Paul Mason’s book on the rise of social and labour movements is out, which includes a chapter on Nigeria’s unions and slum dwellers. He’s used typepad to produce a very nice complimentary site, which I shall be pointing various author friends to as an example of how it should be done…
I’m going to find time to read Paul’s book in the next few weeks for a couple of reasons: the first is that Paul is one the British journalists that has been following stories in Nigeria for the last few years. I know his insights will inform and challenge my own ideas.
The other is that I can see the book covers a wide range of countries and experiences, making connections that I am already aware of in my own mind and I want to understand better.
I’m particularly looking forward to reading more of what Paul Mason has to say about Bolivia, and the rise of indigenous and labour-based political movements that have propelled Evo Morales to power. (This follows on from his BBC 2 ‘Newsnight’ film from this time last year ‘Padlocked in the Palace’.)
The rise of these movements and so-called “resource nationalism” in Latin America is playing on the minds of oil industry analysts. It’s often seen as one of the crucial factors that may drive prices up again if the political situation in the Persian Gulf deteriorate.
There are clear parallels between the call for greater “resource control” as a core militant demand in the Niger Delta and what has happened in Bolivia, even if the threats being used by group’s like MEND are more menacing.
What will be interesting for me to discover in Paul’s book is his sense of the broader historical undercurrents which created social movements across the world that stand up for unrepresented peoples.
Some analysis at present conflates social movements in Nigeria - especially minority rights campaigns like MOSOP - with armed groups.
In my own experience there is a much more natural overlap between community-based activists in Nigeria with Trade Unions. The corruption and self interest that is latent in the oil industry means that - while there are many important friendships and a personal connections between minority leaders in the Delta and Union bosses - those relationships have never really turned into meaningful political alliances.
In the same way, without “issues based” multi-party politics, it is unlikely that a Morales-figure will emerge to truly represent the South-South in Nigeria.
Why have those connections been made in some societies and not in Nigeria? I want to understand this better and I am looking forward to reading Paul’s book, which I know will give me a lot to think about.
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