academia

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Labour in the US

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2022

“All happiness depends on courage and work” — Balzac

A PARADIGM shift is taking place in the labour market of the world’s richest economy. Attributed to the shift in the mindset of workers, spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Great Resignation, the New Collar work and an upsurge in unionising are reshaping the US workforce.

After the lockdowns and the end of enhanced unemployment benefits they received from the state during the pandemic, workers have been re-evaluating their priorities and rethinking their work-life balance. Many have found the courage to take the plunge out of low-paid, stressful work, to learn something new and transition to ‘new-collar’ work, search for online, work-from-home options, or find a better paid, less stressful job. Others are opting for a work-free life, joining the anti-work movement, not with an aim to a lifetime of idling but “to start a conversation, to problematise work”.

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Teaching Labour

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2022.

RECENTLY, I had a brief but interesting conversation with a Karachi bookseller who deals in old books and manuscripts. He is a mine of information on current trends. For instance, nowadays most of the orders he receives are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province which has also shown a fresh interest in Persian manuscripts due to the situation in Afghanistan; the Urdu-speaking population has lost interest in books; in Sindh’s smaller cities and towns, people ask for Sindhi books and manuscripts; and, of course, Punjab is where Urdu grew and most Urdu books and magazines were, and are, published.

When he asked me about my vocation I told him I write on labour issues. He remarked, “Labour, that’s a left wing issue… .” I replied, “Labour is as much of concern for the right wing as it is for the left!”

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Knowledge Workers

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2017

BE it science and technology, art and literature, philosophy and history, politics and international affairs, it is the translators who are opening the doors and windows to the world for us. Yet, in Pakistan, they remain the most invisible of knowledge workers.

Working in practically every field, these workers translate texts — containing ideas, concepts, information — making an important contribution towards society’s development, using their specialised skills. Who are these people and what are their concerns?

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Modern Labour

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2016

The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. — Antonio Gramsci

THE old world of the labour movement started unravelling in the 1990s when finance and production went global, kicked up by unbridled capitalism. In the new system of production, traditional labour relations — characterised by long-term employment, job security and workers’ representation — fell apart. In developing countries, union density plummeted. Was it the end of organised labour? Or, have new forms of labour solidarity started filling the vacuum?

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Indonesia: Development Linking with Academia

As the taxi drove down the busy intersection of the dual carriageway, lined with buildings, the driver asked us ”Which department?” Bewildered, we told him to first take us to the Institute. “This is the campus”, he said. So, we had already entered the Institut Technology Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya. With no boundary walls, its many departments, administration blocks and the staff town intermingled with the city. Like a live organ of the throbbing metropolis. Unlike our academic institutes–walled, hedged, fenced, enclaved. Guarded by rangers. Isolated from the city and its dwellers. As if existing outside its space and time.

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