with a sign reading "Factory Occupied by the Workers." Behind them is a list of demands. The protests that raged throughout 1968 included a large number of workers, students, and poor people facing increasingly violent state repression all around the world. Liberation from state repression itself was the most common current in all protests listed below. These refracted into a variety of social causes that reverberated with each other: in the United States alone, for example, protests for civil rights, against nuclear weapons and in opposition to the
Vietnam War, and for
women's liberation all came together during this year. Television, so influential in forming the political identity of this generation, became the tool of choice for the revolutionaries. They fought their battles not just on streets and college campuses, but also on the television screen with media coverage. As the waves of protests of the 1960s intensified to a new high in 1968, repressive governments through widespread police crackdowns, shootings, executions, and even massacres marked social conflicts in Mexico,
Brazil,
Spain,
Poland,
Czechoslovakia, and China. In
West Berlin, Rome, London, Paris, Italy, many American cities, and
Argentina, labor unions and students played major roles and also suffered political repression.
Mass movements in West Berlin in 1968 The environmental movement can trace its beginnings back to the protests of 1968. The environmental movement evolved from the anti-nuclear movement. France was particularly involved in environmental concerns. In 1968, the French Federation of Nature Protection Societies and the French branch of
Friends of the Earth were formed and the French scientific community organized Survivre et Vivre (Survive and Live). The
Club of Rome was formed in 1968. The
Nordic countries were at the forefront of environmentalism. In Sweden, students protested against
hydroelectric plans. In Denmark and the Netherlands, environmental action groups protested about pollution and other
environmental issues. The
Northern Ireland civil rights movement began to start, but resulted in the conflict now known as
The Troubles. In January, police used clubs on 400 anti-war/anti-Vietnam protesters outside of a dinner for U.S. Secretary of State Rusk. In February, students from
Harvard,
Radcliffe, and
Boston University held a four-day hunger strike to protest the Vietnam war. Ten thousand
West Berlin students held a sit-in against American involvement in
Vietnam. On 6 March, five hundred
New York University (NYU) students demonstrated against
Dow Chemical because the company was the principal manufacturer of
napalm, used by the U.S. military in Vietnam. On 17 March, an anti-war demonstration in
Grosvenor Square, London, ended with 86 people injured and 200 demonstrators arrested. Japanese students protested the presence of the American military in Japan because of the
Vietnam War. In March, British students (opposing the Vietnam War), physically attacked the British Defense Secretary, the Secretary of State for Education and the Home Secretary. On 7 September, the
women's liberation movement gained international recognition when it
demonstrated at the annual Miss America beauty pageant. The protest and its disruption of the pageant gave the issue of equal rights for women significant attention and signaled the beginning of the end of "beauty pageants" as any sort of aspiration for young females, and 'square' themed content in general. during protests in memory of
Edson Luís de Lima Brazil On March 28, the
Brazilian Military Police killed high school student
Edson Luís de Lima Souto during a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The consequences of his death generated one of the first major protests against the
military dictatorship in Brazil, known as the
March of the One Hundred Thousand, and incited a nationwide wave of anti-dictatorship student demonstrations throughout the year.
Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union In what became known as
Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia's first secretary
Alexander Dubček began a period of reform, which gave way to outright civil protest, only ending when the
USSR invaded the country in August. On 25 August, anti-war protesters gathered in Red Square only to be dispersed. It was titled the
1968 Red Square demonstration.
France in
Toulouse The
May 1968 protests in France began with student mobilizations against rigid university rules and conservative social values. Subsequently, the movement expanded with the participation of workers, resulting in
general strikes that paralyzed the country and placed the government in a serious political crisis.
Italy On 1 March, a clash known as the
Battle of Valle Giulia took place between students and police in the faculty of architecture in the
Sapienza University of Rome. In March, Italian students closed the university for 12 days during an anti-war protest. In May, violent student protests erupted at multiple Japanese universities, having started earlier in the year from disputes between faculty and students for more student rights and lower tuition fees. Students occupied buildings and clashed with staff, holding "trials" in public.
Mexico Mexican university students mobilized to protest Mexican government authoritarianism and sought broad political and cultural changes in Mexico. The entire summer leading up to the opening of the
1968 Summer Olympics had a series of escalating conflicts between Mexican students with a broad base of non-student supporters and the police. The suppression of the Mexican mobilization ended with the 2 October massacre and the Olympic games opened without further demonstrations, but the Olympics themselves were a focus of other political issues. The admittance of the South African team brought the issue of
Apartheid to the 1968 Summer Olympics. After more than 40 teams threatened to boycott, the committee reconsidered and again banned the South African team. The Olympics were targeted as a high-profile venue to bring the Black Movement into public view. At a televised medal ceremony, black U.S. track stars
John Carlos and
Tommie Smith each raised one black-gloved hand in the
black power salute, and the U.S. Olympic Committee sent them home immediately, albeit only after the International Olympic Community threatened to send the entire track team home if the USOC did not.
