Paris 1968 to Tehran 2009

Turki al-Hamad
I do not know why the events that are currently taking place in Iran – and which are on the verge of toppling the regime that came to power as a result of the old revolution – remind me of the May 1968 uprising in France. This famous revolutionary uprising of workers and students almost resulted in the Fifth Republic of France being overthrown; one of the famous leaders of this uprising was a student named Daniel Cohn-Bendit. The famous slogan that embodied this uprising, and particularly the students, was a well-known quote from Rimbaud that reads "we must change life, this life of monotony and convention no longer suits us." This same quote applies to the new generation of Iranians who took to the streets in protest of the results of the recent presidential elections. In fact, there are other similarities between the May 1968 uprising and what is taking place in Iran today. For example, [Mir Hossein] Mousavi, [Mehdi] Karroubi, and let us not forget [Mohammad] Khatami and other Iranian reformists, represent Iran's youth, even though they themselves are not members of the youth. In this same way, Cohn-Bendit – who was a German – represented France's workers and students during the May uprising.

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