Oct. 2015: Occupied companies - new book and films
http://www.azzellini.net - facebook: Dario Azzellini
October 2015, Dario Azzellini's newsletter in English
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0. Before
1. New Books: "An Alternative Labour History. Worker Control and Workplace Democracy" (English) and "La construcción de los dos lados. Poder constituido y poder constituyente en Venezuela" (Castellano)
2. New Documentaries: "Occupy, Resist, Produce – Officine Zero" and "Occupy, Resist, Produce – RiMaflow" by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler, 34 min., 2014 (English/Italiano/Deutsch)
3. Reviews (English)
4. Academic articles: Book chapters and journal articles (English)
5. Interviews and press articles (Español)
6. Videos/Audios (English/Español)
7. Events (Dresden, Madrid, Athens, Berlin)
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0. Before
Hello!
"There is nothing to celebrate, really..."
On the elections in Greece I want to point out the excellent article by Theodoros Karyotis: "Greece, when the social movements are all that is left. Skyrocketing abstention, social demobilisation and an impending wave of harsh austerity measures call for critical reflection after Syriza’s victory."
http://www.autonomias.net/2015/09/nothing.html
Theodoros Karyotis is participant in the Vio.Me.-Solidarity assembly and against water privatization in Thessaloniki.
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My second compilation on workers control, "An Alternative Labour History. Worker Control and Workplace Democracy" is out since March (Zed Books). It features chapters on council democracy, new work place take overs during the contemporary crisis, the Austrian Revolution, Japan after WWII, Brazil in the 1960's and 1970's, Mexico, Uruguay and more... see 1)
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The second documentary on recuperated companies in Europe is ready: "Occupy, Resist, Produce - Officine Zero. The former night train repair facility Officine Zero in Romer, Italy, was recuperated by the workers. This is the second film of a series of films on recuperated workplaces in Europe. The third documentary on Vio.Me. in Greece is almost ready and all three films will be a the Athens Biennale (see 7).
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All the best,
Dario
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1. New Books (English/Spanish):
"An Alternative Labour History. Worker Control and Workplace Democracy"
The global financial crisis has led to a new shop floor militancy. Radical forms of protest and new workers' takeovers have sprung-up all over the globe. In the US, Republic Windows and Doors started production under worker control in January 2013, later that year workers in Greece took over and managed, on their own, a hotel, a hospital, a newspaper, a TV channel and a factory.
The dominant revolutionary left has viewed workers' control as part of a system necessary during a transition to socialism. Yet most socialist and communist parties have neglected to promote workers' control as it challenges the centrality of parties and it is in this spirit that trade unions, operating through the institutional frameworks of government, have held a monopoly over labor history.
Tracing Marx's writings on the Paris Commune through council communism, anarcho-syndicalism, Italian operaismo, and other 'heretical' left currents, this book uncovers the practices and intentions of historical and contemporary autonomous workers' movements that have been largely obscured until now....
George Ciccariello-Maher, Drexel University, author of "We created Chávez":
'Dario Azzellini has emerged as arguably the most important contemporary analyst of worker self-management. Casting a critical eye toward non-revolutionary forms of workers' control, Azzellini and the contributors to this volume enrich our understanding while pressing us ever more toward the radical and transformative experiences in workplace management that have become a resurgent hallmark of our moment.'
Read more and see table of content:
http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/node/20812
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Read chapter 2: Contemporary Crisis and Workers Control
Chapter taken from “An Alternative Labour History” | Edited by Dario Azzellini and published by Zed Books
During the first decade of the current century, factory occupations and production under workers’ control seemed to be limited mainly to South America, with a few exceptions in Asia...
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2851
http://theoccupiedtimes.org/?p=13729
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An Alternative Labour History: Worker Control and Workplace Democracy (Russisch)
Перед вами отрывок из новой книги Дарио Аццелини «Альтернативная история труда: рабочий контроль и демократия на предприятии», недавно опубликованной издательством Zed.
http://www.azzellini.net/uebersetzungen/alternative-labour-history-worke...
http://rabkor.ru/culture/books/2015/05/21/take-back-the-factory/
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"La construcción de los dos lados. Poder constituido y poder constituyente en Venezuela" [2 Volumenes], El Perro y la Rana, 2015
Dario Azzellini: La construcción de los dos lados: poder constituido y poder constituyente en Venezuela
Con la presente obra, el autor estudia el proceso de transformación social en Venezuela entre 1999 y 2009. Se propone un análisis sobre la extensión de la participación popular en el Estado y en la sociedad, ubicando la mirada hacia las tensiones y contradicciones que se generan en este proceso “de dos lados” (poder constituido por un lado y poder constituyente por otro) con base en una detenida revisión del desarrollo y práctica de la “democracia participativa y protagónica” a partir del primer estudio empírico a fondo sobre los Consejos Comunales y sus efectos en las comunidades. ¿Qué contradicciones y conflictos se generan de la particularidad del proceso venezolano por seguir caminos y estrategias “desde arriba” y “desde abajo” al mismo tiempo? ¿Es posible abrir una perspectiva emancipadora de esta manera? Con estas preguntas, el estudio del proceso venezolano que se da en este libro no está motivado solamente por un interés académico, sino también por un profundo interés político para buscar y pensar las posibilidades de cambios radicales en la construcción de nuevas
Descargar pdf:
http://www.elperroylarana.gob.ve/serie-biblioteca-roja/431-la-construcci...
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2. New Documentaries (English/Italiano/Deutsch):
"Occupy, Resist, Produce – Officine Zero" by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler, 2015, 32:29 Min.
