Vietnam War Protests: Lessons From Student Movements

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Timothea Pham
Socialist Alternative

Lessons from Student Movements

On March 24th, nearly 2 million people in the US participated in the March for Our Lives, a demonstration in support of tighter gun control. This was said to be one of the largest protests in American history alongside the Vietnam War protests. Looking back to the anti-war movement during the 60s and now at the current movement against gun violence, we can draw stark parallels, specifically that students were at the forefront of these mass movements. Being at the march and seeing the amount of high school students who came out for the demonstration, I became interested in further exploring how students draw working people into mass struggle all over the world. In order to explore various aspects of student movements, I am going to be talking about lessons from France 1968, the current situation surrounding the Parkland shooting, and our student work internationally in Spain surrounding the education system.

France 1968

1968 is a year known as one of major upheaval worldwide. In May, a general strike in France spread to factories and industries …show more content…

The French empire was abolished, the economy improved, and President Charles de Gaulle was a popular ruler. However, discontent lay just beneath the surface, especially among young students who were critical of France’s outdated university system and scarcity of employment opportunity for university graduates. Colleges, libraries and lecture halls were massively overcrowded. Students were subjected to antiquated regulations – male and female students were barred from visiting each others’ rooms in student hostels. These were only a few examples. Student demonstrations for education reform began, and on May 3rd, a protest at the Sorbonne University of Paris was broken up by police. Several hundred students were arrested and dozens were

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