Public Sector Unionism, Austerity and the Left

A Teach-in with Sam Gindin

 November 29, 2010  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A teach-in with Sam Gindin, Packer Chair in Social Justice, York University, held in Toronto on November 29, 2010. Video Recording Video courtesy of Left Streamed Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcript in Platypus Review #35 Description Austerity measures stemming from the global financial crisis threaten to undermine public sector unions and the services they provide. The unions, however, have failed to politicize the crisis along class lines, and by extension, to the Left. [Read More]
Labour  Labour union  Public sector  Social justice  Union  York University 

Interview: Ernesto Laclau

 December 1, 2007  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

CONFRONTING THE CONFUSION and fragmentation that wrought progressive politics in recent decades, Ernesto Laclau’s work attempts to theorize the path to the construction of a radical democratic politics. Drawing on Gramsci’s concept of hegemony to devise his own theory by that name, Laclau describes the processes of social articulation that creates popular political identities. By redefining democratic politics as the construction of hegemony, Laclau reminds political actors of the work necessary to construct the plurality of democratic structures vital to any emancipatory political project. [Read More]
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