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LaborFest 2007 Schedule
Reviews
*San Francisco Chronicle's review - By Reyhan HarmanciThursday, July 5, 2007
*San Francisco Chronicle's review - By Chris Colin - Monday, July 16, 2007
*SF Chronicle's 96 Hours on Golden Gulag (7/26) by Reyhan Harmanci July 26, 2007
*SF Chronicle's notice on Oakland General Strike walk (7/28)
*Monthly Review-LaborFest 2007: A Moveable Feast by Richard D. VogelJuly 5 (Thursday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Big Brother is Watching - The Other Side of Samsung (40 min)
By Labor News Production (Korea) 2006
Cell phones, beepers and the myriad of electronic devises have become essential tools in our lives but in this riveting documentary by Korea¹s Labor News Production, we learn that there is another side to these devises when Samsung employees want to find out about their labor rights. Samsung in Korea has a long virulent history of attacking all those who seek to form unions and they are now using their high tech to head off unionization. Workers to their horror, discover that their every word outside the factory is being fed back to Samsung and this continues even when some of the workers no long even work at the company. This film goes to the heart of how new communication technology can and is being used to thwart democratic labor rights. It is an eye opener on the new telecom world and what this means for our society.
Document by Labor News Production on high tech against workers
www.lnp89.org
Battle Of Local 5668 (54 min) 2007 by Shawn Bennett
1700 men and women union members were locked out of their jobs for over a year by international fugitive from justice, Marc Rich. The film centers on local union 5668 of the United Steelworkers of America. In 1992, the prospect for labor was bleak. Reagan had just fired the air traffic controllers, “big business” was given free reign. Amongst the mation’s constant pursuit of money, chain stores, and city sized Wal-Mart shopping centers, comes this little-known story of 1700 men and women in rural West Virginia who refused to given in to big business and fought for their rights.www.battleoflocal5668.com
July 6 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Against Coercion ( Kimigayo Fukiritsu) (60 min) 2006
by Video Press (Japan)
Under Tokyo mayor Ishihara, the Tokyo government is now punishing teachers who don¹t stand up during the singing of national anthem "Kimigayo". Since last October 2003, 345 teachers have been punished and this video exposes their struggle against militarization.
This video shows how this effort to re-introduce militarism in the schools is taking place.
Also attending and speaking will be Japanese teacher Ms Sato Etsuko who is a member of the Mirua Peninsula Teachers¹ Union In Kanagawa and has faced discipline against her protests.
http://www.geocities.jp/dorosien28/Default.wmv
Mgg01231@nifty.ne.jp
www.vpress.jp
Korea, Labor and FTA (25) 2006 by MediAct (Korea)
From "16 Takes On Korean Society"
This segment and music video shows the reason Korean workers are up in arms against the proposed US-Korea Free Trade Agreement. From temporary workers to teachers and public workers, the FTA will drastically affect their labor rights and living conditions.
http://mediact.org/web/eng/eng02.php
http://www.archive.org/details/16takesJuly 6 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Fellowship of Humanity Hall 370 27th St., Oakland
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Maquilapolis (68 min) 2006 by Vicky Funari & Sergio DeLa Torre
In 2001 Tijuana suffered a recession as transnationals looking to cut labor costs even further, left for Asian countries. In the global marketplace workers are mere commodities. The filmmakers gave several women workers in Tijuana video cameras to make a record of their lives, giving the documentary the intimate feel of video diaries.
www.newsreel.org
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/vogel010507.html
My Bicycle (Bisikletim) (12 min) 2006
by Esra Var, Seda Özdemir, Ercan Çof, Tolga Sert
In this documentary, we learn about the living conditions and stories of temporary workers from a 13 years old boy from Turkey. He comes to Eskisehir –one of the big cities of Turkey every spring to work as a temporary beet worker.
No Te Rajes (29 min) 2006 by Caitlin Manning
The peaceful civil disovedience movement took over the heart of Mexico City for 49 das in 2006. This film provides background and context for the current wave of social movements in Mexico.
Producer Caitlin Manning will be attending the screening.
Caitlin_manning@csumb.edu
Estamos Aqui (10 min) 2005 by Insurgent Media
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) initiated a one-day strike at all University of California campuses in April of 2005. At UC Santa Cruz, students and workers physically shut down the campus for hours as thousands blocked the two entrances. This film gives an inside look at this historic events.
solidarityfilms@riseup.net
www.mediainsurgente.comJuly 7 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon (Please note the time has changed) ($15 to $50 sliding scale donation to CounterPULSE). Bring a bag lunch) Meet at 1310 Mission St. at 9th, SF
Labor Bike Tour with Chris Carlson of San Francisco’s labor history.
For more info: call Chris Carlsson (415) 608 9035 carlsson.chris@gmail.comJuly 7 (Saturday) 2:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Ballad of Joe Hill (115 min) 1971 (Sweden/United States)
By Bo Widerberg
Joe Hill was one of the most important trade unionist, labor cultural worker and militant in the history of the United States. His word sand music still hit home and this dramatic film tells his story as an immigrant coming to the United States. This rarely seen Academy Award nominated film is about an ingenious immigrant labor organizer who is framed on a murder charge in a highly sensationalized trial with little evidence. Despite worldwide appeals by the King of Sweden and the President of the USA, Hill is martyred after being shot by a Utah firing squad in one of the most controversial capital punishment trials of the 20th Century. He also was here during the San Francisco earthquake and wrote about this experience.
