I asked the girl working in Koenig Books if she'd like to visit Paris in the past. It wasn't an offer. She said she was going soon. 1909? I suggested. She smiled. It's an Art book shop; I thought she'd be naming art-related decades. She just smiled. "In sixty-eight you could join Jean-Luc Godard at the barricades," I said. "And the revolutionaries dressed better in those days." At which point she stepped out from behind her desk, saying "I think I'm dressed for the occasion." Not bad - houndstooth pattern on her knee-length skirt, black polo-neck jumper. Students looked good back then, because everyone did in the 60s, better than today, at least. No white boys with dreadlocks...and no didgeridoos...or bongos...
Mind you, regarding Godard, someone sprayed a joke at his expense, though I'm not sure he was a die-hard Maoist...
Here he is getting arrested in May '68. One is saying (in French) "Piss off to Swinging London and film the Rolling Stones, or something - you're finished as a director!" So he did. Some might say he was (finished, that is).
Revolution was better then. Protesters weren't allowed to 'occupy' a space for months on end, not knowing exactly what their aims were. It didn't drag on, therefore the public didn't get bored with it. Everything was a target in May '68, from the cops to the government, bureaucracy, education and, of course, Art...
Some great posters were made...
And then there was the Situationist element and attitudes that went beyond merely supporting The Workers. The revolution of everyday life? No matter how many paving stones were dug up, sadly, the beach was only glimpsed, not permanently occupied...
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