Henri Weber talks on May '68 half a century later

Henri Weber, one of the most well-known activists in the demonstrations of Paris, May 1968, offeredan evaluation of the events fifty years later. His conference took place on 6 June at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, in an event which also paid tribute to the professors retiring this year.

01/06/2018

On 6 June, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities celebrated its 50th anniversary with a conference by Henri Weber, one of the historic leaders of the May 1968 events in France. The conference was entitled "Un demi siècle après, quel est le bilan de Mai 68?" ("Half a Century After, What is the Evaluation of May 1968?") and took place at the faculty's auditorium. Dr Weber holds a PhD in philosophy and political science and is one of the founders of the French Revolutionary Communist League. From 2004 to 2014, he was member of the European Parliament, representing the French Socialist Party.

Weber was one of the main leaders of the student demonstrations of May 1968, together with Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Alain Krivine. He and Krivine founded the Revolutionary Communist Youth (JCR),one of the organisations which was dissolved almost immediately by President Charles de Gaulle on 12 June. Both Weber and Krivine, as well as Daniel Bensaïd founded in 1969 the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), a Troskyist party similar to JCR. Weber was director of the Rouge journal from 1968 to 1976.

In the 1980's, he abandoned his political career to continue with his academic activities and in 1986 he became a member of the Socialist Party of France. In addition to being a member of the European Parliament, he has been consultant to the cabinets of Laurent Fabius (President of the National Assembly) and to the Ministers Martin Malvy and Louis Mermaz, deputy mayor of Saint-Denis, senator and national secretary of the Socialist Party, with responsibility for national education, then for training, culture and the media.

In December 1968, he joined Michel Foucault's group at the Department of Philosophy and lectured on political philosophy at the University of Paris VIII until 1988. He has written several volumes on Marxism, social democracy, Eurocommunism and class consciousness. He is author of books such as Mai 1968: une répetition générale? (Maspero, 1968), Vingt ans après. Que reste-t-il de 68? (Seuil, 1988) and Faut-il liquider Mai 68? (Seuil, 2008), where he reflects on May 1968 and its legacy throughout the years.

Tribute to Retiring Professors

The event consisted in two parts. Immediately preceding Weber's conference, the faculty held the traditional tribute to all professors and lecturers retiring this year: Maria Campillo (Department of Catalan Studies), Anna Estany (Department of Philosophy), Jordi Estévez (Department of Prehistory) and José Luís Martín Ramos (Department of Modern and Early Modern History). The faculty will also pay homage to the work conducted by all those who have contributed to making the Faculty of Arts and Humanities a leader in teaching, research, management and dissemination of knowledge.

More information: Faculty of Arts and Humanities