Land, Rain and Fire (28 min) 2006 by Tami Gold
What began as a teachers’ strike on May 22, 2006 for better wages and more resources for students has erupted into a massive movement for profound social change in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This film tells the story of the police attack on the morning of June 14th when more than fifty thousand teachers were camped out with their children. The attack backfired as public anger transformed the strike into an unprecedented democratic insurgency, demanding the resignation of the Governor and the creation of a new constitution.
tamigold@mindspring com
www.twn.orgJuly 7 (Saturday) 4:45 PM ($5.00-With the 2:00 or 7:00 PM 7/7 show's ticket, you can see this free) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
¡Gigante: Despierta! Giant: Awake! (83 min) 2006
By indymedia production - Brandon Jourdan
In 2006, a historic mobilization for immigrant rights
swept the USA as millions took the streets. Mainstream news media predictably covered the marches with a mix of surprise, ignorance, and
racism, yet grassroots media activists were there to document the voices and the stories behind this mass movement.
¡Gigante: Despierta! is a DVD compilation of compelling short films from all around the country, due to hit the streets in the weeks before Mayday 2007. Shot, edited, and brought together by a network of independent video activists, graphic designers, community organizers, musicians, and immigrant rights activists, it is a collective memory and a tool to inspire action this MayDay 2007, when the Giant will raise its voice again to say: we are one people, without borders. We are here, and we are here to stay!July 7 (Saturday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Morristown (60 min) 2007 by Anne Lewis
Morristown tells about how workers who are directly faced with the costs of NAFTA and globalization. Their factory is closed down and shipped to Mexico. Instead of folding up they work with the Mexican workers to unionize and fight for their rights. The cross connection and connected battle of US and Mexican workers is portrayed by exposing the real lives and costs of our new world economy. Cheryl Brown, who collaborated on this film, and is a Labor Specialist with the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education will speak briefly after the film.
www.annelewis.org Alewis615@earthlink.net
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tdfW0ccOY&eurl=
Uncommon Knowledge (28 min) 2006 by Eliza Hemenway
A unique view of Privatization happening in real time. Uncommon Knowledge takes place inside the University of California as plans unfold to shut down its historic San Francisco campus in order to convert it into a profitable private development.
eliza@hemenwaydocs.com
www.hemenwaydocs.com
The New Los Angeles (55 min) 2006 by Lyn Goldfarb
From the bitter, racially-driven elections that brought Tom Bradley to office as the city’s first black mayor in 1973, to the victory in 2005 of Antonio Villaraigosa, the the city’s first Latino mayor in more than 130 years, The New Los Angeles examines how race, labor and immigration have shaped this most complex of cities.(Lyn Goldfarb will be present)
lyn@documentary-films.tv
www.californiaseries.orgJuly 7 (Saturday) 8:00 PM (Free) -885 Clayton St., at Carl St., SF
Song and Poetry Swap
For over 20 years, the Freedom Song Network has been helping keep alive the spirit of labor and political song in the Bay Are, on picket lines, at rallies, on concert stages and at songswaps. Bring songs or poems to share. Every one is welcome, regardless of musical ability or training.For more info: (415) 648-3457July 8 (Sunday) 10:30 AM (Free) -Meet at Dewey Monument in Union Square, SF
Walk - SF History and 1877 Conditions In SF
By Historian David Giesen
Join this quick paced walking tour of labor and political history sites of San Francisco. Giesen will tie the buildings to the history and how politics played an important role in San Francisco. Learn about the Progressive period and how this figured into politics and labor in the early 20th century.
(415) 948-4265 telekosmos@yahoo.comJuly 8 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Free) -Meet at Virginia & Coleridge, near Mission & 30th St., SF
Walk - Railway Strike of 1907 Bernal History
By Milne and Molly Martin of the Bernal Heights Preservation Society
A walk with a focus on the United Railway Strike of 1907. For more information, call: (415) 285-8978.July 8 (Sunday) 2:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Spanish Earth (52 min) 1937
By Joris Ivens, written by John Dos Passos & Ernest Hemingway
This landmark political film follows the struggle for democracy that lay at the heart of the Spanish Civil War. Combining visceral footage shot at the frontlines, celebration of the Spanish people, and a powerful narration (written by Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos), the film presents the human face of war in a manner unmatched by few films before or since.
Souls Without Borders - The Untold Story of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade (52 min) 2006
By Alfonso Domingo, Anthony L. Geist
Seventy years have passed since the men and women of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade defied their government’s ban and took a stand against Franco, Hitler, and Mussolini in the bloody Spanish Civil War. A Third of them lie buried in Spanish soil.
Director Anthony Geist will be attending.
www.diagrama.tv
tgeist@u.washington.eduJuly 8 (Sunday) 5:30 PM ($5.00-With the 2:00 or 7:00 PM 7/8 show's ticket, you can see this free) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Rebel County (52 min) 2006 by Harvest Films
Rebel County uses the shooting of the Ken Loach film The Wind that Shakes the Barley as a springboard from which to explore the real life events of The War of Independence in the South West of the country.
Rebel County features observational behind-the-scenes material of Ken Loach interacting with cast and crew, key ambush scenes, Black & Tan raids, behind the scenes historical discussions between Loach and cast members and includes clips of the completed film. The documentary strikes a creative and natural balance between the exploration of the film-making process and the real stories from that period.
