(Avi Lewis): Welcome to the globalized ghost town.
This is Argentina.
It could be anywhere.
Abandoned factories, cracked cement,
rusting machines.
But in the rubble,
something's growing.
Jobs are coming back.
(Naomi Klein): Actually, jobs are being taken back.
(chanting in Spanish)
The new slogan:
"Occupy."
"Resist."
"Produce."
THE TAKE
How long has it been since you were in here?
Oh, for me it's been 2 or 3 years.
They fired me before the factory closed down.
I just found my maté cup.
What's strange is that there aren't any pigeons.
Maybe on their last visit they took the pigeons too.
This place used to be full of pigeons.
(electroacoustic tango by Gotan Project)
Argentina
Buenos Aires
(Naomi Klein): Seen from above,
Buenos Aires still looks like Europe or North America:
blinking logos entice you to buy,
commanding bank towers urge you to save and invest.
(Avi Lewis): But down below, the banks are encased
in protective steel, tattooed with graffiti.
The scavengers
wear frayed designer clothing.
The children,
who used to eat American fast food,
now sort through its garbage.
This is not just another poor country,
but a rich country made poor.
Buenos Aires
Vacations by the sea
The Peron government delivers on its promises.
Arriving at the Miramar resort are tourists of all ages and both sexes,
who are going to have a happy vacation by the sea.
(Naomi Klein): Fifty years ago,
Argentina was climbing towards the First World,
an up-and-coming country like Canada or Australia.
Juan Peron, the military man
who ruled Argentina in the golden years,
built the country on the model used in Europe
and North America: huge public works
and a made-in-Argentina factory economy.
The result
was the most prosperous middle-class in Latin America.
(Avi Lewis): Fast forward to the 1990s
and the reign of President Carlos Menem.
He also transformed Argentina, but this time,
according to the rule book
of the International Monetary Fund.
Menem imposed every business-friendly policy in it,
all at one time:
downsizing, corporate handouts
and selling off every public asset
he could find.
In Argentina, they just called itel modelo,the model.
And Washington approved.
- Argentina is truly in a way...
Michel Camdessus Managing director, IMF
...to enter the new century in a very, very solid basis.
(Avi Lewis): Wrong.
Menem's miracle turned into a disaster.
Half the country
slid below the poverty line.
He had created a capitalist Wild West.
While people were trapped without work,
money was free to travel.
(sirens wailing)
And when Argentina's currency
started to drop, that's exactly what happened.
Multinational banks
whisked 40-billion dollars out of the country in cash,
in the dead of night.
There were no regulations left to stop them.
The government panicked
and froze all bank accounts in the country.
So ordinary Argentines watched the wealthy
get their money offshore,
while they were locked out of their own life savings.
That didn't go over well.
(chanting)
(Klein): Soon, millions were pouring into the streets,
chanting, "Que se vayan todos!"
"All of them must go."
And they very nearly got their wish.
Argentina went through five presidents
in only three weeks.
And in the very same month that Enron declared bankruptcy,
so did Argentina, the largest sovereign-debt default
in world history.
(Lewis): A country refusing to pay its debt,
banks, locking people
out of their own accounts...
The basic rules of capitalism
were being broken by the system itself.
So the target
of Argentina's uprising
was not a particular politician or policy.
People were rejecting
the whole model.
(chanting in Spanish)
(Klein): Which is exactly what's been happening
around the world, from Seattle
to South Africa. These economic policies
are global, and so is the resistance.
(Lewis): As a couple of activist-journalists,
we've been shuttling between the riot cops and the TV lights,
breathing tear gas by day and hot air by night.
There was the right to protest at the sight.
- And 600 people were arrested in Washington.
- Those people were arrested and were scooped up in one go!
(all speaking at once)
- Do people get caught in the crossfire? Of course they do.
- My guest today is a leading figure
in the antiglobalization movement.
Apart from protests, what's she got to offer?
- I think these economic policies have been disastrous
and I challenge you to give me an example of a country--
- But you're not giving us any alternatives.
For every evil that you cite, there are good things.
- You ask me about alternatives
and I think that the alternative is to allow people--
- You just cite me another evil. (Klein): He never did
let me finish a sentence, but he had a good point.
There's only so much protesting can accomplish.
At a certain point,
you have to talk about what you're fighting for.
(Lewis): So we decided to shut up for a while.
Our opponents wanted alternatives, so did we.
We heard rumours of a new kind of economy
emerging in Argentina.
With hundreds of factories closing,
waves of workers were locking themselves inside
and running the workplaces on their own, with no bosses.
Where we come from, a closed factory
is just an inevitable effect of the model,
the end of the story.
In Argentina today, it's just the beginning.
If you want to get your factory back, guys, get your asses in gear.
You're owed 3.2 million pesos in unpaid wages.
Let's pressure them with that.
