Solidarity : Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism

Despite the frequency with which the word 'solidarity' is invoked the concept itself has rarely been subjected to close scrutiny. In this original and stereotype-busting work, David Featherstone helps redress this imbalance through an innovative combination of archival research, activist testimonies and first-hand involvement with political movements. Presenting a variety of case studies, from anti-slavery and anti-fascist organizing to climate change activism and the boycotts of Coca-Cola, Featherstone unearths international forms of solidarity that are all too often marginalized by nation-centred histories of the left and social movements. Timely and wide-ranging, this is a fascinating investigation of an increasingly vital subject. About the author 3 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction: Thinking solidarity politically 16 Thinking solidarity 20 Constructing internationalism from below 23 Part I: Theorizing solidarity 28 1 Solidarity: theorizing a transformative political relation 30 The makings of solidarity 31 Subaltern geographies of connection 39 Thinking a transformative political relation 44 Conclusion: solidarity as a universalizing relation 52 2 Rethinking internationalism 55 Internationalism beyond the nation 56 Subaltern cosmopolitanism and internationalism 63 Placing internationalism 67 Spatial logics of internationalism 72 Conclusion: recovering connections 77 Part II: Colonial and anti-colonial internationalisms 82 3 ‘Labour with a white skin will never emancipate itself while labour with a black skin is in bondage’: maritime labour and the uses of solidarity 84 Maritime organizing, white labourism and the limits of solidarity 86 ‘A fighting international of marine labour’ 96 Black internationalism and maritime labour 104 Conclusion 113 4 ‘Your liberty and ours’: black internationalism and anti-fascism 114 Anti‐fascist trajectories 115 Black internationalist maps of grievance of the Spanish Civil War 127 Forging solidarities in Spain 134 Conclusion 141 Part III: Solidarity and Cold War geopolitics 144 5 ‘No trade with the junta’: political exile and solidarity after the Chilean coup 146 Constructing solidarities and the geopolitics of the Cold War 148 ‘Now the generals rule Chile / And the British have their thanks / For they rule with Hawker Hunters / And they rule with Chieftain Tanks’ 156 Folk music has no borders 164 Conclusion 171 6 ‘Beyond the barbed wire’: European nuclear disarmament and non-aligned internationalism 173 Solidarity ‘beyond the Cold War’ 174 END and the spatial politics of non-alignment 181 Constructing non-aligned solidarities 191 Conclusion 196 Part IV: Solidarity in the shadow of neoliberalism 198 7 ‘Our resistance is as transnational as capital’: the counter-globalization movement and prefigurative solidarity 200 Making prefigurative solidarities 201 The ‘Battle of Seattle’, whiteness and contested organizing practices 208 Transnational feminism and the World Social Forum 217 Prefigurative geographies of connection 223 Conclusion 230 8 ‘If the climate were a bank it would be bailed out’: solidarity and the making of climate justice 232 Contested maps of grievance 233 Climate justice and the formation of solidarities 238 ‘System change not climate change’ 242 Climate justice and state-led internationalism 251 Conclusion 258 Conclusion: Solidarity without guarantees 259 Solidarity as a world-making process 260 Solidarities and political possibilities 265 Notes 270 Introduction 270 Chapter 1 270 Chapter 2 271 Chapter 3 271 Chapter 4 273 Chapter 5 274 Chapter 6 276 Chapter 7 276 Chapter 8 276 References 278 Index 306 "Despite the frequency with which the word 'solidarity' is invoked the concept itself has rarely been subjected to close scrutiny. In this original and stereotype-busting work, David Featherstone helps redress this imbalance through an innovative combination of archival research, activist testimonies and first-hand involvement with political movements. Solidarity presents a variety of case studies, from anti-slavery and anti-fascist organizing to climate change activism and the boycotts of Coca-Cola. It unearths international forms of solidarity that are all too often marginalized by nation-centred histories of the left and social movements. Timely and wide-ranging, Solidarity is a fascinating investigation of an increasingly vital subject."--Publisher's website Despite the frequency with which the word 'solidarity' is invoked, the concept itself has rarely been scrutinized. In this original and stereotype-busting work, David Featherstone helps redress this imbalance through an innovative combination of archival research, activist testimonies and first-hand involvement with political movements. Solidarity presents a variety of case studies, from anti-slavery and anti-fascist organizing to climate change activism and the boycotts of Coca-Cola