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Category Archives: Organizing

#standwithme

23 Jan

2014
Documentary
Directors: Patrick Moreau, Grant Peelle
Writers: Margaret Apple, Marshall Davis Jones

Only a 9-year-old would dream a lemonade stand could change the world. After seeing a photo of two enslaved boys in Nepal, Vivienne Harr is moved to help in the only way she knows how: by setting up her lemonade stand. With the goal of freeing 500 children from slavery, she sets up her stand every day, rain or shine. In telling Vivienne’s story, #standwithme examines the realities of modern-day slavery, the role we play in it as consumers, and the importance of knowing the story behind what we buy.

 
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Posted by on January 23, 2015 in Children, Documentary, Education, Global Economy, Organizing, Slavery, Working Class

 

Food Chains

23 Jan

2014
Director: Sanjay Rawal
Writers: Erin Barnett, Sanjay Rawal
83 Minutes
More details here (updated 4/20/2020)

This moving examination of the food industry illustrates the hardships that farm workers endure—appallingly low wages, long hours in often brutal conditions, wage theft, physical and sexual abuse, and virtual slavery—to bring food to Americans’ tables. Linking farms to supermarkets, the documentary focuses on the efforts of tomato pickers, as part of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, to improve their wages and working conditions through organized, high-profile campaigns against powerful supermarket chains that they supply. Narrated by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, Food Chains lays bare the often hidden human costs of our food, and the human struggles for dignity and decency for those who reap the harvests—but too few of the rewards.

 

 
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Posted by on January 23, 2015 in Available Online, Communism/Socialism, Farm & Food, Global Economy, Immigrants/Immigration, Labor History, Migrant workers, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Working Class

 

Memory of Past Struggles (Memoria Para Reincidentes)

17 Jul

107min. Argentina. Made by Violeta Bruck, Gabi Jaime and Javier Gabino
Film website

Unions and labor militancy in the 70s: Shows how Argentinian workers were organizing independently of the Peronist labor movement as early as 1969, including in the powerful 1975 General Strike. It also shows the role not only of the bosses but also the government, which helped usher in mass repression eventually leading to a military dictatorship in 1976.

With footage from the period and reminisces of the past struggles, the film shows the strengths and weaknesses of the labor movement. Thousands of workers and labor activists were kidnapped and murdered as part of this US supported military coup in 1976.

In 2013, Argentina was again been rocked by mass general strikes against the economic assault on working people, and this documentary provides an up-close view of the militant trade unionists who are part of the working class history of Argentina.

 

 
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Posted by on July 17, 2014 in Communism/Socialism, Documentary, Labor History, Organizing, Politics, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Working Class

 

Expect Resistance

28 Jun

Looks at the “Take Back the Land” and Occupy Wall Street movements as they began to respond to the foreclosure crisis. The film follows Leonard Spears, a man fighting to keep his home after a foreclosure has passed and an eviction notice has been filed. We meet activists who are willing to put themselves on the line and take direct action to keep people like Leonard in their homes, and to even move homeless families into bank-owned homes that are sitting empty from previous foreclosures.

Directed by: Shane Burley

 

 
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Posted by on June 28, 2014 in Big Business/Corporations, Cities-Urban, Class, Documentary, Legal System, Organizing, Politics, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

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From the Shadows of Power

28 Jun

This awarding winning documentary is a powerful story set in coalfields of Appalachia, Wales and England. It documents firsthand the turmoil in the aftermath of the British Miners Strike of 1984/85 and the parallel struggle of the UMWA in its long running battle with Pittston Coal. This film brings to life the real struggles of working people at the pivotal moment when state power was used to open the floodgates to global capital, aid the destruction of coalfield communities and its labor institutions. Chronicling the critical role played by working class women in these watershed events, it features economist Helen Lewis, Reverend Jesse Jackson, women miners, Betty Heathfield of Britain’s Women Against Pit Closures, NUMs Arthur Scargill, and Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.

