In and Against the Ecological Crisis: Working-Class Environmentalism between Workplace and Community

This presentation outlines the book in writing bearing the same title. In and Against the Ecological Crisis explores the relationship between workers and the environment by bringing Italian operaismo into a dialogue with a broad range of theoretical traditions, from dependency theory to ecofeminism. Drawing on sustained and original empirical research into four case studies, two in the Global South – gas extraction in Tunisia and copper processing in Chile – and two in the Global North – petrochemical production in the UK and Italy –, the book discusses four topics in relation to the ecological crisis: automation and deindustrialisation, employment precarity, the international division of labour, and social reproduction. In the context of the current attempts at a planetary green transition, the book offers insights on the possibilities for convergence between workplace and community mobilisations for alternatives to the jobs versus environment dilemma.