Resistance in times of polycrisis

Andreas Bieler

Chapter 7 in Globalization in a Turbulent Era, 2025, pp 110-125 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Humanity is currently in the middle of a polycrisis, multiple overlapping global crises which are internally related, reinforcing each other. These include a crisis of global capitalism, a crisis of global labour relations, a crisis of global gender relations, a crisis of global race relations, and a crisis of global ecology. The purpose of this chapter is first to develop a theoretical approach, which will allow us to analyse polycrisis. It argues that we need to understand capitalist accumulation in an expanded way, including not only exploitation in production but also expropriation in social reproduction. Resistance in areas of social reproduction such as struggles against environmental destruction or for access to health services is, therefore, equally resistance to capitalist exploitation, as is resistance in the workplace. In a second step, the chapter then applies this approach to struggles against water privatisation and ‘free trade’ agreements. It is here that we can understand how resistance in the workplace is linked to struggles in the sphere of social reproduction especially in the way of how these struggles have been based on broad alliances of trade unions, social movements, citizens’ committees and environmental organizations, amongst others.

Keywords: Class struggle; EU; Mercosur trade agreement; Historical materialism; Polycrisis; Resistance; Water privatisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035330492
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