Transnational Activism

In this paper, my aim is to elaborate disability movement praxis so that transnational struggles for justice over the production of impairment emerging from the Global South can be represented within the transnational frame of disability politics. The paper seeks to explore the potential of deepening socio-political understandings of impairment as a means to radically democratize disability movement politics at the transnational scale to encompass pluralist, yet subaltern, collective claims for justice. I am guided by the question: if impairment is the place that makes visible invisible debts, can the global disability rights movement begin a process of re-identification to open the boundaries of disability justice claims and develop a strategic orientation which recognizes those collective justice claims for geopolitically produced impairments?

A obra de Pablo de Rezende Saturnino Braga, intitulada A rede de ativismo transnacional contra o apartheid na África do Sul, representa um estudo valioso e oportuno. Ela retoma a história do regime racista e analisa a rede de atores transnacionais que se levantou contra a forma explícita mais obscurantista de discriminação desde a derrota do nazismo, demonstrando com clareza quem era quem nos anos do apartheid. Isto porque hoje, da África do Sul à Europa, a xenofobia e a doutrina da superioridade racial estão de volta, com o rosto descoberto. Professor Paulo Visentini

The Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions Against Israel campaign or BDS is an international social movement which emerges as a response to the international community’s persistent lack of determination regarding the unsustainable and devastating situation of the Palestinian people, who are living either in exile or under discrimination, segregation and institutional repression, situation they have been going through for seven decades. The three objectives of the BDS campaign are based on international law and on United Nations resolutions which, to date, have not been met by the Israeli State. BDS is a non-violent struggle whose divestment strategy and economic, academic and cultural boycott of companies and institutions linked to the Israeli occupation have produced enough pressure to make Israel change its foreign policy introducing a whole new image abroad. The purpose of this research is to analyze the power of attraction or Soft Power of the BDS and its ability to push the Israeli State towards the reconfiguration of its political propaganda or "hasbara" which constitutes the core of its public diplomacy.

The 20th century ended with a “bang” in Puerto Rico, producing one of the most powerful and decisive massive demonstrations that the young 21st century first saw. Broadly, this paper will focus on the meaning and repercussions of the activism that took place in relation to Vieques. Specifically, I will outline the battle against the US Navy undertaken by Viequenses, Puerto Ricans, and activists in the United States and around the world after 4/19/1999—the fateful date when a stray bomb during the Navy’s training exercises on the island killed David Sanes, a civilian security guard working at the base. In essence, this paper articulates and highlights aspects of the struggle between a
small island-municipality in the middle of the Caribbean Sea and the biggest military power on the face of the Earth, in order to extrapolate the lessons offered by the massive transnational social movement that emerged in support of Vieques.

This article analyzes political exile as a specific type of international emigration and transnational activism. It claims for a political sociology of exile in dialogue with social movement studies and argues that political exile promotes wide transformations in the activist routine and is produced from different patterns. The main aim is to discuss profiles of exiles, their modalities of political action, and the characteristics and dynamics of their transnational networks. To this end, two cases are analyzed: that of "elite exiles" by the Brazilian military dictatorship in Uruguay and that of "popular exiles" of Paraguayan peasants in Brazil. Thus, this phenomenon seeks to be apprehended, through different angles, both with regard to the type of exile and the directionality of the flow. Methodologically, the analysis is based mainly on historical documentation, secondary sources and interviews with activists.

Over the years, China’s Lancang dam cascade has been the target of widespread contestation arising mainly from an evolving network of dam opponents. Operating across borders, these activists play an increasingly prominent role in the transboundary governance of the Lancang-Mekong River, working to curb China’s hydropower expansion and hold its dam developers to account.

This article considers the experiences of Dutch
and Indonesian women in enforced prostitution
for the Japanese military during World War Two
and the activism of prominent survivors and
their supporters from the 1990s. It highlights how
and why Japanese activists have continued to
support these women and why Dutch and
Indonesian women have rarely engaged in joint
activism. It analyses how Dutch and Indonesian
women’s stories are presented together in a
2015-2016 exhibition at the Women’s Active
Museum on War and Peace in Tokyo and how
women’s and soldiers’ testimonies are used to
advocate further redress from the Japanese
government and to challenge military sexual
violence against women. The article assesses how
a sustained focus in transnational activism on
Japanese responsibility and the Japanese imperial
context potentially leads to overlooking how
localised forms of patriarchy and the specific
context of this former Dutch colony affected
women’s experiences and their post war
treatment.

