#labour movements

[beenasarwar]

Beyond remittances: A rare insight into the everyday lives of migrant workers

Commemorating Labour History Month  Social anthropologist Shankar Ramaswami’s ‘Souls in the Kalyug’ is a rich, multi-layered text that provides a window into workers’ lives in India, including some hopeful strands within the destructive churnings of global capitalism.  Sapan BookshelfSouls in the Kalyug: The Politics and Cosmologies of Migrant Workers in Contemporary India By Shankar…

Beyond remittances: A rare insight into the everyday lives of migrant workers

[usstudiesonline]

Meet the Curator: 'Labour's Special Relationship'

'Labour’s Special Relationship is about the history of ties between the British and American labour movements, from the nineteenth century until today. This is an enormous topic. There have been so many examples of cooperation between British and American trade unionists over the years, and no hope of covering all of them in 20-something panels. So, I have tried to tell a coherent story that spans 200 years through a small number of examples – something I suppose that all historians have to do to some degree or other.' USSO interviews Dr Steven Parfitt, curator of the 'Labour's Special Relationship' exhibition.

Ties between Britain and the United States have long been conceptualised along the lines of a ‘special relationship’.  The public exhibition ‘Labour’s Special Relationship’ seeks to explore transatlantic ties between trade unionists and organised labour in Britain and the United States, often obscured by conventional myth-making about Anglo-American unity.  With the exhibition underway, USSO…

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[justiciary]

Preventing Youth Violence

“A more peaceful future can be achieved through patience by teaching youth to deal with conflict in nonviolent ways.“

Integrating a Nonviolence Paradigm into the School System North American youth violence has not increased over the last century, despite media claims, but violence in Toronto has. On June 15, 2000 the Canada Supreme Court dealt with the homicide problem by banning guns. By December 2005, there were 78 homicides reported in Toronto for that year, including 52 committed with a gun (Lindsey, 2005). The problem of youth violence, however, is not the weapon, but the person who uses it.

The Real Issue of Youth Violence and Crime in Toronto Conflict is a normal and natural occurrence, but many youth lack the knowledge to deal with it properly. Rebecca Dube (2006) recognized that Toronto homicides doubled in the past year and saw gang violence as a threat to society. The author notes that police identified 73 gangs operating in Toronto. Dube blames gangs for tragic newspaper headlines like “4 year old wounded in a Drive by Shooting”. Youth may only be responsible for 21% of all crime, but youth turn into adults (Bell, 2007). Thus, society needs to focus on the root of the problem, which is how children are being taught conflict management. Perhaps, using the nonviolence paradigm and other peace and conflict strategies as a basic principle in the school curriculum would create a more hopeful future that promotes positive peace.

The Nonviolence Paradigm and its Powerful Methods Based on peace and conflict studies, Fisk and Schellenberg (2000) discuss positive peace as the absence of structural violence, which is the term used for indirect violence cause by social systems. The nonviolence paradigm suggests starting at the root of the problem in preventing violent action, and the root of society is children. The best way to live a nonviolent life, of course, is to learn how. The nonviolence paradigm promotes nonviolence as a power, and suggests that people have been conditioned to relate power and violence. This is apparent in the images one may see when thinking of power such as: a gun, money, or a hammer. Thus, people could be conditioned to develop a more peaceful vision of power. Some nonviolent methods include: protesting, non cooperation, and intervention. In Alabama, 1995, a young black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white person. This was a small step in the success of equal rights for African Americans. Though the process may have been long, many other struggles like: women’s suffrage, labour movements, and civil rights were accomplished through nonviolent action.

Proof that Education is the Answer to Preventing Violence Behaviorism is a branch of psychology based on principles developed by B.F Skinner and is one of the most widely used explanations for crime and delinquency (Bell, 2007). Basically, the theory claims that behavior is conditioned by rewards and punishments. however, this theory lacks key issues like the role of observed learning. Observed learning is a theory that youth learn from what they see on television, at school, and in the family. Thus, a child who grows up watching their parents form a cycle of escalating abuse, will probably deal with conflict the same way. Furthermore, a youth who is sent to jail for crime is surrounded by harder criminals who may encourage even harsher forms of violence. Overall, gun violence is not going to be solved by banning guns, or placing youth in jail. Guns will be found and jail will provide them with criminal mentors (Bell, 2007). Youth violence will diminish when the minds of youth have been enlightened to rely on more positive ways of dealing with conflict. Furthermore, the education needs to focus on positive reinforcement. A simple change to focus on peace in history class, instead of war, as if war is the only important thing to happen in history.

[theoryandpraxis20]

Zeche Zollern: Exhibition on Workers' Movements in Germany

Yesterday, some of us from the SDS.Köln visited a fantastic exhibition on the German labour movements „Durch Nacht zum Licht? Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung 1863-2013“ at the museum Zeche Zollern in Dortmund. There were three a couple of things which stood out in this exhibition compared to other exhibitions on labour in Germany: You wander through scaffolding in a labyrinth fashion. This gives…

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[theoryandpraxis20]

Jeremy Brecher's 'Strike'

Some thoughts on Jeremy Brecher's 'Strike'

Just finished reading Jeremy Brecher’s Strike! (PM Press) I recommend reading this almost majestic work on the radical history of the American labour movement. The book is anything but neutral, and this is necessary. When I visited countless museums which displayed strikes in the US this summer. All of them argued that these strikes were a thing of th past and no longer required as “we’re all…

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[bhangrame-blog]

Bhangra has been used as a tool for social movements and organization. Hear Raj Chouhan speak about how Bhangra was used to organize farm workers in the 70s and 80s in Metro Vancouver. Bhangra.me: Vancouver's Bhangra Story is on at Museum of Vancouver from May 5 - October 23, 2011, and is co-produced with Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration Society.