Welcome to LaborFest 2007
One hundred years ago this July, the most violent labor struggle in the history of San Francisco was being waged. Patrick Calhoun, the owner United Railways, had provoked a strike by the Carmen¹s Union in San Francisco. The Carmen’s union was seeking parity with Oakland Carmen and a shorter workday.
In the period leading up to the San Francisco great earthquake, 30% of the working people were unionized making San Francisco the most unionized major city in America. As a result of the 1901 transportation strike, the Union Labor Party had been formed, and a union mayor Eugene Schmitz and a union board of supervisors controlled the city. This made big business people in San Francisco very unhappy, and they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring private detectives to find corruption among these labor politicians. Unfortunately, they discovered it and used it to hammer the trade unions in the city.
They removed the mayor, his advisor and the entire board of Supervisors, and replaced them mostly with business people interested, of course, in supporting business interests.
The result of this new political situation was that Calhoun was provided with gun permits for his strikebreakers, and he used these imported anti-union thugs to help break the strike and destroy the union. Thirty-one people were killed during the strike, and on Labor Day of that year, a union ironworker was killed when the rail line started before the Labor Day march had ended, and this led to a confrontation.
While the physical violence today in San Francisco and the United States is not on the scale of 1907, workers face a declining standard of living with difficulties of sending their children to college, and getting and keeping healthcare. They also cannot afford to live in San Francisco and this is a serious threat to the political power of organized labor in the city. There is also a war in the Middle East being paid for by working people here in both regions. One hundred years ago another war was taking place in the Philippines to bring “democracy” to the Philippines and over 3 million Philippine people died. This war like many others is a forgotten part of history.
LaborFest was created in 1994 to help commemorate not just the San Francisco general strike of 1934, which was successful, but also to recognize the men and women who helped build and rebuild the city after the fires and earthquakes that ravaged our city. They keep the bridges and the buildings, parks, hospitals, schools and city infrastructure going to make this a great city.
The history of the role of working people is vital to understand our present struggles for justice and human rights, and our festival has that as it¹s purpose.
The rebuilding of San Francisco after the quake of 1906 took place quickly in large part because of the skills, talents and organization of organized labor, and the city was rebuilt in the record time of three years. That is testimony to the creativity and productivity of the tens of thousands of workers who made San Francisco come back to life.
Today, labor is again under attack. The effort to bust the ILWU Inland Boatman¹s Union and the Master, Mates and Pilots at Alcatraz Tours uses the weight of the Federal Government and this is a danger not only to maritime labor but also to all working people.
Our festival this year includes events that cover many of these struggles with theater, poetry, film and music and we hope that you can enjoy this rich history and culture that working people have. The festival has also spread to Japan, Korea, Bolivia, Germany, Turkey, Argentina and Brazil. Workers of the world unite, ‘you have nothing to lose but your chains’ is a slogan whose relevance has as much meaning today as ever.
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Aug.31,2007 11:53 KST Modified on : Aug.31,2007 12:54 KST
Migrant Worker Film Festival highlights both adversity and change
Festival organizers hope to share migrant experiences with viewers and build solidarity among migrant communities
By Jenny Na
Challenging popular ideas and images of migrant workers, the Migrant Worker Film Festival enters its second year with the theme “Super Migrants.” This year’s festival aims to stand as a testament to the struggles faced by migrant workers the world over, while also offering a glimpse at their achievements.
Working as a migrant is synonymous with putting one’s life on the line in jobs known to be difficult, dangerous and dirty, the notorious three Ds in the industries that commonly employ migrants. In addition to examining these inherent risks, this year's festival also offers viewers the chance to explore the rich and varied cultures of migrants.
The festival will run from August 31-September 2 in Seoul at Seoul Art Cinema, and aims to give cineastes, activists and the general public an opportunity to feast on 46 films representing 15 different countries.
Though other festivals have covered migrant workers' issues in the past, the festival focuses exclusively on a broad range of special topics. Through documentaries and films of other genres made by and about migrants, the festival looks at labor, human rights, children, women, culture, the Asian Activist Network and films made by migrant workers.
Festival highlights
The opening film, “A Day Without a Mexican,” a serious comedy that takes satirical look at immigration in the United States by imagining a day when the entire state of California is suddenly depleted of its Latin American population. By taking a lighthearted approach, the film dramatically illustrates the crucial role that Latinos, whether migrant worker or citizen, play in California, and by extension, American society.