It uses some of the film¹s key locations (Bandon, Buttevant and Clonakilty in West Cork) as a way of exploring what it was like for the ordinary inhabitants of Cork living through the traumatic events of the time. It explores the origins of the War of Independence, tracing the influence of 1798 and family and parish connections on the revolutionary period. It also explores the nature of society before independence and the influence of garrison towns, the impact of World War I and the competing allegiances in towns and villages like Bandon and Buttevant.July 8 (Sunday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Carry On Ken (40 min) 2006 by Toby Reisz
This documentary shows the work and life of working class director Ken Loach. He has spent his life doing film about the lives, history and struggle of working people around the world. Meet the people who work with Ken and how he makes it happen.
info@feassiblefilms.co.uk
www.feasiblefilms.co.uk
The GAMA Strike - We Are Workers Not Slaves (60 min) 2006
by Socialist Party of Ireland (Ireland)
In 2005 a group of Turkish workers made history in Ireland when they took on their employer, Turkish-owned multinational construction giant GAMA. Assisted by the Socialist Party (Ireland), whose members first exposed the scandalous wages and conditions being paid by GAMA ti its Turkish workers, they engaged in a bitter and hard fought battle, which eventually brought GAMA to heel.
info@socialiftparty.net
www.socialistparty.net
This Is The Subway (30 min) 2006 by Ojo Obrero
This powerful documentary tells the story of how Buenos Aires subway workers won back their 6 hour day after the military dictatorship. They faced horrendous health and safety conditions and a union that did not want to fight but their power and stamina won the day.
info@ojoobrero.org
www.ojoobrero.org
Rebuilding San Francisco (28 min) 2006 by Maria Brooks
The only film about the workers and unions who rebuilt San Francisco after the 1906 quake. This video is a tribute to the skills, the talents and union organization of the workers who rebuilt San Francisco in only three years.July 8 (Sunday) 5:00 PM (Free) City Lights Bookstore 261 Columbus at Broadway, SF
Labor On The Margins (Poetry reading)
Hear poets on subjects that aren't always talked about. Having troubles, demanding dignity, trying to survive. Writers from sex workers and exotic dancers, tenants and homeless activists, a mother who was a sixteen year old unwed mother, having the low income blues, growing up in the working class West Coast. With Daisy Anarchy, Barbara Bennett, Rafael F. J. Alvarado (from Los Angeles), Geri Digiorno (Sonoma County Poet Laureate), and James Tracy.July 9 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) -City College of San Francisco-Main Campus-Rm 133 in Creative Arts Building
Musical and Live Theater
Featuring the SF City College Labor Drama Class and the Labor Heriatige Rocking Solidarity Chorus
(Refreshments will be provided)July 10 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St., SF
500 Years of Chicana Women's History
Book reading by Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez
Betita's work uncovers a critical history of the struggle and lives of Latina women workers in the United States. Their strength and perseverance give testimony to their power in the true history of this country.
http://www.monthlyreview.org/0702martinez.htmJuly 11 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) New College 780 Valencia at 19th St., SF
Labor, Imperialism and Indigenous People - (Forum)
Chair, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, writer and professor in Native American Studies, co-founder Indigenous World Association, 3 decades of international indigenous organizing.
Speakers:
Aileen "Chockie" Cottier, Lakota from Pine Ridge, co-founder, Women of All Red Nations, Indigenous World Association, 3 decades of international indigenous organizing.
Jimbo Simmons, Creek from Oklahoma, International Indian Treaty Council representative, 3 decades of international indigenous organizing.
Morningstar Gali, Pit River nation, Northern California, Bay Area indigenous organizer from the new generation, raised by Pit River, international activists.July 11, 12 at Red Vic Theater
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (127 min) 2006
Director Ken Loach, Germany/Ireland/UK
Showtimes: Wed: 2:00, 7:00, 9:35 Thurs: 7:00, 9:35
Tickets: $8.50 regular; $6.50 for 2pm matinees; $5.00 seniors and children at all times.July 12 (Thursday) 7:30 PM (Donation) Stanford University -Palo Alto - Building 420, room 040 - Jordan Hall, lower level in the Main Quad (Map: http://campus-map.stanford.edu/index.cfm?lD=D1-420)
Maquilapolis (68 min) 2006 by Vicky Funari & Sergio DeLa Torre
(See details of this film)July 12 (Thursday) 7:00 PM ($3.00, Free for AFTRA members)
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 2868 Mission St., at 25th St., SF
Film Showing by AFTRA
AFTRA: Commitment to Action (28 min) 2007
by BAL-Maiden Films, directed by Amie Williams
Al Hart (AFTRA San Francisco Local Board of Directors) will introduce the documentary.
AFTRA: Commitment To Action is an inside look at how thousands of members of AFTRA depend on a union for representation and respect as workers and artists. Including well known radio and television workers, we see what a union means from their own words. This breaks stereotypes that because you are a well known personality, you don't need a union in the entertainment industry. These workers show again and again that having a union is not a luxury but a necessity in dealing with the some of the biggest media conglomerates in the world.
http://www.aftra.com/locals/sanfrancisco/AFTRADocumentary.htmlJuly 12 (Thursday) 7:30 PM (Donation) Poet & Patriot Bar -320
Cedar St., Santa Cruz
Danish Musicians from Denmark perform
For information: (408) 674-5020, jimmy-kelly@sbcglobal.net
More Danish musicians performance on July 14 & 15.July 13 (Friday) 6:00 PM ($5.00) -New College 766 Valencia, SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Herd (SURU) (118 min) 1978 by Yilmaz Guney
In this illuminating film, we see how the industrialization of Turkey destroys the conditions and lives of the rural population. A sheepherder seeks to take his flock to Ankara to sell and in the process we see the transformation of society and the life of the Kurds. This film was banned in Turkey.
guneyfilimcilik@superonline.com
Oppression Is Illegal (21 min) 2006
by Labor News Production (Korea)
South Korean workers have some of the most militant and democratic unions in the world. At the same time they face massive repression with many trade unionists and leaders jailed and trade unionists faced with being sued personally for costs when they go on strike. As a result of these draconian measures, some unionists have committed suicide. Temporary workers are now the norm in Korea and this has brought even greater economic problems for the working people of Korea.