Pakistan In November 1968, the mass student movement erupted in Pakistan against the military dictatorship of
Ayub Khan. The movement was later joined by workers, lawyers, white-collar employees, prostitutes, and other social layers. The movement was noted by prominent Marxist
political theorist and activist
Lal Khan to have displayed unprecedented class solidarity, with "the prejudices of religion, sex, ethnicity, race, nationality, clan or tribe evaporated(ing) in the red heat of revolutionary struggle". In 1968 at the height of the movement against him, young protesters in Karachi and Lahore began describing Ayub Khan as a dog ("Ayub Khan Kutta!"). Troops opened fire, killing dozens and injuring hundreds of students and workers. In March 1969, Ayub Khan resigned and handed power to Army chief
Yahya Khan.
Poland On 30 January 300 student protesters from the
University of Warsaw and the National Theater School were beaten with clubs by state arranged anti-protestors. On 8 March, the
1968 Polish political crisis began with students from the
University of Warsaw who marched for student rights were beaten with clubs. The next day over two thousand students marched in protest of the police involvement on campus and were clubbed and arrested again. By 11 March, the general public had joined the protest in violent confrontations with students and police in the streets. The government fought a propaganda campaign against the protestors, labeling them
Zionists. The 20 days of protest ended when the state closed all of the universities and arrested more than a thousand students. Most
Polish Jews left the country to avoid persecution by the government.
South Africa In South Africa, the (white-only)
University of Cape Town (UCT) Council's decision to rescind
Archie Mafeje's (black) offer for a senior lecturer position due to pressure from the Apartheid government angered students and led to protests on 15 August 1968 followed by a nine-day
sit-in at the UCT administration building. Protesters faced intimidation from the government, anti-protestors, and fellow
Afrikaans students from other universities. The police swiftly squashed support for the sit-in. In the aftermath, Mafeje left the country and did not return until 2000.
Spain Compared to other countries, the repercussions of 1968 were much smaller in Spain, mostly being protests and strikes repressed by Franco's regime. Workers were joined by students at the
University of Madrid to protest the involvement of police in demonstrations against dictator
Francisco Franco's regime, demanding democracy, trade unions and worker rights, and education reform. In April, Spanish students protested against the actions of the
Franco regime in sanctioning a
mass for
Adolf Hitler. At the beginning of spring the University of Madrid was closed for thirty-eight days due to student demonstrations. On 3 May activists protested the participation of two
apartheid nations,
Rhodesia and South Africa, in the international tennis competition held in
Båstad, Sweden. The protest was among the most violent between
Swedish police and demonstrators during the 1960s, resulting in a dialogue between the
Swedish Government and organizers to curb the escalation of violence. The match was later played in secrecy, with Sweden winning 4–1. At
Stockholm University leftist students occupied their Student Union Building at
Holländargatan from 24–27 May to send a political message to the government. Inspired by the protests in France earlier that month, the Stockholm protests were calmer than those in Paris. In reaction to the protests, right-wing students organized
Borgerliga Studenter, or "Bourgeois Students", whose leaders included future prime ministers
Carl Bildt and
Fredrik Reinfeldt. The Student Union building would later be absorbed by the
Stockholm School of Economics.
Tunisia In Tunisia, a wave of student-led demonstrations and street protests in front of campuses began in March, inspired by protests in Poland and the
1968 protests in Egypt. Student protests, however, were quelled by police and the movement was crushed; in the short-lived period there were peaceful protests and demonstrations for one week.
United Kingdom A series of art school occupations quickly spread throughout the UK during May and July 1968. The occupation at
Hornsey College of Art (now
Middlesex University) remains an emblematic event in the modern history of British universities. Cambridge students were involved in the
Garden House riot on 13 February 1970.
Northern Ireland On 24 August 1968, the
Northern Ireland civil rights movement held its first civil rights march, from
Coalisland to
Dungannon. Many more marches were held over the following year.
Loyalists (especially members of the
UPV) attacked some of the marches and held counter-demonstrations in a bid to get the marches banned. Because of the lack of police reaction to the attacks,
nationalists saw the
RUC, almost wholly Protestant, as backing the loyalists and allowing the attacks to occur. On 5 October 1968, a civil rights march in Derry was banned by the Northern Ireland government. When marchers defied the ban, RUC officers surrounded the marchers and beat them indiscriminately without provocation. More than 100 people were injured, including a number of nationalist politicians. It caused outrage among Catholics and nationalists, sparking two days of rioting in Derry between nationalists and the RUC. The
Orangeburg massacre on 8 February 1968, a civil rights protest in
Orangeburg, South Carolina, turned deadly with the death of three college students. In March, students in North Carolina organized a sit-in at a local lunch counter that spread to 15 cities. In March, students from all five public high schools in East L.A. walked out of their classes protesting against unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District high schools. Over the next several days, they inspired similar walkouts at fifteen other schools. On 4 April, the
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. sparked
violent protests in more than 100 American cities, notably
Louisville,
Baltimore and
Washington, D.C. On 23 April, students at
Columbia University protested and alleged the university had racist policies; three school officials were taken hostage for 24 hours. In February, protests by professors at the
University of Bonn demanded the resignation of the university's president because of his involvement in the building of concentration camps during the war.
