• Search
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Media
  • About
  • Search Close
  • Cart
  • Search Search
  • Close Close
Back
— Where Are The Unions? — £ $ £ $
Share: Share article on Facebook Tweet article on Twitter Pin article on Pinterest Email to a friend

Please enable JavaScript to be able to buy books.

Free Shipping:
UK > £20 | EU > £50 | US & CA > US$25

Where Are The Unions?

Workers and Social Movements in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe

Edited by Sian Lazar

The first fully comprehensive comparison of the Latin American ‘turn to the left’, the Middle East and North African ‘Arab Spring’ and the Occupy and anti-austerity movements of Europe and North America, with a focus on the apparent lack of union involvement.
  • Overview
  • Author Bio
  • Table of Contents
  • Reviews
  • Details

Description

The start of the 21st Century has been marked by global demands for economic justice. From the wave that swept through Latin America in the early 2000s, and the Arab revolutions from 2011, to the Occupy and anti-austerity movements in Europe and North America, the last 20 years have witnessed the birth of a new type of mass mobilisation.

Where are the Unions? compares, for the first time, the challenges faced by movements in Latin America, the Arab world and Europe. Workers’ strikes and protests played a critical role in these mass movements, yet their role is significantly underestimated in many narratives of these events.

This book focuses on the complex interactions between organised workers, the unemployed, self-employed, youth, students and the state, and critically assesses the concept of the ‘precariat’. With contributions from across four continents, it is the most comprehensive look at the global context of mass mobilisation in the 21st Century.

Author Bio

Sian Lazar is currently a Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of El Alto, Rebel City: Self and Citizenship in Andean Bolivia (2008) and editor of The Anthropology of Citizenship: A Reader (2013). She is also joint editor of the Journal of Latin American Studies.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction - Sian Lazar
  • Part I: Labour movements, society and the state
    • 1. The Egyptian workers' movement: problems of organisation and politics - Anne Alexander and Mostafa Bassiouny
    • 2. From the grassroots to the presidential palace: Evo Morales and the coca growers’ union in Bolivia - Thomas Grisaffi
    • 3. The labour union movement and ‘alternative’ culture in Tunisia: the long view of a close relationship - Mohamed-Salah Omri
  • Part II: Identity and precarity
    • 4. Migrants' struggles? Rethinking citizenship, anti-racism and labour precarity through migration politics in Italy - Irene Peano
    • 5. The Spanish crisis: from complacency to unrest, from unrest to mobilisation - Salvador Martí i Puig and Marco Aparicio Wilhelmi
    • 6. What are the possible strategies for the emergence of a democratic and revolutionary labour movement in Lebanon? - Walid Daou
    • 7. 'To struggle is also to teach': how can teachers and teaching unions further the global fight for another world? - Mary Compton
  • Part III: Rank and file challenges to traditional unionism
    • 8. ‘Ungrievable’ labour and ‘unruly’ politics: NGOS, workers’ rights, and the 2013–2014 protests in Brazil - Lucy McMahon
    • 9. The experience of grassroots syndicalism in Greece: workplace restructuring and the role of traditional trade unions in the tertiary sector - Aris Anagnostopoulos and Angelos Evangelinidis
    • 10. Dilemmas of trade unionism and the movement of the unemployed under neoliberal and progressive regimes in Argentina - Virginia Manzano
    • 11. From invisible to invincible: the story of the 3 Cosas Campaign - Jason Moyer-Lee and Henry Chango Lopez
  • Afterword: bringing manifestos back in? - Peter Waterman

Reviews

‘This superb collection combines a radical, activist-inspired vision with up-to-date scholarship and theoretical insight. Bringing together in-depth analyses of specific case studies from different national contexts, the book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of current labour conflicts.’
Pnina Werbner, co-author of Debating Cultural Hybridity

‘This may be the single most important set of studies to come out of recent worldwide mobilisations. It tells us what the Left has to learn about labour if we are to take on the spectre of the populist Right.’
Don Kalb, University of Bergen

‘Pivotal to understanding global social movements. Sian Lazar has impressively drawn examples from around the world, demonstrating that resisting union bureaucracy and government authoritarianism is essential to creating enduring democratic structures. Essential for students.’
Immanuel Ness, City University of New York

‘This desperately needed collection turns a crucial analytic lens on our current era of global uprisings. It makes clear that workers will remain pivotal to movements for other possible futures.’
Maple Razsa, author of Bastards of Utopia: Living Radical Politics after Socialism

Details

Publication Date: 15 March 2017
296 pages

Product ISBNs: Paperback: 9781783609895
Hardback: 9781783609901
eBook ePub: 9781783609918
eBook Kindle: 9781783609932

Zed Scholar

To request free review copies or inspection copies of this title or to learn more about our academic publishing, visit Zed Scholar.

Related Books

Crisis and Class War in Egypt

Social Reproduction, Factional Realignments and the Global Political Economy

Sean F. McMahon An examination of the resurgence of military dictatorship in Egypt, exploring where the revolution went wrong and how it can be saved

The Arab Spring

The End of Postcolonialism

Hamid Dabashi In this landmark book, Hamid Dabashi argues that the revolutionary uprisings from Morocco to Iran and from Syria to Yemen were driven by a 'delayed defiance' - a point of rebellion against domestic tyranny and globalized disempowerment alike - that signifies no less than the end of Postcolonialism.

Land and Freedom

The MST, the Zapatistas and Peasant Alternatives to Neoliberalism

Leandro Vergara-Camus The only comparative analysis of the Zapatistas and the MST.

Related Content

Pervious Next

    Account

    • Login

    Social Media

    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Instagram

    ZED

    • About Zed
    • Zed Scholar
    • Contact
    • Vacancies
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • FAQs
    • Newsletter

    For Authors

    • Publishing with Zed
    • For contracted authors

    For the trade

    • Rights and permissions
    • Sales representation and distribution
    • Art department

    Catalogues

    • S/S 2020
    • A/W 2019
    • S/S 2019
    • A/W 2018
    • S/S 2018
    • A/W 2017
    • S/S 2017
    • A/W 2016

    Subjects

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Middle East
    • Anthropology
    • Biography and Memoir
    • Business
    • Cities and Architecture
    • Culture and Media
    • Current Affairs
    • Development
    • Economics
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Fiction
    • Gender, Sexualities and Queer Identities
    • Health and Medicine
    • History
    • Human Rights
    • Politics and International Relations
    • Philosophy
    • Race and Indigenous Politics
    • Sociology

    Books

      Other

        View all results
        Close

        • Forgot password?
        Close
        • Remove promo codePromo code: applied
        Subtotal
        Free Shipping:
        UK > £20 | EU > £50 | US & CA > US$25
        Continue Shopping
        Checkout Checkout
        Facebook Twitter Email
        Connect with Zed: Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Visit our YouTube page Follow us on Instagram Close