The Take: Class struggle in Argentina

The Take is a documentary by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein about Argentine workers who take over abandoned factories and start operating them as cooperatives. "The Forja auto plant, the Zanon ceramics factory and the Brukman garment factory are three companies that were abandoned by their owners after the economic collapse" (New York Times review). In 2001 the Argentine economy was in trouble -- with inflation rising, the government defaulting on debt and investment fleeing the country. This led to the closing of many businesses and increased unemployment. The result was an example of the "irrationality" of capitalism -- many factories laid dormant and workers idle. But some workers had a suprisingly sensible, rational reaction.

Why should workers not work, why should a factory not be used just because the owners decided to abandon it during the country's economic upheaval? The Zanon Ceramics factory in Patagonia and the Brukman garment factory in Buenos Aires among others were occupied by their former workers who organized the factory into a cooperative business. In 2003 the Forja Auto Parts factory also occupied. But the factories "owners" did not approve and have sought to evict the workers. In order to prevent this the workers and their supporters have been fighting against the evictions and to make their claims legal.

These struggles are ongoing. Several days ago a delegation of Zanon workers and their supporters went to Buenos Aires to fight for the legal expropriation of worker occupied factories and businesses (Argentina Indymedia).

The Take is playing at The Film Forum in New York City until October 5th.

Related sites:

• Workers Without Bosses


• Obreros de Zanon (spanish)

Related articles:

• On the Take (AlterNet, October 5, 2004)


• Fixing Argentina: One Grass-Roots but Uphill Approach (The New York Times, September 22, 2004)


• The Take: A Review by Daniel Morduchowicz (ZNet, September 20, 2004)


• March in defense of Zanon (Argentina Indymedia, September 15, 2004)


• Riot Outside Brukman Factory in Argentina (Argentina Indymedia, April 21, 2003)