In this article, we aim to demonstrate that the low prices of goods produced in the global South and the attendant modest contribution of its exports to the…
This article was originally published in the American labor magazine ASR in the summer of 2021 In 2022, the Swedish syndicalist union SAC holds a congress. Some say that SAC is at a crossroads. But what exactly are the choices? In the following essay, Rasmus Hästbacka argues that the choice is between building a popular movement union or a “revolutionary” cadre union. Hästbacka believes in a popular movement that progresses on dual tracks, i.e. a movement that builds both syndicalist sections and cross-union cohesion among workers.
(PM Press, 2020) by Bas Umali and
edited by Gabriel Kuhn.
Interview with Jong Pairez and Bas Umali
In the last decade, a remarkably strong anarchist movement seems to have developed in the Philippines. Can you give us a short overview?
Jong Pairez: There have been many published writings recently about anarchism in the Philippines, most of which are reflections, as well as prospects toward an alternative form of struggle and organising that veers away from the traditions of the dominant Philippine Left. I can mention Bas Umali’s
Archipelagic Confederation and Marco Cuevas Hewitt’s
Sketches of an Archipelagic Poetics of Postcolonial Belonging. Both articles look toward the importance of diversity and decentralised horizontal politics commonly overlooked by a Left that is united with the government in the aim to build a unified nation-state. As Marco argues, “Nationalism in this sense might even be considered as a kind of ‘internal imperialism’.”