Strong Solidarity Research Articles

Spanish Views of Nazi Germany, 1933–45: A Fascist Hybridization?

From the early 1930s, admiration for Hitler and Nazi Germany became characteristic of Spanish fascists. They were fascinated by the image of National Socialism and its example of ‘national resurgence’. During the war, the influence of Nazi Germany among Spanish fascists, traditionalists and supporters of the emerging Franco regime increased. On their return, Spanish travellers to Nazi Germany portrayed an enthusiastic image of a new society, marked by strong national pride, economic resurgence, social solidarity and material welfare. Until the end of the Second World War, several thousand Spanish Fascists and supporters of the Franco Regime visited Nazi Germany as soldiers on their way to and from the Eastern front, as civil workers or as students. A study of the experiences of such individuals may broaden our perspective on how Nazi Germany influenced foreign visitors. What image of Nazi Germany did those visitors paint in their letters, diaries and memoirs? What was left from this experience in post-1945 Spanish memories?

Winning Conditions of Precarious Workers’ Struggles: A Reflection Based on Case Studies from South Korea

In South Korea, many struggles of non-regular workers, who attempted to organize their unions and engage in militant action to protest against employers’ inhumane discrimination and illegal exclusion, have failed to achieve the desired outcomes, due to their vulnerable employment status and their lack of action resources. In this light, our study examines the conditions that lead to victory in precarious workers’ struggles, by focusing on three attributes: internal solidarity with regular workers, external solidarity from labour and civil society groups outside the workplace, and mobilized protest repertoires. Specifically, this study seeks to identify the configurations of these three conditions that produce successful outcomes in precarious workers’ struggles, in terms of bargaining gains and organizational sustainability. We do this by employing fs/QCA modelling to examine 30 major cases of non-regular worker struggles occurring over a 16-year period from 1998 to 2013. Our analysis presents the finding that the conditional configuration of strong external solidarity, strong internal solidarity, and fewer struggle repertoires constitutes a significant causal path to successful outcomes. This reaffirms the idea that strong solidarity bridging, whether with regular workers that have a different employment status in the segmented workplace, or with labour and civil society groups outside the workplace, is the crucial causal condition for precarious workers to achieve their desired outcomes from struggle. An unexpected finding, however, is that when precarious worker struggles mobilize fewer struggle repertoires, they are likely to achieve the successful outcomes of bargaining and organizational gains. Our study contributes to the theoretical elaboration of labour movement revitalization for the precariat class, by shedding light on the activism of precarious workers, considering that the English-language literature that pays attention to the active role of such atypical workers in staging protests against employers’ inhumane treatments and the neoliberal labour regime is limited.

Rally for Normative Demands and Solidarity of Workers

This research is initiated by an interesting fact that there are still many labor strikes and rallies in Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to determine: the influence of normative demands and solidarity together on job dissatisfaction of workers. This research is intended as explanatory research. Sampling method used in this research is accidental sampling. The sample consists of 100 workers/laborers who joined rallies on May 1, 2014. The results show on the indicator the amount of City Minimum Wage Rates in normative demands variable, respondents believe the amount of wages earned are still not in accordance with the provisions of the minimum wage set by the government. Participation of workers in the fight for economic security must be done in various ways including demonstrations, based on solidarity between workers in order to put pressure on policy makers with regard to labor issues. In conclusion, good normative demands in accordance with the provisions of the agreement and the strong solidarity between workers will reduce dissatisfaction. Suggestions are made on normative demands variable; review should be made on the amount of the city minimum wage rates; leave entitlements, workers social security and dismissal policies should be in compliance with the current government policy.

‘재독 한인 여성’에서 ‘한국계 이주민 여성’으로 : 재독한국여성모임의 정치운동

In the last forty years, the Korean Women’s Group in Germany (KWGG) have built strong solidarity with other overseas and German-based Korean organizations, and participated in Korea’s political movements on democratization, women’s labor rights, and unification.BR Despite the Korean government’s restrictive policies towards overseas Koreans, KWGG actively led political activities such as campaigns, petitions and fundraising, to raise public awareness among Germans/Europeans on the issue of human rights abuses suffered by Korean female workers.BR Furthermore, expanding their scope of work, KWGG have collaborated with other German feminist organizations including the Women’s Foundation of the Green Party and Terre des Femmes. Recently, together with other ethnic minority groups in Germany, KWGG founded an association for migrant women called DaMigra. KWGG’s cultural activities in the association have been well received and considered to have contributed to strengthening solidarity among its members.BR KWGG’s role in the past forty years has expanded from ‘the bridge between intellectuals and (Korean) workers’ to ‘female activists’ fighting for (broader) democracy, human rights, women’s rights and peace. is shift is a reflection of the change in individual members’ identities from Korean ‘residents’ in Germany to Korean ‘immigrants’ in Germany.

