This chapter describes and analyzes the truth trial against Volkswagen for its role in the detention, torture, and disappearance of workers during the Brazilian dictatorship (1964-1985). This... Show moreThis chapter describes and analyzes the truth trial against Volkswagen for its role in the detention, torture, and disappearance of workers during the Brazilian dictatorship (1964-1985). This chapter uses the Archimedes’ Lever model to trace the evolution of the corporate accountability process since the country's democratization, through the establishment of the National Truth Commission (CNV), up to the negotiations between the company, the workers, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) that reached an agreement in 2020. This case has seen mobilisation from unions and institutional innovators pushing for accountability, as well as a certain level of cooperation from the company, but it also faces strong veto players and a change in context with the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president in 2018. We conclude with notions of what the Volkswagen case has to offer to understand corporate accountability and transitional justice, and the enormous hurdles it faces in achieving those goals. Show less
Did the agency of workers represent a driver for change between the 1979 revolution and the 2009 Green Movement in Iran? On what terms? How did discourses around labor transform relations of power... Show moreDid the agency of workers represent a driver for change between the 1979 revolution and the 2009 Green Movement in Iran? On what terms? How did discourses around labor transform relations of power and domination during this period? Which processes shaped workers’ subjectivity within Iranian society in terms of class, social justice, collective thinking and solidarity-building?The abovementioned questions guide 'Precarize' and Divide: Iranian Workers from the 1979 Revolution to the 2009 Green Movement. This dissertation analyses political changes and social transformations in the Iranian labor realm from 1979 to 2009 through the lens of discursive shifts and transformations in hegemonic relations. Whereas workers were crucial to the success of the 1979 revolution, in 2009 they were absent as a collective force. This dissertation examines the reasons explaining this absence. It shows that—beyond state repression—the processes leading to workers’ precarization, both structurally and discursively, hindered workers’ active role in shaping and determining grassroots politics. On the one hand, legal, economic and social factors marginalized workers. On the other hand, the shifting context mirrored the Islamic Republic of Iran’s official discourse and its necessities to consolidate its power. As a result, workers were not able to develop robust solidarity-building mechanisms and cross-class alliances in 2009 as it was in 1979. Show less
This paper explores the transformations of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s dominant narratives on labor between 1979 and 2009. By analyzing official May Day speeches of this period, it navigates... Show moreThis paper explores the transformations of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s dominant narratives on labor between 1979 and 2009. By analyzing official May Day speeches of this period, it navigates multiple constructions of workers’ roles, which were systematically propagated by the IRI’s Supreme Leader and president over time. The analysis relies on the following primary sources: from the 1979 May Day sermon, pronounced by Ruhollah Khomeini, to the 2009 speech given by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, together with messages sent by Ali Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. Showing how workers’ role—understood as a collective and distinct group—was gradually minimized, this paper argues that a bottom-up cleaning up process slowly purified May Day. In fact, the IRI progressively neglected workers as (revolutionary) social actors and interlocutors, as it stopped talking to masses and started speaking to middle classes. Show less
This study deals with the social history of industrialization and labour in Iran from the inception of the constitutional system in 1906 until the end of Reza Shah’s reign in 1941. It does so by... Show moreThis study deals with the social history of industrialization and labour in Iran from the inception of the constitutional system in 1906 until the end of Reza Shah’s reign in 1941. It does so by particularly referring to the textile industry. In the main, the study seeks to discuss the Iranian industries before and after the large scale industrial leap-forward of 1930s in order to examine the conditions of the working people. The introductory Chapter One discusses the theoretical framework of the research. Chapter Two presents an historical background of the 19th century, insofar as it relates to the period investigated in this work. Chapter Three deals with an overview of the main political, economic and social developments of the years between 1906 and 1941. Chapter Four examines the Iranian industrialization between 1906 and 1941. Chapter Five investigates labour issues. Such issues as the discursive formation of the Iranian working class, the nature of the labour force in Iran during the period under study, labour legislation, working hours, sanitary conditions and workers’ attempts at improving their working and living conditions provide the main concern of this chapter. Chapter Six contains some concluding assessments and suggestions for further research. Show less
