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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > General
In this book, Mireya Loza sheds new light on the private lives of
migrantmen who participated in the Bracero Program (1942-1964), a
binationalagreement between the United States and Mexico that
allowed hundredsof thousands of Mexican workers to enter this
country on temporary workpermits. While this program and the issue
of temporary workers has longbeen politicized on both sides of the
border, Loza argues that the prevailingromanticized image of
braceros as a family-oriented, productive, legal workforcehas
obscured the real, diverse experiences of the workers
themselves.Focusing on underexplored aspects of workers' lives-such
as their transnationalunion-organizing efforts, the sexual
economies of both hetero andqueer workers, and the ethno-racial
boundaries among Mexican indigenousbraceros-Loza reveals how these
men defied perceived political, sexual, andracial norms. Basing her
work on an archive of more than 800 oral histories from theUnited
States and Mexico, Loza is the first scholar to carefully
differentiatebetween the experiences of mestizo guest workers and
the many Mixtec,Zapotec, Purhepecha, and Mayan laborers. In doing
so, she captures themyriad ways these defiant workers responded to
the intense discriminationand exploitation of an unjust system that
still persists today.
Born in 1917 in Bizana in the Eastern Cape, Oliver Reginald Tambo became Nelson Mandela's legal partner and a prominent member of the ANC's Youth League.
Following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, Tambo left South Africa to set up the ANC's international mission. As President of the ANC in exile, he led the fight against apartheid on both the diplomatic and military fronts. He died in 1993 on the eve of liberation. Tambo had a profound influence on the ANC during the difficult years of uncertainty, loneliness and homesickness in exile. His simplicity, his nurturing style, his genuine respect for all people seemed to bring out the best in them.
This is the story of one of South Africa's great sons - 'the most loved leader', the Moses who led his people to the promised land but did not live to enter it.
Around the globe, contemporary protest movements are contesting the
oligarchic appropriation of natural resources, public services, and
shared networks of knowledge and communication. These struggles
raise the same fundamental demand and rest on the same irreducible
principle: the common. In this exhaustive account, Pierre Dardot
and Christian Laval show how the common has become the defining
principle of alternative political movements in the 21st century.
In societies deeply shaped by neoliberal rationality, the common is
increasingly invoked as the operative concept of practical
struggles creating new forms of democratic governance. In a feat of
analytic clarity, Dardot and Laval dissect and synthesize a vast
repository on the concept of the commons, from the fields of
philosophy, political theory, economics, legal theory, history,
theology, and sociology. Instead of conceptualizing the common as
an essence of man or as inherent in nature, the thread developed by
Dardot and Laval traces the active lives of human beings: only a
practical activity of commoning can decide what will be shared in
common and what rules will govern the common's citizen-subjects.
This re-articulation of the common calls for nothing less than the
institutional transformation of society by society: it calls for a
revolution.
Higher education has seen better days. Harsh budget cuts, the
precarious nature of employment in colleague teaching, and
political hostility to the entire enterprise of education have made
for an increasingly fraught landscape. Radical Hope is an ambitious
response to this state of affairs, at once political and practice -
the work of an activist, teacher, and public intellectual grappling
with some of the most pressing topics at the intersection of higher
education and social justice. Kevin Gannon asks that the
contemporary university's manifold problems be approached as
opportunities for critical engagement, arguing that, when done
effectively, teaching is by definition emancipatory and hopeful.
Considering individual pedagogical practice, the students who are
the primary audience and beneficiaries of teaching, and the
institutions and systems within which teaching occurs, Radical Hope
surveys the field, tackling everything from impostor syndrome to
cell phones in class to allegations of a campus 'free speech
crisis'. Throughout, Gannon translates ideals into tangible
strategies and practices (including key takeaways at the conclusion
of each chapter), with the goal of reclaiming teachers' essential
role in the discourse of higher education.
