Collective Struggle Research Articles

Deciphering Sisterhood: A Semiotic Exploration of Shared Symbols in Indian Narratives

This research article investigates the multifaceted concept of sisterhood within feminist theory and literature, emphasising its role as a symbol of the collective struggle against patriarchal oppression. It explores different aspects of women's shared experiences and collective action with various labels encompassing sister-friends, comadres (co-mothers, allomothers), sworn sisters, hermanas del alma (sisters of the soul), and numerous others. First-wave feminists popularised the term to promote unity among women, intending to address personal, political, and gender-related issues. This paper explores the theme of sisterhood in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Sister of My Heart and Mistress of Spices, examining how these novels serve as a powerful catalyst in female relationships. The analysis uncovers the profound significance that everyday objects and our surroundings can hold, symbol-ising the characters' emotional transformations and the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood through semiotics. Additionally, the analysis enhances our comprehension of the novels and provides a broader outlook on the emotional support and companionship in female friendships, emphasising their positive impact on women's overall well-being.

The Strategic Plan of the Working Day

“The Working Day” chapter of Capital makes sense today as an illustration of collective struggle over the sale of labor power by the hour. The historical materials in the chapter are instructive if read under the tutelage of Gertrud Kugelmann, considering the advice Karl Marx offers to her on where to start. A reassessment of Marx’s writing process is possible via his various plans in letters, his comments on method, the various sources used, and evaluating the role they have in Capital volume 1. Several scholars read Marx on commodities that “speak” but may sometimes miss idioms in English translation. Reading the German text can help us when searching for theoretical and political strategies for contemporary emancipation. With implications for replies to critics of Marx on slavery, my case is that the staging in Capital offers diagnostic potential where attention to the Parliamentary Blue Books might generate new research agendas, addressing current problems of time, social reproduction, climate, and class struggle. JEL Classification: B14

Mighty Eagles and Mercenaries: Existentialism and War in Ghāda al-Sammān’s Early Short Stories

Abstract This article looks at the existentialist nature of Ghāda al-Sammān’s early short stories, with a particular focus on her very first collection, Aynāka qadarī (Your eyes are my destiny), published in 1962. Ghāda al-Sammān was born in Syria and widely celebrated for her novelistic career: this article gives centrality to two of her early short stories as they present narratives that intricately weave individual and collective struggles within the context of the Algerian war of independence. Analysing the interplay between overarching Arab causes, feminism and existential themes, this study explores the nuanced portrayal of characters grappling with the complexities of war, morality and personal redemption. The protagonists, often embodying dichotomous perspectives, symbolize dignity and barbarism, echoing existentialist principles. The article examines how al-Samman’s youthful perspective and Sartrean influences shape the narratives, offering readers a unique lens into the psychological and moral dimensions of conflict. By unravelling layers of existential struggle and political engagement, this analysis sheds light on the richness and relevance of al-Samman’s early works within the broader literary and philosophical landscape.

SOMOS POLITICAL MOVEMENT: FROM THE EMERGENCE TO THE FRACTIONATION OF THE LGBTQIA+ STRUGGLE

This study aims to understand the emergence and consolidation of the LGBTQIA+ political movement in Brazil, focusing on the 1970s and 1980s. The study was guided by the question of how and why the LGBTQIA+ political movement originated in Brazil. The investigation followed a bibliographical and documentary research, anchored in the materialist-dialectical method. The theoretical support was provided by the works of Cruz (2018), Green (2018), Mott (2018), Quinallha (2022), Trevisan (2018) among other authors dedicated to the theoretical unveiling of the problem. The historical moment that gave rise to the movement, the importance of the mass communication process through the press, the internal political-ideological struggles for the conception of the LGBTQIA+ social and political movement and the reconfiguration of the homosexual movement in Brazil in the 1990s are highlighted. In the conclusion phase, the period is identified as fundamental for the organization of the initial struggles against homophobia and for the affirmation of the movement as instruments of collective struggles for rights.

