A glossary of terms related to events to help explain certain words which cannot be translate perfectly translated or relate to background information.
This will be added to and amended as time goes on.
Banlieue
The word literally means 'Suburb', and can include suburbs both affluent and under-privileged. However, more recently the term has often become short-hand for the Parisian suburbs, particularly of the Seine-Saint-Denis district (department 93) which are very under-privileged areas, with large immigrant populations and high unemployment. They were the scene of violent riots last November.
Censier
French university, today occupied and run by general assemblies of staff and students which was also occupied in 1968 and was the centre of the worker-student action committees.
- Maurice Brinton's 1968 diary including detailed account of activities at Censier
CRS
Compagnie Républicaine de Sécurité - French barrack-residing riot police, they have a bad reputation for brutality, in particular in the banlieues, where ordinary police do not venture at night.
Departement
France is divided into 100 departements or districts, all of which are given a two digit number (there are two 20's - 2A and 2B). The system dates back to 1790, and according to Wikipedia "they were designed to deliberately break up France's historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences and build a more homogeneous nation. Most départements are named after the area's principal river(s) or other physical features."
- Wikipedia on Departements
Sauvage
"Wildcat" - referring either to unofficial strikes or un-sanctioned demonstrations.
Sorbonne
Prestigious French university in Paris, was famously occupied in the events of 1968 and turned temporarily into a self-managed "people's university" and headquarters of the rebellion.
- Sorbonne website
1968
Mass strike and rebellion of French workers in May-June, which began with agitation in the Nanterre University by anarchist and Situationist students and culminated in a general strike and factory occupations by 10 million workers.
The near-uprising ended following heavy police repression which left four people dead, massive concessions to workers by the government - including a 35% increase to the minumum wage, and the Communist Party-led CGT working to divide the workers and students and coax strikers back to work.
- A short history of the France 1968 uprising
- France 1968 archive on libcom.org library
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