On April 14, 2014 Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group, abducted 274 girls from a secondary school in the Chibok region of northeastern Nigeria.  The mass abduction of the Chibok girls shook Nigerians and spurred a social movement where citizens took to the streets of Abuja in protest and demanded the return of the girls. The movement quickly infiltrated online spaces, and splashed throughout social media where celebrities like First Lady Michelle Obama and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres held up signs with the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.  Using semantic network analysis in following the “#BringBackOurGirls” hashtag after the one-year anniversary of the abduction, and in-depth interviews with activists and influencers in Nigeria and North America, this thesis explores how technology, expressly Twitter, can influence the progression of a new social movement like #BringBackOurGirls.  It finds Twitter serves as a powerful public space for minorities and marginalized voices to circumvent traditional media; once there, these actors can express opinion and opposition in a succinct format, as well as unite and organize swiftly in their capacity as new social movements. The case study also reveals important intersections between technology, radical Islam, gender, the tension between the Global North and the Global South, and online versus offline activism.

While the historical and ongoing symbolic and material inequalities and violence faced by African Americans can be understood as a human rights violation, the efficacy of the human rights framework for addressing racial injustice in the United States remains contested. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the emergence and dominance of the geopolitical doctrine of human rights and the struggle for racial justice in the United States. Through historical, legal, and sociological analysis of relevant issues and cases, I discern the benefits and limitations of the human rights framework for achieving racial justice and elucidate dynamics between relevant institutional, political, and social actors. I argue that the human rights framework opens international pathways for information, accountability, and symbolic politics conducive to combating racial injustice, particularly regarding overt manifestations of oppression and violence, but enduring issues such as the role of the state in racial politics and the dehumanization of people of color present hindrances.

Desde seu nascimento, há quase trinta anos, o Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) tem se destacado pela perenidade de sua organização e disposição de estimular uma diversidade de vínculos capilares com a sociedade civil o que constitui uma das maiores novidades da história política contemporânea do campesinato brasileiro e voz mais expressiva da questão agrária na América Latina. Diante dessa constatação, o objetivo deste livro é apresentar e analisar como a dimensão internacionalista do MST enquanto elemento real e ativo de construção de um lócus político constitui-se historicamente, a fim de destacar as diversas influências políticas e ideológicas e a composição heterogênea de seu ativismo transnacional, que foram desenvolvidas (e assimiladas) tanto por circunstâncias políticas e econômicas em que o país enveredou quanto pela atuação das lideranças do MST. A hipótese central é de que, a partir da metade da década de noventa, o MST alcança o auge de sua projeção no exterior, não apenas pela referência mundial simbólica e política da luta camponesa, mas pela percepção de que o internacionalismo está enraizado nas condições materiais da luta de classes na agricultura mundializada. Desde então, inicia-se um processo de redefinição de sua estratégia política que passa a ser ampliada internacionalmente, na busca de convergência de linhas políticas e agendas em comum, principalmente com a Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del Campo (CLOC) e Via Campesina. Todavia, a política internacionalista do MST não nasce, cresce e amadurece politicamente apenas como reflexo passivo do avanço do capitalismo internacional do campo. O desenvolvimento desigual do capitalismo no campo brasileiro e a trajetória internacionalista do MST não constituem duas retas paralelas que podem ser relacionadas ponto a ponto. Na verdade, ambas adquirem configurações espaciais e temporais mais complexas e são estabelecidas em um constante encontro e desencontro. Por exemplo, a dimensão ética-moral e religiosa principalmente da fonte da Teologia da Libertação e da pastoral da terra é um fator essencial na motivação subjetiva de uma consciência humanista e universal latino-americana e de uma cultura política de solidariedade internacionalista permanente que o MST desenvolve a partir da própria formação específica que aqui se propõe estudar.