Navigating the global health seas: A personal odyssey through the depths of COVID-19

This study offers an extensive perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic through a unique lens, blending personal narratives with informative analysis. Owing to strained public health systems, individuals faced emblematic struggles – such as awaiting medical attention in overwhelmed emergency rooms and securing testing appointments–which symbolized universal experiences. Through depersonalized yet interconnected stories, this study elucidates systemic vulnerabilities in global health infrastructures. An examination of socioeconomic disparities through third-person narratives reveals communities grappling with layoffs and limited health-care access. This study seeks to offer an analytical yet empathetic exploration of the broader socioeconomic impact of COVID-19. The objective portrayal of the pursuit for equitable vaccine access mirrors global challenges in scheduling and supply shortages. Furthermore, the personal narratives highlight the connections forged, the information shared, and the resources pooled, emphasizing a shared commitment to overcoming challenges together. This study concludes with a collective call for adopting a resilient, equitable, and united approach to global health in which informed perspectives of collective struggle converge for a better future.

‘Beyond’: Reading (toward) Drucilla

This paper enacts a work of mourning inspired by Drucilla Cornell’s own writings on the work of mourning in The Philosophy of the Limit. I begin by reflecting on the theme of the ‘beyond’ across her writings and, in particular, on how this ‘beyond’ names the space-time of the Other that keeps the present out of joint so that neither the past nor the future can ever be captured by an ontology of ‘presence’. It then looks at how she links the ‘beyond’ to the work of mourning – a letting go of any attempt to capture or possess the Other. Reading these reflections through Derrida’s thinking of writing as the prosthesis of memory, I argue for a practice of reading Drucilla’s texts as a work of mourning that allows her to live on in the traces of her life that are her books. I then (re)turn to the interpretation of Fanon’s psychoanalytic papers offered by Drucilla and me in our collaborative work, The Spirit of Revolution, to link the work of mourning to the collective politics of revolution. For Drucilla, I argue, it is through collective struggle, in fidelity to those who have died in the name of justice, that keeps the necessary work of mourning from sliding into individualized melancholia or destructive ‘acting-out’.

Cyprus and Africa in the Makarios Era: Igniting the ‘Hot’ Solidarity Against Western Imperialism

ABSTRACT This paper examines a relatively understudied topic in the literature of Cypriot political history, namely the relations between Cyprus and African countries during the Makarios era. Drawing upon the official archives of the UN, USA, UK, and the Republic of Cyprus (specifically the Press and Information Office, PIO, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MFA), as well as Cypriot newspapers, this research is grounded in historical analysis. The main findings of the paper suggest that Makarios perceived the Zurich-London status quo in Cyprus as contrary to principles such as self-determination, democracy, independence, and sovereignty, prompting him to engage in an international struggle for change. Makarios’s attitudes towards Cyprus aligned with African countries’ collective struggle under frameworks such as AAPSO, the Non-Aligned Movement, and G-77, both for themselves and the rest of the world. In various international forums, notably the United Nations, Cyprus and African nations provided mutual support against Western imperialism. Their collaboration extended beyond the Cyprus Problem to encompass the rights of people struggling for independence against colonialism all around the world and those seeking democracy in the face of racist regimes in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa.

MANAGERIAL CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL INCUBATORS FOCUSED ON SUBSISTENCE ENTREPRENEURS

Although social incubators provide a variety of entrepreneurial support, little is known regarding their design, implementation, operation and management. The identification and characterization of the clients and stakeholders of social incubators is complicated by multiple definitions of entrepreneurship and multiple typologies of entrepreneurs. Their ventures are accompanied by strategic and tactical confusion about objectives and populations served. This study investigates the dynamics of incubator clients’ needs and attributes as they interact with the values and interests of other stakeholders in a social incubator focused on survival entrepreneurs. Our sampling was a medium sized mixed economy town in Brazil. Our thirteen-month ethnographic study analyzed the collective struggle to transcend the tensions between social and economic values and improve the lives of vulnerable populations. Central to this struggle is the incubator management’s unique humanistic ideology coupled with the search for realistic concrete results modulated by community and client attributes. Through our analysis of various interventions that occurred within the social incubator, we discuss the importance of getting to know the vulnerable to better manage social incubators that focus on subsistence entrepreneurship. These contents are valued when discussed in the context of the evolutionary phases (or trajectory) of the vulnerable in a social incubator from welcoming through training, to improvement and other phases, until citizens’ autonomy is achieved.

