cf '68

Let's get straight into it then. I'm currently wearing a black t-shirt with neon pink lettering that says 'Famous for nothing generation'. Why?

1968 saw a catalogue of independent spontaneous and surprising popular people's movements across the world. From protests against the war in Vietnam to the events of the Prage Spring, through to the Stonewall Riots in New York in 1969, all and more were examined in a fine article in Русский Репортер [Russian Reporter] 1968: год великого перелома

Дмитрий Великовский, Руслан Хестанов, Григорий Тарасевич, Павел Бурмистров, Дар Жутаев

1968 год называют «загадочным», «мистическим», «таинственным». Исследователи и сегодня не могут объяснить, почему именно в этом году люди в разных точках планеты одновременно впали в революционный раж. Недовольство существующим порядком вещей охватило самые разные социальные слои и приняло формы студенческих волнений, забастовок рабочих, партизанских войн, национально-освободительных революций. США, Западная Европа, Советский Союз, Китай, другие страны столкнулись с вызовом самому своему существованию. И справились они с этим вызовом по-разному: к примеру, США пережили эту лихорадку и устояли, а СССР загнал болезнь внутрь и через 20 лет распался. Но тектонические социальные сдвиги, начавшиеся в конце 60-х, все еще продолжают оказывать влияние на ход мировой истории

The article looks into the dissatisfaction with the status que in each society that aggravated the movers involved in each case as well as asking why it was that in that twelve-month period, people decided something had to, and believed could be, done. Apparently, not only Русский Репортер noticed that 2008 marks the fortieth anniversary of this wave of rage and free love sentiment. The popularity of plain coloured t-shirts with bright neon letters spelling out such slogans as 'Drop beats not bombs' and 'Make music not war' in the UK seems to have reached something of a zenith this summer. Cute.

In a year when protests against the situation in Iraq grumble on, and on, and everybody desperately hopes Tehran will relinquish it's 'unquestionably' evil pursuit of nuclear power while Israel continues to devour Palestinian settlements like some kind of military pacman armed with the highest technology in the region, the spirit lives on. Or at least you can buy into it on the highstreet. It seems that's the age the brands are happy to sell, these days we belive we can buy an iPod that will cure Africa of all kinds of diseases, as long as it's the right colour. Maybe if we buy a t-shirt with the appropriate snappy slogan those nasty men in power will think, 'oh wait, the kids are right, let's sit down and talk instead'. Then again, maybe we're just buying clothes we like the look of that massage our consciences and our egos at the same time. And you have to admit, it's much less threatening than the risk of being arrested or roughed up for making a direct stand for what you believe in, like being forcibly removed from a military base or broken off from a march that didn't ask for permission

Prague citizens fight back at tanks deployed to crush the relaxation of Czech socialism under Dubček

Perhaps that's what the people of 68 did for our generation. They tought us that even putting yourself on the line, standing in front of tanks, chaining yourself to fences around missile sites or throwing molotov cocktails at your own police doesn't get the message through and wont change the world. Better to just buy a shirt with it printed on, at least your mates will see what you think, and maybe there is someone looking through all those cameras at us after all.

Either way, it seems that, despite there being a lot to pick up your placard and shout against, at 40, the spirit is just too old and would rather settle down to the quiet life now. Keep shopping and don't think about the fact that those tax pennies are going straight to pay for the policies your new wardrobe addition is decrying. It seems there'll be no revolution on our watch, not against the warmongering, international bullying, encroachment of civil liberties and growth of observation police states anyway. Meet the Famous for nothing generation.

The shame is that there is plenty to dissent against in this world still. Happily, some are of course still at the front in one form or another, shooting films, writing books and speaking out against the things we should be taking issue with. This blog will add its voice to theirs. The internet gives every armchair social revolutionary the opportunity to vent to all the world, if theyre reading, and really feel that s/he's done their bit.

Welcome to iDissent, the Thích Quảng Đức for the iGeneration, that would rather google the link, download the podcast and add it to their entertainment library to enjoy next time they go out clothes shopping. After all, you can't hear your mp3s with tear gas canisters blasting and water canons clearing you from the streets anyway.