MAY 68: THE REVOLT OF THE THEME PARK
was born in the same country and year in which Che Guevara died. I am one who grew up listening to the songs of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones that they placed their parents, and curious to read, and converted into graffiti, those phrases that we let the students of the May 68 uprising in Paris " imagination to power "," forbidden to forbid. " Like many American kids, I spent years of my childhood and adolescence under dictatorial governments. That fueled my nostalgia for the sixties, condensed into the symbolic May.
belong to a generation that had a curious fascination a time that he lived. Perhaps that was why, when I had the opportunity to continue my studies in the United States, decided to apply to Berkeley. Berkeley was an epicenter of the upheaval of the 60's generation, there arose in 1964, the Free Speech Movement, which called for allowing political activities on campus and respect the rights of students to review. It was there also, in 1965, where protests began against the war in Vietnam.
In the early nineties, things had changed in Berkeley. Continued the fervor of the students involved in all causes "progressive", but now everything seemed a parody of the sixties, yes, were the movements for the Tibetan cause and the rights of the Palestinian people, but also could find support for Sendero Luminoso, "heroic advance team" in the fight for " Third World brothers "against capitalism. In 1992 there was a strike by masters and doctoral students we taught classes, we wanted to recognize the right to form a union, for not only students but workers were. We do not teach for two weeks, and did picket lines around the campus throughout the day. Ours did not have the bombast of the causes of the sixties, but we were sure we were asking what is right and we were confident that a progressive university like Berkeley would give us the reason. We were wrong: the president took a hard line, and the movement was disemboweled. We should go back to school for exam week, humiliated, if we did, we would lose our scholarships. Many doctoral students finished leaving college.
Just as flying the flag of the Shining Path did not learn of the naive committed by intellectuals and students May 68 in their struggle against capitalism-its unreserved praise Comrade Mao ", eg - we seemed to have learned that the protests in Berkeley had ended with the defeat of the student movement in 1969, when Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, decided to send the National Guard to deal with students at People's Park. Che had been killed, Russian tanks had entered Czechoslovakia, and in Latin America right forces were preparing to break the power and violent response to the advance of communism and the ideals of the counterculture. There was still some skirmishes triumph of the left (the victory of Allende in Chile), but in general, the seventies were the decade of the reaffirmation of the status quo.
mid-nineties, with the return of democracy, the youth of the middle class and we had adjusted quickly to the neoliberal model. We had reached the conclusion that social change movements were bound to fail, and the utopia of an egalitarian society that was, a utopia. We, therefore, ironic, distant, skeptical. Could have been drawn different conclusions about what happened in the 60's, as it was more worthy dream big and fail than to succeed at the expense of removing any risk. We must not ignore the struggles of the 60-to go beyond the French May, of course, allowed great progress on civil rights, although capitalism was strengthened.
In 2001 I returned to Berkeley as a professor. I found that one of the libraries, the university had opened the café Free Speech Movement. Strange, order a cappuccino at a cafe wallpaper by photos of Mario Savio and other student leaders of the sixties. You could buy postcards and photos of the protests. Once again, the powers that be had taken over the opposition. The sixties are turning into a theme park: it is the way capitalism today incorporates the story to your exhibition catalog.
( Stories , La Tercera, April 27, 2008)
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