LEARN co-sponsors lectures on social movements with Dr. Ari Sitas from South Africa

The Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN), UP Third World Studies Center, UP Departments of Political Science and Sociology and Focus on the Global South presented two lectures on “Social Movements in the South: Mobilizations after Apartheid,” on January 24 and 25, 2011, at the Pulungang Claro M. Recto, Bulwagang Rizal, University of the Philippines- Diliman. These lectures are part of the 2011 installment of the South-South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development-Third World Studies Center’s “Social Movements in the South” lecture tour series, which began in 2009. The lecturer is Dr. Ari Sitas from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. The lecture on the 24th was entitled “Rewiring the World Economy – States and Movements in the South,” while the lecture on the 25th concerned “The Mandela Decade (1990-2000) - Labor Movements, Politics and Transformation in South Africa.” The first lecture started with the discussion on the real world economy as opposed to disembedded theories of globalization and provided a critical reflection on the work of Castells, Wallerstein, Amin, and Mamdani, and explored how unwittingly the BRICSA (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) states are facilitating the renewal of new forms of intensive accumulation. It then explored the contrasting debates about global unionism versus social movements, and the "multitude" versus class and looked at some of the significant breakthroughs of movements in the South. LEARN Chairperson and current SSS Commissioner Daniel L. Edralin also joined in the discussion and gave the closing remarks. The two lectures accommodated more than sixty (60) participants from various civil society organizations, labor groups, research institutes and the UP faculty. Read more...