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Brief Summary This volume examines the political role of trade unions in seven African countries and the various ways in which they seek to influence political parties and the state. Whereas some, like the Nigeria Labour Congress, push for a political party of their own, others, such as COSATU in South Africa, opt to engage with the power struggles in the ruling party. In Namibia and Uganda unions have been incorporated by a one-party dominated state while in Ghana, unions insist on being autonomous. There is also a move towards autonomy in Senegal, despite the plurality of unions with party affiliations. In the case of Zimbabwe, unions took the lead in creating an alternative alliance in opposition to a repressive state. Trade Unions and Party Politics provides a finely tuned critique of the impact achieved by these strategies, within the context of both the unique forces shaping them and the looming shadow of the new global economy. ISBN:9780796923073 Author:Bjorn Beckman, Sakhela Buhlungu and L M Sachikonye

Brief Summary The Giriama of Kenya's coastal hinterland persistently resisted colonialism, and they were unreceptive both to Christianity and to Islam. In 1912 the British colonial authorities earmarked the Giriama as a key source of labor for the plantations Europeans were trying to develop along the coast. The Giriama, prosperous producers and traders, could not become wage laborers and maintain their successful economy, and the British demands upon this scattered people therefore were spontaneously rejected. Increased pressure increased Giriama recalcitrance. Finally, military action brought defeat to the Giriama, whose only weapons were bows and arrows and whose decentralization prevented coordinated resistance. They lost their best lands, paid a heavy fine, and had to contribute a thousand laborers to the Carrier Corps. But the British costs were also heavy. The coastal plantations failed, few Giriama ever became wage laborers, and the entire area became depressed economically. Cynthia Brantley explores the precolonial Giriama's political and economic system and their dynamic trade relationship with the coast of Kenya in an effort to explain why the Giriama were so determined in their resistance to British pressure. She shows that even when the political and social structures of a people seem weak, it is unlikely that the population will submit to changes that undermine the economy. Moreover, their very lack of a centralized political or religious organization made the imposition of foreign administration extremely difficult. The British won the war, but their victory was hollow. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981. ISBN:9780520302457 Author:Cynthia Brantley