Lnp1989@empal.com
www.lnp89.orgJuly 13 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore - 888 Valencia St. SF
The Fight of Our Lives: The War of Attrition Against US Labor - Stolen Birthright: The US Conquest and Exploitation of the Mexican People
Book reading by Richard D. Vogel
The war against Mexican migrant workers in the United States has a long
history and this ghost from the past is haunting American today. This
presentation looks at the history of the relationship between the United
States and Mexico including Indian wars and the role of slavery in the South
and it's connection to the exploitation of Mexican workers and US workers.
According to Vogel a prime factor in the invasion of Mexico was the
pressure to defend and expand the southern empire of slavery in the U.S.s
This history is vital to understand in the context of the attack on Latino
workers and all workers in the United States today.
http://www.houstonculture.org/hispanic/conquest.htmlJuly 13 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Fellowship of Humanity Hall 370 27th St., Oakland
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Class Struggle Films from Australia
Film-Work (43 min) 1981 by John Huges
Between 1953 and 1958 the Waterside Workers Federation in Australia supported a film unit tha produced ten documentary films for several militant unions. Film-Work, produced in 1981, looks at sequences from four of these films in conversation with the Unit’s members raising issues pertinent to current problems of film and labor history, politics and social change.
jheworks@websurf.net.au
The Hungry Miles (49 min) 1954 by Jack Levy, Keith Gow of the Waterfront Workers Federation Film Unit
This labor film, which premiered to 5,000 wharfies in a Melbourne stadium shows the real lives and struggles of the Australian dockers. The WWF had made it a high priority to break through the anti-worker propaganda by the shipping bosses and this film played a key part in showing the working conditions, hopes and aspirations of dockers. It also challenged the corporate controlled effort to make film simply "entertainment" industry.
http://www.api-network.com/cgi-bin/reviews/jrbview.cgi?n=1864032804
Hola Australia (20 min) by MUA Film Unit (Australia)
Australian wharfies win a trip to Cuba and learn about fellow maritime workers as well as the healthcare system of the country. This first hand look at the healthcare in Cuba and how it operates.
July 14 (Saturday) 11:00 - 4:00 PM Hyde Street Pier Hyde & Jefferson St., SF (You need to pay the gate fee at the pier)
Living History: SF Waterfront Strike 1901
(Theatrical Performance of 1901 City Waterfront Federation Strike)
With the Hyde Street Pier Living History Players
Witness a recreation of the strike that shut down the San Francisco waterfront from July 13 to October 2 1901, and resulted after its conclusion in the general acceptance and growth of labor unions throughout the city.
Living History Players take roles as striking seamen and teamsters demonstrating on the pier, carrying picket signs and distributing leaflets, with impassioned speeches calling for unity and brotherhood, and theatrical confrontations with employers and shipowners.
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Hyde Street Pier at the foot of Hyde Street For More Information Call: (415) 447-5000July 14 (Saturday) 1:00 PM (Free) The Red Stone Building 16th Street at Capp, SF
The Redstone Walk – Labor, Art & The Politics of the Mission District
By Louis Prisco
THE REDSTONE BUILDING AND ENVIRONS. An inside look at the Labor Temple that was headquarters of the 1934 General Strike, plus a brief tour of the historically rich working class neighborhood outside. This event is a supplement to the SF General Strike walk on July 21. To register for July 14 call the leader, Louis Prisco, at 415-841-1254 or send an e-mail to penguinflow@hotmail.comJuly 14 (Saturday) 6:30 PM ($8.00) SF Community Music Center 544 Capp St., SF
Reception & Concert
(6:30 PM Reception, 7:30 PM Concert)
This year the Labor Festival will be having Danish singers and musicians performing Danish working class songs. These members of Danish Musicians Union are Hanne Skaalum, folk singer, Victoria Thygesen, folk singer and singer-songwriter, Irina Strange, international jazz singer and pianist, Micael Castor, singer and songwriter, Jørn Nielsen, contrabass player, Bendix Nielsen, drummer, Claus Bastrup, accordion player.
Denmark has had a great tradition of working class songs and music. In October 2006, the album "Arbejderliv" was released brought together by Micael Castor. Many of these singers and musicians will perform at the festival.July 15 (Sunday) 1:00 - 4:00 PM (Free) Old Dutch Windmill in Golden Gate Park (On JFK Rd. near the Beach Chalet & the ocean)
Singing of Danish Jazz singer Irina Strange and musician Donald Pender perform at the Old Dutch Windmill.July 15 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Donation) -ILWU Local 6 Hall 255 9th Street, near Howard, SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Discussion after the films on privatization/corporatization in education with videographers Jackson Potter and Pepi Leistyna. Also joining the discussion will be Robert McCarthy a Hayward Highschool teacher of NEA-CTA who was a one of the videographers of The Channel 16.84 "The Truth" a daily video strike bulletin on youtube.
