With the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a fascist party has established itself that has reached the political center. It agitates against a " stateless big capital" that creates profits "at the expense of the German worker" abroad. The government promotes "mass immigration" to lower wages and "exchange the population." This social populism also has an impact on trade union members.
In the political education program of the unions, right-wing agitation was increasingly countered with a realistic picture of asylum and migration policy especially after the "Summer of Migration" in 2015, for example with the seminar series "Facts instead of Populism".
Another obstacle to an offensive counter-mobilization in the trade unions was the AfD's self-dramatization as the "party of the little people," due to the above-average approval by workers, the unemployed, and trade union members for the party in the 2016 and 2017 state and federal elections. After the so-called summer of migration in 2015 (when the Federal Republic of Germany took in almost one million people seeking protection from the war-torn and crisis-ridden countries of the Middle East), the political education program of the trade unions intensified its efforts to counter the agitation from the right with a realistic view of the causes of flight and migration. With the seminar series "Facts not Populism" on asylum and migration policy, for example, ver.di is primarily targeting trainees and young employees.
Unions should do more to push back the division between "us" and "them." A historical understanding of racism is needed. Lack of language courses and residence rights show that the ruling class has long been uninterested in integration policies.
The right opposes the deterioration of working conditions and social insecurity with an "us versus them" approach. Against this, trade unions must be strengthened as the protective power of all wage earners - employees, the unemployed, precarious workers, migrants, etc.
The labor struggles of recent years show that the fixation on a white German skilled workforce has little to do with reality. Almost 22% of all IG Metall members, 500,000 people, have a migration background. This must also become more visible in committees and leadership positions.
Story-telling: Dario Azzellini , Illustration: Carina Crenshaw
This is a graphic story-telling inspired by the article "From Symbolism to Practice. German Unions Need to Support Anti-Racism in the Fight Against the Dangers of the Right" by Romin Khan, which was published in the anthology "If Not Us, Who? Global workers against authoritarianism, fascism, and dictatorships" (external link, opens in a new window) by Dario Azzellini.
This visual narrative is published under the terms of the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0! (external link, opens in a new window) Share, use or adapt this graphic narrative for your educational work. Don't forget to republish it under the same terms, giving credit to L!NX and the authors!
With the neoliberal reforms that Macron has rapidly implemented, social dialogue between social movements, unions and the government has become more difficult and fragmented. The French trade union movement is split along political lines into several umbrella organizations, and the level of organization has stagnated. The yellow vests have not been able to decisively change Macron's course. But they have rearticulated positions critical of capitalism and class struggle, also taking migrant struggles into the equation.
With the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a fascist party has established itself that has reached the political center. It agitates against a " stateless big capital" that creates profits "at the expense of the German worker" abroad. The government promotes "mass immigration" to lower wages and "exchange the population." This social populism also has an impact on trade union members. In the political education program of the unions, right-wing agitation was increasingly countered with a realistic picture of asylum and migration policy especially after the "Summer of Migration" in 2015, for example with the seminar series "Facts instead of Populism".
Since 2014, a coalition led by the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP, Party of the Indian People, has ruled under Narendra Modi. India competes as a location for manufacturing companies. To attract international private capital, layoffs and crackdowns on unions have been made easier, and state-owned enterprises (including railroads, telecommunications companies and airlines) are to be privatized. In this complex situation, not only traditional unions and federations are organizing, but informal and migrant workers are also becoming part of a movement facing a major socio-political challenge.
During the Trump presidency, U.S. unions initially opposed the rise of authoritarianism only symbolically. Over time, they acted more decisively. Where union members became active in the workplace, they succeeded in slowing the trend toward authoritarianism and sometimes achieved significant successes.
In 2019, Chile was swept by the largest revolt in its history. The uprising fundamentally changed the political situation. The right-wing government under billionaire Sebastián Piñera responded with military repression. At the height of the protests, there was a massive general strike that paved the way for a constitutional referendum. After two years of work by the constitutional convention, the new draft constitution was rejected in a referendum.
Colombia is considered the oldest democracy in Latin America. In fact, it is an authoritarian regime that has waged war against the population for over 100 years. How does the population resist? How do workers organize against injustice? Colombia: More than labor struggle!
#LabourStruggle (external link, opens in a new window)#Democracy (external link, opens in a new window)#Unions (external link, opens in a new window)#ClassStruggle (external link, opens in a new window)#Neoliberalism (external link, opens in a new window)#Racism (external link, opens in a new window)#RightWingExtremism (external link, opens in a new window)
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