Organizing Insurgency

Workers' Movements in the Global South

By (author) Immanuel Ness

Publication date:

20 April 2021

Publisher

Pluto Press

ISBN-13: 9780745343617

'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

'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'