Solidarity across cyberspace: Internet campaigning, labour activism and the remaking of trade union internationalism

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Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Volume 2, Issue 1

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Solidarity across cyberspace: Internet campaigning, labour activism and the remaking of trade union internationalism

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Author(s): Bruce Robinson

Publication date (Print): Spring 2008

Journal: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): workorgalaboglob

Title: Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 1745641X

ISSN (Electronic): 17456428

Publication date (Print): Spring 2008

Volume: 2

Issue: 1

Pages: 152-164

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Publisher ID: workorgalaboglob.2.1.0152

DOI: 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.2.1.0152

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Sociology,Labor law,Political science,Labor & Demographic economics,Political economics

References

Aoyama, Y. & E. Sheppard (2003). ‘The dialectics of geographic and virtual space.’ Environment and Planning A 35:1151–1156
Bailey, C. (1997) Towards a global labournet . Accessed September, 2005 from http://www.lmedia.nodong.net/1997/article/w4–2e.html
Bailey, C. (1999) The Labour Movement and the Internet . Accessed September, 2005 from http://www.amrc.org.hk/Arch/3401.htm
Bélanger, M. (1994), SoliNet: A Computer Conferencing System Designed for Trade Unions . Accessed October, 2007 at http://www.net4dem.org/cyrev/archive/issue1/articles/SoliNet/SoliNet2.htm
Bélanger, M. (2001) The Digital Development of Labour Organisations in Africa . Turin: ILO International Training Centre, Turin
Bennett, W.L. (2003) ‘Communicating Global Activism.’ Information, Communication and Society , Vol 6, No 2:143–168
Brunsting, S. & T. Postmes (2002) ‘Social movement participation in the online age: Predicting offline and online collective action’, Small Group Research , Vol 33, No 5:525–554
Carty, V. (2001) ‘The Internet and grassroots politics: Nike, the athletic apparel industry and the anti -sweatshop campaign.’ TAMARA: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science , Vol 2, No 1:34–48. (Also at: http://www.zianet.com/boje/tamara/issues/volume_1/issue_1_2/2Carty_Nike_corp_predator.htm)
Castells, M. (2000) The Rise of the Network Society , Oxford: Basil Blackwell
Davies, W. (no date) Trade Union Movement and the Internet; Lessons from Civil Society , London: IPPR
Grieco, M. & M. Bhopal (2005) ‘Globalisation, collective action and counter-coordination’ Critical Perspectives on International Business , Vol 1, No 2/3:109–122
Greene, A. M., J. Hogan & M. Grieco (2002) E-collectivism: Emergent Opportunities for Renewal . Accessed May, 2003 from http://www.geocities.com/e_collectivism/papers/madrid.html
Herod, A. (1998) ‘Of Blocs, Flows and Networks; The end of the Cold War, cyberspace and the geoeconomics of organized labor at the fin de millenaire’, O Tuathail, Herod & Roberts (eds) An Unruly World? Globalization, Governance and Geography , London: Routledge
Herod, A. (2003) ‘Geographies of Labor Internationalism’, Social Science History , Vol 27, No 4:501–23
Hodkinson, S. (2001) Problems@Labour: Towards a Net-Internationalism? Accessed August, 2005 from www.globalstudiesassociation.org/conference1papers/Problems1.doc
Kendall, L. (1999) ‘Recontextualizing “Cyberspace”: Methodological Considerations for On-Line Research.’ In S. Jones (ed) Doing Internet Research , Thousand Oaks & London: Sage Publications: 57–74
LabourNet UK (n.d.) What is LabourNet? Accessed August, 2005 from http://www.labournet.net/whatis.html
Langman, L. (2005) ‘From Virtual Public Spheres to Global Justice: A Critical Theory of Internetworked Social Movements’, Sociological Theory , Vol 23, No 1:42–74
Lee, E. (1996) The Labour Movement and the Internet: The New Internationalism , London: Pluto Press
Lee, E. (2003) Personal communication
Lee, E. (2004a) How to win an online campaign . Accessed October 1st, 2005 from http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000094.html#more
Lee, E. (2004b) Why we don't give: Online donations and international solidarity . Accessed October 1st, 2005 from http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000077.html
Lee, E. (2004c), ‘Towards Global Networked Unions’, in Munck, R. (Ed.) Labour and Globalisation: Results and Prospects , Liverpool University Press, Liverpool
Lee, E. (2005) Building International Solidarity, One Campaign at a Time . Accessed October 1st, 2005 from http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000117.html#more
Lee, E. (2006) Global campaigning: Beyond protest emails and solidarity messages Accessed October 1st, 2007 from http://www.ericlee.info/2006/02/global_campaigning_beyond_prot.html
Lee, E. (2007) ‘LabourStart and Trade Union Internationalism: At the Tipping Point?’ Labor History , Vol. 48, No.1:73–79
Lewis, P. (2002) ‘Unions and the Web: Where to Now?’, in Shostak, A. (Ed.) The Cyberunion Handbook: Transforming Labor through Computer Technology , Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe
Martinez Lucio, M. & S. Walker (2005) ‘The networked union? The Internet as a challenge to trade union identity and roles.’ Critical Perspectives on International Business , Vol 1, No 2/3:137–154
McCaughey, M. & Ayers M.D. (eds) (2003) Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice London: Routledge
Miller, B. (2004) ‘Spaces of Mobilization: Transnational Social Movements’, C. Barnett & M. Low (eds) Spaces of Democracy , Thousand Oaks & London: Sage Publications: 223–246
Monck, R. (2002) Globalisation and Labour: the new ‘Great Transformation’ . London: Zed Books
Moody, K. (1997) Workers in a Lean World: Unions in the Globalized Economy , London: Verso
Newman, N. (2005) ‘Is Labor Missing the Internet Third Wave?’, Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society , Vol. 8:383–394
Nissen, B. (2002), ‘Concluding Thoughts: Internal Transformation?’, in Nissen, B. (ed.) Unions in a globalized environment: changing borders, organizational boundaries and social roles , Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe
Renton, D. (2004?) The means to fight globalisation? Using the Internet to support rank-and-file trade unionism . Accessed September, 2005 from http://www.dkrenton.co.uk/research/edgepaper.htm
Robinson, B. (2003) ‘Building a constituency for online activism: the Labour Start experience.’ Workshop on Social Movement Informatics , Leeds Metropolitan University, 2003
Robinson, I. (2002) ‘Does Neoliberal Restructuring Promote Social Movement Unionism? US Developments in Comparative Perspective’, in Nissen, B. (ed.) Unions in a globalized environment: changing borders, organizational boundaries and social roles , Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe
UNI (2007) IBM Union Protest: Second Life . Accessed September, 2007 from http://www.union-network.org/uniwebmasters.nsf/slibm?openform
Walker, S. (2002) To Picket Just Click It! Social netwar and industrial conflict in a global economy , Leeds Metropolitan University School of Information Management, IMRIP, 2002–1.
Waterman, P. (1998) The Brave New World of Manuel Castells: What on Earth (or in the Ether) is going on? Accessed September 2005 from www.antenna.nl/∼waterman/castells.html
Waterman, P. (2001a) 16 Propositions on International Labour (and Other?) Networking . Accessed August 2005 from http://www.lmu.ac.uk/ies/im/people/swalker/labournetworking/pw16props-31–5-01.htm
Waterman, P. (2001b) ‘Trade Union Internationalism in the Age of Seattle’, in Waterman, P. & Wills, J. (eds), Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms , Oxford: Blackwell