Yugoslavia Protests in
Yugoslavia, primarily centered at the
University of Belgrade, had a significant impact on the political landscape under the leadership of
Josip Broz Tito. In 1968, Yugoslavia was under a unique communist self-management system, with Tito as its leader since the end of World War II. Despite enjoying relative independence from Soviet control, there were tensions within the country related to economic challenges, growing inequality, and authoritarianism. Students, in particular, felt frustrated by the gap between the promises of socialism and the reality of social and economic hardships. Particular grievances focused on the following points: •
Social and economic inequality: Despite the self-management system, a gap between the political elites and the general population, especially workers and youth, was growing. •
Education access: The expanding educational system wasn't providing sufficient employment opportunities for the growing number of young graduates, creating discontent among students. •
Influence of international movements: Protests in countries like France and Czechoslovakia influenced Yugoslav students, who also began to call for democratic reforms. • '''Criticism of Tito's leadership''': While Tito was admired for keeping Yugoslavia independent from Soviet control, students started criticizing aspects of his regime, particularly corruption and political repression. The protests began on 2 June 1968, in Belgrade, following a small clash between students and the police over a canceled theater performance. As police violence escalated, more students joined in, and the protests spread to other Yugoslav cities, such as Ljubljana and Zagreb. Protesters demanded better living conditions, economic equality, greater access to education, and freedom of expression. They carried slogans like "Down with the Red Bourgeoisie" and "We refuse to live in a world where man exploits man." Initially, Tito's government responded with force, deploying police and military to suppress the protests. However, as the protests grew, Tito shifted to a more conciliatory approach. On 9 June 1968, in a televised address, Tito surprised the nation by acknowledging some of the students' grievances and expressing support for certain reforms. Despite Tito's conciliatory rhetoric, once the protests subsided, his government did not implement substantial reforms. In the months that followed, the government tightened its control over universities and suppressed dissenting voices. Ultimate, the protests resulted in the following: •
Domestic politics: Although Tito made some concessions, significant reforms were not enacted, and the government increased surveillance over students and dissident groups. Nonetheless, the protests raised awareness of economic inequality and the lack of genuine democracy in the country. •
Student movement: The student movement lost momentum after Tito's speech, but underlying discontent with the regime persisted. In the 1970s, Yugoslavia faced more economic problems and ethnic tensions, which ultimately contributed to its disintegration in the 1990s. •
International influence: The 1968 protests in Yugoslavia demonstrated that even in a communist state seen as more progressive and liberal than other Eastern Bloc countries, significant social and political tensions existed, and there was a growing demand for reform. The 1968 protests are seen as a critical moment in Yugoslavia's history, highlighting the regime's failure to adapt to the demands of a new generation. Despite living under socialism, young people felt marginalized and disillusioned. The protests also foreshadowed the political and social challenges that Tito's successors would face after his death in 1980. These protests revealed the cracks within the Yugoslav socialist system and signaled the difficulties the country would experience in the following decades, leading to its eventual breakup.
Jamaica In October, the
Rodney riots in
Kingston, Jamaica, were inspired when the Jamaican government of
Hugh Shearer banned Guyanese university lecturer Dr.
Walter Rodney from returning to his teaching position at the
University of the West Indies. Rodney, a historian of Africa, had been active in the
Black power movement, and had been sharply critical of the middle class in many Caribbean countries. Rodney was an avowed
socialist who worked with the poor of Jamaica in an attempt to raise their political and cultural consciousness.
Turkey The Generation ’68 or the
1968 movement in Turkey, reflecting the protests of 1968, included major Marxist–Leninist figures such as
İbrahim Kaypakkaya,
Mahir Çayan,
Deniz Gezmiş, and
Behice Boran. The movement initially emerged as a student movement within universities and later evolved into armed conflict, particularly in the
Eastern Anatolia Region, with the formation of organizations such as the
People's Liberation Army of Turkey. The political and social climate created by the Generation ’68 also contributed to the conditions leading to the establishment of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party and influenced the context of the
1980 Turkish coup d'état and
Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980). The armed conflicts associated with the generation include the
Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency, the
Maoist insurgency in Turkey, and the
DHKP/C insurgency in Turkey. The Generation ’68 influenced the development of the Kurdish problem as a major political topic in Turkey in its modern form and deeply changed the trajectory of Turkey's modern history. ==See also==