The Take

I just watched the most amazing documentary on CBC. It's called "The Take" and is a a film about how some Argentinian workers took over factories that had been closed, regaining their employment, dignity and lives back after being betrayed by the IMF, their former president and the factory owners.

If you have access to Canadian TV, it is being rerun. If not, it is currently playing in some cities. I highly encourage everyone to watch this if they can.
I looked up the film's site after watching it. Great links to reviews there as well. I almost fell over when I read Ebert's.

Here is some info from the film's site.
http://www.nfb.ca/thetake/

Here's a direct link to Ebert's review:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050217/REVIEWS/50204002/1023

... Naomi Klein and her husband? Didn't realize it was going to be out so soon.

I was completely blown away by the people in this film, by their determination, dignity and raw courage. Do watch it and spread the word. There is a trailer on the website. It's good, but doesn't even begin to convey the power of the whole.

Shoot, I missed it! Really looking forward to seeing this; did it show the people defending their factory with wrist-rockets? I'm more & more impressed with Ms. Klein...she's not afraid to use the word "capitalism".

Repeating on the Passionate Eye Sunday, April 3 at 10pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld

Here's the link to the repeat info, along with more info on the film and the filmmakers.:
http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/thetake.html

Are wrist-rockets the same as slingshots? They showed the workers defending the factory with slingshots. This against police with guns.

Very, very impressed with the filmmakers.

Still thinking about this film this morning, so looked up more info on what happened in Argentina to bring about the collapse of their economy.
There are so many parallels with our current situation and direction, in terms of growing privatization and globalization, extremely high wages for CEO's and very low ones for the workers and cutting of social programs.
Something I found today, that I didn't get from the film, was that the Argeninean government had privatized Social Security a few years before the collapse and that some people, including those at the nonpartisan thinktank Center for Economic and Policy Research believe this played a strong role in Argentina' economic collapse. Yet another reason why we don't want to follow that path.

Here's a link:
The Role of Social Security Privatization in Argentina's Economic Crisis
http://www.cepr.net/argentina_and_ss_privatization.htm