ashiquealit.bsky.social
Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto.
Affiliation: Socio-technical Resistance and Ethical Technologies (STREET) Lab.
Research: Tech-mediated resistance + {labour, caste, social movements}
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For more, please see the paper. dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
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c) and collective action centered around regeneration & care for the city & collective life under capitalism.
We conceptualise “generative politics” as a commitment to sustaining collective life and care under precarious conditions–a form of political action that resists through regeneration.
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With Kolkata's gig union, we identify a) “generative” attitude or orientation towards political action that focuses on creating material & immaterial resources; b) political action beyond protest politics that contributes to organic solidarity
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Our study also diverges from tight and orthodox articulations of unions to show how their roles and capabilities can and often do extend beyond protests and strikes to also engage in the work of rebuilding the wider communities where they exist. Union do more than protest, protest, protest.
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Alternative imaginations & designs of socio-technical infrastructures need not always be complex or technically or monetarily intensive. Rather, relatively lean technical infrastructure can be combined with innovative forms of social cooperation to regenerate essential infrastructures.
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During COVID-19, when Uber/Ola's operations collapsed, Kolkata’s gig worker union launched emergency transport & taxi ambulances. We explore how they curated innovation and adaptations in tech-mediated networked organising, & its implications for tech design & worker organizing.
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Thanks to @dipsitadhar.bsky.social for leading this camp.
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We (Dipsita & @prch.bsky.social) thank Kolkata Ola-Uber App Cab Operator Union for their invaluable support & cooperation in facilitating our research.
Yes, union makes us strong ✊🏾
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Traditional trade unions aren’t obsolete—they’ve evolved and continue to play vital roles. Tech partially helps in this process. Their resources and strategies remain crucial in supporting workers and adapting to new challenges.
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Also, worker precarity within DLPs is more than a data/information asymmetry problem. The logic of coloniality & extraction inherent in the political economy of the labour regime is taking advantage of issues such as massive unemployment & vulnerabilities of migrant & other oppressed communities.
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To understand relationships between labour & tech, we need to consider affordances of space as well. This is not merely an outcome of design, but a complex assemblage of 'historical', 'social' & 'political'.
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Workers tech usage in our study also indicates that appropriate tech can strengthen the associational power of trade union & bolster resistance in cities. Crucially, low tech is imp for under-resourced communities' survival struggles.
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We also find that worker resistance is not always only against DLPs such as Uber, but also against the extraction of local bureaucracy & state. Here, traditional trade unions are critical because they expand workers frames of resistance.
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This shift emerged as OR-DLPs disrupted the spatial fixity of the taxi business previously anchored around taxi stands. Therefore, mobile apps such as WhatsApp & Walkie Talkie became crucial to organising effort.
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We find that technology fostered worker organizers (rather than external ones) as key actors, with tech affordances enabling hybrid & networked unionism—reimagining spatiality through networked dimensions.