This course will take you on a journey through the landscape of labour movements in India, China, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea.
Worker Struggles across Asia in the 21st Century
Introducing Labour Movements in India, China, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea
Course Description
This course will take you on a journey through the landscape of labour movements in Asia, providing an introduction on the historical context and key features of the contemporary labour struggles in India, China, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea.
The course will feature invited speakers who have participated or researched these labour movements, and the discussion will take the form of a dialogue between the invited speakers and the participants.
- Teaching: 6 Online Sessions, Once Every Two Weeks
- Course Fee: USD$60 (Regular Price) / USD$40 (Students/Workers/Unemployed)
- Class Size: Class Limited to 15 Students
Course Facilitators
Dae-oup Chang is the editor-in chief of Asian Labour Review. He is Professor of Global Korean Studies at Sogang University, Seoul. His publication on East Asian labour and development includes Capitalist Development in Korea: Labour, Capital and the Myth of Development State (2009, Routledge), ‘Informalising Labour in Asia’s Global Factory’ (2009, Journal of Contemporary Asia 39:2), and ‘Transnational Labour Regimes and Neo-liberal Development in Cambodia’ (2022, Journal of Contemporary Asia 52:1). He is working on a book titled “Continent of Labour: the Making of East Asia from Colonial Integration to Neoliberal Ascent.”
Fahmi Panimbang is a labour researcher based in Indonesia. Among his latest publications is “Solidarity across boundaries: a new practice of collectivity among workers in the app-based transport sector in Indonesia” in a newly published edited volume, “Labour Conflicts in the Global South”, edited by Andreas Bieler and Jörg Nowak (Routledge, 2022).
Stephen Campbell is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Since 2011, he has worked closely with Myanmar labour activists and organisers to research the struggles of workers in Myanmar, and of Myanmar migrants in Thailand. His publications on these issues include two books and various academic and popular articles.
Tim Pringle is a Reader in Development Studies at SOAS, University of London and Editor of The China Quarterly. His research focuses on labour movements, industrial relations and trade union reform in China, Vietnam. From 1996 to 2006, Tim worked with various labour rights organisations in Hong Kong and mainland China. His books include Trade Unions in China: the challenge of labour unrest re-issued in paperback by Routledge in 2013 and co-authorship of The Challenge of Transition: Trade Unions in Russia, China and Vietnam (2011) Palgrave.
Manoranjan Pegu has been associated with the international trade union movement for over a decade. Previously, he worked with the Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland SASK as the Regional Representative for South Asia and was responsible for monitoring and supporting SASK partners in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. He also worked with Public Services International from 2012 to 2015. He has first-hand experience in workers organizing and was instrumental in founding a trade union of daily wage workers in Uttarakhand state in Northern India. He has also lived in Bangladesh for a year and worked with the Anti-mine struggles in Phulbari.
Kevin Lin is the Managing Editor of Asian Labour Review. He writes about labour struggles in China and Asia, and is interested in building international labour solidarity. He is a co-editor of The China Question: Toward Left Perspectives (Verso 2022), a co-editor of China from Below: Critical Analysis & Grassroots Activism (Gongchao 2023), and a co-author of China in Global Capitalism: Building International Solidarity Against Imperial Rivalry (Haymarket 2024)
Class Time
- 6pm: Pakistan
- 6:30pm: India/Sri Lanka
- 7pm: Bangladesh
- 7:30pm: Myanmar
- 7:45pm: Nepal
- 8pm: Indonesia/Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam
- 9pm: Hong Kong/Taiwan/China/Philippines/Singapore/Malaysia
- 10pm: Japan/Korea
Class Project
We require each participant to write a 1,000-1,500 word reflective essay that compares any of the two labour movements covered in this course. Selected essays will be published on Asian Labour Review.
Biweekly Class Schedule
Session 1 – Sept 19, 2024: Intro and South Korea
The context of labour movements in Asia over the last two decades; South Korea with Dae-oup Chang
Session 2 – Oct 3, 2024: Myanmar
Myanmar with Stephen Campbell
Session 3 – Oct 17, 2024: India
India with Manoranjan Pegu
Session 4 – Oct 31, 2024: China
China with Tim Pringle
Session 5 – Nov 14, 2024: Indonesia
Indonesia with Fahmi Panimbang
Session 6 – Nov 28, 2024: Reflections on Asia’s Labour Movements
Reflections from the participants
This course has been filled up, and will no longer accept new registrations.
To contact us: convenor@labourschool.org