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Aoyama, Y. & E. Sheppard (2003). ‘The dialectics of geographic and virtual space.’ Environment and Planning A 35:1151–1156

[2] Bailey, C. (1997) Towards a global labournet . Accessed September, 2005 from http://www.lmedia.nodong.net/1997/article/w4–2e.html

[3] Bailey, C. (1999) The Labour Movement and the Internet . Accessed September, 2005 from http://www.amrc.org.hk/Arch/3401.htm

[4] Bélanger, M. (1994), SoliNet: A Computer Conferencing System Designed for Trade Unions . Accessed October, 2007 at http://www.net4dem.org/cyrev/archive/issue1/articles/SoliNet/SoliNet2.htm

[5] Bélanger, M. (2001) The Digital Development of Labour Organisations in Africa . Turin: ILO International Training Centre, Turin

[6] Bennett, W.L. (2003) ‘Communicating Global Activism.’ Information, Communication and Society , Vol 6, No 2:143–168

[7] Brunsting, S. & T. Postmes (2002) ‘Social movement participation in the online age: Predicting offline and online collective action’, Small Group Research , Vol 33, No 5:525–554

[8] Carty, V. (2001) ‘The Internet and grassroots politics: Nike, the athletic apparel industry and the anti -sweatshop campaign.’ TAMARA: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science , Vol 2, No 1:34–48. (Also at: http://www.zianet.com/boje/tamara/issues/volume_1/issue_1_2/2Carty_Nike_corp_predator.htm)

[9] Castells, M. (2000) The Rise of the Network Society , Oxford: Basil Blackwell

[10] Davies, W. (no date) Trade Union Movement and the Internet; Lessons from Civil Society , London: IPPR

[11] Grieco, M. & M. Bhopal (2005) ‘Globalisation, collective action and counter-coordination’ Critical Perspectives on International Business , Vol 1, No 2/3:109–122

[12] Greene, A. M., J. Hogan & M. Grieco (2002) E-collectivism: Emergent Opportunities for Renewal . Accessed May, 2003 from http://www.geocities.com/e_collectivism/papers/madrid.html

[13] Herod, A. (1998) ‘Of Blocs, Flows and Networks; The end of the Cold War, cyberspace and the geoeconomics of organized labor at the fin de millenaire’, O Tuathail, Herod & Roberts (eds) An Unruly World? Globalization, Governance and Geography , London: Routledge

