Organizing Insurgency

Immanuel Ness

Description

'A breath of fresh air' - Norman Finklestein

Workers in the Global South are doomed through economic imperialism to carry the burden of the entire world. While these workers appear isolated from the Global North, they are in fact deeply integrated into global commodity chains and essential to the maintenance of global capitalism.

Looking at contemporary case studies in India, the Philippines and South Africa, this book affirms the significance of political and economic representation to the struggles of workers against deepening levels of poverty and inequality that oppress the majority of people on the planet.

Immanuel Ness shows that workers are eager to mobilise to improve their conditions, and can achieve lasting gains if they have sustenance and support from political organisations. From the Dickensian industrial zones of Delhi to the agrarian oligarchy on the island of Mindanao, a common element remains – when workers organise they move closer to the realisation of socialism, solidarity and equality.

List of Figures and Tables

List of Abbreviations

Series Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Forging a New Global Workers’ Movement 1

PART I - THEORIES AND CONCEPTS OF LABOUR IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH

1. The Labour Atlas: The Southern Working Class Holding Up the World

2. Workers’ Movements in the South: Inequality, Poverty, and Enduring Relevance of Rural Proletariat and Informal Sector Workers

PART II - CASE STUDIES: RURAL AND INFORMAL LABOUR STRUGGLES

3. Primitive Steel Manufacturing for the Global Consumer Market: Capital, Super-exploitation, and Surplus Value in Wazirpur, India

4. The Enduring System of Global Agricultural Commodity Production and First World Commodity Extraction: The Case of Mindanao, the Philippines

5. Global Capitalism: Corporate Restructuring, Labour Brokering, and Working-class Mobilization in South Africa

6. Conclusion: Labour Struggles and Political Organization

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Economic Policy
• Public Policy
• Political Advocacy
• Political Process
• Political Science
• Republic of South Africa
• Working Class
• Rural
• Movimiento sindical
• Congreso Nacional Africano
• Nueva Delhi
• Sociology
• South Africa
• Rural area
• Types of rural communities
• South African Communist Party
• General officer
• Globalization
• Political economy
• Third World
• Trade union
• African National Congress
• Activism
• Philippines
• World
• General
• Mindanao
• Third World (reggae)
• Urban
• Campagne
• Labor
• Congrès national africain
• New Delhi
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 avril 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780745343617
• Langue: English

Extrait

Organizing Insurgency
In these depressing times, when the neoliberal consensus has acquired an aura of inevitability akin to the Laws of Physics, it is a breath of fresh air to read serious scholarship that challenges this consensus.
-Norman Finkelstein
The rising anti-imperialist struggles in both the underdeveloped and developed countries are signalling the resurgence of the world proletarian-socialist revolution. Immanuel Ness makes a just call for forging a global workers movement by reinvigorating and further developing the trade union movement, the workers parties and political movements to fight for the rights and interests of the working class and the rest of the suffering people.
-Professor Jose Maria Sison, Chairperson Emeritus of the International League of Peoples Struggle, Founding Chairman, Communist Party of the Philippines and Co-Founder of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines
Important.
-Richard Wolff, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Timely and relevant. The theoretical framing around political organisation of the working class for social transformation is much-needed. Its energetic, provocative scholarship with insightful case studies from across the South makes it essential reading for academics and activists alike.
-Anita Hammer, Senior Lecturer of Organisational Studies and Human Resources, University of Essex
A valuable book that addresses the necessity of revolutionary organization in times of socialist ideological resurgence. Essential reading to anyone wishing to understand the proletarianization of the Global South. Its in-depth examination of modern forms of imperialist exploitation and revolts contribute to comprehending areas rarely covered by mainstream social science.
-Ali Kadri, National University of Singapore
A rich combination of theoretical insights and valuable case-studies from the Global South - a much-needed reminder that the agenda of social transformation requires a strong and sustained political intervention to turn protests into a powerful movement.
-Prabhat Patnaik, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Challenges the prevailing racializing perception of the Southern worker held in the North as powerless and without agency. Organizing Insurgency is a must read for an understanding of imperialism, which has normalized a lack of awareness of the sustaining role of the southern agricultural and industrial workers in global capitalism.
-Himani Bannerji, York University
Wildcat: Workers Movements and Global Capitalism
Series Editors: Immanuel Ness (City University of New York) Peter Cole (Western Illinois University) Raquel Varela (Instituto de Hist ria Contempor nea [IHC] of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon New University) Tim Pringle (SOAS, University of London)
Also available:
Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain Edited by Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Immanuel Ness
The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy Edited by Jake Alimahomed-Wilson and Ellen Reese
Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn and the Lives of China s Workers Jenny Chan, Mark Selden and Pun Ngai
Just Work? Migrant Workers Struggles Today Edited by Aziz Choudry and Mondli Hlatshwayo
Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW Edited by Peter Cole, David Struthers and Kenyon Zimmer
Augmented Exploitation: Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Work Edited by Phoebe V. Moore and Jamie Woodcock
Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class Immanuel Ness
Amakomiti: Grassroots Democracy in South African Shack Settlements Trevor Ngwane
Workers Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics, Objectives Edited by Robert Ovetz
The Spirit of Marikana: The Rise of Insurgent Trade Unionism in South Africa Luke Sinwell with Siphiwe Mbatha
Solidarity: Latin America and the US Left in the Era of Human Rights Steve Striffler
Working the Phones: Control and Resistance in Call Centres Jamie Woodcock
Organizing Insurgency
Workers Movements in the Global South
Immanuel Ness
First published 2021 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright Immanuel Ness 2021
The right of Immanuel Ness to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 4360 0 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 4359 4 Paperback
ISBN 978 0 7453 4363 1 PDF
ISBN 978 0 7453 4361 7 EPUB
ISBN 978 0 7453 4362 4 Kindle