Renaissance 2010: On The Front Lines (52 min) 2007
by Jackson Potter & Al Ramirez
A video documentary showing the threat to public education stemming from school privatization. This presentation features teachers from charter and traditional schools, educational experts, and community leaders affected by Renaissance 2010. jpottery2002@yahoo.com
Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class (62 min) 2005
by Loretta Alper & Pepi Leistyna
This film navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.
http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/ClassDismissed
July 15 (Sunday) 5:30 PM (Free) -Terminal E South side of the ferry building, SF
A performance before the boat ride with Richard Adrianowitz and Peter Kasin doing sea songs of 19th century African American and Caribbean sailors and dock workers, and with AFM Local 6 member Jack Chernos doing Burt Williams' and his own labor songs.
http://www.handspikes.com/
http://www.sffolkfest.org/2004/performers_and_workshops/
pw_richard_peter_kasin.htmlJuly 15 (Sunday) 6:30 PM ($35.00) -Terminal E South side of the ferry building, SF (End of the Market Street)
Labor Maritime History Boat Tour
(Space still available)
This year, the LaborFest Maritime History Boat Tour is a nighttime dinner cruise. We will learn about the struggle of the ILWU-IBU and Master, Mates and Pilots to keep the bay unionized. We will sail by the rising eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
Former boilermaker and labor photographer Joseph Blum will talk about how the new bridge is being constructed along with presentations by other construction and maritime workers. Gray Brechin and other historians will provide a picture of our history in the past and it's relevance today. Betty Reid Soskin of Rosie The Riveter Project, RetiredILWU Local 10 Secretary Treasurer & maritime historian Herb Mills, Labor historian Robert Cherny, ITF Port Inspector Lila Smith. We thank Blue and Gold for the use of the boat.
6:15 PM Boarding, 6:30 PM Departure
Tour last 3 hours
Food will be provided, however, if you are on a special diet, please bring your own food.
To make your reservation:
Call (415) 642-8066 or send e-mail to laborfest@laborfest.net
and give the following information.
1) Your name (please spell it out if you use phone)
2) Number of your reservation
3) Your phone number
You should send a check to:
LaborFest
P.O. Box 40983, San Francisco, CA 94140
People making reservation after 7/11, could pay at the gate before boarding.July 16 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) New College 766 Valencia St. at 19th St., SF
1877 Strike and The Chinese Struggle for Justice
Presentation by Anna Naruta Ph.D., Director of Collections of Chinese Historical Society of America.July 17 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) AFM Local 6 Hall 116 9th St., near Mission St., SF
Denmark, Labor, Art and The Working Class Movement
A report on the labor situation in Denmark and role of labor culture and arts. This delegation of musicians were supported in their trip to the United States by the Musicians union and other unions in Denmark.July 18 (wedbesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888Valencia St., SFG
From Us to Them: The $Trillion Dollar Income Shift
Book reading by Jack Rasmus -Jack's book critically looks at the massive and historic shift in income in the US. The growing disparity of wealth and real decline in living standards of working people in the US is a story that is generally covered up by the corporate controlled mainstream media.July 19 (Thursday) 8:00 PM ($10 - No one turned away)
a.Muse Gallery 614 Alabana St., SF
Brecht Concert
Songs of Bertolt Brecht with music by Hanns Eisler, Kurt Weill, and Paul Dessau. Readings of poetry and other texts by Brecht.
Joyce Todd McBride, voice, with Miles Graber, piano, plus special guests, present an evening of songs and poems by Bertolt Brecht as part of LaborFest 2007. For information: (510)548-3111 jetmcbride@gmail.comJuly 20 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 2868 Mission St., at 25th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The 20th anniversary of the largest strike wave in the history of South Africa
.In 1987, a militant mass strike wave took place in South Africa against the apartheid regime. This strike involved railway workers, teachers, public workers and the entire Black labor movement. To commemorate this strike, Brother Robert Mashego 2nd Vice President of SATAWU from Johannesburg, South Africa who was in the strike has been invited to speak. We will also show a video of that strike, a video The Long March, The BTR Strike and a video of the 1984 Action Against Aparthied at Pier 80 in San Francisco and the support for this action by ILWU Local 10.
COSATU and The Freedom Charter (60 min) 1987
Producer unknown
This valuable historical video record of the 1987 strike wave against the apartheid regime of South Africa covers the miners, railway workers, auto workers and the strike rallies and actions during that year. Union members speak out throughout the film and debate at the COSATU Congress the role of their unions and why they need a “Freedom Charter.” This film is a critical resource in understanding and depicting the working class struggle in South Africa against apartheid and for workers power.
The Long March, The BTR Strike (26 min) 1986
by Open Eye Productions
Follows the NUMSA Sarmcol strike. This strike of the BTR workers in South Africa won support from throughout the world including the Bay Area. The workers organized collectives to raise funds through the production of t-shirts and other products. These workers wrote plays about their struggle and fought starvation and many assassination attacks by government and company supporters.July 20 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Fellowship of Humanity Hall 370 27th St., Oakland
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Scavengers (69 min) 2007 by Karahber (Turkey)
Hundreds of people who have been pushed out of their Kurdish village Ördekli Kotran's in Hakkari during 1994 are still in a battle for survival. Their work is collecting paper for recycling from the garbage in the center of Ankara. In 2001, a group of these workers started to video record their daily lives. They documented the suffering as a result of their forced migration and their struggle against unregulated face of capitalism in the capital city of Turkey. Their work tells the story of those people - from a 13 years old child looking after his family in the garbage of Ankara to an old man being dismissed from his village at the age of 60 with their only resources being their labor. Despite forced migration, alienation and degradation, they are proud of what they do.
(Kurish and Turkish with subtitles)
www.karahaber.org
Central Bakery O, Dridi (33 min) 2002 by Camy Julien (France)
One night with a bakerman. Omar Dridi was born in Algeria and he arrived after the Algerian’s war in France. He talks about his life, his work, his dream, the new generation etc. His work is what you eat.
juliencamy@gmail.comJuly 20 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Free) -The Beat Museum 540 Broadway at Columbus, SF
Chris Chandler Performance
For more information: (415) 399-9626
July 21 (Saturday) 10:30 AM (Free) Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza Front of Ferry Building, SF (at the end of Market Street)
San Francisco General Strike Walk
With ILWU Local 10 longshoreman Jack Heyman and labor historian Louis Prisco
This walk and history talk will look at the causes of the ‘34 general strike and why it was successful. How was the strike organized and why are the issues in that strike still relevant to working people today? Also you will walk by the key historical sites in this important US labor struggle.
