ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been an upsurge in resistance to neoliberal globalization in many parts of the world – from the Zapatistas to the World Social Forums (WSF) in Porto Alegre, to the demonstrations and counter-summits opposing the hegemony of neoliberalism within transnational institutions. There have also been unprecedented global mobilizations against the US/UK-led war of occupation in Iraq and the widespread electoral success of left-leaning governments in Latin America. In these processes, we have witnessed a re-emergence of struggle in a range of forms and shapes that positions itself against the homogenizing tendencies of neo-liberal globalization to reproduce a highly unequal and exclusionary development model. In 2008, we also witnessed the fragility of the economic underpinnings of the neoliberal model as the world economy teetered towards financial collapse, and broad parts of the world entered economic recession. Simultaneously, we also witnessed the throwing away of the neoliberal austerity rule book as government after government stepped in to bail out banks, financial corporations and their wealthy executives. The double standards and the systemic injustice have been laid bare for all to see. Given that the failure of neoliberalism is now more visible and mass opposi-
tion is both more possible and urgently necessary, there is a need to understand the processes and strategies of resistance and to recognize oppositional movements as ‘active agents’. We need to learn from those practices that have been, even if only partially, successful in their objectives. A range of studies on counter-hegemonic social movements have emerged over the last decade that focus on the activities and strategies of the transnational anti-globalization/ anti-capitalist movements (Escobar 2000; Callinicos 2003; Sen et al. 2004); and others on particular social movements that have challenged the imperatives of hegemonic globalization, such as the Zapatistas in Mexico (Holloway and Peláez 1998; Morton 2002); the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil (Branford and Rocha 2002); and the anti-water privatization movement in Bolivia (Olivera and Lewis 2003). Across these and other movements, a range of alternative ‘power’ resour-
ces and strategies are being deployed. These include armed struggle, mass
demonstrations, land occupations and a range of new (or renewed) tactics, such as the development of transnational solidarity and human rights networks (Keck and Sikkink 1998); the strategic targeting of certain global institutions and organizations, such as demonstrations against the World Bank and the IMF (for example, in Seattle and Genoa); and the construction of alternative ‘power’ mechanisms, such as the WSF that was created as a parallel institution to the World Economic Forum (Santos 2004). Powerful new democratic forms for the organization of policy and planning have emerged, such as ‘participatory budgeting’ in Porto Alegre (Wampler 2004; Goldsmith and Vainer 2001; Santos 1998), that have brought legitimacy and authority to oppositional ‘alternatives’. Similarly, in many parts of the world, anti-neoliberal coalitions have emerged that, through pooling their differential power resources, have collectively challenged the top-down ‘power’ of neoliberal agents and parties. However, much of this research on counter-hegemonic movements has
focused on ‘New Social Movements’ and far less on the ‘traditional’ social movement of organized labour. More recently, there have been important initiatives emerging from the World Social Forum process that have sought to place labour and labour research firmly, albeit critically, within these processes (Bieler et al. 2008; Waterman 2002) and this book seeks to continue and complement that work. Having set out in the last chapter the multi-scalar ways in which capital is restructuring and the deleterious effects of these processes on workers and labour organizations, this chapter explores some of the ways in which workers and labour organizations have been responding to neoliberal globalization. We argue in this chapter that far from being a passive victim, the interna-
tional labour movement is, and has been, seeking ways to renew itself to meet the challenges that globalization poses, albeit with mixed success. To develop our argument, the first section provides a brief introduction to the area of ‘Labour Geographies’, which we believe can play an important conceptual part in rethinking and reconceptualizing the agency and role of labour within the historical development of capitalism, and offer new ways of thinking through the possibilities of organized labour resistance to neoliberal globalization. The following section critically reflects on the history of labour internationalism and draws out some of the major tensions. This is then followed by an examination of current strategies to protect workers’ rights, involving cross-border union structures, worker solidarity within corporate networks, and with consumers and other civil society actors. The final section then reviews emerging theories of social movement unionism and broadens the concept of ‘labour’ to include alternative organizations, which, alongside unions, are developing new forms of activism.
