Solidarity

Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism

David Featherstone

In Solidarity, David Featherstone addresses a necessary and timely topic. Despite the frequency with which the word ‘solidarity’ is invoked, it has in fact rarely been the subject of rigorous analysis. Instead, the forms that solidarities take are frequently taken as given. This book redresses this situation by drawing on an innovative combination of archival research, oral histories and first-hand participant observation with political movements.

Throughout, Featherstone invokes a rich variety of case studies, from historical solidarities, such as the anti-slavery and anti-fascism movements, right up to present day concerns, such as the anti-corporate globalization movement and climate change activism. In doing so, the book emphasises international forms of solidarity which have frequently been marginalized by nation-centred histories of the left and social movements.

Wide-ranging and original, Solidarity is a fascinating investigation of an increasingly vital subject.

Contents

Introduction
Part 1: Theorizing Solidarity
1.Solidarity: Theorizing a Transformative Political Relation
2.Tracing Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism
Part 2: From Anti-Slavery to Anti-Fascism
3. Anti-Slavery Politics and the First International
4. Solidarities and the Contested Politics of Maritime Labour
5. Pan-Africanism and Anti-Fascism
Part 3: Solidarities and Cold War Geopolitics
6.The Chilean Coup and Transnational Solidarities
7.The Campaign for European Nuclear Disarmament and the End of the Cold War
Part 4: Solidarities in the Current Conjuncture
8. Anti-Corporate Solidarities–The Coca-Cola Boycott
9. Solidarities and the Contested Politics of Climate Change
10.Solidarities and the Economic Crisis
Conclusions

About the Author

David Featherstone is a lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Glasgow. He has key research interests in space, politics and resistance and has published papers in several journals, including Society and Space, Antipode and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.