A chronology of the global 1968 protest

Abstract

What really happened in 1968? 1968 as an annus mirabilis, watershed after World War II and turning point of the Cold War is both a social construct created by contemporary activists and media coverage, as well as historians in retrospective. Despite these politics of memory, 1968 was nonetheless a year marked by extraordinary events throughout the world. The goal of this global chronology of the most important protest events in 1968 is thus to establish an empirical standard; a yard stick on the background of which it is possible to assess the extent and structure of the Norwegian media coverage in 1968. Limited to the events of that year, the chronology is based on a more extensive log of protest events in Europe from the late 1950s and early 1970s included in an online research- and study guide that accompanies 1968 in Europe. A History of Protest and Activism, 1956-1977 and was developed in cooperation with Martin Klimke and Joachim Scharloth. This chronology is/was the first and only comprehensive overview of protest events in the various European countries considering both Eastern and Western Europe. The data in the chronology has been checked through a rigorous peer-review process, during which experts on the 1968 protests in the individual countries listed checked the information. This chronology for the year 1968 is a revised and substantially expanded version, also comprising North-, Latin- and South America, as well as Asia and Africa. Although limited to the year 1968, it offers individual references and documentation for each event.