Migrant / Media / Metropolis - New labour struggles in the global city
Saturday February 2nd, Amsterdam, Invitation and program from the conference.
01.Feb.08 - Migration and media-activists gather with theorists and labour organizers to discuss and share best practices in the fight against precarity and insecure labour conditions. Sharing inspiring examples of social justice unionism and creative campaigning like 'Justice for Janitors' in the U.S. and 'Cleaners For a Better Future' in the Netherlands. The aim is to challenge traditional labour practices, syndicate and inspire a sharper network of social activists, academics, media makers and artists to join contemporary urban labour struggles and confederate into a globalization from below.
With: Enrica Rigo (migration researcher); Marcel van der Linden (Labour Historian) Zoe Romano (Chainworkers); Nico Sguiglia (Oficinas Sociales), Massimo De Angelis (the Commoner), Dagmar Diesner (No Borders London), Seoren Kohler (Multitude), Hagen Kopp (migration activist), preceded by the book launch of Urban Politics Now! (NAi, 2007).
Organised in collaboration with Flexmens / Coalition For a Better Future / FNV Bondgenoten
Programme:
13:00-13:45 preprogramme - book launch: Urban Politics Now! Reimagining democracy in the Neoliberal City. With participation from BAVO, Henk van Houtum en Merijn Oudenampsen.
14:00 - 15:30 panel #1 "Towards a Globalisation from Below" with: Valery Alzaga (Justice for Janitors - Global Campaign - facilitator), Massimo De Angelis (Beginning of History: global capital, global value struggle), Enrica Rigo (Contested Migrant Citizenship in Europe), Marcel van der Linden (Organizing and New Labour Internationalism) and Hagen Kopp (Forging a Transnational chain of migration-activism).
Globalization has brought us an increasingly integrated global circuit of large corporations and financial conglomerates, which have concentrated power in fewer and fewer hands. On the other side, we can find an emerging globalization from below, that of migrants, labour struggles and social activists, claiming space and redistributing wealth.
15:30 - 16:00 Break with possibility of sandwich and conspiring.
16:00 - 17:15 panel #2 "Syndicalism 2.0" with: Dutch Cleaners Campaign (Juliano Vieira & Herrie Hoogenboom, organizers FNV Bondgenoten), Migrant labour struggles in South Spain (Nico Scuglia, Indymedia Estrecho), Filipino Migrant Domestic Workers Union (Fe Jusay - CFMW & Katrien Depuydt - Abvakabo) and the German Retail Strike (Franziska Bruder, Verdi)
Examples of campaigns that have brought inspiration and innovation back to labour, revolving around organizing and social movement unionism, building community, going back to the base and out of the office.
17:15-18:30 panel #3 "No Longer Invisible: Labour & Media" with: Zoe Romano (Chainworkers Milano - interventions of a bio syndicate), Merijn Oudenampsen (Betere Toekomst - Mediawork in Dutch Cleaners Campaign), Soeren Kohler (Multitude e.V - Media-activism and worker participation at German Retail strike) and Dagmar Diesner (NoBorders London - Screening Underground Londoners).
Media-activism has provided a vital ingredient to new campaigns, to visibilize what normally remains hidden from view. Media-activists showcase their work, and discuss issues of participation and representation.