Freedom in Solidarity My Experiences in the May 1968 Uprising

“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.