This article explores Amnesty International’s consistent focus on civil and political rights in its campaigning on China. Such a focus has been evident from the beginning of Amnesty International’s attention to human rights in China in the late 1970s to the present, despite the decision in 2001 that the organisation would work to promote all categories of human rights. This suggests that the early framing of human rights as particular civil and political rights by the organisation continues to be a somewhat settled frame of meaning in the case of China. The implications of this framing include that while it elevates certain abuses within China, abuses that local activists face considerable domestic constraints to highlight, it inevitably marginalises other abuses and obscures more complex understandings of human rights in China.

The global anti-apartheid movement mobilised millions of people who took part in boycotts and demonstrations. Despite the significance of the anti-apartheid movement, actual research on its nature as a transnational movement has been meagre. Most research on the anti-apartheid movement has focused on its national aspects, looking, for example, at the
Australian, American, British or South African anti-apartheid movements. In this article, I argue that the most crucial aspect of this movement was its construction of transnational
networks and forms of action. The central dimensions of the action forms and identification processes of the anti-apartheid struggle are analysed; historical continuities as well as
discontinuities are investigated; and the movement is related to relevant political and historical contexts. The analysis is based on historical documents and interviews with
52 activists in four countries, and intends to make a contribution to the interrelated theoretical debates on (a) the relations between ‘new’ and ‘old’ social movements, and
(b) transnational activist networks and social movements in a globalising world.

This article presents a novel analytical framework to study transnational activism in the context of today's international governance architecture. While there is a considerable amount of literature on the emergence, development and effects of transnational activism, an integrated framework that analyses the dynamic interplay between activism, transnational institutions and domestic contexts is still lacking. The framework of transnational pathways of influence intends to help close this gap. It integrates insights from social movement research and insights from institutional theorists. This article outlines this framework and exemplifies it by taking the case of transnational activism within the current global governance architecture. It shows that the study of activism across different trans-national pathways over time helps to understand the combined effects of activist interventions , institutional co-evolution and interaction as an explanation for the process of selective convergence between global norms and local practices.

In the political realm, our world is currently experiencing both a massive decline in democracies as well as the quality of democratic regimes in all geographical regions, and a rise in pro-democracy social change movements. Meanwhile, extant scholarly research emphasizes that social movements can contribute to changes in political regimes, such as the undermining of authoritarian ones or simply causing a circulation of the elite. Nevertheless, there is a gap in the scholarly knowledge regarding when political activism becomes effective or can even take place without total annihilation in the context of unrecognized states. To address this gap, studying cases of pro-democracy movements in unrecognized states through a comparative schema is the most effective methodology. In these cases, some variables that affect movement outcomes, such as international diplomatic relations, NGO activity, multinational company pressures, etc. are more restricted due to these states lacking official diplomatic capacity. Therefore, in unrecognized states, domestic political-economic factors are primal and their effects can be observed much more easily, which then lends some tentatively generalizable insights as well. For the purposes of this paper, I will consider the emergence and ultimate outcomes of pro-democracy movements in three unrecognized states: North Cyprus, Abkhazia, and Taiwan. All three cases in comparative perspective can shed light on the dynamics of how nonviolent, pro-democracy movements unfold under the authoritarian-leaning settings of unrecognized states with minimal international interaction or oversight.

This article examines the ways in which various Russian NGOs, involved in litigation at the
European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), have worked to advocate for improved domestic
implementation of rulings made by the Court. The paper traces these advocacy activities in
four key problem areas for Russia’s implementation of the Convention: (1) domestic
judges’ knowledge and citation of the European Convention or ECtHR case law; (2) the
execution of domestic court judgments by Russian state bureaucratic bodies; (3) extrajudicial
disappearances and killings in anti-terrorist military operations in the North Caucasus;
and (4) torture or inhumane treatment in police detention. The author finds that the
impact Russian NGOs can have upon domestic implementation depends greatly upon the
professional cultures and incentives of the actors involved as well as whether or not
prevention of violations is compatible with other high-level Russian government agendas.