This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
List of Abbreviations
Series Preface
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Forging a New Global Workers Movement
PART I THEORIES AND CONCEPTS OF LABOUR IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
1. The Labour Atlas: The Southern Working Class Holding Up the World
2. Workers Movements in the South: Inequality, Poverty, and Enduring Relevance of Rural Proletariat and Informal Sector Workers
PART II CASE STUDIES: RURAL AND INFORMAL LABOUR STRUGGLES
3. Primitive Steel Manufacturing for the Global Consumer Market: Capital, Super-exploitation, and Surplus Value in Wazirpur, India
4. The Enduring System of Global Agricultural Commodity Production and First World Commodity Extraction: The Case of Mindanao, the Philippines
5. Global Capitalism: Corporate Restructuring, Labour Brokering, and Working-class Mobilization in South Africa
6. Conclusion: Labour Struggles and Political Organization

Notes
Index
Figures and Tables
FIGURES
3.1 Rural population as a percentage of total population for India, the poor, the rich, and the world
4.1 Rural population as a percentage of total population in the Philippines
5.1 Increasingly unequal South Africa, 1993-2017
5.2 Share of temporary services employment and output in South African labour market, 2013
TABLES
1.1 Total, urban, and rural populations and their average annual rates of change for the world and development groups, selected years and periods, 1950-2050
1.2 Evolution of the urban, rural, and total populations of the world by geographic region, selected years, 1950-2050
2.1 Number of SEZs by region, 2019
2.2 Informality and employment status, global and by country income group, 2016 and 2018
4.1 World s largest exporters of bananas, 2019
4.2 Philippines population and poverty rate by region, 2015
5.1 Sectoral distribution of employment change in South Africa, 1995-2014
Abbreviations
AFL
American Federation of Labor
AFP
Armed Forces of the Philippines
AMCU
Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
AMSA
ArcelorMittal South Africa
ANC
African National Congress
ARB
Agrarian Reform Beneficiary (programme)
BMD
Bharat Mukti Dal
CARP
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme
CCMA
Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration
CITU
Centre of Indian Trade Unions
CIW
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
COSATU
Confederation of South African Trade Unions
CPI
Communist Party of India
CPI(M)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
CSR
corporate social responsibility
CWAO
Casual Workers Advice Office
DLC
Delhi Labour Commissioner
DOLE
Department of Labour and Employment
EPI
export promotion industrialization
EPZ
Economic Processing Zone
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization
FAWU
Food and Allied Workers Union
FMS
Faridabad Majdoor Samachar ( Faridabad Workers Newspaper )
GCC
global commodity chain
GEAR
Growth, Employment and Redistribution (programme)
GRMES
Garam Rolla Mazdoor Ekta Samiti
IMF
International Monetary Fund
INR
Indian rupee
INTUC
Indian National Trade Union Congress
ISI
import substitution industrialization
ITUC
International Trade Union Confederation
IUF
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations
IWW
Industrial Workers of the World
KMU
Kilusang Mayo Uno ( May First Movement )
MNC
multinational corporation
NAFLU
National Federation of Labor Unions
NAMASUFA
Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Suyapa Farm
NCT
National Capital Territory
NDF
National Democratic Front
NDP
National Development Plan
NFWOs
new forms of worker organization
NGO
non-governmental organization
NPA
New People s Army
NTUI
New Trade Union Initiative
NUM
National Union of Mineworkers
NUMSA
National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa
R
South African rand
Rs
Indian rupees
SACP
South African Communist Party
SAFTU
South African Federation of Trade Unions
SAPS
South African Police Service
SEWA
Self Employed Women s Association
SMSEs
small and medium-sized enterprises
SRWP
Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party
SWF
Simunye Workers Forum
TES
temporary employment services
TNC
transnational corporation
UAW
United Auto Workers
UCW
Union Carriage Wagon
UF
United Front
UMA
Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura
WIA
Wazirpur Industrial Area
Series Preface
Workers movements are a common and recurring feature in contemporary capitalism. The same militancy that inspired the mass labour movements of the twentieth century continues to define worker struggles that proliferate throughout the world today.
For more than a century, labour unions have mobilized to represent the political-economic interests of workers by uncovering the abuses of capitalism, establishing wage standards, improving oppressive working conditions, and bargaining with employers and the state. Since the 1970s, organized labour has declined in size and influence as the global po