NALSU NEWS: Greek publication video/podcast of NALSU's Prof Lucien van ded Walt's "Breaking the Chains: A History of Anarchism"
"Breaking the Chains" is the first book by Lucien van der Walt to be translated into Greek. Written in a popular style, it presents a global history of the anarchist movement and its offshoot, revolutionary syndicalism. A global perspective shows the profound influence of the liberation current on labour, left, popular and anti-imperialist struggles since the 1860's to the present. It dispels the myth that the broad anarchist tradition was just a minor footnote in working-class and popular movements. The Greek edition of "Breaking the Chains" includes a new introduction. It was launched by the grassroots syndicalist union, ESE [https://ese.espiv.net/] in Athens, Greece, at Café Locomitiva, on 9 December 2022, with a second launch at the Athens School of Philosophy, on 27 April 2023. Lucien is based at the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) South Africa.
PODCAST: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nalsu
YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/mkf2e9JP9no
DETAILS: This is a recording of a blended event held on Friday, 9 December 2022, 7pm, Café Locomotiva, Athens, Greece. This recording is in English, with Greek translation provided.
From the editor's introductory note: "His work as an academic combined with organized participation in the liberation movement has given a penetrating eye that combines methodical analysis and deep knowledge of history with a genuine interest in the subjects he tackles, that avoids the pitfalls of academicism, and addresses the everyday person as equal to equal. To date, he has contributed to the international literature a series of works that highlight anarchism not as a minority whim of some theoreticians, but as the most massive revolutionary current of the labour movement from the First International until today."
SPEAKER: Professor Lucien van der Walt, sociologist and labour educator, Rhodes University, South Africa. His books include "Anarchism and Syndiclism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1880-1940" (2010/2014, ed. with Steven Hirsch), "Negro e Vermelho: Anarquismo, Sindicalismo Revolucionário e Pessoas de Cor na África Meridional and Décadas de 1880-1940" (2014), "Politics at a Distance from the State: Radical and African Perspectives" (2018/2022, ed with Kirk Helliker) and "Labour Struggles in Southern Africa, 1919-1939: New Perspectives on the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU)" (2023, ed with David Johnson & Noor Nieftagodien). He the current NALSU director.
ABOUT NALSU: Based in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, NALSU is engaged in policy, research and workers' education. Built around a vibrant team, including from the disciplines of Sociology and Economics, NALSU has a democratic, non-sectarian, non-aligned and pluralistic practice, and active relations with a range of advocacy, labour and research organisations. We draw strength from our location in a province where the legacy of apartheid and the cheap labour system, and post-apartheid contradictions, are keenly felt. NALSU is named in honour of Neil Hudson Aggett, union organiser and medical doctor who died in an apartheid jail in 1982 following brutality and torture.