Los pueblos indígenas se unen cada vez más en redes internacionales para exigir sus derechos, encontrando eco y validación de sus demandas en las Naciones Unidas (ONU) porque los consideran como uno de los grupos más desfavorecidos del mundo. Pero no siempre fue así, durante mucho tiempo la ONU consideró que la protección individual de los derechos humanos sería suficiente en esta materia. Una contradicción, ya que al mismo tiempo las Naciones Unidas admitieron que los derechos individuales son difíciles de ejercer cuando muchos grupos étnicos sufren la supresión de ellos por parte de los Estados a los que pertenecen y la respectiva sociedad dominante de aquel Estado. Los derechos humanos de estos pueblos son violados masivamente y sufren altos grados de discriminación tanto en las esferas sociales como en las económicas, culturales y políticas. El activismo internacional indígena nació en Latinoamérica, donde las formaciones de los Estados y naciones después de las independencias causaron la destrucción de las naciones ya existentes. La negación de su propia identidad ha llevado al Estado chileno a una histórica ''guerra de baja intensidad'' con el pueblo mapuche, llevando al desarrollo de un movimiento mapuche cada vez más activo, que utiliza el activismo internacional como un arma estratégica contra las violaciones de sus derechos humanos.

El libro se divide en nueve capítulos:

1)            En primer lugar se analizará el contexto histórico del así llamado conflicto entre el Estado chileno y el pueblo mapuche porque «Los problemas actuales de los pueblos indígenas no pueden entenderse sin una referencia a la historia de sus relaciones con la sociedad.»

2)            Luego se analizan la dimensión territorial y la importancia de las reivindicaciones de derechos territoriales. Esto es seguido por un examen más detallado de la dimensión económica, derivada del hecho de que la industria forestal que se encuentra en la Araucanía es de gran importancia económica. ¿Conduce esto a un conflicto de recursos? Además, las diferencias culturales intensifican el conflicto. Por lo tanto, también tiene que ser destacada la dimensión identitaria del conflicto, porque, según Stavenhagen, en América Latina el proceso de "construcción de la nación" se convirtió en una era "destrucción de la nación” ya existente. Esto llevó a la pregunta si el conflicto ¿se puede caracterizar como un conflicto entre una mayoría y una minoría étnica? Para responder a esta pregunta se analiza la dimensión política del conflicto.

3)            Los gobiernos de Chile no se centran en las soluciones políticas del conflicto. En consecuencia, las dimensiones del conflicto llevan a la aplicación de las siguientes prácticas: la militarización, la criminalización y la represión que llevan a violaciones masivas de derechos humanos. «La militarización, la represión y la violencia contra los mapuche nos muestra que sigue la dictadura militar para nosotros.» (Entrevista personal: Huenchullan). Estudios de casos detallados serán presentados después de la presentación de las estrategias de los actores.

4)            ¿Qué estrategias utilizan y desarrollan los actores para enfrentarse al Estado chileno? Después de la transición a la democracia, un nuevo movimiento comenzó a surgir, con el rasgo característico de la (re) construcción identitaria y cultural y la (re) tradicionalización. Además, se refieren constantemente a los instrumentos jurídicos internacionales y por lo tanto convirtieron en su demanda principal, el derecho a la libre determinación. Para dar una imagen más clara de este nuevo movimiento, se presentarán algunas de sus organizaciones emblemáticas.

5)            En este capítulo se abordará el análisis de la utilización del arma del activismo internacional.

6)            Después se destacarán en detalle las violaciones de los derechos humanos, dándoles visibilidad a través de estudios de casos. Al mismo tiempo serán presentadas las reacciones estratégicas y discursivas de los mapuche, entre ellas a la aplicación de la ley antiterrorista, la persecución política, la criminalización de sus demandas y las violaciones masivas de los derechos de los niños y de los tratados internacionales.

7)            ¿Qué hay en el derecho internacional para los pueblos originarios?  Principalmente, el Convenio 169, que es el único tratado internacional dedicado exclusivamente a los pueblos indígenas. Este capítulo analizará su implementación en Chile.

8)            Este capítulo pondrá de relieve la estrecha relación que existe entre el activismo indígena internacional y los mapuche en Chile. Primero, se analizarán los discursos globales de los pueblos indígenas en los foros y conferencias de las Naciones Unidas. ¿Qué importancia tiene el derecho a la libre determinación y cuáles son las principales demandas del activismo indígena transnacional? ¿Cómo influyen estos discursos y demandas internacionales de los mapuche y qué rol juega la fuerte retradicionalizacion e indigenización del pueblo originario más grande de este país sudamericano?

