It also saw the advent of new social movements and new forms of cultural and counter-cultural politics, civil unrest and civil disobedience in the more economically developed societies.
The issues and struggles that these different movements represented formed the context for the emergence of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and their influence on local politics and social action leading up to and following the October 5, 1968 civil rights march in Derry.

A new book out this week - 'Spirit of '68: Beyond the Barricades' - reflects the conviction that the events in Derry in 1968 were shaped not just by the interplay of Orange and Green traditions but, at least as importantly, by class politics and by the struggle of the working class people across the world for economic and social rights.
Contributors to the new publication - published by Guildhall Press and edited by Pauline McClenaghan - include Eamonn McCann, Bernadette McAliskey, Dermie McClenaghan, Terry Robson, Goretti Horgan and Micheal Kerrigan.

They examine the international and local context of the events, the impact of the October 5 march and its aftermath on working class Protestantsm, and the issues which the NI civil rights movement raised for the trade union movement, for republican socialism, for the women's movement and for the struggle for gay rights.

In the opening chapter of the book - an extract of which appears here - Eamonn McCann looks at the international dimension to the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and links global events to the contradictions, tensions, and divisions within and between the movement's differen segments.

Sectarian structure
In chapter two, Dermie McClenaghan outlines the socio-economic and politico-cultural conditions leading up to the October 5 march. He also contends that even the limited demands of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) threatened the sectarian structure of the Northern Ireland state.

The theme of working class unity is taken up by Emmet O'Connor who looks at the attitude of the trade union movement in Northern Ireland to the civil rights struggle and at politics and trade unionism in Derry prior to and immediately after the October 5 demonstration.
There is also a contribution from Jeanette - who prefers to be identified only by her first name - which contains a personal and very moving account of her own and her family's experiences during the civil rights struggle.

Her contribution underlines how Protestant families living in Catholic areas - in this case, Rosemount - came to feel isolated, fearful and threatened as the conflict deepened.

Bernadette McAliskey examines the role of the student movement in 1968 while Terry Robson reflects on the experiences of those members of the Derry Labour Party Young Socialists, who, as the conflict in Northern Ireland deepened, drifted away from mass working class action into republican militarism.

Women and gays
The book also focuses on social groups whose struggle did not feature prominently or at all in the politics of the Northern Ireland civil rights movement - women and gays.

In the book's final chapter, Eamonn McCann argues that the civil rights experience did show how grass roots action can disrupt entrenched political systems and leave a positive legacy of radical activism.