on the left. Its title suggests an effort at some kind of self-defence but actually it is a work which raises some profound issues that anyone on the left ought to feel the need to engage with. The other is a series of interviews with Daniel Cohn-Bendit, provocatively entitled ‘Forget 68,’ though anyone reading it will not want to do so in a hurry, for he makes a quite impassioned defence of some core values that rather too many who claim to be on the left today seem to have forgotten.

View the full article here