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Louise Michel
(Hardcover)
Edith Thomas; Translated by Penelope Williams
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R934
Discovery Miles 9 340
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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The untold story of the Black nationalist group behind the growing
popularity of Kwanzaa In spite of the ever-growing popularity of
Kwanzaa, the story of the influential Black nationalist
organization behind the holiday has never been told. Fighting for
Us explores the fascinating history of the US Organization, a Black
nationalist group based in California that played a leading role in
Black Power politics and culture during the late 1960s and early
'70s whose influence is still felt today. Advocates of Afrocentric
renewal, US unleashed creative and intellectual passions that
continue to fuel debate and controversy among scholars and students
of the Black Power movement. Founded in 1965 by Maulana Karenga, US
established an extensive network of alliances with a diverse body
of activists, artists and organizations throughout the United
States for the purpose of bringing about an African American
cultural revolution. Fighting for US presents the first historical
examination of US' philosophy, internal dynamics, political
activism and influence on African American art, making an elaborate
use of oral history interviews, organizational archives, Federal
Bureau of Investigation files, newspaper accounts, and other
primary sources of the period. This book also sheds light on
factors contributing to the organization's decline in the early
'70s-government repression, authoritarianism, sexism, and elitist
vanguard politics. Previous scholarship about US has been shaped by
a war of words associated with a feud between US and the Black
Panther Party that gave way to a series of violent and deadly
clashes in Los Angeles. Venturing beyond the lingering rhetoric of
rivalry, this book illuminates the ideological similarities and
differences between US's "cultural" nationalism and the Black
Panther Party's "revolutionary" nationalism. Today, US's emphasis
on culture has endured as evidenced by the popularity of Kwanzaa
and the Afrocentrism in Black art and popular media. Engaging and
original, Fighting for US will be the definitive work on Maulana
Karenga, the US organization, and Black cultural nationalism in
America.
In the summer of 1980, the eyes of the world turned to the Gdansk
shipyard in Poland which suddenly became the nexus of a strike wave
that paralyzed the entire country. The Gdansk strike was
orchestrated by the members of an underground free trade union that
came to be known as Solidarnosc [Solidarity]. Despite fears of a
violent response from the communist authorities, the strikes spread
to more than 800 sites around the country and involved over a
million workers, mobilizing its working population. Faced with
crippling strikes and with the eyes of the world on them, the
communist regime signed landmark accords formally recognizing
Solidarity as the first free trade union in a communist country.
The union registered nearly ten million members, making it the
world's largest union to date. In a widespread and inspiring
demonstration of nonviolent protest, Solidarity managed to bring
about real and powerful changes that contributed to the end of the
Cold War. Solidarity:The Great Workers Strike of 1980 tells the
story of this pivotal period in Poland's history from the
perspective of those who lived it. Through unique personal
interviews with the individuals who helped breathe life into the
Solidarity movement, Michael Szporer brings home the momentous
impact these events had on the people involved and subsequent
history that changed the face of Europe. This movement, which began
as a strike, had major consequences that no one could have foreseen
at the start. In this book, the individuals who shaped history
speak with their own voices about the strike that changed the
course of history.
This is the powerful and moving life story of one of South Africa's
leading trade union activists, from her childhood in Sophiatown to
her first marriage and divorce, the dark days of her six months in
detention and her lasting contributions to labour organisation in
South Africa. Strikes have followed me all my life was first
published in 1989 by The women's press but was never available in
South Africa. Emma Mashinini's autobiography is an accessible,
engaging account of a self-effacing union organiser, gender-rights
activist and a phenomenal woman who has lived a difficult life and
endured many challenges: detention without trial for six months
(most of which were spent in solitary confinement); losing two
daughters and a son-in-law; health problems as a result of
detention; and constant abuse at the hands of apartheid's
enforcers. But Emma's story is one of courage. It is engaging, at
times sad (there is a heart-breaking moment in the text when she
forgets her daughter’s name while in solitary confinement), but
mostly it is an inspirational account of a selfless individual.
This edition includes a Foreword by Jay Naidoo that brings the
reader up to date with Emma’s life and opinions and the state of
the labour movement in South Africa as well as moving letters from
Mashinini's family that were written to her on her 80th birthday.
This is a classic South African memoir in the same vein as Ellen
Kuzwayo's call me woman, which recalls and preserves vital accounts
of South Africa's history.
Written from the perspective of a practising artist, this book
proposes that, against a groundswell of historians, museums and
commentators claiming to speak on behalf of art, it is artists
alone who may define what art really is. Jelinek contends that
while there are objects called 'art' in museums from deep into
human history and from around the globe - from Hans Sloane's
collection, which became the foundation of the British Museum, to
Alfred Barr's inclusion of 'primitive art' within the walls of
MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art - only those that have been made
with the knowledge and discipline of art should rightly be termed
as such. Policing the definition of art in this way is not to
entrench it as an elitist occupation, but in order to focus on its
liberal democratic potential. Between Discipline and a Hard Place
describes the value of art outside the current preoccupation with
economic considerations yet without resorting to a range of
stereotypical and ultimately instrumentalist political or social
goods, such as social inclusion or education. A wider argument is
also made for disciplinarity, as Jelinek discusses the great
potential as well as the pitfalls of interdisciplinary and
multidisciplinary working, particularly with the so-called
'creative' arts. A passionate treatise arguing for a new way of
understanding art that forefronts the role of the artist and the
importance of inclusion within both the concept of art and the art
world.