Ignorance Is Bliss: Anti-Queer Biopolitical Discourse as Conscious Unwillingness to Elaborate Complex Information

Contemporary biopolitical discourse around fundamental rights and societal representations has increasingly weaponized moral-based attitudes and personal feelings, eschewing informed, factual opinions grounded in observation, data analysis, and scientific research. This trend is evident in the treatment of the queer community—used here as an umbrella term for non-cisgender, non-heterosexual individuals. Over recent years, the group has become the primary target of negationist critiques aimed at undermining the very existence of the community and challenging its rights. This article argues that the rise of depersonalized interactions and individualism, particularly through social media (where superficial and sensationalist content thrives, often at the expense of nuanced, data-driven discourse), the cult of the self and power (which prioritizes individual success, sidelining the collective struggles and rights of marginalized groups), and misinformation, is strategically employed by those in power and reverberated through the general public. These elements serve as a translucent veil, enabling the conscious choice to avoid engaging in structured, complex, and informed discussions about queer people’s rights and their existence. Consequently, the strategic deployment of these tactics, with the aim of shaping public opinion based on falsehoods and emotional appeals, undermines the capacity for informed dialog and perpetuates the marginalization of the queer community.

Workers’ self-organisation under military rule: challenges and opportunities in post-coup Myanmar

In February 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup, bringing to an end a decade of quasi-civilian electoral rule, during which workers in Myanmar had organised themselves into close to 3000 workplace unions. The coup and post-coup imposition of martial law thus upended what had been a vigorous domestic labour movement. Yet post-coup restrictions on worker mobilising have not extinguished workers’ collective struggles. We therefore investigate, in this article, the challenges and opportunities for workers’ self-organisation under post-coup conditions. We argue that despite heightened restrictions since the coup, industrial workers have exploited contradictions in the post-coup factory labour regime to press demands and make tangible, if limited, gains. To substantiate our argument, we present two cases of worker organising at garment factories on Yangon’s industrial outskirts. Empirically, we draw on interviews we conducted with workers involved in the two cases in question, and on our ongoing research into Myanmar’s post-coup labour conditions more generally.

Queer Ukraine perspectives

Debs Grayson talks to T and Vlada, the DViJKA collective Why Ukrainians need solidarity from the British left The DViJKA collective, a duo of Kyiv‐born, UK‐based, artist researchers, discuss the reception in the UK of their collection of essays Queer Ukraine. Since the full‐scale invasion, queer Ukrainians have embraced anti‐colonial nationalism and the concept of homonationalism, not least because Russia is one of the most notoriously openly queer-phobic empires: the fate of LGBTQIA+ people in Chechnya predicts what will happen under a Russian occupation. When a state occupies or invades, it creates a sense of a collective struggle: people with whom you’ve never had a connection become people with whom you’re serving. The difficulties of navigating the state and being queer are nevertheless many: for example being affiliated with entities like the nation state or the military industrial complex; being associated with NATO or the EU. But addressing these issues has to wait until after Ukraine has freed itself from the nuclear‐armed and militarised state on its border. Yet some left sectarians criticise this stance and align themselves with any anti‐Western power ‐ just because they’re anti‐western.

The Archive as a Battlefield for the Future: Anti-colonial Struggles and Insurgent Temporality

Anti-fascist, anti-colonial, and anti-imperial struggles of the twentieth century provide important intellectual and political resources as we collectively seek to forge alternative futures in the face of our depleted political present. Setting out with this analytical and political concern, this article is interested in the question of what it means to visit the archive of past struggles and past insurgencies. It argues for a critical historical method that foregrounds the agency of the insurgents themselves—the agency of women, slaves, foreigners, the poor and the peasants—as the subjects of an insurgent universality (Tomba 2019). The article explores the international brigades fighting the fascists during the Spanish Civil War, the peasants gathered to affirm the Second Havana Declaration, and the audience that comprised Thomas Sankara's speech in Harlem. The artifacts of insurgency, the authors suggest, are embodied expressions of collective struggles written not by one but by a multiplicity. They are the artifacts of a collective political subjectivity united in their insurgent claim to disrupt the temporal and spatial delimitations of politics in modernity—enacting an insurgent universality. The archive of insurgent universality is our future for it provides compelling ways to think, write, and act politically toward the present.

