1968: Towards a General Secularism

The numerous interpretations and evaluations of 1968 that have been developed over the past half-century can arguably be divided into two. On one side, there are those accounts that regard 1968 as the threshold across which an older form of modernity passed to become what student revolutionaries of the period began to call late capitalism; and although late capitalism itself quickly became a fissured thing, this view has become orthodox. On the other side, there are those who insist that ’68 was a Badiousian event, an outbreak of liberatory possibilities to which we not only have a responsibility to remain faithful, but which provided a template for later more or less insurrectionary movements; undoubtedly the strongest argument for ’68’s enduring radical meaning and potential has been made by Kristin Ross in her 2002 book, May ’68 and its Afterlives. This article is partly committed to arguing for a middle way between these two views. I accept that the processes leading to and following the events of 1968 triggered the development of a new kind of capitalist society as well as formed the template for the radicalisms we now have. This mediation might seem to involve a contradiction, but in the end it is more accurate not to see these two views as they see themselves, namely as enemies, but rather as dialectically and functionally united. Without the kind of capitalism that the 1960s triggered, no radical movement politics; without radical, post-communist movement politics, no such late capitalism. To see that, we need to think about ’68 in larger contexts and terms than is usual. I will call the context I wish to bring to bear general secularization.

Student Politics

This chapter examines the different dimensions of student politics and their differences in the four cases. Student organizations differ significantly across countries. Previous research has singled out different models of student representation in decision-making instances, as well as the different traditions of activism and politicization of the student body. The chapter argues that these differences must be considered to understand the capacity of students to become significant and/or influential political actors — even if they rarely exert an influence in a continuous manner. The four cases studied in this book cover four configurations that result from the combinations of (fragmented or coordinated) movement politics and (more or less institutionalized) union politics. Besides providing an historical narrative of student activism in the four regions, the chapter explains how these four configurations have shaped the options for students to generalize a platform of demands and mobilize in each region.

Ajita Wilson

This article puts forward a consideration of Black womanhood by looking at the softcore films starring African American trans model and actress, Ajita Wilson. Wilson starred in many European softcore and hardcore films from the 1970s until her death in 1987. The author is particularly interested in Wilson's 1976 film The Nude Princess and the 1977 film Black Afrodite (Mavri Afroditi) for their use of soul aesthetics. Conceptualized in dialogue with Tanisha Ford's discussion of “soul style,” soul aesthetics are a combination of gestures as well as visual and auditory references in dress, music, literature, and language that were generated by Black people during a period of African and Caribbean anticolonialism and liberatory Black civil rights movements. Because they were born from radical movement politics, these references have transnationally come to symbolize the possibility for Black collective and self-transformation. The author offers an analysis of these films as an example of softcore pornography affirming Black womanhood and focuses on what this process of self-making has to offer Black trans and queer feminist thought.

reflections on the negation of Blackness//affirmations of our clairvoyance through creative healing praxes

The negation of Black people is pervasive in the historical genealogy of white supremacy. Black society, and Blackness, as defined and fabricated by Western thought and action, exists in “outer-space” (Sexton, 2011). However, white constructs of Blackness are merely that—constructs. This piece acts in three parts: 1) an intellectual conversation with scholarly thought holders, 2) a space of personal reflection and interpersonal dialogue, and 3) pieces of prose and imagery that embody various forms of Blackness. This piece explores Black clairvoyance through examples of Black youth identities, social movement politics and practices, and affirmations of our creations, sacred spaces, and rituals. Our praxes are visible in our daily gestures even as we hold trauma—sometimes informal or episodic—but always seeped in love, creativity, ancestry, and spirituality, existing as moments of movement and healing resistance.