Labour, Nature and Capitalism : Exploring labour-environmental conflicts in Kerala, India

Abstract

Labour, Nature and Capitalism traces how the alliance between labour and capital manifests in the form of conflicts between organised trade unions and a local environmental movement in the context of the much-acclaimed Kerala model of development. It explores the history of the area’s local industrialisation, the presence of varied economic interests and exposes the barriers to forming solidarity networks among the working classes.

Situated in the backdrop of the Eloor-Edayar industrial belt, this book delves deeper into the ways in which capitalism infiltrates and manipulates the social movement landscape in Kerala. It shows how the hegemonic coalition between the state, industries and institutionalised trade unions enable capitalist rationality to mediate and control social movements in postcolonial settings.

Using an ethnographic approach, the book seeks to embark on a journey to understand the tensions between two progressive social movements – a trade union collective and a local environmental movement – foregrounding the experiences of members of the respective groups. The analysis presented here shows how the contestations/conflicts between the movements stem from interpretive as well as ideological differences surrounding economic development and environmental justice.

Praise for Labour, Nature and Capitalism

'Labour, Nature and Capitalism is a carefully researched as well as theoretically astute book on a subject of vital importance to India and the world. Based on fieldwork in Kerala, Dr Silpa Satheesh studies the tensions between grassroots environmental groups and trade unions, analysing how factory labour finds itself in opposition to other, even more vulnerable sections, of the working class. Importantly, she explores both the organizational as well as affective aspects of struggle, allowing activists to speak loud and clear in their own voices. Through her work, Dr Satheesh convincingly demonstrates that the conventional polarity of ""environment versus development"" is false and even pernicious.'

Ramachandra Guha, author of Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism

'This work is an important contribution to an understudied and weakly understood arena, the relationship between trade unions and environmental movements. While anecdotal accounts of the tensions (and sometimes complementarities) between the two movements are common, detailed and systematic studies are not. Given the urgent need to bring these movements together to challenge capitalist exploitation and unsustainability, this study is very timely.'

Ashish Kothari, environmental activist and author

'There are many environmental grassroots movements in the state of Kerala. This fascinating book focuses on the Periyar River gravely and persistently polluted by discharges of ""company water"". Competent activists have denounced the environmental and public health damages for many years, counting on support from farmers and fishers. However, another section of the working class, smaller in number but more powerful politically, the industrial trade unions - together with factory owners and the state administration- accuses them of being at the service of ""anti-national"" interests. By poignant, long outspoken interviews with members of both opposite groups and thorough documentation, the sociologist Silpa Satheesh brilliantly answers a question of world relevance – is there an environmentalism of the working class?'

Joan Martinez Alier, Autonomous University of Barcelona

'Silpa Satheesh’s book is a very welcome addition to environmental labour studies for many reasons. It adds a case from the Global South to the growing literature on labour and the environment; it examines the dynamics between labour and environment through an ethnographic approach that provides nuance and empathy; and demonstrates that labour is not homogeneous as workers are central to both the labour and environmental side of her story. In that sense it alerts us to the fact that workers, people who need to work to reproduce themselves, are not just one category amongst others but the largest category, short of human beings and citizens of one country or another. From such a starting point the tensions between labour and environmental priorities are not solely conflicts between categories of people but, also, within the very broad category of labour. As a result of the above, Dr Satheesh’s well-written book broadens and enriches environmental labour studies and should be read widely and productively.'

Dr Dimitris Stevis, Colorado State University, USA

'Strong alliances between the labour and the environmental movement are an essential precondition for combatting the climate crisis. At the same time, they are far from being easy to build. Labour, Nature, and Capitalism brilliantly demonstrates why this is the case. Based on deep empirical insights and sound theoretical reflections, it illuminates labour-environment relationships and explores how they can be turned into a force of socio-ecological transformation.'

Markus Wissen, Berlin School of Economics and Law