9)            Chile y los derechos humanos: ¿amigos o enemigos? Por último se analizará la situación de los derechos humanos de los mapuche en el contexto nacional, Chile, se pondrá a prueba y sabremos si: ¿se ha transformado este Estado de un violador de los derechos humanos a un defensor de los derechos humanos? Para el análisis, se hace referencia al estudio del caso de los analistas políticos Risse, Ropp y Sikking que examinaron la situación de los derechos humanos en Chile en el período comprendido entre 1973 a 1998. Las autoras de este estudio extendieron el análisis de los nombrados analistas políticos en 16 años, analizando el desarrollo de los derechos humanos  desde el año 1998 hasta la actualidad. Al respecto se puede adelantar lo que destacó el Instituto Nacional de Derechos Humanos en su informe del año 2013:« (…) este análisis obliga a reconocer que los derechos humanos se violan en democracia. Tanto los derechos civiles y políticos, como los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales pueden ser vulnerados, y con frecuencia lo son, aun en contextos democráticos.»

Résumé

Les cosmopolites enracinés forment aujourd’hui une partie importante des groupes et des individus impliqués dans le militantisme social. S’appuyant sur les changements technologiques, l’intégration économique et les réseaux culturels, ce phénomène trouve son expression la plus frappante dans la mobilisation de jeunes militants à des manifestations organisées hors de leur propre pays, ce qu’on nomme le militantisme transnational. À partir de la définition relationnelle (et non cognitive) du cosmopolitisme, plusieurs figures du « cosmopolitisme enraciné » sont présentées, qui correspondent à autant de formes distinctes de militantisme transnational.

Abstract

Rooted cosmopolitans and transnational activists

A large segment of those individuals and groups involved in social activism is composed of rooted cosmopolitans. Following technological changes, economic integration and cultural networks this phenomenon is most apparent in transnational activism, which is the mobilisation of young activists for actions outside their own country. Starting from a relational rather than discursive definition of cosmopolitanism, several versions of the rooted cosmopolitan, corresponding to particular types of transnational activism, are described.

The purpose of this chapter is to conceptually unfold the broader meaning of the term ‘digital natives’ both by a historical contextualisation of the ‘digital’, as well as by a discussion of the geopolitics of the ‘native’. The terminological analysis, grounded by a historical contextualisation of digital activism and the history of digital technologies in the past decade, serves to argue that in its current form, the term ‘digital natives’ may represent a renewed dedication to the native place in a point in time when previous distinctions between ‘physical’ and ‘digital’ places no longer hold

This article is concerned with the question of why lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) rights legislation is introduced at higher levels in some cases and less so in others. To address this puzzle, the article analyzes changes in LGBT rights legislation across European Union (EU) member states between 1970 and 2009. It focuses on the diffusion of five different categories of such legislation (anti-discrimination, criminal law, partnership, parenting rights, and equal sexual offenses provisions) to new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe, compared with diffusion patterns in older EU member states. I argue that new-adopter states are more dependent on international resources for making new issues visible and are more inclined to see policy adoption as a means to gain external legitimacy and improve reputation. The analysis reveals that the transnational embeddedness of a state’s LGBT advocacy organizations is a powerful statistical explanation for successful policy diffusion to new EU member states, alongside international channels that lead to LGBT visibility among society and state authorities. In addition to lending cross-national, empirical reinforcement to some of the theoretical expectations regarding the international sources of diffusion, the results suggest variability in the determinants of LGBT policy adoption between the 15 old and 12 new EU states. Domestic factors, particularly economic modernization, are more relevant for policy adoption in the older member states, whereas the newer member states display greater dependence on transnational actors and are more influenced by international channels.

Canada was the first country to implement the WTO Decision of August 30, 2003, authorizing the export of generic drugs manufactured under a compulsory license to developing countries in response to a proposal brought forward by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that now claim dissatisfaction with the Canadian legislation. This empirical case study examines what success means for an NGO campaign. It contrasts interviews, documents, media coverage, and public statements of stakeholders, using quantitative and qualitative analyses. It concludes the NGO network experienced a shift from a mobilizer of public sentiment at the international level to a policy adviser at the domestic level. This shift crystallized a change in leadership toward local, rather than transnational NGOs, and a shift in strategy from being radical to more reformist. While this process of institutionalizing the outcomes of international campaigns is necessary for the implementation of international norms into domestic policy, it required NGOs to compromise their ideal positions, producing some objective successes in legislative reform but subjective dissatisfaction of the NGOs in the failure of Canada’s domestic regime to enhance access to medicines on the ground in developing countries.