The factory is worth 3.6 million.
They're offering half a million. This is ridiculous.
Let's keep the factory and forget the money they owe us.
We have to think about this, about the takeover.
Because you've seen that they already want to sell the trucks,
with the excuse of paying for the security.
But that's just an excuse.
We won't let them, we won't let it happen.
They're taking the heart out of this factory so we can't start it up.
I didn't work here.
I'm from the National Movement of Recovered Companies.
You were the workers at this factory.
You're the ones who will get the jobs back.
This may sound like a jingle to you, but it's not a jingle.
The National Movement of Recovered Factories has a slogan:
Occupy,
Resist,
and Produce.
I worked for 15 years in this factory as a tool and die maker.
My monthly salary was $1200, it was really good money.
Today I don't have that.
(Klein): It's been three years
since Freddy Espinosa and his co-workers watched the closing
of this auto-parts factory called Forja San Martin.
Today, the plant is full of ghosts,
the workers and their families are haunted.
Thanks to Forja we have this house.
For some people it may be nothing, but to us it's everything.
It used to be that the money I made I could spend on myself.
I used to buy perfume, creams, makeup and clothes.
We had credit cards.
Well, we both worked but we would enjoy what we earned.
I think it's been a year since we've gone anywhere.
It's been some time.
They don't even remember what a McDonalds Happy Meal looks like.
Before we weren't worried but now we are.
And what I earn now doesn't cover it all.
It covers food or the debts.
If I pay the debts the girls don't eat.
If the girls eat, I don't pay the debts.
I prefer not to pay the debts, so they build up...
(Lewis): It's a familiar story in factory towns
around the world. But Freddy and his co-workers
are determined to change the ending.
They formed a cooperative and won permission
from the bankruptcy court to inspect the factory.
They're looking for evidence
that the former owners
have been secretly selling off the contents.
If it's true, they have a case
for taking over the plant and running it themselves.
This is big, brother.
How could we be suffering and going hungry...
when such a huge place is just sitting here, closed?
Look, there's even cobwebs.
You know which cable is missing?
Remember the one that we put there for the crane?
That's the one that's missing.
This used to be completely full.
Here you can see the outlines,
and in the other warehouse as well,
there were containers full of raw materials.
Now there isn't one. Not a single one.
They all disappeared.
It's a disaster.
You know what worries me? There aren't any pigeons.
This place used to be filled with pigeons.
- They must have died of sadness - Of hunger.
But this is a sin.
It's been 3 years since they fired me,
and I haven't found another job.
Now I come and I see the things in my locker,
like the drawings that my son did.
It makes me feel bad to see all of this shut down.
I don't know what else to tell you,
everything's dirty.
In the cooperative,
we'll all be administrators.
I'll check on what he does, and he'll check on me.
Of course we're going to have to be more conscientious,
and not be too bourgeois, like before under the boss.
When you would duck into a corner for a break whenever you could.
Now, no. If a light is on, turn it off if it's not necessary.
The salaries will all be equal.
There won't be exaggerated salaries like there were before,
which was one of the things that caused all this.
In the community of San Martin, on this day, March 7th.
We have found a significant number of things missing.
Which is why our assembly has decided, by a majority,
that from this date, we will guard the factory permanently,
in order to protect the premises,
and stop the factory from being emptied out.
Now everything depends on the judge.
That's why we're staying here. From today until...
Until they kick us out.
(Klein): We stay with them for the first few days
as the workers move into the factory
and hope that they can convince the judge
to let them start the machines.
We don't know how to do this.
We're just learning.
Our goal is to get to where other recovered companies are today.
Those who went through the same struggle that we are facing now.
Like Zanon Ceramics.
Zanon is our inspiration. I think we'll get there.
"Forja San Martin: Occupied Factory"
"Zanon Ceramics: Belongs to the Workers"
(Lewis): Zanon Ceramics.
After two years under worker control,
it's the granddaddy of this new movement.
Today, the factory's in production, with 300 workers.
Decisions are made in assemblies;
one worker, one vote.
Everyone gets exactly the same salary.
(Klein): It wasn't always like this.
A couple of years ago,
the owner claimed that the plant was no longer profitable,
that it had to be shut down.
The workers refused to accept that fate.
They argued that the company
owed so much to the community, in debts and public subsidies,
that it now belonged to everyone.
In the Menem years, the Zanon factory
had received millions in corporate welfare
and the owner still ran up huge debts.
Now that his workers have restarted the machines,
he's back.
Are you gonna get your factory back?
Luis Zanon Owner Zanon Ceramics
I'm going to get it back.
How are you gonna do it?
The government will give it back to me.
(Lewis): That means the workers can never rest.
They keep a 24-hour guard at the factory
and everyone's equipped with a slingshot,
in case the police show up.
