NALSU NEWS: Labour Studies podcast/ video: Prof. Emeritus Lloyd Sachikonye, Annual Neil Aggett Labour Studies Lecture, "The Labour Movement and Struggles for Democracy and Livelihoods in Zimbabwe".
Despite claims that workers' movements are fading away, they remain among the largest formations in civil society worldwide, including in Africa; they have been central to struggles for dignity, rights, and equality. In this Lecture, Professor Sachikonye shows how Zimbabwe's unions have been at the heart of struggles for democracy and livelihoods over the past 30 years. They spearheaded resistance to neo-liberal economic adjustment as well as to the authoritarian, militarised ZANU-PF party-state, operating deftly on the harsh terrain of a country wracked by prolonged crises.
He examines how unions provided invaluable resources, representation, and leadership, not only to workers, but also to other sectors. This included mobilising an effective political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC made significant gains, despite extensive vote-rigging and repression, and despite the limitations of the Government of National Unity formed in 2009 after disputed elections marred by violence and human rights abuses. Professor Sachikonye also examines how Zimbabwe's long, deep economic decline led to deindustrialisation and the contraction of formal sector jobs and union strongholds, as well as resulted in large-scale emigration. On the other hand, he shows that there has been an imaginative reconfiguration of unions, as labour continues to bridge economic and political struggles in Zimbabwe's difficult environment
PODCAST: https://tinyurl.com/4r2tadpy
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/BYnPzfovM_Q
LECTURE SLIDES: Neil Aggett Labour Lecture Slides
DETAILS: The Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) hosts the Annual Neil Aggett Labour Studies Lecture as part of its labour studies seminars series, in partnership with its annual Vuyisile Mini Workers School. This Lecture was delivered at 4 pm on Tuesday 29 October 2024, at the Graham Hotel, Makhanda, South Africa, and streamed online.
SPEAKER: Lloyd Sachikonye is Professor Emeritus of Development Studies, at the University of Zimbabwe. He has published widely on African labour movements, and on union, civil society, and the democracy struggles in Zimbabwe. Professor Sachikonye's books include Striking Back: The Labour Movement and the Post-Colonial State in Zimbabwe 1980-2000 (w. Brian Raftopoulos, 2001), Trade Unions and Party Politics: Labour Movements in Africa (w. Björn Beckman and Sakhela Buhlungu, 2010), When a State Turns on its Citizens (2011) and Building from the Rubble: The Labour Movement in Zimbabwe since 2000 (w. Brian Raftopoulos and Godfrey Kanyenze, 2018). He serves on the boards of the union-affiliated Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ), the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ), the Global Labor Journal , and the Review of African Political Economy .
ABOUT NALSU: The Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) is based in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) is engaged in policy, research, and workers' education, has a democratic, non-sectarian, non-aligned, and pluralist practice, and active relations with a range of advocacy, labour, and research organisations. We draw strength from our location in a province where the legacy of apartheid and the cheap labour system, and post-apartheid contradictions, are keenly felt. We are named in honour of Dr Neil Hudson Aggett, a union organiser and medical doctor who died in 1982 in an apartheid jail after enduring brutality and torture.
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