Issues of immigrant political incorporation and transnational politics have drawn increased interest among migration scholars. This paper contributes to debates in this field by examining the role of networks, partnerships and collaborations of immigrant community organizations as mechanisms for immigrant political participation both locally and transnationally. These issues are addressed through an ethnographic study of the Hispanic Development Council, an umbrella advocacy organization representing settlement agencies serving Latin American immigrants in Toronto, Canada. Analysis of HDC’s three sets of networks (at the community, city and transnational levels) from a geographic and relational approach demonstrates the potentials and limits of nonprofit sector partnerships as mechanisms and concrete spaces for immigrant mobilization, empowerment, and social action in a context of neoliberal governance. It is argued that a combination of partnerships with a range of both state and n...

This contribution conceptualizes the politicization of MNCs from
outside the processes by which MNCs become confronted with
demands for regulation and engage in political contestation with other
non-state actors. It compares two global industries, athletic footwear and toys, to show that the dynamics of politicization follow different trajectories, which are only partially to explain with structural differences
across industry fields. If politicization leads to increasing political
functioning of business or to a depoliticization of criticism depends to
a great extend on the agency of business and their capacity to strategically counter mobilization, but also on the difficulties for activist to construct continuing collective action across a diverse range of cultural institutional settings.

In 1997 Australia changed its human rights policy regarding China from its support for resolutions on China at the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) to the adoption of the bilateral human rights dialogue process. From 1991 to 1997 the UNCHR process had greatly contributed to the Chinese government making human rights concessions such that China could be considered to be in phase three (tactical concessions) of the spiral model of Thomas Risse, Stephen Ropp and Kathryn Sikkink. To progress to phase
four (prescriptive status), continued pressures by international and domestic actors are needed so that support and protection is provided to domestic human rights activists. The annual Australia–China bilateral dialogue meetings do not appear to be contributing to those pressures. However, in a limited way given its small scale, the Australia–China Technical Cooperation Program may help to bring about further human rights improvements in
China.

Through adopting the bilateral human rights dialogue process in 1997, Australia changed its human rights policy regarding China from public support for resolutions on China at the UN Commission on Human Rights to private annual meetings on human rights issues and a technical cooperation programme (TCP). With its aim of bringing about practical improvements in human rights through training activities

Drawing on transnational activism literature, this article presents a nuanced understanding of political action and the link between two contexts of struggles – the Philippines and Hong Kong – in order to explain the emergence and development of transnational political action. It presents a narrative of the emergence of transnational activism that spans Hong Kong and the Philippines by examining the political opportunities and organizing activities undertaken by two major transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to establish and sustain political action for and among foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong. The article shows that those who pioneered the activism in Hong Kong were products of the contentious Philippine politics and worked on social justice issues in their homeland prior to their stint in the territory. While the activists advocate for workers’ rights in Hong Kong, they continue to link their activism to their home country. This linkage is promoted by the discourse of “forced migration,” wherein the issue of worker migration has been framed, illustrating that poor governance has made migration more of a forced option rather than a choice for workers.

By BRINGEL, Breno; MARQUES, Teresa.

This article analyzes political exile as a specific type of international emigration and transnational activism. It claims for a political sociology of exile in dialogue with social movement studies and argues that political exile promotes wide transformations in the activist routine and is produced from different patterns. The main aim is to discuss profiles of exiles, their modalities of political action, and the characteristics and dynamics of their transnational networks. To this end, two cases are analyzed: that of "elite exiles" by the Brazilian military dictatorship in Uruguay and that of "popular exiles" of Paraguayan peasants in Brazil. Thus, this phenomenon seeks to be apprehended, through different angles, both with regard to the type of exile and the directionality of the flow. Methodologically, the analysis is based mainly on historical documentation, secondary sources and interviews with activists.