(Klein): Their struggle against authority
has even won them fans in one of Argentina's biggest rock bands;
Bersuit is in town,
and the band is dedicating its show to the workers of Zanon.
What the guys in Zanon did,
fighting against the police,
with just marbles,
like when we were kids with slingshots,
against real weapons,
they took over the factory.
(Lewis): But as we discovered walking down main street,
Zanon's real weapon
is the support of the community.
A little question...
What do you think of the Zanon plant under worker control?
That it works better than under the former owners.
Because at least people are working.
The tiles are cheaper...
and the future is brighter than it was under the owners.
All they did was get subsidies from the state - nothing else.
And they kept the money for themselves.
All I know is that the community supports them 100 percent.
Because they're not stealing, they're not killing anyone.
On the contrary - they're working to feed their families.
There are many companies that should be in the hands of the workers.
But it seems that this is not politically convenient.
That's the real problem.
And now that we are in production...
Mr. Zanon, you can kiss our asses!
(Klein): What do you think of the slogan of the workers?
Which is "Zanon es del pueblo, " "Zanon is of the people."
What can I say?
It's not true, it's not of the people.
The investment was mine, all the work was mine.
I put in everything. It can't be "of the people".
(Lewis): You're standing in front
of 90-million dollars' worth of factory, which you...
Raul Godoy Zanon Union Leader
... and your companeros have taken over for your own benefit.
We have a word for that. It's called "stealing."
- Uh-huh.
There's another word:
Expropriation.
And that's what we're going for.
(Klein): The Zanon workers have gathered
thousands of signatures supporting their demand
for definitive expropriation.
They donate tiles to local hospitals and schools.
(Lewis): And Zanon's community building has paid off.
Since the worker's takeover,
they've fought off six separate eviction orders.
Each time, thousands of supporters
have flocked to the factory, set up defences
and been ready to put their bodies
between the machines and the police.
Each time, the judge's trustees have retreated,
leaving the factory under worker control.
For now, Zanon really is
the property of the people.
Here comes the explosion
Of my guitar
And your government
As well.
"Zanon belongs to the people: Support the workers"
(electroacoustic tango by Gotan Project)
(Klein): More than 15,000 people
work in occupied businesses in Argentina
and the number of takeovers is doubling every year.
(Lewis): Expropriated businesses aren't new.
Think Russia.
Think Cuba.
But what sets this model apart, is that it isn't being imposed
from on higher by a socialist state,
or run by bureaucrats.
It's bubbling up from below -
factory by factory, shop by shop.
Workers, without ideology, without trying to prove anything,
Luis Zamora Member of Parliament
out of necessity, are putting factories back to work.
It's exactly what Capitalism, every day, tries to prove is impossible.
Bosses are supposed to be indispensable.
(Klein): And it's not just factories.
Instituto Comunicationes Private School
Under Worker Control
Clinica Medrano Health Clinic
Under Worker Control
What we've learned is that in a business,
participatory democracy is more efficient.
Because if you vote often,
you get used to winning,
but you also get used to losing.
Also you learn to accept the decision of the majority.
Astillero Almirante Brown Shipbuilding - Under Worker Control
Ghelco Ice Cream Factory - Under Worker Control
Brukman Suit Factory - Under Worker Control
We pay ourselves a fair salary.
We discuss how much money we have, how much to save,
and how much to take.
For us as workers, accounting is easy.
I don't know why it's so hard for the bosses...
to pay salaries, buy materials, and pay the bills.
For me it's easy - you add and subtract.
(Klein): And now, there's a new addition to the movement:
fresh from their takeover, the Forja workers
go to their first meeting of recovered companies.
How are you?
How's it going?
Are you inside already?
Get him to tell you what happened here.
He's one of the pioneers of this movement.
He's complaining a lot about the attitude of some of the companeros.
Here's what bothers me:
You break your back, 30 or 40 guys from the very beginning.
Then the rest come and say "okay, I'm part of the cooperative."
"I want a job."
No no no.
If there's not enough work for all,
then the first 40 get priority.
Who decides that?
The assembly, the assembly.
If you can do it, take a militant attitude,
beyond just being a worker.
That you are making history.
My name's Freddy Espinosa, president of Forja San Martin,
an auto parts plant.
In the name of Forja, I'm grateful for all the help you can give.
I think we are all in need in this process.
I was quite naive - I kept giving dates to my family.
I told them, "hold on a month until December 14th."
December 14 arrived: nothing.
"Hold on until January 14th."
January 14th arrived: nothing.
I have a daughter who is seven and she asks me every day,
"Papa, don't you work?"
And I don't know how to explain it to her.
Sometimes it crosses my mind to just give up everything.
Lalo tells me to hang in there, we're almost there.
But it's hard.
There were days when all we had was...
eggplant and fried potatoes.
I swear, on my children.
Unfortunately, I thought that this process would be shorter.
I know most of you went through this but...
