arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Here a letter of Naomi Klein concerning her film "The Take". The Social Forum for JOBS has reserved two seats at the premiere in London sunday 17/10 at 1 p.m. All people interessed in promoting this film about the factories under workers control please send a message or come to the workshop about "workers control for jobs" on Friday 15/10 à 1 p.m. (see below).

Hieronder een brief van Naomi Klein betreffende de premiere van haar film "The Take" over de bedrijven onder arbeiderscontrole in Argentinië. Het Sociaal Forum voor WERK heeft twee plaatsen gereserveerd in de filmzaal op zondag 17/10 om 13u. Alle geïnteresseerden die mee in initiatieven willen nemen om met deze film te werken, geef aub een seintje naar de email-adressen en telefoonnummers hieronder. Of kom naar het atelier over "arbeiderscontrole voor WERK" op vrijdag 15/10 om 13u (zie hieronder)

Ci-dessous la lettre de Naomi Klein sur son film "The Take" sur les entreprises sous contrôle ouvrier en Argentine. Tout le monde qui est intéressé à cette film, prend contact ou vient à l'atelier au FSE sur "controle ouvrier pour l'EMPLOI" vendredi 15/10 à 13 h (voire ci-dessous).



PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

Dear London friends, and others who might be in London this coming week,

I’m writing to let you know that THE TAKE, the film Avi Lewis and I have been working on for the past two years is finally finished and will have its UK premiere at...

THE CURZON SOHO ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17 AT 1PM!

<http://www.curzoncinemas.com/article_857.shtml>

First of all, I know that it’s at exactly the same time as the big demo of the ESF – it was actually scheduled long before the march was, and the time can’t be changed.

But if for any reason you’re not planning to go to the march, we hope you’ll take in our film – you’ll still have time to hit the streets after!

“The Take” <http://www.thetake.org> is the result of a collaboration between
a remarkable international team of activists and filmmakers, including London’s own John Jordan. The film is our small way of beginning to answer the question: “We know what you are against, but what are you for?”

We spent eight months in Argentina documenting the new movement of worker-controlled companies with the slogan: “Occupy, Resist, Produce.”

In “The Take,” we follow one group of workers through this entire process,
from the day they takeover their plant, to the day they start up production.
The result is a very human, emotional story, not only about how an economy
can change, but about how people can change as well.

The London launch of “The Take” is the film’s first public showing in England.

We’ve showed it on an occupied beach in Italy, in a pulp and paper mill town on the north tip of Vancouver Island, and in Buenos Aires, where we had a memorable “workers premiere” projected onto the side of the Brukman factory, with all the workers who star in the film filling the street. At the other end of the cultural spectrum, “The Take” was part of the official selection of the Venice Film Festival (Biennale), where the working class heroes of the film had to compete with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman for attention (they held their own!)

We haven’t yet had a distribution offer in the UK, but a number of distributors are going to see it at the Curzon Soho, and if we have an exuberant screening in a full theatre (despite the brutal timing with the march!) The Take will be much more likely to come out in England soon.

There are plenty of people in the film industry who are convinced that a film like ours can’t succeed in theatres: it’s a documentary about workers who speak Spanish, it challenges some sacred principles about private property, and it’s not about George Bush (at least not directly…) We are convinced that they are wrong: “The Take” is a place to go after seeing “Fahrenheit 911” and “The Corporation” -- when you are tired of being enraged and are ready to fight back. We made the film as wars raged in Afghanistan and Iraq because we believed this ray of hope was needed amidst the terror and destruction, and now we want to share it with as many people as possible.

So please help us pack this screening. Already, activist communities in New York
City, where the film played for two weeks, rallied behind the film, seeing it not just as entertainment or education, but as a potent organizing tool: several union locals took their members and sponsored screenings; grassroots activist organizations bought blocks of tickets; and several progressive professors and incorporated “The Take” into their Fall curriculum and took their classes to matinees.

If this screening goes well, we’ll let you know when it launches in England and other European countries.

But most of all I just hope that you can come and that you enjoy the film.

Thanks in advance for helping to make our theatrical premiere a success!

Warmly,

Naomi Klein



Workers control for JOBS !



In Belgium and France, shop stewards from the trade-unions and anti-globalists joined together in their battle against lay-offs and shut-downs of factories. To support their cause and to facilitate talks about alternatives for the booting of workers. In Belgium they equipped a bus which is touring across the country.



Friday 15/10 at 1 p.m. in workshop 1686 Birkbeck 30 Bloomsberg we will discuss the Bill brought in by independent MP Decroly in Belgian parliament. A result of engagements in the MP-forum on WSF in Porto Alegre. See

(http://forum.vl.attac.be/viewtopic.php?t=231)



This bill demands to introduce rights for the trade-unions to control multinational and state companies instead of taking people’s jobs away without any guarantees.



Instead of granting facilities to wealthy people who eluded the fair share they had to pay, Decroly demands a wealth tax of only 1 % on capitals above 372.000 Euro, as asked by the trade unions.



Instead of plundering social security money to activate this for nepjobs, we prefer a wealth tax to keep people’s jobs, to redistribute work and to create new jobs.



Only by strenghtening workers control we can fight for work !



Come and talk to us, so that we can learn from your experiences and contribute to the ultimate defeat of antisocial governments in Europe!!!



Rise to your feet !!!



Friday 15/10 at 1 p.m. in workshop 1686 Birkbeck 30 Bloomsberg on ESF



Organisation: Social Forum for WORK (Belgium) & ATTAC 29 (France)

R. E. Theo Mewis, Manteliusstraat 12, B-3500 Hasselt Belgium

TheoMewis@skynet.be 0032/497/23.07.60. (present here on ESF)

carineraf@pandora.be







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