Freedom in Solidarity: My Experiences in the May 1968 Uprising

by Kadour Naïmi

“Our concern was action aimed at establishing a new society where studies were directed not to rejoin the herd of wage slaves or the class of privileged exploiters, but to construct a life in harmony with oneself, with every human being and with nature in which we live.”

Kadour Naïmi came from Algeria to study in France in 1966, four years after his country’s liberation from colonial rule and two years before a different liberation movement exploded in France. Capturing the youthful enthusiasm and revolutionary earnestness of the young communists, Situationists, and anarchists he struggled alongside, Naïmi’s account of May ’68 is unforgettable. Spirited and inspiring, it manages to transmit important historical lessons amid stories of sex, student life, and street-fighting.

Kadour Naïmi has worked in various countries as a playwright, stage director, screenwriter, filmmaker, author, and journalist. He lives in Italy.

David Porter (1939–2018) taught at SUNY/Empire State College. His books Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution and Eyes to the South: French Anarchists and Algeria were both published by AK Press.

Genres: History, Politics

136 pages, Paperback

Published June 4, 2019

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointingly superficial and formulaic autobiographical engagement of living through and participating in a incredibly rich historical moment. Some very non-liberatory political positions staked out regarding affinity with police, pinning all "violence" on provocateurs, and a misreading of history, in particular around pacifistic tendencies within social movements in the US and India.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story with some lessons, but I'm confused as to why an anarchist publisher would publish a book by a communist who considers cops "class brothers" and breaking windows violent. Meh

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has 116 pages, not 136

[Sugarpunksattack Mick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kadour Naïmi's account of May 1968 is unique in several ways. Naïmi immigrated from Algeria, which had just won its liberation struggle against France, to France in order to study. He brought with him his youthful and "modest" experience from the decolonial movement to the events of May 1968. He joined a group of marxist-leninists at the time, which he describes as belonging to the Maoist tendency. He was impressed with the anarchists, but thought they were too chaotic and to individualistic at the time. However, adding to the uniqueness of the perspective, Naïmi is writing from an anarchist perspective, which is later adopted. This is especially interesting because he reflects on his actions at the time describing why he adopted the course of actions given his political orientation at that time, but how he might act differently now.