Thursday, August 21, 2008

Occupy Resist Produce


A few years ago I saw the film "The Take," ( thetake.org ) a documentary about workers in Argentina that had turned factories closed by World Bank/IMF fiscal restructuring into cooperatives. The workers illegally occupied the factories, barricading themselves in against police attacks, to earn a living to feed their families. Their motto was "Occupy, Resist, Produce!" Legalities were settled in favor of the workers since the previous owners of the factory fled the country with outstanding amounts of debt. The workers have continued the factories much in the tradition of Mondragon of Spain. (Which is also worth checking out-- http://www.iisd.org/50comm/commdb/desc/d13.htm )

Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis captured the frustration of the people of Buenos Aires as well as their triumphs. While the film was outstanding it left you wanting more! Luckily the good people at Haymarket books have put out Sin Patron, a new book detailing stories of some of the cooperatives. It was put together by Lavaca, which is one of the cooperatives of the region.

http://www.haymarketbooks.org/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Haymarket&Product_Code=LASPA&Category_Code=LA

Sin Patron is on loan at Worldgoods for those of you who are interested. And for those of you not in the area I highly recommend picking this book up. In today's economy it sometimes feels like the good guys never win but Sin Patron is a story of hope, determination, and victory!

No comments: