The author, a Russian in his early 30s, writes on international affairs for Komsomolskaya Pravda, a major Russian newspaper. We have deliberately left his writing in imperfect English, because we like the way it comes across.

1968-2018. This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the French mass protests — Red May, Red June, Red July, Red August — which turned all the Western civilization entirely upside down. Four months of crowd crying — half-century of intellectual silence. One regime changing — five decades of unprecedented total brain cleaning on its wrecks. And finally — last but no least — the young protesters, ('prohibitions prohibited' was their slogan), have successfully converted into the old autocrats they've rebelled against.