I just wanted to tell you my story.
(cheering and applause)
This movement of recovered companies...
...has become something serious.
We're almost 200 companies, with thousands of jobs recovered.
It's a dignified struggle, full of beautiful experiences.
But we have a big obstacle.
The same people who dragged us into misery and unemployment,
those who took everything from us,
are now trying to come back.
And for us it's a major threat.
I know some people are angry at me...
... because they feel I haven't given them all I could.
And they are right.
But I was also angry.
God made me face pain.
I confronted adversity.
I was on my knees.
Now I'm on my feet.
So let's go!
Menem, the third presidency.
The historical one.
(Klein): Yeah, Menem's back.
He's had a rough time
since he left power.
At one point, he was under house arrest
on corruption charges.
But now, the interim government has called early elections
and the man who sold the country has emerged from hiding
to throw his hat in the ring.
We will impose order.
We will saturate the streets of the Republic.
We will enforce respect for the State of Law.
Among other things, the right to private property.
If Menem wins,
there's no way we'll get to run this factory ourselves.
Menem is like the factory owner.
They represent the same interests.
Rich impresarios, poor factories and workers.
Rich politicians, and the people dying of hunger.
They're the same, the same interests.
And they protect each other.
- What is your relationship with Menem lately?
I spoke to him, I visited him in prison.
We saw each other after he got out.
He told me: 'I will change everything.
I'll give you back your factory.'
We have an occupied business here - we're unemployed workers.
We're not going to take propaganda...
...from a guy like Menem, who swindled the whole country.
We're ripping these down so people don't have to read this shit.
(Klein): But Menem has a powerful card to play:
he ruled the country during an economic boom.
That means he can sell nostalgia.
Vote Menem and he'll bring back
the good old days of '90s über-capitalism.
Drinks all around.
Come back Carlos, come back now!
Come back Menem...
...to live in the new Argentina!
(Lewis): Menem's main rival in the race is Nestor Kirchner,
an obscure state governor from Patagonia.
A win by Kirchner could save the occupied factories
from the crackdown that Menem is promising.
But many in the movement see the entire election circus
as a distraction
from the real work of building an alternative economy.
This says: "Our dreams don't fit on your ballots."
And that's what I feel.
That's what brought me to the decision not to vote.
(Klein): Maty is new at Zanon Ceramics.
Hers is one of the first jobs created under worker control.
She was hired, along with several other young activists,
from the local movement of the unemployed.
They live in neighbourhoods where the jobless rate is 60%.
This is the porcelain workshop,
one of the many our organization runs for the unemployed.
Maty's part of a new impatience,
one we've seen around the world.
Not only to say "no" to eviction...
But also to go to the legislature and say "approve our bill now."
It's been a year already.
Let's go on the offensive.
If we say, "please, don't evict us," we're dead.
Forget polite government lobbying.
It's all about direct action and direct democracy.
From the moment we got together,
we were able to get this factory in production.
And now it's a national movement.
In our last national meeting,
it was clear that a new politics is emerging.
And more than just feeling part of it,
we feel like pioneers.
(heartbeat)
My baby's not going to believe in a saviour.
I don't know what he'll believe later,
but what I'll try to teach him is that he can do it on his own.
And that he doesn't have to follow anyone.
No political boss, king, or saviour.
(Lewis): Here's the true threat
to the fragile new politics of the occupied-factory movement:
behind the candidates, the bosses and the courts,
is the culture of the old politics itself.
The party machines in Argentina take the very same people
who are the casualties of the economic model
and pay them to help elect the same old politicians.
With so much of the country facing starvation,
the going price is a sandwich and a Coke.
Maty knows all about this process.
It has a way of showing up in her own backyard.
(speaking Spanish)
That son of a bitch Menem, I don't even want to see him.
Of course we don't want to see him.
Kirchner.
Even less.
What are you doing with that thing?
Kirchner.
There are lots like him.
They have "Kirchner" stickers...
...because they're paid 15 pesos a day,
to be politically active and round up votes.
Today he has a Kirchner sticker,
last week he was putting up Menem posters.
I don't blame him: I blame the person who hires him.
That's the jerk who's screwing him.
But there's a...
Ah... you noticed it.
What about that in your house? en tu casa?
What's this doing in my house?
One of the jerks I criticize, who hires guys like him,
is my mom.
Hi boys, how are you?
Canadians. A bunch of Canadians.
Welcome guys, welcome.
I'm a Peronist.
We have a Peronist family.
The one who presides over this house is Evita.
What I want, what I need,
I'm not going to get by voting.
No, I don't understand it.
I don't understand not voting.
(Lewis): We can relate to the tension
between Maty and Anna.
For Maty,
government has always been a force that tears things down
and sells them off.
But Anna, like our parents' generation,
remembers a time when government was about building things.
A national project, a strong public sphere.
