Spirit of Marikana - The Rise of Insurgent Trade Unionism in South Africa

On August 16, 2012, thirty-four black South African mineworkers were shot by police working under the auspices of the African National Congress in what has become known as the Marikana massacre. An attempt to stop the rise of independent working-class power, the incident is now seen as a major turning point in the history of South Africa and its politics.

The Spirit of Marikana tells the story of the leaders of labor action at the world's three largest platinum mining companies, who survived ongoing state-sponsored campaigns of violence, intimidation, torture, and murder to push forward a worker's rights agenda and begin the hard work of transforming their workplaces and their nation. A close-up ethnographic account, the book brings the seemingly ordinary people behind the movement to life through vivid interviews and oral histories.

About the author

Luke Sinwell is a Senior Researcher at the University of Johannesburg. He is co-author of The Spirit of Marikana (Pluto, 2016) and Marikana: A View from the Mountain and a Case to Answer (Jacana, 2013), co-editor of Contesting Transformation: Popular Resistance in Twenty-First-Century South Africa (Pluto, 2014). He is the General Secretary of the South African Sociological Association (SASA).

Siphiwe Mbatha is a co-ordinator of the Thembelihle Crisis Committee (TCC), a socialist civic organisation in South Africa which fights for basic services for all. Siphiwe is also an assistant researcher at the University of Johannesburg. He first visited Marikana the day after the massacre to provide solidarity to the striking mineworkers.

Summary

A comprehensive examination of the contemporary mineworkers' movement in South Africa, in a vivid ethnographic narrative

Product details

• Authors: Siphiwe Mbatha, Mbatha Siphiwe, Luke Sinwell, Luke Mbatha Sinwell, Sinwell Luke
• Assisted by: David Fernbach (Translation)
• Publisher: Pluto
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2016
• EAN: 9780745336480
• ISBN: 978-0-7453-3648-0
• No. of pages: 240
• Series: Wildcat; Wildcat
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Politics; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Labor & Industrial Relations, Republic of South Africa, Trade Unions, Sociology: work & labour, Sociology: work and labour, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Labor / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Labor / Unions