Atbildot pārmetumiem, ka es banalizējot 1968. gada maija franču studentu dumpju nozīmi, gribēju pamatot, kādēļ esmu nācis pie negatīva sprieduma.

Žurnāla „More Intelligent Life” rakstā „1968” norāda, ka viens no pamatā esošajiem cēloņiem bija seksuālas dabas radīta frustrācija: studenti nedrīkstēja apmeklēt pretējā dzimuma kopmītnes. Tomēr konflikta sākums bija daudz frivolāks nekā represētas seksuālās dziņas. To ierosināja visai nepatīkama vārdu apmaiņa kāda Nanteras Universitātes studenta un Francijas Jaunatnes lietu ministra vidū:

„The often cited cassus belli was a bizarre confrontation between a student, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, and the Gaullist youth minister, Francois Missoffe, who had come to Nanterre to open a swimming pool. Cohn-Bendit complained that nowhere in the ministry’s long report on youth was there a mention of sexual problems. „No wonder, with a face like yours, you have these problems: I suggest you take a dip in the pool.””

(More Intelligent Life. 2007. Volume 1 Issue 2 – p. 74)

Žurnāla „Time” 1968. gada 14. jūnija izlaidumā var lasīt tikai nelielu aplēsi par to, kādas bija dumpju ekonomiskās sekas:

„Blue-uniformed mailmen made their appointed rounds for the first time in weeks. Trains and subways rumbled once more; the whine of jetliners echoed again at the airports. By the millions, French workers trooped back to their factories. Though there were still some pockets of holdouts, notably the university students and the strikers at the state-owned radio and television stations and the Renault auto plants, France last week was returning to normal after a month of economic paralysis and chaotic civil disorder.

It was none too soon for France’s badly shaken economy. French economists reckoned that the tie-ups had cost France’s industries some $6 billion in lost production. Much of that amount could be made up by accelerated output in the months ahead, but the loss of exports and the flight of francs had already forced the government to spend $307 million of its $6 billion in cash and gold reserves. As a result, for the first time since 1959, the French drew $745 million from the International Monetary Fund to help tide the country over the present crisis.”

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900120,00.html

Tomēr pēc 14. jūnija nemieri atsākās un žurnāla „Time” 1968. gada 21. jūnija izlaidumā lasām, ka ekonomiskās problēmas radīja risku valsts drošībai:

„The renewed rioting took a heavy toll of the French economy, stalling the back-to-work movement at a time when 500,000 workers still had not returned to their plants. In his new role as Finance Minister, Maurice Couve de Murville conceded that France not only faced a budgetary deficit of $2 billion this year but might also be forced to sell some of its $5 billion gold reserves in order to meet a looming gap in its balance of payments. It all meant, explained Foreign Minister Michel Debré, that (Quelle horreur!) France would have to cut back on De Gaulle’s prized nuclear strike force.”

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,900195-1,00.html

Lai nu ko, bet es nekad nesaukšu „Vive la révolution” 1968. gada dumpju sakarā.