Girls, go with Pachi.
And for Anna,
that vision of social change hasn't changed.
Well, that's it Pachi, you're in charge.
Go straight there.
Be alert on the bus: don't get lost!
Making his entrance now...
the candidate for president of all Argentines...
Nestor Kirchner.
The next president of Argentina.
The time has come to produce.
The time has come to work.
The time has come for workers to be valued.
The time for auctioning off our patrimony and our dignity is over.
Thank you very much.
(military marching song)
Peron, Peron, how great you are!
My general, how precious too!
Peron, Peron, great leader!
You are first among workers.
(Klein): So much nostalgia
for a time when everyone had a job,
an education, a future.
But Peron's golden age was a pyramid.
All power and benefit
flowed down from the saviour at the top.
In the new politics of the occupied factories,
the pyramid has been replaced with a network:
occupied workplaces that help each other out.
(Lewis): And Freddy and Lalo need some help.
If they're going to convince the judge to let them
run the factory, they need a business plan.
They need customers.
They go on a pilgrimage
to a tractor factory run by its workers.
Everything smells new!
(Klein): Here at Zanello, the workers formed a partnership
with a group of former managers as well as the dealers
who sell the tractors.
Unlike at Forja, they decided
not to pay everyone the same salary.
This is no one-size-fits-all model.
Every occupied workplace writes its own rules.
The truth is that for all of us,
this factory is like Mecca.
How do you see the possibility of us working with you?
I don't think there will be a problem.
We need forged pieces.
Well, this is a big help.
Freddy - could you guys make those?
These? I can do these with my eyes closed.
This is what we've achieved.
We've agreed that they'll send us the raw material,
we'll forge it,
deliver it to them, and begin to do business like this,
for 87% of the forged pieces that the tractors have.
If the judge, Dr. Fernandez, understood this,
she would understand that we can self-manage the factory.
I hope that one day, if things turn around and we start producing,
I'll be the first to help other cooperatives.
You can bet on that.
(siren wailing)
"Madame Judge: In your decision lies the future of our children."
(Lewis): In Argentina,
shuttered factories are silent battlegrounds.
The workers' co-op is a direct threat
to the creditors and bankruptcy courts,
who see factories like Forja
as so much scrap metal to be auctioned off.
When Freddy and Lalo get back to their plant,
they find they have a visitor.
So what's happening here, who are these people?
This man is the trustee.
He's the middle man between the judge and buyers on one side,
and the workers on the other.
Is he the one who sold all the raw materials?
Exactly. He's the guy who sold everything.
Is he an enemy?
Yes, yes...
I don't think he's supposed to be on anyone's side,
but for us he is an enemy.
We were planning to start work on Monday.
We were thinking that Monday we would start working.
Really?
OK...
It's important for us to know...
your opinion of this process we're in.
We have no experience.
All we want to do is fight for what's fair...
I think it would be best if you got all your answers...
...in the audience with the judge.
Who is the representative of the cooperative?
Sir, that would be me. Pleased to meet you.
Is there a union representative?
Yes. Mr. Murua, from the movement.
OK, please come in.
Judge: Let us theorize.
To manage anything with an occupied factory...
...is practically impossible.
Nobody will make an offer for a plant which has been taken over.
Now, what would you like to say? I'm listening.
Lalo: I'm grateful that you are listening, Your honour.
For us it was important...
...that our assembly decided to take over the factory to save the premises...
Judge: Excuse me, but they are guarded.
As you have seen, there is nothing missing.
Lalo: No, that is not the case, Your honour.
We have testified before that there were things missing.
Judge (to Trustees): Gentlemen, is there anything missing?
Trustee: We know of absolutely no change...
Judge: And we have a signed inventory...
Trustee: Your honour, this is the first I've heard of any of this.
Nobody has ever said even a single word to us about anything missing.
Lalo: Excuse me, but I was present...
Trustee: And I can attest to this with absolute certainty,
because it deals with the responsibility of the trustees.
Lalo: I'm sorry, perhaps I am not addressing you properly...
Judge: No problem, you are addressing me perfectly.
I am clearing things up because you're confused.
I am fighting for you to get paid and get working,
and you're getting in my way by taking over the factory!
I am not interested in your proposals until you show good faith,
and end the occupation.
(Klein): Argentina's old guard
is regaining some of the confidence it lost
when the economy crashed and the people rebelled.
Carlos Menem has gone from last place in the poles
to first.
It seems there are still plenty of people in Argentina
looking for a saviour.
And Menem is happy to play the part.
The same thing happened...
...with our Lord, Jesus Christ,
who provoked great hatred great love, and ended up crucified.
Although I don't want to compare myself to him,
I too...
Menem's campaign is so successful
that, to our surprise, we even discover
a closet Menem supporter at the Forja factory.
(Lewis): How can you vote for Menem? How?
Why?