BUILDING REPUTABLE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM IN AFRICA

African universities met number of burdens and influence their low yield in terms of performing locally and internationally. It was mentioned during SDGC/A conferences that took place in Kigali 5th and 6th of July where its document clarified that only 10 universities of Africa are ranked in first 1000 universities in world ranking. Most of difficulty issues that African universities are facing are financial instability, qualified intellectuals, disorganization of academic programs, materials and equipments, etc. Academic and research collaboration may come as solution to build capacity of African universities. This partnership and collaboration will lead to strong solidarity of sharing available resources. Research centers and committees are responsible to provide important projects to benefit the university. Multicultural innovation in African education is encouraged for innovations. Researches leading to postdoctoral are encouraged in African universities strong innovation in academic programs is encouraged.

IDENTITAS DALAM HUBUNGAN INTERNASIONAL: DILEMA KEBIJAKAN LUAR NEGERI FINLANDIA DALAM KRISIS UKRAINA 20141

This research aims to explain why Finland did not play role as peacemaker in Ukraine Crisis. The great contribution on mediating conflicts in international relation has made Finland play role as peacemaker, a country which is well known with its peace action. But as Ukraine Crisis occurs, Finland only helps by sending foreign aid and giving advice to Russia and Ukraine to arrange a mediationwithout introducing itself as the mediator. Using constructivist approaches, this research argues that there is identity conflict between Finland’s identity as a peacemaker and as a member of The European Union which is against Russia. The strong solidarity between The European Union and Finland caused Finland tends to support The European Union’s decision to impose economic sanction against Russia, instead of mediating the conflict. This research confirms a constructivist assumption that states must consider their identities in determining foreign policy, so they will not turned dilemma when they face a situation where they need to use more than one identity to conduct foreign policy.

Survivors' Solidarity and Attachment in the Immediate Aftermath of the Typhoon Haiyan (Philippines).

Introduction: Anti-social behavior and self-preservation are often assumed to be normal responses to threats and disasters; on the contrary, decades of research and empirical studies in social sciences showed that pro-social behaviors are frequently common and that solidarity is the typical response to a variety of threats. The main objective of this study is to investigate and describe survivors’ behavior, especially solidarity, according to the presence of familiar persons and to the perception of physical danger, elaborating the framework of Mawson’s social attachment theory.Methods: In order to investigate these relationships, a behavioral research was carried out involving 288 people affected by the December 8th 2013 Haiyan Typhoon (Yolanda).Results: Results revealed that solidarity was predominant and people reacted collectively and actively taking part in relief activities. Furthermore, we found strong solidarity and help towards strangers and unfamiliar persons.Discussion: Investigating how people react is essential to develop a more efficient and effective response strategy, especially in the immediate aftermath of a disaster when disaster managers have little control of the situation and people rely on themselves; the natural tendency to help others can be essential to reduce losses and to fill the temporal gap between the event and the arrival of the organized relief unit.

Building Reputable University System in Africa

African universities met number of burdens and influence their low yield in terms of performing locally and internationally. It was mentioned during SDGC/A conferences that took place in Kigali 5th and 6th of July where its document clarified that only 10 universities of Africa are ranked in first 1000 universities in world ranking. Most of difficulty issues that African universities are facing are financial instability, qualified intellectuals, disorganization of academic programs, materials and equipments, etc. Academic and research collaboration may come as solution to build capacity of African universities. This partnership and collaboration will lead to strong solidarity of sharing available resources. Research centers and committees are responsible to provide important projects to benefit the university. Multicultural innovation in African education is encouraged for innovations. Researches leading to postdoctoral are encouraged in African universities strong innovation in academic programs is encouraged.

PEMBERDAYAAN EKONOMI MASYARAKAT MISKIN DI YAYASAN PERJUANGAN WAHIDIYAH

Poverty is a miserable condition. Efforts to reduce poverty have been done by the government, but the results are not satisfied. Therefore, we need the involvement of other parties, such as religious institutions. This study aims to assess the involvement of Wahidiyah Struggle Foundation in tackling the problem of poverty through economic empowerment. The study focuses on the concept, implementation, and results of economic empowerment. Research uses qualitative method and collect data through observation, indepth interview, and documentation. Research found that Wahidiyah builds micro finance organizations as a central concept in economic empowerment. Their function is not only to increase financial capital, but also create solidarity among members. Strong solidarity among members was utilized to assist strengthening economic empowerment among themselves. This increase Wahidiyah member’s income significantly.

