My Life To-Do List
I'm a little nervous about writing up a list such as this. Even if I weren't posting the list, if I were to just keep it to myself on a piece of scrap paper tucked away in a drawer, I'd still feel incredibly vulnerable about coming to terms with what will be written. But it's time to bite the bullet.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Don't Know Much about Argentina...Except What I’ve Heard from A Uruguayan
I don’t know much about Argentina. I need to do some research, really. But, I just watched the documentary “The Take,” which tracks the government’s and capitalist’s abandonment of factories in Argentina, the subsequent re-occupation of these factories by workers who were left destitute after job losses, and the prickly ladder climbed by all three players to find common ground and room for their hands in the pot.
Regardless of your politics, the idea was revolutionary to my shielded, urban American perspective on “a job.” What I learned from the film is that Argentina prospered under Government subsidies. Those “good old times” lasted through the 1990’s, until the money was on a whirlwind, dashing out of government budgets into the hands of CEOs and finally settling, mostly, into the pockets of said CEO’s.
When a financial crisis set in, the subsidies stopped. Other financial woes ensued, which I won’t get into, but the bottom line for this purpose is that the factory owners shut down their businesses, firing thousands of workers and abandoning their facilities. But the factory workers couldn’t find work and had no way to feed their families. So they took over the factories. Literally, they formed their own hierarchy, formed deals with suppliers of materials, trucking companies, and buyers, and started up the ghost towns that had become their places of employment.
Of course, only the working class appreciated it. The CEO’s still owned these factories and the machines inside of them. And I’m not sure what the situation is now. But I just thought the stories of these men and women, I repeat regardless of your political beliefs, are worth talking about. Furthermore, what about all of the factory jobs we’re losing in the US? I don’t know what I think about these jobs. Are some of them polluting us more than sustaining us? In any event, the factory workers losing their jobs in the States seem to be looking at politicians to trickle down the change. Why don’t we, as human beings, in all our capacity to speak, write, march, stand, unite, and progress, pave the paths to change ourselves?
Check it out: The Take - www.thetake.org
2004 - Rating: TVPG
In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. The story of the workers' struggle is set against the dramatic backdrop of a crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins, they'll take back the companies that the movement has worked so hard to revive.
Regardless of your politics, the idea was revolutionary to my shielded, urban American perspective on “a job.” What I learned from the film is that Argentina prospered under Government subsidies. Those “good old times” lasted through the 1990’s, until the money was on a whirlwind, dashing out of government budgets into the hands of CEOs and finally settling, mostly, into the pockets of said CEO’s.
When a financial crisis set in, the subsidies stopped. Other financial woes ensued, which I won’t get into, but the bottom line for this purpose is that the factory owners shut down their businesses, firing thousands of workers and abandoning their facilities. But the factory workers couldn’t find work and had no way to feed their families. So they took over the factories. Literally, they formed their own hierarchy, formed deals with suppliers of materials, trucking companies, and buyers, and started up the ghost towns that had become their places of employment.
Of course, only the working class appreciated it. The CEO’s still owned these factories and the machines inside of them. And I’m not sure what the situation is now. But I just thought the stories of these men and women, I repeat regardless of your political beliefs, are worth talking about. Furthermore, what about all of the factory jobs we’re losing in the US? I don’t know what I think about these jobs. Are some of them polluting us more than sustaining us? In any event, the factory workers losing their jobs in the States seem to be looking at politicians to trickle down the change. Why don’t we, as human beings, in all our capacity to speak, write, march, stand, unite, and progress, pave the paths to change ourselves?
Check it out: The Take - www.thetake.org
2004 - Rating: TVPG
In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. The story of the workers' struggle is set against the dramatic backdrop of a crucial presidential election in Argentina, in which the architect of the economic collapse, Carlos Menem, is the front-runner. His cronies, the former owners, are circling: if he wins, they'll take back the companies that the movement has worked so hard to revive.
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