LDS Cooperative "one heart and one mind...with no poor among us"

On the topic of cooperativism, one film that I always recommend to people is “The Take.” Produced and written by extraordinary author Naomi Klein, it is a visual response to the pro-corporate globalization gurus that have criticized “anti-globalization” activists for their lack of alternatives to the current system.

“The Take” begins with a look at the fragments of a post-globalized Argentina, a country that until recently had the most rapidly growing middle class in Latin America. But a series of brutal U.S. backed dictatorships has kept Argentina like the rest of Latin America: a source of raw materials for US corporations (see Naomi Klein’s more recent book, The Shock Doctrine). Under the presidency of Carlos Menem, (1989-1999) and under the auspices of the IMF, Argentina followed to the letter, every neo-liberal economic reform it could find, in order to pull itself out of an economic crisis. It cut social spending, deregulated and privatized industry, and beat back labor unions to make a favorable climate for foreign investment. While Mennen was successful in curbing inflation, unemployment grew. When the economy began to turn downward in 2001, there was no regulations left to keep investors from pulling out their money, and literally overnight, people were locked out of their savings accounts and the country was in ruin.

Along with the massive collapse of the financial system, the factory system which was one of the largest in Latin America began shutting its doors as owners moved their factories to other countries, and China emerged as the international workshop of a globalizing capitalism. Hundreds and thousands of factories closed their doors and within a few weeks, thousands of Argentineans were out of work. Millions were thrust into poverty.

Many Argentineans were angered that perfectly good factories were sitting fallow, while their owners dismantled them and sold them for scrap to China. They were perfectly good factories, shut down by the whims of the global market, yet thousands of Argentineans starved. There were massive demonstrations in the streets of Buenos Aires, and the country went through five governments in less than three week. The political scene was volatile and many activists were killed by police. The chant that echoed through the streets again and again was “que se vayan todos” or, they must all go. Argentina was not just calling for reform but rejecting the entire model of neoliberal economics. But what emerged in Argentina was not a call for state run socialism, but a tightly knit network of grassroots movements, alternative currencies, community gardens and worker-take overs of industrial factories.

The film follows the story of the Forja cooperative, an auto parts factory that is trying to gain legal access to its factory. The film captures many emotional and frustrating scenes with the workers traveling to regional courts and legislators offices. In order to prove that they are a viable work place, they must also find customers, and do so with other worker owned factories. I won’t reveal how the film ends, but it is well worth viewing!

The genius of the Argentine worker take-over movement is that the democratization of these factories is not occurring by mandate from a centralized state, but from the people themselves. It is this form of democratic change that is most exciting to me. Seeing cooperative structures form spontaneously is a third way between corporatism and state-heavy socialism. In the film, workers express feelings of support and solidarity for their fellow workers, and agree that although the process is difficult, the outcomes are well worth it. Many of the worker-recovered factories are not safe however, the state, and the owners of the factories are still attempting to take back the factories, to recover their investments. But, as is expressed in the film, the amount of tax write-offs many of the corporate entities received, means that the factories belong to the people, the communities in which they are located, and whenever the police try to surround the factories and take them back, the communities mobilize, to drive them out.

For more information see:

www.thetake.org

www.fabricasrecuperadas.org.ar