The Role of Borrower-Cosigner Kinship Relations on Loan Default

Using data from a leading Italian microfinance provider we investigate the effect of kinship relations between borrowers and cosigners on loan defaults. We address causality issues using an instrumental variable built on the exogenous rule imposed by the lender that requires personal guarantees for loans exceeding € 5000. Results show that the presence of closely related cosigners tends to reduce defaults. We find that this is the result of a possible combined effect of both stronger solidarity and more effective psychological pressure exerted by relatives compared to other categories of cosigners.

Negotiating North–South dynamics and the Philippine experience in the WTO

This paper elucidates how domestic and external factors have shaped the negotiating policy of the Philippines in bringing about incremental gains not only for its benefit but also for other developing countries during the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture Doha Development Round (DDR). The internal factors include the following: (1) executive monopoly of the WTO negotiations; (2) issue-based fragmentation and dispersal of authority; (3) the autonomy and flexibility of the Philippine WTO negotiator; (4) the involvement of civil society in the WTO negotiations, and (4) the central role of the Department of Agriculture as the lead agency in the WTO negotiations. A major reason for this is attributed to an external factor which is the centrality of agriculture as a major WTO issue among developing countries. Other external factors, on the other hand, include the following: (1) the strong solidarity among developing countries and (2) the confinement to particular issues with regards to coalition-building. These factors helped to strengthen the bargaining leverage of the Philippines, a seemingly ‘weak’ country, vis-à-vis the developed countries in the WTO.

Korean Railway Workers' Union Rights under Attack from the Neoliberal State

railway industry in the neoliberal direction. The KRWU came out on strike to protest against the government’s unilateral action on 9 December. The KRWU’s strike action was carried out in accordance with the legal process of labour dispute, including the National Labour Relations Commission’s mediation process, union members’ strike ballot (turnout rating 91.3 percent and approval rating 80.0 percent), and restriction of industrial action in essential public services. Park’s government, however , declared that the strike was illegal and took hard-line steps to break the KRWU’s strike. The government threatened to discharge 8,565 union members taking part in the strike action and ordered the striking workers to return to work. It also issued arrest warrants for 194 KRWU officials, including union leaders. The government and Korail management sent in strike breakers (including army forces) to replace strikers and filed a legal tort claim against the KRWU, requesting payment of a colossal amount of damages in compensation (16.2 billion Korean Won, approximately amounting to 13 million euro). The police raided the union offices and arrested union leaders, while the Korail management recruited 660 strike-breakers. Moreover, on 22 December a force of 5,500 police, without a warrant, attacked the headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a national centre of democratic Korean unions with which the KRWU is affiliated, in order to arrest KRWU leaders. The raid by the police troops failed to catch the union leaders, and instead resulted in the arrest of 135 KCTU members who attempted to block their entry. Despite the union’s strong opposition and growing public concern, the government granted business license to the SR for running KTX lines, as intended. The police attack on the KCTU headquarters as well as the government’s unilateral restructuring action triggered rage amongst the organised labour community and widespread criticism from civil society movements. On 28 December, the KCTU and its affiliates waged anti-Park demonstrations as a means to protest against the government ’s union suppression and railway privatisation , in which many civil NGOs and opposing parties participated. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), another national centre, announced its decision to stop policy dialogue with Park’s government and joined the KCTU-led demonstrations. Around 100,000 people gathered at the KCTU-led anti-Park demonstrations on December 28th. International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and many national centres of foreign countries, such as TUC (UK), CUT (Brazil), ACTU (Australia), and TCTU (Taiwan), sent their strong solidarity support for the struggle of the KCTU and KRWU against Park’s government. Amnesty International also criticised Park’s govWhen railworkers took strike action to protest against the privatisation and break-up of the railways the government declared that the strike was illegal, threatened thousands of dismissals, and ordered all strikers to return to work INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 18 Volume 22 Issue 3 2015 BYOUNG-HOON LEE is a professor at the department of Sociology, Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea. T he railway system in South Korea has been a core target of neoliberal restructuring pursuing market competition and privatisation since the late 1990s. The Korean railway system was run by a governmental organisation named the Railway Office until 2003. The Railway Office, however, was divided and transformed into two public enterprises, respectively accountable for the operation (Korail) and construction (KRNetwork) of the railway system, in accordance with the government’s railway restructuring roadmap formulated in 2004. The conservative government (2008~2012), led by President Myung-bak Lee, took a public stance on the privatisation of the railway system, but did not produce the intended outcome, owing to the Korean Railway Workers Union (KRWU)’s strong opposition , including its seven-day strike action. President Geun-hye Park, the eldest daughter of Jung-hee Park, who was the despotic president of the Korean developmental regime (1961-1979), was elected in December 2012, drumming up strong support from conservative political groups and elderly people. During the period of the presidential campaigns, in responding to the KRWU’s open inquiry concerning her policy plan for the railway system, President Park made clear that she opposed the privatisation of...