[14] Herod, A. (2003) ‘Geographies of Labor Internationalism’, Social Science History , Vol 27, No 4:501–23

[15] Hodkinson, S. (2001) Problems@Labour: Towards a Net-Internationalism? Accessed August, 2005 from www.globalstudiesassociation.org/conference1papers/Problems1.doc

[16] Kendall, L. (1999) ‘Recontextualizing “Cyberspace”: Methodological Considerations for On-Line Research.’ In S. Jones (ed) Doing Internet Research , Thousand Oaks & London: Sage Publications: 57–74

[17] LabourNet UK (n.d.) What is LabourNet? Accessed August, 2005 from http://www.labournet.net/whatis.html

[18] Langman, L. (2005) ‘From Virtual Public Spheres to Global Justice: A Critical Theory of Internetworked Social Movements’, Sociological Theory , Vol 23, No 1:42–74

[19] Lee, E. (1996) The Labour Movement and the Internet: The New Internationalism , London: Pluto Press

[20] Lee, E. (2003) Personal communication

[21] Lee, E. (2004a) How to win an online campaign . Accessed October 1st, 2005 from http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000094.html#more

[22] Lee, E. (2004b) Why we don't give: Online donations and international solidarity . Accessed October 1st, 2005 from http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000077.html

[23] Lee, E. (2004c), ‘Towards Global Networked Unions’, in Munck, R. (Ed.) Labour and Globalisation: Results and Prospects , Liverpool University Press, Liverpool

[24] Lee, E. (2005) Building International Solidarity, One Campaign at a Time . Accessed October 1st, 2005 from http://www.ericlee.me.uk/archive/000117.html#more

[25] Lee, E. (2006) Global campaigning: Beyond protest emails and solidarity messages Accessed October 1st, 2007 from http://www.ericlee.info/2006/02/global_campaigning_beyond_prot.html

[26] Lee, E. (2007) ‘LabourStart and Trade Union Internationalism: At the Tipping Point?’ Labor History , Vol. 48, No.1:73–79

[27] Lewis, P. (2002) ‘Unions and the Web: Where to Now?’, in Shostak, A. (Ed.) The Cyberunion Handbook: Transforming Labor through Computer Technology , Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe

[28] Martinez Lucio, M. & S. Walker (2005) ‘The networked union? The Internet as a challenge to trade union identity and roles.’ Critical Perspectives on International Business , Vol 1, No 2/3:137–154

[29] McCaughey, M. & Ayers M.D. (eds) (2003) Cyberactivism: Online Activism in Theory and Practice London: Routledge

[30] Miller, B. (2004) ‘Spaces of Mobilization: Transnational Social Movements’, C. Barnett & M. Low (eds) Spaces of Democracy , Thousand Oaks & London: Sage Publications: 223–246

[31] Monck, R. (2002) Globalisation and Labour: the new ‘Great Transformation’ . London: Zed Books

[32] Moody, K. (1997) Workers in a Lean World: Unions in the Globalized Economy , London: Verso

[33] Newman, N. (2005) ‘Is Labor Missing the Internet Third Wave?’, Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society , Vol. 8:383–394

[34] Nissen, B. (2002), ‘Concluding Thoughts: Internal Transformation?’, in Nissen, B. (ed.) Unions in a globalized environment: changing borders, organizational boundaries and social roles , Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe

[35] Renton, D. (2004?) The means to fight globalisation? Using the Internet to support rank-and-file trade unionism . Accessed September, 2005 from http://www.dkrenton.co.uk/research/edgepaper.htm

[36] Robinson, B. (2003) ‘Building a constituency for online activism: the Labour Start experience.’ Workshop on Social Movement Informatics , Leeds Metropolitan University, 2003

[37] Robinson, I. (2002) ‘Does Neoliberal Restructuring Promote Social Movement Unionism? US Developments in Comparative Perspective’, in Nissen, B. (ed.) Unions in a globalized environment: changing borders, organizational boundaries and social roles , Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe

[38] UNI (2007) IBM Union Protest: Second Life . Accessed September, 2007 from http://www.union-network.org/uniwebmasters.nsf/slibm?openform

[39] Walker, S. (2002) To Picket Just Click It! Social netwar and industrial conflict in a global economy , Leeds Metropolitan University School of Information Management, IMRIP, 2002–1.

[40] Waterman, P. (1998) The Brave New World of Manuel Castells: What on Earth (or in the Ether) is going on? Accessed September 2005 from www.antenna.nl/∼waterman/castells.html

[41] Waterman, P. (2001a) 16 Propositions on International Labour (and Other?) Networking . Accessed August 2005 from http://www.lmu.ac.uk/ies/im/people/swalker/labournetworking/pw16props-31–5-01.htm

[42] Waterman, P. (2001b) ‘Trade Union Internationalism in the Age of Seattle’, in Waterman, P. & Wills, J. (eds), Place, Space and the New Labour Internationalisms , Oxford: Blackwell