THE ICONIC YEAR 1968 marks the 1960s as a global moment. People took to the streets in nation after nation, their demonstrations recorded and distributed worldwide through a variety of broadcast media in a montage of popular activism (or disorder, depending on one’s perspective). For participants and sympathizers, the spectacle of mass protest made visible the international, shared nature of the political imperatives of the moment, and promoted the possibilities of direct action. This backdrop of ubiquitous activism also reinforced one of the era’s key political characteristics: the blurring of conventional sociological categories and identifications as the basis for political transformation and reengagement.1 The porous divide between political protesters and the larger, supposedly apolitical populace proved
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William Marotti (2009) studied this question.