Because we have to change...
what's going on under the interim government.
We need change.
I think that with Menem there is going to be more stability,
there's going to be work,
and we're not going to have to beg for 150 pesos a month.
How long are we going to keep lazing around?
- Why does that cause you so much pain?
First of all, let's start with an easy point.
He says he wants to open factories, Menem closed factories.
He privatized, and the debt went up.
So Menem, no.
Menem sold everything, he sold the country.
The politicians want us to believe...
...that through elections we'll fix everything,
and have justice for all.
But today, the whole IMF team is at the Sheraton hotel,
keeping an eye on the political situation in our country.
And it's there where the decisions are being made, really.
(Lewis): Anoop Singh,
director of the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department,
has arrived in Buenos Aires
to set conditions for a new loan.
A loan, that is, to pay interest on previous loans.
The IMF is calling for more of the same.
Cuts to public programs
and huge increases in the price of water and electricity,
demanded by privatized utility companies.
(Klein): And just as the IMF is offering this advice,
a Fund official is arrested in Buenos Aires
on corruption charges.
The IMF is not exactly popular in Argentina.
With the election just weeks away,
the Fund is also meeting with all the presidential candidates.
These meetings are secret -
the IMF doesn't do press conferences
or interviews in-country.
(Lewis): Hello, Mr. Singh. - Yeah?
- How are you?
- Exactly, exactly.
- Is Argentina treating you well?
- Aye! Yeah, it's nice. It's warm.
How are you? - Very well.
- Where are you from? - From Canada.
- Which network? - From CBC.
Can you tell me who you've been meeting with
this week, while you've been here?
- It's a routine visit. We're seeing the economic team,
we're seeing others... - Presidential candidates?
- We've seen a wide range of people, yes.
Did you have dinner with Carlos Menem last night?
- No. We did not have dinner. - What did you have?
I would so much love to ask you a few more questions,
but it's terribly difficult to get an interview
with people from the IMF. - We'll do it soon.
"IMF: who's controlling them?"
(Lewis): Later, the IMF told us that it was meeting
with the candidates during the election
to insure macroeconomic stability in Argentina.
In other words, no matter who wins the election,
the country will be stuck with the same economic policies
most people blame
for creating the crisis in the first place.
(Klein): The Forja workers are stuck.
They can't get their factory running
until they win the legal right to manage the plant.
Since the judge has already slammed the door,
they now have to appeal directly
to the most discredited people in Argentina:
the politicians.
(speaking Spanish)
(dog barking)
Hi.
Is it so cold?
She's frightened.
We went to La Plata.
And they gave us the runaround, as usual.
We're going back on Thursday.
Yes, I see that you all came back.
No. This is going to take a long time.
What a pity.
He says it's only been three months.
Three months? For me, it's been three years already.
It's long, the struggle.
You know, the virgin I pray to is deaf.
I have a virgin back there, poor thing,
she doesn't want to listen anymore.
She can't take it any more.
Yes, I'm tired.
We've lost all the material things.
Outings with the girls, vacations.
But to share a maté, a plate of food,
a game with the girls,
this we've both tried not to lose.
Even if he comes home tired,
he always has five minutes to spend with our girls.
No, there are things that they are not going to steal from us easily.
They may have stolen our dignity,
his above all.
The saddest thing is a man without work.
A humiliated man.
But I think he's going to get it all back.
We're here so that he can get it back.
He, and his companeros behind him.
(Lewis): Election day.
(Klein): Menem is holding a slim lead.
It seems his messianic marketing is working.
But the hatred for him an what he did to the country
is also deep.
Kirchner is close behind.
With five candidates on the ballot,
the elections will almost certainly go
to a second round.
The country holds its breath.
(Avi Lewis): At Maty and Anna's,
election day is a well-rehearsed family ritual.
The house becomes a Peronist headquarters.
(speaking Spanish)
Neighbours come to find out where to vote
and who to vote for.
Today, Maty isn't out protesting,
but dutifully lending a hand.
We're for Kirchner here, grandmother.
What do you think of him?
Do you think he's all right?
Yes.
I'm going to give you the ballot. This is the ballot.
Kirchner - Scioli.
Yes.
I'm not going. I'm not going to vote.
- But that's illegal, isn't it? - Yes.
"Voters: It is forbidden to distribute ballots within 80 metres
of the polling station"
What's up?
How are you Graciela?
I'm just waiting for a companera that I came to pick up.
Hey, who are you going to vote for?
For Menem?
I don't know.
Take this, you idiot.
Vote for Kirchner.
According to the exit polls, Menem is winning.
Lend me your spoon?
I don't want to leave to get one.
It's a blow.
It's a blow because...
...the 19th and 20th was for "Que Se Vayan Todos,"
every one of them should go."
And there they all are.
Those five candidates there are the ones that we wanted gone.
Sad.
Very sad.
