The Take

[skitty]

http://www.thetake.org/

The local Wobblies showed this yesterday and I loved it...recommended for anyone. So far I'm only aware of this sort of thing being realised in Spanish-speaking countries; and wonder if it has happened elsewhere?

[blake 3:17]

I know the folks who made the film -- they're all Toronto based.

In terms of squatting centres of production, I think you're right, I think it has been mostly in Latin America and Spain.

I think similar things have happened in Africa and Asia, but have no examples to point to.

There've been some industrial shutdowns in Canada where people have called for some some kind of nationalization/socialization but that hasn't been met with workers seizing the means of production and producing on their own.

[skitty]

I know the folks who made the film -- they're all Toronto based.

In terms of squatting centres of production, I think you're right, I think it has been mostly in Latin America and Spain.

I think similar things have happened in Africa and Asia, but have no examples to point to.

There've been some industrial shutdowns in Canada where people have called for some some kind of nationalization/socialization but that hasn't been met with workers seizing the means of production and producing on their own.
Thanks Blake. The other examples I could think of are pre-Spanish civil war. I'd love to be part of something like that, where greed gets thrown out the window and everyone shares; and shares alike.

[blake 3:17]

The situation of the Argentine co-ops is a very difficult one. Most workers active in one came from one or another radical political tradition and they formed the co-ops in a period of hyperinflation -- there's some amazing photos of middle class Argentines lining up at ATMs.

Where some people were talking about a workers squat/socialization was during the Caterpillar plant in London, Ontario early 2012. The factory was very profitable AND had received large scale government hand outs. It was a gross violation of workers rights and the rights of people of the region. A few comrades talked about occupying the factory, in order to prevent parts and machines being removed, and a couple of others talked about running the plant themselves.

All of it is easy to say, but much much harder to do.