Join us on the waterfront.
KPFA "Against the Grain" with Jack Heyman & Louis Prisco, Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
Photos-San Francisco General Strike Walk by Charles Slay Jul 28th, 2007July 21 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon (Free) New College 766 Valencia at 19th St., SF
Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Poetry and Stories (LaborFest Writing Group)
The group will read their writing honoring working people. This group evolved out of the 2005 LaborFest writing workshop with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. The reading will be on the theme Our Working Life and Our Working Ancestors. With Margaret Cooley, Keith Cooley, Phyllis Holliday, Susan Ford, Jerry Path, Bernadette St. John, and Alice Rogoff. There will also be a writing exercise with the audience.July 21 (Saturday) 2:00 - 5:30 PM ($5.00) ILWU Local 6 Hall 255 9th St., near Howard St., SF
WORDS ON FIRE (A spoken word performance, poetry/theater, and topical songs)
with Albert Vetere Lannon, Hali Hammer, Bernard Gilbert & Chris Chandler who will screen the video Paterson silk Strike with narriation.
An Open Mic follows the show - bring your poems, songs, stories to share. Albert Vetere Lannon is a former ILWU Local 6 officer and retired Coordinator of the Laney College Labor Studies Program. He now lives near Tucson and performs regularly at local spoken word events and slams. He is a founding member of the Tucson performance poetry troupe Paris Moves.July 21 (Saturday) 7:00 PM ($5.00 donation) New College
766 Valencia at 19th St., SF
Tillie Olsen "Her Words Ring Out"
A benefit reading and video with devorah major, Annie Hershey, Nellie Wong, Merle Woo, Daisy Anarchy, Alice Rogoff, Leslie Simon and others. Tillie Olsen was in the thick of it during her life. As a child she witnessed a lynching in her small town and that incident along with many others made her a fighter for justice, humanity and workers power. She wrote about the San Francisco general strike in 1934 and what this strike meant to the common people. Some of these writings are contained in the work"Yonnondio: From the Thirties". Her words still have the same clarity and power they had when she wrote them and we were lucky at LaborFest that she helped bring her voices to the workers today. http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/olsen/onlineinterviews.htmJuly 22 (Sunday) 10:00 - 2:00 PM (Free) New College -
777 Valencia Room 4 at 19th St., SF
Labor, Telecommunications, The Public & Media
Telecommunications are a critical issue for the labor movement from the use of this technology to spy on workers to how workers and unions can use youtube and municipal broadband to get their story out and break the information blockade.
This educational training will provide an over-view on these issues as well as hands on training on the use of video and new technology.
Invited speakers are: AFTRA, Bruce Wolfe -public.freemuni.net, Will Goodo -fired Comcast Worker, Carl Bryant -producer TV214, Dave Mathison -author “Be The Media”, Robert McCarthy -Producer daily strike TV video show on youtube called “The Strike”.
July 22 (Sunday) 3:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore - 888 Valencia St. at 20th, SF
"The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race and Mexican Americans"
Book Reading by Stephen Pitti
Stephen has made an important contribution in discovering the hidden history of Silicon Valley and Northern California. The first multi-nationals in California in fact used Indian slave labor to mine cinnabar in New Almaden and these stories keep coming. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7386.html
July 22 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 6 Hall 255 9th St. near Howard, SF
Housing Struggles: Workers, Unions, and the Bay Area Crisis
A panel discussion with labor and housing rights activists on the housing crisis, one of the most pressing issues for workers in the Bay Area and beyond, and how unions and other organizations play a part in this battle.
PANELISTS:
· Alysabeth Alexander, La Voz Latina and SEIU member
· Mike Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer the San Francisco Building Trades
· Jane Martin, Bernal Heights Neighborhood Association and former UNITE-HERE
organizer
· Robert Haaland, San Francisco political coordinator for SEIU 1021 and
former organizer Housing Rights CommitteeJuly 23 (Monday) 6:00 PM (Free) Plumbers Hall 1621 Market St. at Franklin St., SF
1877 Great Strike and The 1907 SF Car Workers Strike
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the 1907 Carmen’s strike in San Francisco and the 1877 national railway strike, the San Francisco Labor Council is presenting the video “The Grand Army of Salvation” (28 minutes) by the American Social History Project. Also, MichaelTheriault Secretary Treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council will make a presentation on the 1907 strike and the death of a union ironworker in that year. Finally UAW-NWU member and writer Larry Shoup will make a presentation on the 1877 strike and its affect in the Bay Area. These two important struggles are part of the hidden history of San Francisco and the American working class.
July 24 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) New College 766 Valencia St. at 19th St., SF
Forced Off The Land : A Story of One Family's Struggle in 1847 Ireland
Reading and presentation by Margaret Cooley
Margaret went to Ireland and found within the story of her family a portrait of working class oppression. Hear through the personal story of one family’s struggle to hold onto their land tenancy, how the potato economy forced the immigration of the tenant workers of Ireland to make way for capitalist enterprise.
marg_cooley@yahoo.com
Video Showing
Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America (28 min) 2007
by Rosemary Feurer, Laura Vasquez
Mother Jones, one of the most famous Irish born labor activists in the US had a brutal life. Her 5 children died in a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Tennessee. She then moved to Chicago and during the Chicago fire she lost her home, shop and all her belongings. In her late 50’s she began to struggle for workers rights with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and helped organize strikes and marches including marches to protest child labor.
This powerful video tells her story and the fight for rank and file power that she stood for. Rose will also discuss her new book Radical Unionism In the Midwest 1900-1950.