You can see that Argentines from 1976 up to now,
have erased their memories.
And they have erased such recent memories...
... of everything that's happened to us.
And the one directly responsible is Menem, for this whole disaster.
In first place, Menem - Romero. In second place, Kirchner - Scioli.
Scioli being the first candidate to admit that there will be a runoff.
The guys are cleaning the factory area by area.
With hope, always thinking positively.
But underneath there's the chance that they could evict us at any time.
There's always that danger stalking us.
We're really afraid: that's something we can't hide.
"Order, Security. With Menem, it's guaranteed"
(Lewis): We've heard that Menem's Mafia
in the courts and police is actually creating conflicts
to bolster its law-and-order campaign.
We get a midnight phone call, but it's not from Freddy.
Another factory has been evicted:
the Brukman suit factory.
(chanting in Spanish)
The police have fenced in the entire block
and they're welding shut the factory gate.
Matilde Adorno Brukman Worker
I got home from mass at midnight.
I changed into pyjamas and turned on the TV.
That's when the phone rang.
I jumped up, knocking over everything in my path.
My co-worker Elisa said: "Matilde..."
And that was it. I knew it.
This eviction notice probably comes from the National government,
maybe with the help of Menem, with support from the bosses.
- They are trying to put us...
Silvia Delfino Political activist
in the position of fighting back. And, actually, the forces are so uneven,
that their oppression is going to be very hard.
But for us, it's like the moment of truth, really.
Because actually, what we are trying to defend
is the main core of our democratic struggle
at this very site.
Brukman belongs
to the workers!
And those who don't like it...
can screw themselves!
(Klein): If there's panic in the air tonight,
it's because this isn't just any factory -
it's the one that started it all.
(Lewis): This is what the Brukman factory looked like
when we first visited it a year earlier.
(Klein): It left an indelible impression on me.
Here was an old-school garment factory
taken over by its 58 seamstresses.
I've visited my share of garment factories
in the developing world. What pervades them all
is a sense of powerlessness.
If workers demand better conditions,
multinationals simply shut down and move.
Before their occupation, the women of Brukman
were in exactly that dilemma.
The owners had slashed their salaries
and were threatening to shut down.
One day, the owners simply abandoned the factory.
The workers decided to keep it running
and the rest is history.
History is history - there have always been bosses and workers.
But we are fighting for worker control.
And I think it's possible.
I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself here,
but maybe we can run the country this way.
(Lewis): The Brukman women became a beloved symbol
of Argentina's new politics.
They were adopted by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo,
the famous human-rights crusaders
who lost their children in the last military dictatorship.
And the factory became an activist beacon,
with meetings by the sewing machines on weekends
and concerts in the street at night.
I can see it now!
Brukman and Zanon,
under worker control!
Now Brukman and all it represents
is on the line.
(chanting in Spanish)
Brukman belongs
to the workers!
And those who don't like it...
can screw themselves!
I'm going back to the front.
You stay here and calm things: it's getting really hot.
Yeah, the people are all angry.
Companeros! Stay calm,
because they're in there negotiating with the judge.
Please, try not to get worked up...
... until we see what comes of that meeting.
Our national constitution gives unrestricted protection...
...to property rights.
Judge Jorge Rimondi Ordered Brukman eviction
And we judges are here to ensure that people comply...
with that constitution and those laws.
(Klein): By day three of the standoff,
word has gone out around the country
and all the social movements send contingents
to help get the factory back.
(Lewis): Do you believe that you're gonna get back
in that building right behind us?
Yes, yes, we're going to return.
We have no doubt.
And I invite you to come inside to continue filming once we do.
(Klein): The Brukman women are now flanked
by a crowd of thousands,
separated from their factory
by just a few meters of street, but a whole army of police.
Police Chief! We want to talk to you.
We're asking the police to leave.
We're not going to leave because there's a judicial order.
We're staying here until the judge tells us to go.
Are you thinking about shedding blood?
No! You are!
The City Government is contacting the Ministry of Labour.
So you're going to have to wait for the results of that.
No, Ma'am, you cannot come in. No.
I'm telling you, you're not getting in.
Companeros! Help us and give us your support. Please!
We're staying here and keeping watch.
And when the moment seems right...
...we're going to try to get in companeros!
(Lewis): Far from the crowd, the Forja workers
are feeling the heat from the Brukman eviction.
If they don't win their law of expropriation,
they could be next.
OK guys, once again we have to go to La Plata
to put some pressure on the politicians to pass our law.
I know you're tired, and some think it's pointless
to go back to the legislature.
But we have to go and pressure.
It's the only way to get our expropriation.
Are we all in agreement? Yes.
(Lewis): This is their last chance.
Their bill is finally being put to a vote.
We'll vote on the project: all in favour?
Passed unanimously.
Approved. The bill will be sent to the chamber of deputies.
