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Category Archives: Organizing

The Price of Sugar (2006)

26 Apr

90m; U.S.

Director: Bill Haney

Synopsis (IMDB): On the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, tourists flock to pristine beaches, with little knowledge that a few miles away thousands of dispossessed Haitians are under armed guard on plantations harvesting sugarcane, most of which ends up in US kitchens. Cutting cane by machete, they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week, frequently without access to decent housing, electricity, clean water, education, healthcare or adequate nutrition. The Price of Sugar follows a charismatic Spanish priest, Father Christopher Hartley, as he organizes some of this hemisphere’s poorest people, challenging the powerful interests profiting from their work. This film raises key questions about where the products we consume originate, at what human cost they are produced and ultimately, where our responsibility lies.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Class, Documentary, Farm & Food, Global Economy, Organizing

 

Professional Revolutionary: The Life of Saul Wellman (2004)

26 Apr

65m; U.S.

Director: Judith Montell & Ronald Aronson

Synopsis (Wikipedia): Under-educated, Wellman fought in the army, worked in a car factory for Ford and was employed at a printing company; Wellman fought against Fascism in both the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Wellman returned home at the start of the Cold War, to help organize and lead the Communist Party in America. Then when the 60s came along, Wellman latched onto the civil rights movement. The documentary deals with wheelchair-using Wellman, during the last years of his life, at an Iraq war protest. Throughout his life, Wellman was an organizer and passionate speaker.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History, Organizing, Politics, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Unemployment-Wages, War, Working Class

 

Promises to Keep (1988)

26 Apr

57m; U.S.

Director: Ginny Durrin

Cast: Martin Sheen, Mitch Snyder

Synopsis: Documentary about the work of homeless advocate Mitch Snyder and the Community for Creative Non-Violence during the 1980s in response to rising homelessness and federal housing cuts.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Documentary, Organizing, Unemployment-Wages

 

Pulp Fiction, Poison Promises (1995)

26 Apr

14m; U.S.

Director: Mimi Pickering

Synopsis: Mimi Pickering of Appalshop was hired to direct a film about the proposed pulp mill to be built at Apple Grove, Mason County. The Affiliated Construction Trades Foundation paid for the film that explores the dangers that the pulp mill would present – to the workers and the local environment including dumping dioxin into the Ohio River. Many groups, both labor and environmental, opposed the mill, supported by Gov. Caperton and the Legislature. Eventually, the mill was not built. The film also examines the impact that the company’s pulp mill had in the area around Monroe, AL. The film was broadcast on WV television several times. See Doug Hawes-Davis’ film,” Green Rolling Hills” and “Southbound” from High Plains Films. Access: Steve Fesenmaier, WVLC

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Documentary, Environment, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Organizing

 

Questions of Leadership (AKA “Problems of Democracy in Trade Unions: Some Views from the Frontline”) [1983]

26 Apr

Director: Ken Loach

Synopsis: Response of the British trade union movement to the challenge posed by the policies of the Thatcher government.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Documentary, Organizing, Politics

 

Race To The Bottom (2009)

26 Apr

20m; U.S.

Director: Michael Hamm, Jonathan King

Synopsis: This story is about the 2,000 independent truck drivers working at the Port of Oakland, The film gives us a look into the lives of the drivers and their struggles to earn a living wage, support their families, and stay healthy as they do their jobs, transporting goods in and out of the port. It also shows their efforts to build a community coalition to protect their jobs and their health and make their voices heard.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Documentary, Organizing, Self-Employed/Freelance, Transportation

 

Rail Against Privatization (2005)

26 Apr

60 min; U.K.

Director: Platform Films

Synopsis: British Rail workers fight to end privatization of rail system.

Contact: Link to rail union website: http://www.rmt.org.uk/


 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Documentary, Organizing, Public Sector, Transportation

 

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Ralph Fasanella: Painter Of Working Class People (2007)

26 Apr

4m
Director: John Lett
GoIAM.org – Whether it’s a strike or factory floor, former union organizer Ralph Fasanella devoted his life to painting working men and women. The man who is considered America’s best self taught artist, would eventually complete hundreds of pieces of work dedicated to jobs and justice.
Available online

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Cities-Urban, Class, Documentary, Organizing, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Working Class

 

Ralph Fasanella: Song of the City (1979)

26 Apr

30m; U.S.

Director: Jack Ofield

Synopsis: Biography of a working class electrical plant worker/painter/CIO organizer.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Arts/Culture, Biography, Documentary, Labor History, Organizing

 

Ramparts of Clay (1971)

26 Apr

80m; France

Director: Jean-Louis Bertuccelli

Cast: Leila Shenna, Kricheche and Jean-Louis Trintignant

Synopsis (IMDB): In 1962, change comes to a Tunisian village on the edge of the Sahara. An entrepreneur sets up a salt mine, hiring village men. When he pays only half the wages agreed upon, they sit down in a field of rocks. The boss calls the army, who encircle the strikers. The women watch, sacrifice a sheep, pray, ululate. During the second night, a young woman hides the bucket and rope of the town’s well to keep water from the army. The strike galvanizes her: she’s learning to read and has studied a city woman who visits the village. Now, as she removes her traditional dress and rejects a ritual to cast out her new rebellious spirit, will she gain independence as did Tunisia and the strikers

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Drama, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Women

 

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