Marian Alexander Spencer was born in 1920 in the Ohio River town of
Gallipolis, Ohio, one year after the "Red Summer" of 1919 that saw
an upsurge in race riots and lynchings. Following the example of
her grandfather, an ex-slave and community leader, Marian joined
the NAACP at thirteen and grew up to achieve not only a number of
civic leadership firsts in her adopted home city of Cincinnati, but
a legacy of lasting civil rights victories. Of these, the best
known is the desegregation of Cincinnati's Coney Island amusement
park. She also fought to desegregate Cincinnati schools and to stop
the introduction of observers in black voting precincts in Ohio.
Her campaign to raise awareness of industrial toxic-waste practices
in minority neighborhoods was later adapted into national Superfund
legislation. In 2012, Marian's friend and colleague Dot Christenson
sat down with her to record her memories. The resulting biography
not only gives us the life story of remarkable leader but
encapsulates many of the twentieth century's greatest struggles and
advances. Spencer's story will prove inspirational and instructive
to citizens and students alike.
Since 2015, Poland's populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) has been
dismantling the major checks and balances of the Polish state and
subordinating the courts, the civil service, and the media to the
will of the executive. Political rights have been radically
restricted, and the Party has captured the entire state apparatus.
The speed and depth of these antidemocratic movements took many
observers by surprise: until now, Poland was widely regarded as an
example of a successful transitional democracy. Poland's
anti-constitutional breakdown poses three questions that this book
sets out to answer: What, exactly, has happened since 2015? Why did
it happen? And what are the prospects for a return to liberal
democracy? These answers are formulated against a backdrop of
current worldwide trends towards populism, authoritarianism, and
what is sometimes called 'illiberal democracy'. As this book
argues, the Polish variant of 'illiberal democracy' is an oxymoron.
By undermining the separation of powers, the PiS concentrates all
power in its own hands, rendering any democratic accountability
illusory. There is, however, no inevitability in these
anti-democratic trends: this book considers a number of possible
remedies and sources of hope, including intervention by the
European Union.
Guy Standing's immensely influential 2011 book introduced the
Precariat as an emerging mass class, characterized by inequality
and insecurity. Standing outlined the increasingly global nature of
the Precariat as a social phenomenon, especially in the light of
the social unrest characterized by the Occupy movements. He
outlined the political risks they might pose, and at what might be
done to diminish inequality and allow such workers to find a more
stable labour identity.His concept and his conclusions have been
widely taken up by thinkers from Noam Chomsky to Zygmunt Bauman, by
political activists and by policy-makers. This new book takes the
debate a stage further-looking in more detail at the kind of
progressive politics that might form the vision of a Good Society
in which such inequality, and the instability it produces is
reduced. "A Precariat Charter "discusses how rights - political,
civil, social and economic - have been denied to the Precariat, and
at the importance of redefining our social contract around notions
of associational freedom, agency and the commons. The ecological
imperative is also discussed - something that was only hinted at in
Standing's original book but has been widely discussed in relation
to the Precariat by theorists and activists alike.
isiXhosa edition translated by PROF
PETER MTUZE, with input from PROF SIMPHIWE SESANTI and DR ATHAMBILE
MASOLA
After years in the making, the iconic I Write What I Like has been
translated into isiXhosa, a long-awaited project for the Biko family
and the Biko Foundation.
Ndibhala Intando Yam features the writing of the famous activist and
Black Consciousness leader, Steve Biko. Before his untimely death in
detention at age 30, Biko was instrumental in uniting Black Africans in
the struggle against the apartheid government in South Africa.
This edition features a new Foreword by Nkosinathi Biko as well as the
material of the original 2004 Picador Africa edition: a collection of
Biko’s columns entitled I Write What I Like published in the journal of
the South Africa Student Organisation under the pseudonym of ‘Frank
Talk’; other journal articles, interviews and letters written by Steve
Biko at the time; a Preface by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and an
Introduction by Nkosinathi Biko; and a moving memoir by Father Aelred
Stubbs, which pays tribute to the courage and power of this young
leader who was to become one of Africa’s heroes.
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