Cultural Hybridity and Identity Crisis in The Inheritance of Loss

This paper explores the themes of cultural hybridity and identity crisis in Kiran Desai’s novel, The Inheritance of Loss. Set in post-colonial India and the United States, the novel delves into the lives of characters who navigate the complexities of hybrid identities and the resulting psychological turmoil. Through a detailed analysis of characters such as Sai, Jemubhai Patel, and Biju, the study examines how colonial legacies and global influences shape their fragmented identities. The socio-political backdrop of the Gorkhaland movement further enriches the narrative, highlighting the interconnectedness of individual and collective struggles for recognition and self-definition. This paper underscores the importance of understanding the multifaceted nature of identity in a globalized world and the ongoing impact of colonial histories on contemporary identities.

Exploring the Dynamic Relationship Between Caste and Gender in Bama’s Two Novels

This research explores the dynamic relationship between gender and caste in the select novels of Bama, a prominent Tamil Dalit writer. Drawing on feminist and Dalit literary theories, this study analyzes Bama’s novels, Karukku and Sangati, to reveal the nuanced ways in which gender and caste intersect that shape the lives of Dalit women. Through close readings of Bama’s narratives, the article highlights the systemic violence, discrimination, and marginalization faced by Dalit women. She fearlessly scrutinizes the role of family, church, school, and government in inflicting both physical and psychological harm on the Dalit community. She emphasizes the need for collective struggle against this systemic favoritism as the key to individual liberation. Bama’s literary work brings to the fore the critical importance of comprehending the complex interplay between gender and caste in the context of oppression. Through her writing, she illuminates the agency and unwavering determination of Dalit women as they strive for social justice and equality.

Sahelis in struggle: Reimagining feminist solidarity and friendship in neoliberal times

1980s. The autonomous women's movement burst into the scene capturing the imagination of so many women – women who were trapped in families, women who were battling sexism in their workplace, women suffocating in abusive marriages, women struggling to be seen and heard in political organizations that still refused to see gender as a primary question - women from different backgrounds, professions, caste, class, religion, political beliefs – all of whom who were ill at ease with their worlds, their homes, their works and were struggling to find air, grappling for a new home, came together in solidarity, resistance, rage and imagination. While the rumblings of the women's movement, of feminist politics could be felt long back since the waging of the freedom struggle, there was a novelty in the way the 80s moment brought in scores of women to talk, scream, organize, sing, dance, shout slogans, march, ideate on things that moved them, on ‘women's issues’. The idea of sisterhood though soon encountered the anti-Mandal commission agitation, and the rise of Hindutva that exposed the cracks, faultlines of any notion of sisterhood that subsumed identities of caste, religion, sexuality. The journey of the feminist movement in India, therefore, has also been a journey of making and remaking of ideas of sisterhood, solidarity, of the collective ‘we’. While the critical interventions from identity based movements have torn down the inherent ‘naturalness’ of women's friendships – bringing to question the identities and political locations that make the collective ‘we’, the question arises, how do we then think of forging bonds of resilient comradeships, of waging collective struggles in times of cancel culture and neoliberal notions of ‘allyship’. Informed by and building on the debates on ‘intersectionality’ (Nivedita Mennon, Mary John, David Mcnally, etc.), learnings from identity based interventions in movements, and Marxist feminist interventions, this paper will examine Jodi Dean's theorization of the communicative ‘we’, Devika Jain's reconfiguration of Ambedkar's concept of ‘maitri’, and insights from activists in the struggle to unpack how we can think of building companionship of resistances in today's times. Furthermore, as we interrogate the possibilities of friendship in organizing social relations in the new world, we will also look into the possibilities it then holds in crafting a new morality, new ethics.

