Southern Textile Movement Analysis

|response to a rising tide of strikes and protests that were paralyzing the | |

     As Unions began to grow amongst the factory workers in the cities, a new sentiment began to grow through the huddled masses. The idea of self-determination began to slowly enter the minds of the workers who were seeing successes on the picket lines.

In the United States many social movements strive to bring change to the rules and regulations against the sovereign. One social Movement that stood out the most was The Student For The Democratic Society who wanted to change the way young people were being treated in the areas of: economics, race, and war. This movement lead over 100,000 young people to inspire change but alast these strong willed strong minded individuals never received their demands from the hostile and antagonistic government. Even though the student movement in 1968 had no effect on today's students society, it still pointed out how students nationally felt about how they want to be treated and how the government should serve the people.

The abolitionist movement would never link to the textile industry if the subject of slave labor were not the cotton grown in the southern part of the United States. Later on, slaves from the south found new owners in the middle states that embraced cotton growing (Ferrell, 2006). The development of commerce created a dependence of slave labor because cotton was the raw material for textile mills that supported the industrial cities that were around Boston. Beyond the direct labor of slaves in picking and putting cotton in bales for shipment, other laborers also faced slavelike conditions in the industrial mills where they toiled under grueling conditions (Porterfield, 2006). The quest to free factory workers and the desire of the workers to have a better say for their involvement in the industry became an obvious attraction to the quest of the abolitionists.

Social movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s have been interpreted and written about in varying ways. While contemporary scholarship disagrees with past analyses and offer fresh perspectives, past research can also provide a pathway for defining important questions for future research on social movements in America.

Social movements come about as people of small groups which are loosely connected are united by a single purpose. Unlike interest groups who are often bureaucratic, social movements are loosely organized. Protests are often done to express people’s dissent or support on a certain issue or advocacy. However, not all social movements are able to thrive since their existence relies on the existence of a certain event or issue. Some social movements also decline since they succeeded, especially in movements with very specific goals. For others, movements are also at risk of repression and co-optation from the government, especially in non-democratic countries.

The song gives a direct political commentary on employers and unions, one that is not subtle or hidden. However, the song was not effective. As we will see in the 1960’s the lyrics of the artists reached massive number of people. Therefore, what I can draw from 1950’s protest music was that they were too specific to a niche audience. For instance, when I was listing to the song I understood exactly what it was talking about but I did not have an emotional awaking or realization of thought.

Chomsky described how, “One mill worker could now run 1,000 looms instead of just one, leaving 999 mill workers unemployed.” With communist party influence, and concern for the working class, the mill workers struck in 1933. This strike influenced all of Salem as almost half of all residents were employed by the Pequot mills. The mill workers met to discuss the strike at the Saltonstall school, and marched down Lafayette Street in protest of the unfair labor conditions and wages.

The nineteenth-century labor movements in Europe?and particularly mutual aid societies where governments deemed political activities illegal?helped provide both solidarity and commonality among workers. These movements eventually turned to protest and political resistance, and they found an ideological articulation of their ideals in socialism, including a defense of their rights, women?s equality and independence (in some cases), control over wages, and the right to work. Though many battles, ideological and physical, would be fought before the century?s end, the origins of social protest can be seen at the very beginning of working-class consciousness.

A key argument expressed within “A Force More Powerful” is that non-violent protest is an effective method to motivate social and political change. The documentary provides three case studies as historical instances where non-violent protest met high levels of success. A main purpose of the filmmakers is to investigate the non-violent aspects of popular uprisings that had been previously underestimated in terms of their contribution to a larger conflict. The instances taken as case studies are all of groups marginalised due to racial, colonial, and economic reasons. The histories of the conflicts from which arise the case studies are given only briefly, with a focus upon the groups shown to be oppressed by their respective states and

In this essay “Protesting 101” the authors state that many protests are ineffective and in order for the leaders of the country or event to listen, the people should use leverage to achieve their goal. The authors go into depth about past protest and the effectiveness of it. Many protests can have a variety of people attending the protest. The number of people can range from more than a million of people to less than 500 attendees. The authors point out that regardless of the number of people attending, it doesn’t matter because the government or institution will most likely not listen and ignore the protest.

The earlier days of this country proved to be a much different society. In the time period ranging from the 1870s to the 1920s, America’s economic and societal environments were constantly changing. Innovation and technology caused a great demand for workers in factories. While job opportunities were plentiful, they were not always well-paying jobs or fair working conditions. In these instances, workers had no reservations about going on strike to obtain what they wanted. One of the most well-known

Most individuals who were involved in the protests were led by the belief that it was through the protests that they could better their lives. The majority of the Egyptian citizens have felt down, trodden and despised over the recent years by their governments. Most governments were revolts were witnessed had stayed in power for a long period of time. In Egypt, for example, Mubarak had stayed in power for more than 40 years. Removing him from powered through democratic means had borne no fruits since most presidential elections had been marred by instances or rigging and corruption. He had therefore instituted himself as a president for life. One aspect of Mubarak’s governments was that it was dictatorial. Besides, the people surrounding Mubarak were so powerful that talking negatively about the president could easily lead an individual into trouble.

The emergence of the Occupy movement set about to dismantle, address, and change various grievances and the various factors that led its development are integral to understanding the structure, methods, challenges, and impacts took place as a result. For one, protest movements can be inspired by what is occurring globally. For example, the Arab Spring with its demonstrations and waves of protest served as inspiration in the movement’s emergence. (Brown 1) Additionally, the rise of the movement was also due to the disillusionment in Obama. The campaign trail leading to Obama’s election had come to many as the answer to their problems, but the failure of his presidency to even direct issue with neoliberal policies and/or install a separation

Throughout the years there have been many Occupy Movements; Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Central in Hong Kong and Occupy Nigeria are just a few that were inspired by the Arab Spring. Looking at the Arab Spring in terms of ideas of power is a useful framework because it enables us to gain information which could be useful for future occupy movements as well as giving us a different interpretation to that of the social norm. We will then be able to connect that newly analysed idea of power with obedience and disobedience within the Arab Spring.