[P2P-F] Fwd: [Newsletter] New work on worker-controlled companies in Milan, Rome and Thessaloniki

Thu Jan 7 12:59:59 CET 2016

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Oliver Ressler <oliver at ressler.at>
Date: Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 5:27 PM
Subject: [Newsletter] New work on worker-controlled companies in Milan,
Rome and Thessaloniki
To: newsletter at ressler.at

Last chance to see the 3-channel video installation “Occupy, Resist, Produce”
in the framework of my solo-exhibition “We will beg for nothing, we will
ask for nothing. We will take, we will occupy” at Centro Andaluz de Arte
Contemporaneo – CAAC
<http://www.caac.es/english/exh/projects/frame_ressler15.htm> in Seville
before it closes on 10 January 2016.
The next opportunity to see the installative version of “Occupy, Resist,
Produce” will be at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki (GR)
from 11 to 26 March 2016 as part of 18th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

Best wishes
Oliver

* Occupy, Resist, Produce*

A 3-channel video installation by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler
97 min. (combined)
2014 – 2015

The economic crisis that began in 2007-8 led to layoffs on a massive scale,
leaving thousands of newly unemployed workers with little hope of another
job. Their response put workers’ control back on the agenda in Europe. For
many years beforehand, factories had been occupied and recuperated almost
exclusively in Latin America.

In most cases an occupation is not a deliberate step towards workers'
control but a means of workers' struggle against the closure of a
production site or company or the relocation of production to another
country. The struggles often fall apart without any concrete results.
“Occupy, Resist, Produce” focuses on the rare, better organized cases where
the purpose of the struggle is to bring production under workers’ control.
The workers do more than protest, they take the initiative and become
protagonists, building horizontal social relations on the production sites
and adopting mechanisms of direct democracy and collective decision-making.
The recuperated workplaces often reinvent themselves, building links with
local communities and social movements.

The 3-channel video installation “Occupy, Resist, Produce” consists of
three films on occupied factories in Milan, Rome and Thessaloniki. In these
cases the workers did find ways to organize labor under their own control.
Each film is based on discussion with the workers. The workers' assemblies
– always the main decision-making bodies – were recorded. It is fundamental
to recognize the differences between the situations, contexts and practices
of the three worker-controlled companies, but it is also important to
understand workers’ control or recuperation of workplaces as a
socio-political action rather than a merely economic procedure.

Maflow, a multinational car parts producer based in Milan, closed its
production facilities in 2009, with proprietor Italian Lifestyle Partners
facing bankruptcy fraud charges. The workers began a struggle to reopen the
plant under workers’ control. In 2013 they occupied the plant, and since
that day 20 workers have participated full-time in the project, completely
reinventing themselves and the factory, which they renamed *RiMaflow*.
Applying the concept of an “open factory”, the workers started recycling
computers and electronic household devices, opened a bar and cafeteria, and
organized a flea market and cultural activities with the local community.
They also built alliances with local organic agricultural producers,
creating a group for solidarity shopping.

*Officine Zero*, formerly RSI (Rail Service Italia), once specialized in
maintenance and repair of sleeping cars. When Italian railroads stopped
running night trains in December 2011, RSI closed. Some 20 workers from a
workforce of almost 60 refused to accept the closure, and in February 2012
they occupied their workplace. In 2013 Officine Zero was officially founded
as an eco-social factory. Officine Zero literally means “Zero Workshops”:
“zero bosses, zero exploitation, zero pollution”, as their new slogan puts
it. In half a dozen workshops for carpentry, padding, metalwork and general
repairs, the workers at Officine Zero focus mainly on the repair and
recycling of domestic appliances, computers and furniture. The collective
project aims to transform the former sleeping car repair shop into an
industrial reuse and recycling center.

*Vio.Me.* in Thessaloniki used to produce industrial glue, insulant and
various other chemically derived construction materials. In 2010 the
workers were sent on unpaid leave every 4-6 weeks. After the owner stopped
paying wages at all, in July 2011 the workers decided to occupy the plant
and take their future into their own hands. In February 2013 Vio.Me. began
producing organic cleaning products and organic soap. Vio.Me. formed a
cooperative in order to operate legally. However, Vio.Me. does not operate
as a traditional cooperative. The workers do not consider the company their
property but a common good that should serve the community. Vio.Me. has
“solidarity supporters” paying a monthly fee in advance and getting Vio.Me.
products in exchange. The solidarity assembly also supports the workers'
mobilizations.

For the future it is planned to produce further films on occupied factories
and to expand the video installation as the workers' struggles continue.

Directed and produced by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler
Camera: Thomas Parb
Additional camera: Rudolf Gottsberger, Bernhard Mayr
Boom operators: Thanasis Apostolidis, Riccardo Arrigoni, Emanuel Balbinot,
Roberto Polenta, Oliver Ressler
Film editors: Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler
Sound design, re-recording mix and color correction: Rudolf Gottsberger
Special thanks to: Alioscia Castronuovo, Manos Cizek, Elisa Gigliarelli,
Theodoros Karyotis, Gigi Malabarba, Francesco Raparelli, Marina Sitrin,
Bert Theis, Pina Toscano and all the workers reclaiming work and dignity by
building a democratic and self-determined workplace.
Footage: Giannis Girbas, Social Waste
The project was funded partly through the support of the Austrian Science
Fund (FWF) AR 183-G21, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.), Centro Andaluz
de Arte Contemporáneo – CAAC, BKA, Aktion Selbstbesteuerung and the
Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation.
Thanks to Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria for support.
<http://www.ressler.at>

*Excerpts of the films can be watched here:*
http://www.ressler.at/occupy_resist/

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