ROUND TABLE ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENT UNREST IN PARIS 1968

Conference sponsored by the International Science Council. Conference papers.

In 1968 France had been ruled by General Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) for over 10 years. Around March 22nd student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit started with demonstrations against the American intervention in the Vietnam War. After the demonstration some students where arrested by the police. This marked the start of more demonstrations and riots.

On May 3rd the Sorbonne university was cleared by the police. From that moment on there were demonstrations and riots nearly every evening in Paris and other cities all over France. On Friday May 10th after a day of demonstrations about 10,000 students spontaneously started setting up barricades in the Quartier Latin. After failed negotiations with the student leaders, the police cleared the streets through the night, causing hundreds of people to be hospitalised.

The trade unions called for a day of general strike and massive demonstration for Monday 13 May. Over a million people marched through Paris that day, and after that strikes were all over France. People demanded the resignation of the government and president Charles de Gaulle. Big demonstrations were now daily and strikes committees were more and more taking over the power.

After threats of president De Gaulle to call for a state of emergency and to have the army involved, the national union of students in the end calls off all street activity to avoid further clashes. Although De Gaulle was elected again as president of France in April 1969 he retired soon after.

International Social Science Council (ISSC)

The ISSC is an international non-profit scientific organization with its headquarters in UNESCO House in Paris. ISSC was founded in October 1952, following a Resolution adopted at the VIth UNESCO General Conference in 1951. In 1972 the Council was transformed into a formal federation of eleven international disciplinary associations which now number fourteen. In 1992 a new constitution was adopted which provides for national and regional member organizations. The constitution was last amended in 1998, The supreme sovereign body of ISSC is the General Assembly. Between its sessions, the Executive Committee acts as a governing body of the ISSC.

The ISSC has as its aims and objectives 'the promotion of the understanding of human society in its environment by fostering the social and behavioural sciences throughout the world and their application to major contemporary problems and by enhancing co-operation by means of a global international organisation of social and behavioural scientists and social and behavioural science organisations, encouraging multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary co-operation among the members of the ISSC'.

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