Can you give an example of what you have in mind? I must admit that, being
European, I don't really have a good grasp of the history of American worker
struggles.
Here in France I can't quite think of something really similar to Silicon Valley
activists. When I think about worker-led revolts I think of Germinal or Mai 68,
when the proletariat (and, in the case of Mai 68, the students and then the
proletariat) fought for better working conditions and more rights.
I don't think that's very similar to the time of activism we're talking about
here. For one thing IT workers are not exactly the lowest dregs of the
proletariat, it's a very privileged position with much better working conditions
that most. Beyond that the fight is not usually for the direct benefit of said
workers ("higher salaries!" or "fewer hours!" or "better food at the corporate
restaurant!") but more ideologically motivated. An obvious instance of this is
the very polarizing firing of Brendan Eich from Mozilla (that's still making
waves all these years later). Doing that didn't directly change anything
material for Mozilla's employee, it was motivated by ideology. The only thing that comes close I think is videogame devs complaining about their bad working conditions, but I don't think that's what we're talking about here.
Conversely the 1984's UK miner strike wasn't triggered because the National Coal
Board had said something homophobic. It's just not comparable, IMO.
The lack of violence is also easy to explain: violence is the weapon of those
that have no other way to be heard. Developers in the silicon valley can make
themselves heard without having to burn their company-provided MacBooks and
taking their managers hostage at the next SCRUM Sprint planning.
Here in France I can't quite think of something really similar to Silicon Valley activists. When I think about worker-led revolts I think of Germinal or Mai 68, when the proletariat (and, in the case of Mai 68, the students and then the proletariat) fought for better working conditions and more rights.
I don't think that's very similar to the time of activism we're talking about here. For one thing IT workers are not exactly the lowest dregs of the proletariat, it's a very privileged position with much better working conditions that most. Beyond that the fight is not usually for the direct benefit of said workers ("higher salaries!" or "fewer hours!" or "better food at the corporate restaurant!") but more ideologically motivated. An obvious instance of this is the very polarizing firing of Brendan Eich from Mozilla (that's still making waves all these years later). Doing that didn't directly change anything material for Mozilla's employee, it was motivated by ideology. The only thing that comes close I think is videogame devs complaining about their bad working conditions, but I don't think that's what we're talking about here.
Conversely the 1984's UK miner strike wasn't triggered because the National Coal Board had said something homophobic. It's just not comparable, IMO.
The lack of violence is also easy to explain: violence is the weapon of those that have no other way to be heard. Developers in the silicon valley can make themselves heard without having to burn their company-provided MacBooks and taking their managers hostage at the next SCRUM Sprint planning.