-Gracias, Senor Presidente.
I'd like to thank everyone for your support.
And Lalo...
I trusted him when he came to my house and said,
that this was possible.
And it's true, it is possible.
It happened.
Hola, it's Miguel.
Hi Dad, how's it going?
Hang on.
Yes, listen to me.
I'm in La Plata.
Two minutes ago they passed the expropriation law for us.
Yes, and soon I think it will be approved by the deputies too.
Look, I can't talk a lot.
Don't worry Dad, tell Mom I'm fine.
The law is practically ours.
It all worked out. First in the senate, now to the deputies...
...who I believe will pass it tonight.
Bye.
I think we workers know how to do it,
we've put our hearts into this, and god willing...
this factory is going to start running,
but run by the workers.
This is a short song that fits with the time we're living in.
Please, put your hands together!
It's by Mercedes Sosa.
And it goes like this...
Who said that all is lost?
More clapping!
Did you like it or not?
"Who said that all is lost?
I come to offer my heart
So much blood washed away by the river
I come to offer my heart
It won't be easy
But it will pass
It won't be as simple as I thought at first
Like opening one's chest and pulling out one's soul
Like a stab of love"
Open up a path!
We're going in - just us.
No será tan fáci
Ya sé qué pasa
No será tan simple
Como pensaba
Como abrir el pecho
Ysacar el alma
Una cuchillada del amor
Luna de los pobres siempre abierta
Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón
Como un documento inalterable
Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón
Y uniré las puntas
De un mismo lazo
Yme iré tranquila
Yme iré despacio
Y te daré todo
Yme darás algo
Algo que me alivie un poco más
Cuando no haya nadie cerca o lejos
Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón
Cuando los satélites no alcancen
It's okay, it's okay. Be calm.
Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón
Let's go over there, where there's no police.
Yhablo de países
Yde esperanzas
Hablo por la vida
Hablo por la nada
Hablo de cambiar ésta nuestra casa
De cambiarla por cambiar nomás
Quién dijo que todo está perdido
Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón
These workers have been helping my sister,
who worked with them.
She's sick with cancer.
They've been helping her: my sister can't work.
These are the supposed "bad guys."
Meanwhile, the Brukman bosses would deduct a day's pay...
...when my sister would go for chemotherapy and radiation.
They would dock her a day's pay.
These workers are the ones who are going to get the country going.
These are the people we should support.
The factory has never been run the way that they run it.
Nobody is the owner.
It's each one of them.
And what's most beautiful is that they haven't forgotten...
...their sick companera.
And what's beautiful is that they collect their own pesos to help her.
Because otherwise we wouldn't be able to continue the treatments.
These are the people that count.
These are the people of Brukman.
Thank you.
(Klein): When we first arrived in Buenos Aires,
something strange happened: out of the blue,
a man handed me a letter; it read like a warning.
- "We are the mirror to look into.
"The mistake to avoid.
"Argentina is the waste that remains
"of a globalized country.
We are where the rest of the world is going."
(Klein): But what we saw in Argentina
was a country trying to learn from its mistakes.
As the election runoff draws near,
anger at Menem and all he represents resurfaces.
It's too strong for him to beat.
The great majority of Argentines...
...understood that Menem's model was exhausted.
Menem realized that he was going to lose the second round,
because the people were saying no to him and "the model."
So he dropped out.
Why did you quit?
I won in the first round, now I'm leaving.
"You are history"
"With this news we're going live to Nestor Kirchner."
I will take on with courage and decisiveness...
the responsibility of governing the republic.
Now he's president, guys.
I believe that the president will have to help us,
that he'll help cooperatives.
And not multinationals,
because they put their money in, do what they want, then leave.
And this president, I believe, will start like this - from below
With respect to the IMF,
we'll see if they like the idea that we are a cooperative.
They might say, 'leave it to the market,
and fuck the worker.'
This is what we're doing here today, this cooperativism.
is our way of making a new world.
To sweep away the old one.
It makes me sad that you're leaving now,
and our story doesn't have a happy ending.
It's going to be like the Matrix.
"To be continued..."
The Sequel.
You know the sequel would be beautiful.
With Forja working full time, with 100 or more employees,
noise at night, during the day, Saturdays, Sundays.
It would be nice when you film the sequel if you could see...
everything that Forja was,
and everything it will be.
Why not?
Six months later...
Now, every time the machines stop,
everyone comes to see what's going on.
It's only been three days that we've been hearing the noise again.
It's incredible what's happening to us.
Because we missed this noise. The truth is we really missed it.
Zanon Ceramics has increased production and hired new workers.
Despite his fiery rhetoric, President Kirchner signed
a new deal with the IMF.
It looks a lot like the old deals.
The city legislature of Buenos Aires gave the factory back
to Brukman workers.
(laughter)
Subtitling: CNST, Montreal