Malaysian Chinese speakers' attitudes towards Foochow, Hokkien and Mandarin

The study examines the influence of gender, age and socio-economic status on attitudes of Foochow and Hokkien towards their ethnic language and Mandarin. The matched guise test results of 120 Foochow and 120 Hokkien participants in Kuching, Malaysia, showed positive attitudes towards Mandarin on all the 15 traits. The Hokkien participants were more positive than the Foochow participants towards speakers of their own ethnic language. Foochow speakers were perceived as loud, and the male Foochow speaker was rated unfavourably on five other traits. Multivariate analysis of variance results showed that gender significantly influenced the Foochow participants' ratings of the wealth of Foochow speakers and the Hokkien participants' ratings of the easy-going nature of Mandarin speakers, the gentleness and solidarity of the male Mandarin speaker, and the height and intelligence of the male Hokkien speaker. Age influenced the attributions of status to the female Foochow speaker and solidarity with the female Mandarin speaker. Socio-economic status influenced the ratings of the most number of traits. Interaction effects were also found. The underlying dimensions loaded onto one factor each for Foochow (easy-going and rich) and Hokkien (formal, strong solidarity) and two different factors for Mandarin, suggesting different stereotypes of dialect and Mandarin speakers.

Cohesive subgroups in the international collaboration network in astronomy and astrophysics

This study employs social network analysis to identify institutions with strong international collaborative relationships in astronomical research. We find that the strongest ties tend to link institutions across continents in research collaboration. However, the effect of geographic factors is still notable in light of the fact that most of the institutions in the largest subgroup are located in Europe. Examination of the network position, measured by degree centrality, indicates that homophily is more common than heterophily in the network. A relatively high number of relational ties are observed among institutions that have similar levels of network centrality. Mutual relations are prevalent among central institutions, while strong mutual solidarity exists between institutions on the periphery of the network. This study shows a general unstable international collaborative relationship among astronomical institutions. While more and more institutions have linked up in research collaboration, many of them keep relatively weak ties. Institutions tend not remain in the same subgroup, but link to different partners over time.

Logics of action and models of capitalism: Explaining bottom‐up non‐liberal change

AbstractRecent institutionalist scholarship has theorized the liberalization or “disorganization” of capitalism as the result of shifts in economic actors' “logic of action” towards opportunism. Little attention has been given to the reverse possibility that shifts in economic actors' “logic of action” away from opportunism might contribute to “embedding” or “organizing” capitalism. This paper builds on recent scholarship to theorize this scenario and then demonstrate its empirical validity with an historical institutionalist study of the emergence of such a “non‐liberal” institution in Switzerland in 1961. The theoretical framework links three “logics of action” – opportunism, enlightened self‐interest and strong solidarity – to Höpner's typology of capitalist institutions – organized, coordinated, and liberal. It theorizes the interactions between these logics and the social mechanism – goal signaling – that can explain a shift from one logic of action to another, potentially leading to change from one type of institution to another.

Friends, Family and Fools: Cosigners and Repayment Performance in Microcredit

We investigate the effect of kinship between borrowers and cosigners on repayment performance in microcredit, by using data coming from a leading Italian microfinance provider for the period 2009-2012. Estimates on a pool of 2,350 loans show that the presence of closely related cosigners tends to reduce loan defaults. We account for the presence of a cosigner with an instrumental variable built on the exogenous rule imposed by the lender that requires personal guarantees for loans exceeding € 5,000. We also attempt to disentangle the contribution of cosigners’ eventual financial support from the psychological pressure they may exert on debtors in order to foster repayment, while providing evidence backing both these possibilities. The positive relation we find between the borrowers’ repayment performance and the strength of their family ties with cosigners may therefore be the expression of two key components. On the one hand, family kinship may lead to stronger solidarity. On the other, close relatives are likely to exert more effective psychological pressure on the borrower than other categories of individuals.