Humanizing the Line: Indo-Pak Border in Ashvin Kumar’s Little Terrorist

India and Pakistan are neighboring countries in the South Asian region, bearing centuries of united history, culture and collective struggle against colonial rule. The end of the colonial era of this subcontinent with partition to adhere to the separate nation demanded for Hindus and Muslims created massive havoc to these countries that were once united. Furthermore, the partition of the sub-continent has become the genesis of the severed relationship between these nations. This article delves into discussing the idea of the India and Pakistan border visualized in Ashvin Kumar’s critically acclaimed Hindi short film Little Terrorist (2004). The film presents an alternative viewpoint to the presence of borders and the separation of humans based on nationality by showing the border villages of India and Pakistan. The short film forges a path for friendship between the two nations by reminiscing the shared history through the characters Jamal and Bhola. The film, by showing the border village, is subverting the idea of the Indo-Pak border for the people who once lived together. This article analyzes the concept of borders in the film using the research on Indo-Pak border studies.

Perlawanan dan Pembebasan Terhadap Kolonialisme dengan Lensa Poskolonial dalam Novel Jejak Langkah Karya Pramoedya Ananta Toer

This research focuses on analyzing the novel "Jejak Langkah" by Pramoedya Ananta Toer with a postcolonial approach. Through the descriptive qualitative method, this research explores the resistance and liberation depicted in the main character, Minke, as a representation of the spirit of resistance and aspirations for Indonesian independence. Minke does not only fight physically, but also through intellectual struggle, identity search, and development of political awareness. Through critical writing and relationships with nationalist figures, Minke builds national consciousness among the people and rejects Dutch colonial norms to fight for pride in Indoan identity and culture. This research illustrates the collective struggle to achieve independence and national dignity in the context of colonial colonization.

TikTok’s queer public culture of mental health support

TikTok offers LGBTQ+ young people a queer public through which to negotiate mental health difficulties. Data from an Australian survey of LGBTQ+ young people was analysed to consider TikTok-specific mental health support. Five key themes of support related to: 1) sharing experiences; 2) encountering ‘people like me’; 3) comfort and safety; 4) mental health education; and 5) feeling less alone. These overlapping themes foreground the affective aspects of TikTok use for many LGBTQ+ young people, reflecting Cvetkovich’s theorization of ‘queer public cultures’. This can be seen in LGBTQ+ young people’s collective negotiations of mental health on TikTok — as a platform that offers new affective connections to queer culture, while continuing an ongoing culture of peer support forged through collective struggle, survival, and creative practice.

Confining by Choking Refugees’ Lifetime

ABSTRACT This article argues that refugees’ confinement is enforced through a combination of spatial tactics which restrict mobility and modes of governing by choking lifetime. Focusing on the Greek context, it contends that asylum seekers are entrapped in a sort of (in)dependency conundrum: they are expected to be self-reliant, and they are blamed for being pampered, but they are simultaneously disrupted insofar as they do autonomous social reproduction activities and build autonomous spaces of liveability. The piece starts by exploring the nexus between asylum procedure, carceral mechanisms and politics of confinement: it highlights that people who seek asylum in Greece are at risk of being detained or being declared inadmissible to the asylum procedure. It moves on to investigate the (in)dependency conundrum, taking into account the ways in which refugees choked: it shows that asylum seekers are deprived both of socio-economic independence and of humanitarian-financial support. It suggests that to be withheld is also their future and that this should be conceived as a form of injury and debilitation. The final section illustrates how asylum seekers stranded in camps have organised collective struggles to protest the suspension of food and financial support, and to claim right to education and to access to public transport. By starting from precise demands, refugees have articulated expansive claims that exceed minimalistic biopolitics.

Grassroots Solidarity for Refugees in Hostile Grounds: Spatial Practices of Bottom-Up Inclusion in Verona

The article aims to shed light on everyday bottom-up practices of local solidarity groups in a predominantly exclusionary and nativist context. Considered as one of the most hostile settings in the Italian peninsula, with an elevated presence of far-right and populist right actors, the city of Verona offers an interesting case as con-comitantly the capital of migration of the Veneto region. Against the elevated presence of an ethnonationalist outlook to urban membership, a local network of grassroots actors challenges exclusionary practices in solidarity with newcomers from various legal statuses and backgrounds. These grassroots actors sharing the memory of collective struggles collaborate to overcome both social hostility and limitations of the institutional reception system in their own hometown. Premised on 3 years of fieldwork, the analysis draws from personal testimonies alongside visual narratives and archival research in offering a multidimensional historical investigation of everyday solidarities in an unlikely setting.