Alliances between social movements constitute a vital part of understanding social movement mobilization. However, despite the advantages that come with cross-movement mobilization, the construction and maintenance of alliances remains a fundamental challenge for activists and movements. This special issue aims to uncover and deepen our understanding of cross-movement mobilization in the global North and the global South. In this introduction we suggest to move beyond cross-movement mobilisation as relatively static cooperation between formally organised and bounded entities. Instead we need to observe cross-movement alliances as a succession of convergences around events and longer lineages of actions linked through multiple, intersecting, and non-linear processes and actions. The current Covid-19 pandemic and the state of emergency and social distancing it triggered is rapidly changing social life across the world. The fear of becoming infected can quickly turn into a fear of others in very generalised forms. Neighbours, friends, and even family members turn into potential dangers for one's own health. The spread of fear could trigger massive de-solidarisation, the rise of distrust amongst individuals, and a further fragmentation within and especially across societies. But times of crisis and emergency also hold the potential to live and explore new modes of solidarity. Some forms of solidarity, cooperation, and conviviality cannot be lived and practiced at the moment, but new ones are emerging every moment. This special issue was organized and comprised long before Covid-19 spread around the globe. Yet it is speaking to a very important topic, relevant in times of crisis and beyond: the formation of solidarities and new forms of collective organization through bridging of differences and forming alliances across different movements. We hope the contributions to this thematic issue can be a source of inspiration, and also help to think ahead for the coming research exploring new ways of solidarity production in the post-pandemic new world order.

Rosalba Icaza Garza INTRODUCCIÓN: SITUÁNDOME #Yamecanse de la mirada colonial del twitter! Escribía el tuit anterior en 2015 desde mi cuenta @icazarosalba, mientras los medios impresos, visuales y virtuales difundían sin parar la búsqueda de dos sospechosos del asesinato de doce personas en el diario satírico Charlie Hebdo ocurrido el 7 de enero en la ciudad de París, Francia. Entre los ultimados se encontra-ban dibujantes franceses que por sus caricaturas sobre el islam y el profeta Mohamed en particular, habían recibido amenazas de muerte de parte de radicales islámicos. Los medios hablaban de un atentado contra la libertad de expresión, de un ataque contra la civilización y en contra de la razón. Se hablaba, incluso, de un choque de civilizaciones (Cassidy, 2015). El discurso que contrastaba la cuna intelectual de occidente, Francia y por ende de sus ciu-dadanos e instituciones, con la barbarie de oriente y en particular del islam y sus creyentes, (re)producía una vez más las subjetividades que se encarnan en las representantes de gobierno, las periodistas, las ciudadanas francesas y europeas y, más tarde, ciudadanas y ciudadanos de muchos lugares del mundo, sumándose al #JesuisCharlie. Siete meses antes de los eventos en Charlie Hebdo, el 26 de septiem-bre de 2014, un joven mexicano llamado Alexander Mora, estudiante de la normal rural de Ayotzinapa en el estado de Guerrero, fue asesinado por policías municipales quienes antes lo torturaron y desollaron su rostro. Junto con Alexander, otros 42 estudiantes, algunos menores de edad e indígenas, fueron secuestrados y, de acuerdo con las versiones oficiales de la fiscalía mexicana, las cuales fueron cuestionadas por el Grupo de Expertos de la Comisión Inter-Americana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) creada exprofeso para el caso (GIEI, 2015), fueron calcinados por miembros del cártel de dro-gas Guerreros Unidos, quienes fueron apoyados por policías municipales. Unas horas después de estos trágicos eventos, el hashtag #todossomos ayotzinapa y #ayotzinapaaccionglobal se volvieron "tendencia" en twitter México (Ferguson, 2014). En cuestión de horas se organizaron marchas, performances y flash mobs "Pude haber sido Yo" en varias ciudades de México, Estados Unidos, Europa, Asia, etc. Después de algunas semanas, el hashtag #yamecanse se haría tendencia en Twitter México en referencia a la desa-fortunada frase del fiscal mexicano, Jesús Murillo Karam, responsable oficial de la investigación y quien expresaría su cansancio después de una larga conferencia de prensa. Con el #yamecanse comenzaría una "guerra digital" en Twitter para posicionar el hashtag o eliminarlo a fuerza de (ro)bots o repe-ticiones sin "emisor" (Mercaderos, 2014). 1 Tan sólo unas semanas antes, el 9 de agosto del 2014 en la ciudad de Ferguson, el adolescente afroamericano Michael Brown sería una víctima más de la violencia policial. Como en el caso de #JesuisCharlie, #todos-somosayotzinapa, el hashtag #Ferguson y posteriormente, #Handsupdont-shoot, 2 se volverían tendencia en Twitter (Bonilla y Rosa, 2015). ¿Qué es lo que nos indican estos acontecimientos violentos sobre el tipo de análisis que resulta indispensable llevar a cabo para comprender el activismo contemporáneo que prolifera en redes sociales y, en particular, en el caso de Ayotzinapa? En estas líneas no intento desarrollar un análisis de estudio de caso sobre el activismo virtual de este trágico evento. Existen interesantes esfuerzos en este sentido desde distintas perspectivas en relación a #ferguson (Bonilla y Rosa, 2015), #jesuischarlie (Rodríguez Garavito, 2015) e incluso sobre Ayotzinapa y la geopolítica de Estados Unidos en Medio Oriente (Dabashi, 2014). Este es un texto teórico-epistémico exploratorio a partir del planteamiento de las "epistemologías del Sur" (Sousa, 2009; Sousa, Nunes y Meneses, 2007) y el “pensamiento decolonial” (Mignolo, 2013, 2010, 2009a, 2009b y 2003; Quijano, 2000; Vázquez, 2014, 2011 y 2009), en particular del “feminismo decolonial” (Lugones 2010a y 2010b), sobre las lógicas
moderno-coloniales que caracterizan a los medios sociales en el que discurren gran parte de las energías del activismo trasnacional contemporáneo.
Lógicas que como argumentaré posteriormente, se producen y reproducen
también en los análisis académicos en la disciplina de las relaciones internacionales sobre este tipo de activismo transnacional.
En particular, me interesa comprender “qué es Twitter” frente a la
violenta experiencia de Ayotzinapa, “cómo se expresan” sus lógica(s) moderno-coloniales y si también se expresan “otras lógicas” en esta arena de visibilidad política. Desde el marco de la justicia epistémica, entiendo por visibilidad política la visibilidad de palabras y obras de regiones de la sociedad que han sido marginalizadas, desdeñadas o producidas como ausentes (Icaza y Vázquez, 2013)