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Directed by: Jean Donohue

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2090505/

http://www.mwg.org

 

 
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Posted by on June 28, 2014 in Class, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

 

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Forward

25 Jun

Self-financed with a $1000 budget as an art experiment by Dusan Harminc and Matt Mullins, ‘Forward’ (Wisconsin’s state motto) is an activist-level view of the uprising that swept state senators out of office, triggered the third governor recall election in American history, and inspired the Occupy movement that swept the country. This film uses the reflections of people involved in the protests of winter 2011 to show what galvanized non-radicals into a movement that quickly drew international attention to Madison, Wisconsin for political action unlike anything seen in America since the Vietnam War.

Directed by: Dusan Harminc, Matt Mullins

http://forward-movie.com/forward/

 

 
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Posted by on June 25, 2014 in Cities-Urban, Documentary, Organizing, Politics, Working Class

 

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One Generation’s Time: The Story of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes

23 Jun

On June 1,1981,Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, two reform officers in Seattle’s Alaska Cannery Workers’ Union, Local 37 of the (ILWU), were gunned down as they worked in the union offices. The men were attempting to reform the union and were calling for better working conditions in the canneries. On the surface, their murders were meant to look like just another gang-related slaying. But later, the killings were revealed to be a hit originating from the Marcos regime. Silme and Gene’s friends, families and colleagues sought justice for the murders, and continued the fight for equality for the months and years to come. This touching and powerful film details the murders, the fight for fair labor conditions, the civil rights movement the murdered men helped foster, and the ensuing efforts to seek justice for their killings.

Directed by: Shannon Gee

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2014 in Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Farm & Food, Immigrants/Immigration, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Organizing, Service Workers

 

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Car Wash Workers in NYC Clean Up Dirty Business

23 Jun

The WASH NY Campaign. the story of the recently successful campaign by RWDSU to bring dignity and fairness to exploited “Carwasheros” around NYC. Special recognition to Charles Fostrom and Janna Pea of the RWDSU and Chio Valerio of New York Communities for Change.

Directed by: Charles Fostrom and Janna Pea of the RWDSU and Chio Valerio of New York Communities for Change

http://www.washnewyork.org/index.php?currentpage=11

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2014 in Cities-Urban, Documentary, Organizing, Safety & Health, Service Workers, Transportation, Working Class

 

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Overpass Light Brigade

23 Jun

‘Overpass Light Brigade’ is a short film that tells the story behind Wisconsin’s Holders of the Lights using innovative time-lapse photography and interviews with founding members and other activists. The film showcases OLB’s simple, beautiful approach to performance art and creating “the people’s bandwidth,” that beckons any who want to creatively join public discourse and voice concerns an elitist political system clamors to quiet.

Directed by: Dusan Harminc, Matt Mullins

http://olbfilm.com/

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2014 in Arts/Culture, Big Business/Corporations, Cities-Urban, Communications, Documentary, Organizing, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo)

 

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Tears in the Fabric

23 Jun

A Documentary Film and Resource Website by Rainbow Collective and Openvizor. In Savar, Bangladesh, Razia struggles to raise two grandchildren after losing her daughters in the Rana Plaza factory collapse, a disaster which claimed the lives of over 1000 garment workers. One year on, Tears in the Fabric follows Razia as, amidst the struggle of raising and educating her grandsons, she searches for resolution and answers through protest on the streets of Dhaka and amongst the rubble and torn fabrics of Rana Plaza. Tears in the Fabric offers a starkly honest and deeply moving view of the human cost of high street fashion.

Directed by: The Rainbow Collective, UK

http://www.rainbowcollective.co.uk/#!tears-in-the-fabric/c1zdc

 

 
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Posted by on June 23, 2014 in Cities-Urban, Consumerism, Documentary, Global Economy, Manufacturing, Organizing, Outsourcing, Retail, Service Workers, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

 

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