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s06/feurer.html
http://www3.niu.edu/~td0raf1/labor/indexpage.htm
http://www3.niu.edu/~td0raf1/radicalunionism/index.htmJuly 25 (Wednesday) 5:30 PM (Donation) -SEIU Local 87 Hall 240 Golden Gate Ave., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Scavengers (69 min) 2007 by Karahber (Turkey)
(Kurish and Turkish with subtitles)
www.karahaber.org
Producing Just Garments (25 min) by Media Insurgence
500 workers of the Textile Union STIT are forced to occupy and run their factory after the bosses pulled out in an effort to destroy the union. Forming a workers’ cooperative, they face illegal firings and the might of international capital.
Solidarityfilms@riseup.net
www.mediainsurgente.com
Labour Days (29 min) 2007 by Stuart Cryer (Canada)
It takes us through the history of the company town and how the workers began to organize and fight for their rights. Twenty workers talk about what a union means to them from protecting their healthcare and safety on the job to fighting discrimination and harassment on the job.
terrav@cyberbeach.netJuly 25 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland
IWW: From the Bay Area to the Ends of the Earth
Presentation by IWW members: Since its founding in 1905 the Industrial Workers of the World has played an important role in the international movement toward workers’ emancipation. With the IWW experiencing resurgence in the last decade, a critical look at this unique movement is vital. With a focus on the Bay Area, we will trace the IWW from its current form back through diverse areas of strike struggles and working class culture.July 26 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St. at 20th St., SF
Golden Gulag : Prison, Surplus, Crisis and Opposition in Globalizing California
Reading By Ruthie Gilmore
Ruthie shows the roots of the drive to build more prisons in California and the forces that are driving this. Both political parties are now fully engaged in pushing billions more for criminalization of large parts of the population. With more money being spent on prisons than education in California the need to understand this insidious development is vital for the future of our society.
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10234.html
SF Chronicle's reviewJuly 27 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 2868 Mission St., at 25th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
USA vs Al-Arian (98 min) 2007 by Line Halvorsen
This is the story of the targeting by the US government of Palestinian American professor Dr. Sami Al-Arian at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Sami who was also a member of the NEA United Professors of Florida received their support against the pressure to fire him after he appeared on Fox¹s Bill O¹Reilly show. The film shows a personal story of a family living in a society where fear of terrorism has resulted in increasing stigmatization and discrimination against Muslims. For years, Nahla Al-Arian and her children have been fighting to prove the innocence of husband and father Sami, a Palestinian refugee, and civil rights activist, who has lived in the USA for more than thirty years. In 2003, Sami Al-Arian was accused of giving material support to a terrorist organization and held in solitary confinement for over three years. His six-month trial ended without a single guilty verdict. The failure to convict Dr. Al-Arian was seen as a stinging rebuke for the federal government. While the Bush administration considered this a landmark case in its campaign against international terrorism, Professor Sami Al-Arian claims he has been targeted in an attempt to silence his political views. Because the jury hung on some of the counts, however, Dr. Al-Arian remained in jail as the prosecution threatened to retry him.
Laila Al-Arian, daughter of Sami Al-Arian will be attending.
http://www.usavsalarian.com
The Alley (14 min) 2007 by a-films/RJI
From Occupied Palestine, this film explores aspects of the current political economy of Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus. Perspectives from this hard-hit community include the insights and voices of vegetable sellers and other residents of Balata, such as those forced by the harsh conditions of Israeli occupation to seek work in a sweatshop at the edge of the camp.
a-fils[at]riseup[dot]net
ripplescross[at]yaho[dot].com
www.researchjournalisminitiative.net
Suicide Jumpers (13 min) by Herbert Docena (Lebanon)
This work focuses on the Filipina house domestics who were seeking to leave Lebanon during the Israeli attack during 2006. Around 30,000 to 50,000 Filipino migrant workers most of them female domestic helpers were subjected to collective punishment in August 2006 in Israel because of the Lebanon bombing. Many of them were locked in their homes and had to jump out of their employers homes to escape back to the Philippines. It looks at the expoitation of these women and the hidden cost of the war in Lebanon. herbert@focusweb.org
The Wisconsin Plan: From Welfare to Work? (13 min) 2007
by Sawt el-Anel/The Labor’s Voice
Israel’s welfare-work experiment “Wisconsin Plan” has entered its decisive phase, as the two-year pilot period is about to end in June 2007. This film shows how this plan is causing the social and economic problems on Palestinian people in Israel.
laborers@laborers-voice.org
www.laborers-voice.orgJuly 27 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00 donation) SEIU Local 87 Hall 240 Golden Gate Ave., SF
Concert of The Choruses
Join in supporting the struggle for human rights by the San Francisco Day Laborers’ program. Immigrant workers are under attack. This benefit with songs performed by Coro Obrero with Francisco Herrera will help their cause. The concert includes the Labor Heritage Rockin’ Solidarity Chorus performing songs and narrative from their new performance piece We Are All Immigrants. Also performing will be the San Francisco Day Laborer’s Chorus.July 27 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) Fellowship of Humanity Hall 370 27th St., Oakland
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Mother Jones (30 min) 2006 by Rosemary Feurer
(See details)
Stolt Australia (11 min) by MUA film unit
A video by the MUA film unit about the fight by MUA ship crew of the MT Stolt who to keep it from being reflagged with the resulting destruction of jobs. The crew debates whether to take up the fight and what it means from them and the workers in the rest of the industry. The need for solidarity was clearly the decisive factor in making this a victory for the crew and the union.
http://www.mua.org.au/news/general/stolt7.html
We Live on The Railroad (20 min) by Doro-Chiba (Japan)
This is the story of the fight against privatization of JR (Japan Rail) by railroad workers union.
www.doro-chiba.org/english/english.htm
The Cleaners Christmas Carol (4 min) by Chris Kasrils (U.K.)