As an Introduction to the Debate section that follows, this article develops the concept of ‘Networks of Labour Activism’ (NOLAs) as a distinct, and important, aspect of cross-border, cross-organizational mobilization of workers, trade unions and other organizations and groups. NOLAs are seen as different from traditional labour activist networks in that they are neither solely connected to the position of labour in production processes, nor wholly reliant on the soft and discursive power of advocacy coalitions. The authors understand NOLAs to be characterized by the interaction of different types of labour rights, social movement and community organizations, joining forces in complex forms of strategizing vis-à-vis multiple targets. Thus, cross-boundary strategizing (across organizational and geographical divides) is seen as a basic characteristic of NOLAs. The authors argue that NOLAs continue to be deeply embedded in political-economic contexts of the state and global value chains, and alliance formation reflects the peculiar vulnerabilities and constraints resulting from this embeddedness.  This Introduction draws on multiple studies of NOLAs from around the world, but its main focus is on some of those Asian countries which are at the centre of global supply chain capitalism and labour exploitation, and which have become the laboratory for new forms of networked worker agency and activism.

This review chapter looks at different kinds of organizations of and for immigrants that represent in some ways alternatives to the dominant power order.  It looks at different kinds of values, activities, compositions, funding, and organization, including a summary table of kinds of immigrant organizations.  It argues that such immigrant organizations cannot be purely alternative to all kinds of power, and it looks at a case study of organizations addressing immigrant arrest and detention in France to see how the increasing legal regulation of these processes are both the objects of struggle by but also increasingly involve alternative organizations of human rights, legal defense, and detention conditions.  But the chapter also argues that the core of alternative immigrant organizations is a set of values that contrast with both xenophobic nationalism and capitalist internationalism (cosmopolitanism from above).  It proposes a vision of emerging cosmopolitanism from below.  It then looks at how a struggle between these two kinds of cosmopolitanism is emerging with the returning trend toward managed migration of laborers with reduced rights; it sees cosmopolitanism from above as pushing this agenda, and cosmopolitanism from below as struggling for widened rights and recognition in such flows.

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