WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- Despite similarities between today's student unrest and the student revolt of May 1968, there is little chance that the recent spate of protests perturbing French political life turning into another May '68.
Much as in May '68, this time, too, Paris' Latin Quarter saw the occupation of the Sorbonne by students and the subsequent storming of the famous Paris university by French police to dispel them from the institution.
This time too, the acrid stench of teargas lingering in the air, mixed in with black smoke from burning cars, compliments of "les Casseurs," a group of hooligans bent on causing havoc, may have made Paris smell and look as it did during the May '68 clashes between students and the CRS, the French riot police. The banners, the slogans and the deep sense of camaraderie found only on the barricades amid deep fears of imminent riot police charges may have added to the May '68 look.
Given that atmosphere, many observers were quick to compare today's unrest to the student uprising of May 1968, whose outcome has without a doubt, forever changed the face of France. Indeed, social changes brought about by the May '68 revolt probably rank in second place, after the French Revolution of 1789.
But this is where comparisons with May '68 stop. The student revolt of 2006 holds nothing of the revolutionary sprit of the "Soixantehuitards," as the rebels of '68 are commonly called. In fact, from an ideological perspective, the two movements could not be further apart.
The revolt of 1968 wanted to bring change in French society. Big change. The students, particularly, were fed up with a France that had become covered by cobwebs, was stagnating and burdened by a slow-moving bureaucracy. Many had felt France had become an old country. The students of May '68 wanted to transform the very system. They were not afraid to venture into new, and at times unchartered, waters of social change. And they did manage to impose changes on the country.
Contrastingly, today's demonstrators -- about 1.5 million of whom took to the streets of Paris and other French cities Saturday -- are demonstrating for reasons contrary to what motivated the 'Soixantehuitards.' Today's demonstrators are opposed to change and wish to maintain the status quo. They were described by one newspaper as "bourgeois." It was not meant as a compliment.
The demonstrators of May '68 were for the most part politically on the left -- from socialists to extreme leftists Maoist, Trotskyites and the like, who wanted to change the very grain of French society. Whereas, while many of today's protestors may belong to the same leftist parties as those of '68, they are overall, far more conservative in spirit. Their fight is to prevent change.
At the heart of today's disenchantment among France's youth lies an offer by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to establish the "Contrat Premiere Embauche," or the CPE. The Contract of First Employment was put forward by the prime minister to facilitate young people starting out in the workforce. It was intended to give a boost to the economy and to help cut down the 22 percent unemployment rate among the country's young.
Current French labor laws make it financially difficult for companies to hire new employees, given hefty social charges the employer is obliged to pay, such as social security, health insurance and retirement benefits. Furthermore, French labor laws -- among the strictest in the world -- makes it very difficult for an employer to fire someone after 13 weeks. The CPE would have raised that window to 26 weeks. Additionally, during that time, an employer would have the possibility to fire an employee under the CPE without having to give extended legal explanations as to why he or she wants to get rid of the employee. This law would apply only to young people under 26, signing up for their first employment.
A new poll conducted by the CSA Institute for Le Parisien newspaper and i-Tele, shows that 68 percent of French people are in favor withdrawing the CPE, up from 55 percent only a week ago. Appeals by French President Jacques Chirac for dialogue were ignored.
Fearing an escalation along the lines of what happened in May '68, university presidents from 46 universities (out of a total of 49) have asked that the government "make a special effort." What the university presidents want to avoid at all cost is to see the protests erupt into violence in a repeat of May '68.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the legendary student leader of May '68, now a respected member of the European Parliament representing the Green Party, told the Financial Times: "May '68 was an offensive movement, having a positive vision of the future, whereas today's protesters are against everything. Their protests are based on the defensive, on fear of insecurity and change."
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