Locating the modern sacred: Moral/social facts and constitutive practices

Durkheim’s theory of the sacred, which posits the distinction between sacred and profane as the keystone of human understanding, grounds not only his approach to religion and epistemology but also his theory of modernity. This distinction between traditional and modern social forms is essential to Durkheim’s position. In traditional society, social facts are produced through consensus. Durkheim’s theory of modernity, however, focuses on the role of constitutive practices in the creation of modern social facts in situations lacking consensus. A tendency to consider the sacred only in traditional consensus-oriented (religious and symbolic) terms leads to the impression that modern society has entered a crisis period in which the sacred and the social facts the sacred/profane distinction make possible are in short supply. While Durkheim acknowledged a crisis in the transition to modernity, he maintained that new forms of constitutive practice would develop to replace the religious and cultural commonalities of the past, making it possible for modern society to produce strong collective solidarity, mutual intelligibility, and a new moral grounding in freedom and justice. The sacred essentially relocates, shedding its “institutional” character and becoming situated, “ordinary,” and self-organizing. In this article, we take three modern social facts and the constitutive practices they depend on, examining the moral and contractual relationships they enact, the reciprocities they require, and the distribution of participation they facilitate.

Still warm but getting colder: changing ethnic identity of post-Soviet Jewry

For many centuries, ‘being a Jew’ was equivalent to ‘performing the ceremonial laws of Judaism’. Thus, ethnic and confessional principles coincided and reinforced the cultural identity of Jewry as an entity. Strong self-identification and in-group solidarity supported the high ‘ethnic temperature’ of this group. The processes of secularisation, which first took place in modern Europe and then spread to other regions, led, therefore, to the ‘cooling’ of the Jewish ethnic temperature. This process has its roots in different periods of Russian history and resulted in deep changes in Jewish identity.

Neighborhood attributes security and solidarity promote the well‐being of community‐dwelling older people in the Netherlands

To determine whether the neighborhood attributes solidarity and security positively affect the well-being of community-dwelling older people in the Netherlands after accounting for individual characteristics, and to test if a higher level of security in combination with a stronger sense of neighborhood solidarity results in a higher level of well-being. The study sample for the cross-sectional study consisted of 869 out of 2212 (39% response rate) independently-living older adults (aged >70 years) in 92 neighborhoods of Rotterdam. We fitted a hierarchical random-effects model to account for the structure of the study design: 869 older people (level 1) nested in 92 neighborhoods (level 2) in 10 districts (level 3). Neighborhood security and solidarity among neighbors varied significantly among the 10 districts. Univariate analyses showed that education, income, neighborhood security and solidarity within neighborhoods (all P ≤ 0.001) were significantly related to the well-being of community-dwelling older people. Multilevel analyses showed neighborhood security and solidarity within neighborhoods predicted the well-being of community-dwelling older people. Furthermore, a positive interaction effect was found between neighborhood security and solidarity within neighborhoods, and well-being of community-dwelling older people. Neighborhood security and solidarity among neighbors are important for the well-being of community-dwelling older people. Furthermore, neighborhoods with high levels of perceived security in combination with stronger solidarity among neighbors are especially beneficial to the well-being of community-dwelling older people.

Palestinian Diaspora in Transnational Worlds: Intergenerational Differences in Negotiating Identity, Belonging and Home

The study reveals that the social connections of the second generation with the homeland facilitated by technological advances have resulted in the transnational nature of Palestinian Canadians of second generation, as they are more familiar with these technologies than the first generation. It also reveals that social contexts, such as the family and ethnic union, can strengthen the sense of belonging of the second-generation to transnational social spaces that, in turn, facilitate the development of transnational practices. Young Palestinian Canadians demonstrate strong solidarity and sympathy with the Palestinians living under the occupation or in the refugee camps. Such bonds greatly enhance their Palestinian identity; however, the process of identification has altered, particularly for the second generation. For them, Palestine is a significant source of identification but not the only source. Thus, their identities can be referred to as “global identity”. To the second-generation Palestinian Canadians, maintaining social interaction with family members is important. Solidifying and rejuvenating these ties mean physical attachment and actual journeys to visit family and friends in the country of origin. These findings are in line with the emergent diaspora literature that suggests that, analogous to the first generation; second-generation immigrants may experience transnationalism at the level of practice the same as the first generation. Thus, it is concluded that second-generation Palestinian immigrants have strong transnational belonging and are keenly participating in transnational activities.