Continent of Resistance

by Kriangsak Teera-Hong & Kevin Lin

Continent of Resistance features conversations about strategies of building power within Asian labour movements. We talk with grassroots organizers and researchers from across Asia, followed by highlights from the world of work in Asia. The monthly podcast is co-produced and co-hosted by Kevin Lin (Managing Editor of Asian Labour Review) and Kriangsak (Kiang) Teera-Hong (Managing Director of Just Economy and Labour Institute ... 

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Podcast episodes

  • Season 2

  • Whither Asia's Labor Movements?

    Whither Asia's Labor Movements?

    S02 E06
    Feb 26, 2025
    24:29

    In the final episode of this series, we reflect on the key takeaways from our exploration of worker struggles across Asia. The historical and geographical context of strike waves offers valuable insights, and the comparative analysis is important for understanding labor movements. We highlight the growing shift toward organizing in non-industrial sectors and the crucial role of grassroots mobilization. We also address the emerging importance of other groups of workers such as platform and care workers, exploring how labor movements must adapt to these new dynamics to remain relevant and effective.

  • Repression, Adaption and New Directions (2010s)

    Repression, Adaption and New Directions (2010s)

    S02 E05
    Feb 26, 2025
    27:55

    In the aftermath of the major strike waves across Asia in the 2010s, the initial worker victories in Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China were met with increasing government repression and restrictive labor laws. We analyze the more repressive environment for labour activism, the deepening of neoliberal policies, and how workers are mobilizing beyond the workplace, engaging in broader political movements and structural change. We touch on the tensions between narrow factory-based industrial struggles and broader class-based movements. We end with a discussion about the growing activism of workers in public sectors and precarious positions, who have become more organized following the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • Uprise and Unity amid Global Upheaval (2000s-2010s)

    Uprise and Unity amid Global Upheaval (2000s-2010s)

    S02 E04
    Feb 26, 2025
    30:23

    Set against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis and its significant impacts on export sectors in Asia, workers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China rose in unprecedented numbers, demanding fair wages, better conditions, and stronger protections. This is a high point in the wave of workers' strikes and mobilizations that swept across Asia during the late 2000s and early 2010s. We are interested in how workers adapted their strategies, sometimes scaling up localized protests into larger movements or general strikes. Despite diverse political and economic contexts, these labor movements reveal a common thread of resilience and growth, as workers gained experience and confidence while confronting mounting global pressures.

  • Democratization, Political Reforms and Organized Labor (2000s)

    Democratization, Political Reforms and Organized Labor (2000s)

    S02 E03
    Feb 25, 2025
    32:25

    Political reforms and market liberalization significantly shaped the terrains of workers’ struggles in Asia. While Cambodia, Indonesia, China and Vietnam have also all seen market liberalisation and export-oriented industrialisation, they experienced divergent political trajectories, with some undergoing democratization and others remaining as authoritarian states. In this episode, we look at the impacts of these developments, including the institutionalisation of labour relations such as in Cambodia, and the continuing political exclusion of labour as in Vietnam and China. We discuss how labour movements responded to the political and economic dynamics by drawing on a mixed repertoire of organizing, mobilization and advocacy.

  • Integration into Global Capitalism and Making of Working Class (1990s-2000s)

    Integration into Global Capitalism and Making of Working Class (1990s-2000s)

    S02 E02
    Jan 24, 2025
    29:43

    Against the interdependence and dialectics of liberalization and integration into global capitalism, new working classes emerged in Asia as key actors in the 1990s and 2000s. This set the stage for the Asian strike waves of the 2010s. Looking at the divergent histories and parallel developments in Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China, we consider how economic and political shifts spurred institutional transformations. As workers in varying contexts mobilized in response to both enabling and constraining industrial relations frameworks, labor activism in these countries evolved into diverse yet strikingly similar movements.