The Brief – 1968, 2024: Students continuing the fight?

In the US and France, 1968 was a year of iconic student protests. In light of this historic legacy, what is the 2024 wave of student protests, from Columbia University in New York to Sciences Po in Paris, telling us?

In the US, for many Columbia students in 1968, the protest was motivated by anger over the Vietnam War and changes to the military draft that were chipping away at students’ deferments, particularly in graduate schools.

History is not forgotten.

Before students at Columbia University set up a pro-Palestinian protest encampment to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, some took an optional course called “Columbia 1968” about the historic protests that similarly galvanised campus activism.

The 1968 Columbia protesters occupied multiple buildings on campus and held the acting dean hostage for a day before police violently ended the occupation a week later, arresting some 700 students.

The 2024 protesters occupied on 17 April one lawn of the main Columbia campus, noting that school administrators recently designated it for protests, albeit only with previously granted permission. They demanded that Columbia divest from weapons manufacturers and other companies that support Israel’s government and military.

On 19 April, the university tried to shut down campus demonstrations by force when Columbia President Minouche Shafik took the unusual move to initiate a crackdown, drawing the ire of many human rights groups, students, and faculty staff. More than 100 people were arrested, reminiscent of the events at the campus more than 50 years ago.

The arrests at Columbia University triggered pro-Palestinian protests in college campuses across the US. Since then, hundreds of protesters from California and Texas to Atlanta and Boston have been arrested as they emulated the Columbia encampments.

Across the US, student protesters are demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, the divestment of university assets in companies involved with the Israeli military, and an end to US military assistance to Israel.

The May 1968 protests in France started with far-left student occupation protests against capitalism, consumerism, American imperialism, and traditional institutions.

They triggered wildcat strikes of up to ten million workers, and for a few days, the movement looked like it was about to overthrow the government, which briefly ceased to function after President Charles de Gaulle secretly fled to West Germany on 29 May.

This time, students in Paris – obviously inspired by their colleagues in the US – blocked access to a campus building at a prestigious French university, Sciences Po, on Friday.

The move came two days after police broke up a separate pro-Palestine demonstration at the university’s amphitheatre outside one of its Paris campuses.

Protesters gathered at the building’s windows, chanted slogans, and hung placards reading “We are all Palestinians,” in defiance of administrators who students say called the police on their peers two days earlier.

France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the US, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.

However, less than 24 hours after the start of the Sciences Po blockade, the students reportedly gave up after the institute managers said they would drop any disciplinary action against them in return for surrender.

In return, students were promised that the University would end partnerships with universities and organisations supporting the state of Israel.

The story may not be over, but it looks like today’s French students did not find followers in society as did their colleagues two generations ago.

The difference with 1968, both in France and in the US, is that back then, several societal issues were at stake, while today, the controversy is focused on governmental support for Israel, be it on behalf of the US or France, at a time when images of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza raise eyebrows worldwide.

Also, the 2024 protests are fragilised by accusations of antisemitism launched by Israel and its supporters. Student leaders both in the US and France have acknowledged that isolated incidents of antisemitism and harassment have occurred but blamed them on outsiders who they say have sought to hijack their movement.

Are the pro-Palestine student protests going to impact the elections in the US in November and the European elections on 6-9 June?

In France, the leftist pro-Palestinian party La France Insoumise of Jean-Luc Mélenchon may benefit a bit, but it is unlikely to be a game-changer.

In the US, the protests may have an impact, but realistically only on the government’s political and military support for Israel.

Without this support, Israel would seek other policies. Israel is a small country by territory and population that overplays its international outreach thanks to the US support, which it takes for granted.

It’s thanks to US support in the UN Security Council and the US supply of weapons that Israel is flattening Gaza at the expense of, and with disregard for, so many ‘collateral victims’.

But if the students’ protests could contribute to forcing Benyamin Netanyahu’s Israel to a truce, their effort would not have been in vain.

While 1968 didn’t bring revolutions, there was clearly an evolution. The war in Vietnam stopped. The French society became more modern.

Perhaps a similar positive evolution could happen now.

The Roundup

Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday he will stay on as Spain’s prime minister – after hinting last week that he would consider resigning as a Madrid judge opened an investigation against his wife, Begoña Gómez, for alleged corruption and influence peddling.

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf announced on Monday that he will leave office following his decision to dissolve the governing coalition between his Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) and the Scottish Greens last week.

The EU should develop an ‘equivalent’ version of the World War Two-era US Marshall Plan to fund development projects in Moldova and war-torn Ukraine, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said on Monday.

According to French government sources, nine EU countries will meet in Brussels at the start of the week to discuss the impact of the UK’s decision to ban bottom fishing in 13 marine protected areas, a measure London says applies equally to its own fishermen and those from the EU.

The European Commission has approved a €300 million state aid grant for Nuward, a French developer of small modular nuclear reactors (SMR), to test its technology with more support expected before the project starts in 2030.

Noyb, the Austrian non-profit founded by activist Max Schrems, has filed a complaint with the local privacy authority, alleging that OpenAI has violated the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and has not done enough to correct inaccurate personal information provided by ChatGPT.

A report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) released on Monday finds that almost all European cities are turning to nature-based solutions to keep in check higher temperatures and other climate change impacts.

As the European Commission prepares proposals for a further round of enlargement, the two decades since the 2004 ‘big bang’ enlargement show the ups and downs that could lie ahead.

Look out for…

• General Affairs Council on Monday-Tuesday.
• G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment in Turin on Tuesday.
• Commissioner Kadri Simson, Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra hold meetings with Japan’s Economy and Trade Minister Ken Saitō in Turin on Tuesday.
• Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen receives IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday.

Views are the author’s

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Alice Taylor]