French Students Revive the Spirit of May ’68 in Nationwide Protests

Paris | Nov. 06, 2026, 12:00 p.m. ET | 7 min read

Sylviane Bequin was 13 when the wave of student protests began in May 1968. Back then, young French students occupied university campuses, erected barricades and threw cobblestones at police, protesting an antiquated education system and a government they felt had lost touch. The movement soon sparked nationwide strikes, with millions of workers demanding higher wages during a booming economy. Sylviane’s father, a Renault factory worker, joined the walk‑out.

“He felt it was his civic duty to protest,” she recalls.

Nearly six decades later, Ms. Bequin is back in the streets, holding a sign that reads “Grandmother in Solidarity.” She joins a new wave of French student protests demanding reforms to the public education system.

Colette Davidson

Sylviane Bequin (left) and her daughter Pia Moulin, shown demonstrating in Paris on Oct. 17, 2026, say they feel a sense of duty when it comes to protests. Ms. Bequin recalls her father taking part in protests in May 1968.

Since early October, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets across France, protesting not only the high cost of living but also the fiscal constraints that threaten the robust welfare state they view as central to French identity. With public finances strained, the promises that underpin this system are proving increasingly hard to keep.

At this pivotal moment, demonstrators hope to spark a social and political upheaval reminiscent of May 1968, which reshaped modern France.

“Young people have been asking for change for years and years,” says Ms. Bequin, shouting above a stun‑grenade blast during a recent protest in Paris. “Their anger is massive. But so is ours. Maybe there will be another uprising.”

Student complaints go national

The youth protest movement began in late September when students at a high‑school in suburban Paris aired grievances about dire conditions in France’s public schools. The school’s ceilings leaked, restrooms were unusable, and heating was so inadequate that students had to bring blankets to class during winter. School days stretched from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and many students missed classes for months because substitute teachers were scarce.

As other schools echoed the same complaints, demonstrations spread nationwide. By early October, students across France were blocking school entrances with garbage cans and metal barriers. When the government announced a budget that included €54 billion (≈$60 billion) in public‑sector cuts, labour unions joined the fray, calling for broad strikes.

Thibault Camus/AP

The marches in France today see students and workers in the streets protesting against the rising cost of living, in Paris, Oct. 24, 2026.

The protests have inspired similar youth‑driven movements in Italy, Belgium, Albania, Spain and Portugal. Demonstrators argue that governments have failed to protect them from soaring energy costs linked to the Iran war, the high cost of living, and the deterioration of public services including education and housing.

Analysts note that the grievances reflect a deeper disillusionment: many French feel they give the state more than they receive in return.

“The postwar liberal order … was associated with a powerful expectation, that economic growth, education, and individual effort would allow each generation to live better than the previous one,” says João Ferreira Dias, a political scientist at the European Center for Populism Studies. “That promise has become increasingly difficult to sustain.”

France’s biggest strike ever

In the run‑up to May 1968, France was riding a postwar economic boom and high optimism. Yet stagnating salaries and grueling 45‑hour work weeks simmered beneath the surface, while young people grew discontented with President Charles de Gaulle’s paternalistic leadership and an outdated education system marked by segregated dorms, rigid curricula and overcrowded classrooms.

On May 6, students in Paris staged a massive demonstration at the Sorbonne, leading to hundreds of arrests. Over the next week, student clashes with police escalated, with barricades and riots in the Latin Quarter. Trade‑union leaders called for strikes in support, and by month’s end millions had stopped working, bringing public life to a halt.

“Stores were closed [and] there wasn’t enough to eat,” says Ms. Bequin. “The general strike seemed to last forever.”

May 1968 remains the seminal protest movement for most French people. “None of them have acquired this kind of omnipresent shadow in the way 1968 has,” says historian Daniel A. Gordon. “It was the biggest strike in French history, and the idea of students being the detonator of a wider movement is something people now try to recreate—and governments fear.”

Though the protest began with student idealism, it grew violent over the six weeks of May and June. Images of students hurling cobblestones at police and setting cars on fire have become enduring symbols. Police violence was widely documented, and about a half‑dozen people died.

The 2026 protests are “nothing compared to back then,” says Jacques, a retired railway worker who took part in May 1968 and asked not to give his last name. “They were brutal.”

The birth of modern France

May 1968 is celebrated in France because it forced a government that teetered on collapse to enact change. The movement delivered a 35 % increase in the minimum wage, stronger labour protections, women’s liberation, and paved the way for legal abortion.

It also sparked the creation of France’s modern welfare state, establishing universal health care, higher minimum pensions, and robust unemployment benefits—all backed by the baby‑boom generation.

The generous welfare system, however, has become harder to sustain. As the baby‑boom generation ages, the worker‑to‑pensioner ratio has reversed, placing heavier financial burdens on today’s workforce. France’s economy has weathered multiple periods of sluggish growth.

By the 1990s, taxes had to be raised to keep the social‑security system afloat, making France one of the most heavily taxed developed nations. Successive governments have consistently spent more than they collect, driving public debt to €3.6 trillion (≈$4 trillion), or 119 % of GDP—pressuring the ability to fund new education spending.

Meeting students’ demands for an additional €10 billion in education funding has become increasingly difficult. France already spends roughly €64 billion on education, plus an extra 28 % for teacher pensions. Any additional funds for school renovations are directed to regional authorities, which decide how to allocate the money.

“I go ballistic when students say there aren’t enough toilets in high schools,” says a former French minister who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We need democracy in schools. We need a deep reform. But we also need to listen to kids, to not think of them as a threat or a problem, but as an asset.”

The persuasion of presidents

Today’s youth protesters say that is all they ask for from the government.

President Emmanuel Macron has spoken publicly about the movement only twice and rarely yields to pressure. His tenure has seen other major protests, including the “yellow vest” demonstrations from 2018‑2020 over living costs and the 2023 rallies against his pension‑reform bill.

“We’re getting used to Macron not responding to our concerns,” says Milan, a 15‑year‑old who has been blocking the entrance of his Paris high school, Lycée Turgot, since late September. “The government treats us with utter contempt.”

These sentiments echo those that drove students to revolt in May 1968. While Charles de Gaulle was once celebrated for uniting France against Nazi Germany in World War II, many came to view his leadership as paternalistic and out of touch by the late 1960s.

De Gaulle, according to Frédéric Fogacci of the De Gaulle Foundation in Paris, was not nostalgic and constantly looked toward the future. He was driven to bring people together through common struggle but also knew when to concede. Nearly a year after the May 1968 protests, de Gaulle lost a referendum on Senate reform and resigned the following day.

“We’re not afraid”

Observers note that despite approval ratings falling to as low as 15 %, President Macron is unlikely to leave office early, with six months remaining in his term.

“There is a loss of confidence in the government and French institutions,” says Pierre Bréchon, a professor emeritus of political science at Sciences Po Grenoble. “Whether we’ll move towards calm or more tensions is really anyone’s guess.”

In October, the government announced the immediate creation of 3,000 substitute high‑school teaching posts and 15,000 positions in higher education.

Many young protesters dismiss such measures as “breadcrumbs” that have only strengthened their resolve. “We’ll keep moving forward. We’re not afraid,” says Anna Augé, a member of the Fédération Syndicale Unitaire, the largest trade union representing France’s education sector. “Nothing can stop us until we are heard.”

Source link