Rail and tube cleaners campaign by the UK RMT for decent wages ( a living wage of £7.05 per hour). The living wage campaign goes up against scrooge.
C.Kasrils@rmt.org.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5nWLoC5hqE http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=98930&int1stParentNodeID=89732>July 28 (Saturday) 10:30 AM (Free) Latham Square Telegraph and Broadway, Oakland
Oakland 1946 General Strike Walk
With Karin Hart of the Labor Studies Program at Laney College and Gifford Hartman of the Flying Picket Historical Society. This walk will revisit the sites of Oakland¹s "Work Holiday" that began spontaneously with rank-and-file solidarity with the striking mostly women retail clerks at Kahn¹s and Hastings department store whose picket line was being broken by police scabherding. Within 24 hours, it involved over 100,000 workers and shut down nearly all commerce in the East Bay for 54 hours. In 1946 there were 6 general strikes across the U.S.; that year set the all-time record year for
strikes and work stoppages. The Oakland "Work Holiday" was the last general strike to ever occur in the U.S. and the walk and history talk will attempt to keep alive the memory of this tradition of community-wide working class solidarity.There will be a reception after the walk at the Niebyl-Proctor Library at 6501 Telegraph Ave. (at Alcatraz), in Oakland.Sponsored by Laney College Labor Studies (510-464-3210) and the Flying Picket Historical Society (415-751-1572).
Meet at the fountain in Latham Square, in the intersection where Telegraph and Broadway converge across from the Rotunda Building (Oakland City Center/12th St. BART).
SF Chronicle's notice on this walkJuly 28 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon (Free)
Kids at Work and on Strike
This event was canceled due to illness.July 28 (Saturday) 3:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 6 Hall 255 9th St. near Howard, SF
The Living New Deal: Excavating the Public Landscape of the Great Depression
Presentation By Gray Brechin
In less than a decade, President Franklin Roosevelt's various public works agencies radically transformed the United States, giving employment to and improving the lives of millions while setting the stage for the post-war economic boom. For the past quarter century, however, the New Deal's ideological enemies have systematically rolled back and erased the memory of its epochal accomplishments without understanding how it profited them and continues to do so. Dr. Gray Brechin will discuss the Living New Deal Project - a statewide collaborative effort to document and map the physical legacy of the New Deal in California and to honor the surviving veterans. The Project will provide the foundation for a national inventory and for a discussion of the role of the public sector in a just society.July 29 (Sunday) 10:00 AM ($15.00) Aquatic Park Next to Ghiradelli Square, SF
WPA Bus Tour
With Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith
Join Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith as they travel through history on a bus tour of historic sites built by unionized labor. You will learn about the major contribution workers made during the depression era of the New Deal program. They will discuss about 75 years of WPA.
Co-sponsored by UTU Local 1741
Meet at the bottom corner of Aquatic Park Hyde & Jefferson
Reservation required: call (415) 642-8066
or by e-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net
Make reservation, then send check to:
LaborFest, P.O. Box 40983, SF, CA 94140
(Sandwiches and drinks will be available on the bus.) Bus will be back at Hyde & Jefferson
Tour lasts about 5 hoursJuly 29 (Sunday) 1:00 - 3:00 PM (Free) New College 777 Valencia St. at 19th St., SF
Publishing Contract Workshop
With the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981). With Mike Bradley, Alice Rogoff, and Joe Gold. A workshop on contracts for writers and nonwriters to explain how publishing contracts affect freelance journalists, work for hire writers, and book and literary writers. The NWU believes that writers deserve respect, rights, and renumeration. The work of NWU grievance officers will also be discussed.July 29 (Sunday) 7:00 PM ($10.00) La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley
Wasn’t That a Time - A ‘People’s Songbook’
Folk This! and Friends - An Evening of Radical Protest Music and Theatre
Now in its eighth year, Folk This! has been presenting Bay Area audiences with an eclectic mix of protest songs from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Joining us at our annual event at La Pena will be singer/songwriter Carol Denney and Robert Temple, theatre artist Steven Low, who will be presenting excerpts from the “Yellow Fever Express”, and special guests.
Produced by FolkThis! and LaborFest.
For more information call (415) 431-8485
http://www.folkthis.orgJuly 30 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) Bird and Beckett Bookstore 2788 Diamond St., SF
National Writers Union Reading
A Literary Reading sponsored by the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981). A sampling of work from members of the Poetry and Fiction Committee of the San Francscio/Bay Area Chapter. With Adam David Miller, Cesar Love, Alice Rogoff, Margaret Cooley, Keith Cooley, John Rhodes, Margot Pepper, Eileen Malone, Joe Gold, Mickey Ellinger and David Gray.July 31 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM ($5.00 Donation) El Rio 3158 Mission St. at Precita, SF
Closing Party
LaborFest’s closing event will be a special CD release party for the Angry Tired Teachers Band’s new album. This band which is based in Hayward has written about the travails of teachers at working class districts in the Bay Area, and was also featured in a daily video strike bulletin show called “The Truth” which can be seen by going to www.youtube.com and typing in “HUSD strike”. Also performing will be Keith Gow, Norma Disher, Jock Levy and Musica Humana Blues with Arnoldo Garcia- Vocals and guitar, Andrew Kong Knight - violin and vocals, Jose Parafox- percussion. Join us in supporting this working class band from Hayward.
andykongknight@yahoo.com
www.andrewkongknight.com/att/mp.html
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=h.u.s.d.%20strike&search=Search
SF Chronicle's review