Another film, “Ghosts,” depicts the story of a Chinese woman whose trip to England to earn money to help her family leads her to become an indentured servant and we see her taking on increasingly dangerous work in order to survive.
Some of the films on the program were featured in last spring’s Women’s Film Festival in Seoul, so those who missed them there can catch them here. One of these, “Ah-Tsao Go!,” follows the joys and sorrows in life of a Vietnamese woman married to a Taiwanese man. It is part of the Migrant Women program, which also features a number of documentaries on women living as brides in foreign countries and others working in modern forms of slavery.
New this year is a section on the Asian Activist Network, featuring two documentaries that depict the political situation in countries from which many migrant workers in Korea have come. One shows the struggle of people in the Kansat region of Bangladesh, after a multinational company turned off the power in 2005, leading to widespread protests that were ignored by the government and resulted in the deaths of 17 people. Another film brings to light the human rights violations committed by the Macapagal-Arroyo regime in the Philippines.
Another new section, Inside Migrant Culture, presents four films from Bangladesh, India and Canada. “The Peace Tree” tells the story of two children, one Muslim and the other Christian, who want to celebrate the holidays of Christmas and Eid with one another, over the objections of their parents. “America, America!” is a four-minute music video that takes a swipe at American involvement in the Middle East and questions the American conception of “freedom.”
There are eight films in the section on Migrant Children. “Nasi” is a short film about a Chinese adoptee who takes her own kind of revenge on her situation and "Baroque 'n Roll" shows what children must overcome in dealing with racism.
Migrant workers in Korea
In Korea, migrant workers have a 20-year history. In spite of this, the almost one million people from over 100 different countries, including China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Mongolia, working in the country or living as foreign brides, continue to face discrimination and the same difficult conditions as they did when they first arrived.
Meanwhile, there are few programs directly supporting migrants and the government has continued to force undocumented workers out of the country as a way to deal with the growing number of migrant workers, while ignoring their human rights. But migrants have begun to make change on their own and have seen their efforts materialize in the creation of a union and a growing number of community organizations dedicated to promoting the rights of migrant workers.
The festival’s director, Mahbub Alam, came to Korea over eight years ago and worked 12-15 hour days in furniture and plastics factories before becoming involved with the Migrant Workers Trade Union in 2002. Three years later, working with three fellow migrant workers and one Korean national, he founded Migrant Workers Television, which regularly produces news and information by and for the migrant population, in addition to maintaining a website and sponsoring this year's festival, as a way to combat what he saw as “misrepresentations of migrant workers in the media, with portrayals of migrant workers as helpless or funny.”
Alam has lost friends and colleagues as a result of government crackdowns involving midnight raids and struggles over legality and pay. Alam’s film, “The Deported,” examines the after-effects of these policies. He took his camera to his native Bangladesh to follow the lives of migrant activists who were deported after one such crackdown and their attempts to continue their activism in their homelands.
Media activism in multicultural Korea
In addition to representing these issues, the festival also hopes to visualize the concerns of migrants and help build community. Linda Kwon, who regularly volunteers with MWTV, says that the festival is “a way for migrant workers to see their stories on screen and promote international solidarity among migrant workers.”
Cross-cultural collaborations will also be a feature of this year’s festival with films by Koreans and Burmese filmmakers. Educational outreach to migrant communities generated films in the sections devoted to women and films made by migrant workers.
“Korea is rapidly becoming a multicultural society and this festival reflects that along with the many issues that kind of change brings,” said Kwon.
This year’s festival, as with last year’s two-day event, starts in Seoul and moves on to 10 cities around the country where there are large concentrations of migrant workers. Festival organizers hope the films will resonate with people in these areas and build community through dialogue.
As Alam says, “Many Koreans don’t want to think about migrant workers, so we have to share our experiences with them.” But, he says, there is also a lot of change these days as is evidenced by the number of activists and volunteers who have put time and energy into supporting the cause.
All screenings are free and all of the films will have subtitles in both Korean and English. In addition to the films, there will also be a special party on Saturday night and a community discussion with migrant workers on Sunday. For more information on the festival and a schedule of events, go to the Migrant Worker Film Festival website at http://mwff.or.kr/.
The films in this year’s festival speak to the diversity, vibrancy and persistence of the migrant community, their ability to overcome adversity and activate for change. Watching these Super Migrants shine may just send you home with a smile, and a little extra inspiration, before the last days of summer fade away.
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