Officine Zero, former RSI (Rail Service Italia) was dedicated to the maintenance and repair of sleeping cars. When in December 2011 Italian train services decided to stop the night train service and invest in fast track trains, RSI closed. Some 20 workers out of the almost 60 employees strong work force did not accept the closing and took up the struggle. In February 2012 they occupied their work place. Together they started a laboratory on reconversion, organizing public assemblies attended by hundreds of people. The “crazy idea” of the Officine Zero was born. Precarious workers, independent workers, craftsmen, professionals and students joined the occupation. The mixture between old and new work forms, bringing together different precarious work situations, trying to overcome isolation and individualization is an important core idea of the project.
Officine Zero means literally “workshops zero”: “zero bosses, zero exploitation, zero pollution”, as their new slogan says. The common project is to turn the former sleeping car repair facility into an industrial reuse and recycle center. OZ is administrated horizontally by all workers, from the workshops together with the precarious workers sharing an office floor in the former administration building.
“Occupy, Resist, Produce – Officine Zero” follows the workers’ activities, discussions and initiatives to gain back work, income and dignity by building a democratic and self-determined work place.
Watch the film with English subtitles:
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2881
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiU6pCKj2MQ&feature=youtu.be
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"Occupy, Resist, Produce – RiMaflow" by Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler, 34 min., 2014
The Maflow plant in Trezzano sul Naviglio, located on the industrial periphery of Milan, was part of the Italian transnational car parts producer Maflow, one of the most important manufacturers of air conditioning tubes worldwide. Far from suffering consequences of the crisis and with enough clients to keep producing, Maflow closed in 2009 following fraudulent bankruptcy. The workers of the plant in Milan, Maflow’s main production facility, began a struggle to reopen the plant and keep their jobs. They occupied the plant and held spectacular protests on the plant’s roof. [...]
“Occupy, Resist, Produce – RiMaflow” follows the workers in their day to day activities and discussions as well as in their political and strategic debates.
Watch the film with English subtitles:
http://www.azzellini.net/en/filme/occupy-resist-produce-rimaflow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyhVdoK1g10
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3. Reviews (English)
September 2015 - tribunemagazine.org, Sheila Cohen
Inspirational stories of workers’ struggles in the battle for workplace democracy
This collection has already received copious commendation, with compliments ranging from “a resource for comprehending the past and conceptualizing the future” to “a must-read for those seeking fresh ways out of the current global morass”.
Indeed, reports on remarkable grass-roots struggles in country after country flash before the eager reader like beacons of independent action. As editor Azzellini points out, such independent waves of struggle are all too often unrecognised. Yet they deserve full awareness by those committed to direct democracy and workplace opposition.
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2895
http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2015/09/inspirational-stories-of-workers-...
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2015 - Book Reviews: 'An Alternative Labour History - Worker Control and Workplace Democracy,' & ' Towards A Science of Belief Systems'
Edited by Dario Azzellini. Zed Books.
This is a collection of articles describing – and advocating – ‘workers control’ at various points in history and in various places, particularly Latin America, today. The authors see workers spontaneously taking over workplaces as the way to a new society without private or state capitalists.
http://www.azzellini.net/buecher/buecher-von-dario-azzellini/rezensionen...
http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2015/no-1330...
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March 2015- The struggle for democracy: occupations, horizontality and political narratives after the events of 2011
European political science
Alot of ink has already been spilled on Occupy movements. Since the new wave of protest movements attained a global dimension in 2011, aca-demics and activists have focused on their demands, their organization and their political implications. Yet, today, over 3 years after the events of 2011 – when it might seem that the occupations of public squares and the people shouting ‘We are the 99 per cent’ have disappeared – there are still unexplored questions in need of addressing.
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2862
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2745
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4. Academic articles: Book chapters and journal articles (English)
“Venezuela’s social transformation and growing class struggle.”
In: Crisis and Contradiction: Marxist Perspectives on Latin America in the Global Economy. Susan Spronk and Jeffery R. Webber (Editors). 2015. Leiden: Brill Press. 138-162.
Since the late-1990s much of Latin America has experienced an uneven and contradictory turn to the Left in the electoral arena. At the same time, there has been a rejuvenation of Marxist critiques of political economy. Drawing on the expertise of Latin American, North American, and European scholars, this volume offers cutting-edge theoretical explorations of trends in the region, as well as in-depth case studies of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela.
http://www.brill.com/products/book/crisis-and-contradiction
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2828
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A Preview of the Future. Workers’ Control in the Context of a Global Systemic Crisis
in: Utopian Pulse: Flares in the Darkroom, Pluto Press. London, 2015
Originating in a bold exhibition at the Secession in Vienna, this book examines moments in social and cultural life where there are glimpses of utopia, where other possibilities of being are imagined and even partially realised
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2852
http://utopian-pulse.org/
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5. Interviews and press articles (Español)
Dario Azzellini: “La estrategia paramilitar es más parecida a la Contra nicaragüense”
Bruno Sgarzini | Misión Verdad 27.07.2015
Realizada en los días más duros de las guarimbas de 2014, esta entrevista con Dario Azzellini, autor del libro El Negocio de la Guerra, cobra relevancia porque pone sobre el tapete el complejo entramado paramilitar, que en este momento es atacado en la ofensiva realizada por el gobierno revolucionario en la Operación Liberación del Pueblo (OLP).
http://www.azzellini.net/journalistische-artikel/dario-azzellini-%E2%80%...
http://misionverdad.com/entrevistas/dario-azzellini-la-estrategia-parami...
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6. Videos/Audios (English/Español)
The Laura Flanders Show: They Can't Represent Us! (Con subtitulos en español!!)
Telesur, 16.05.201, 28 min.
with Marina Sitrin and Dario Azzellini
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2868
http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/web/telesur/#!es/video/laura-flanders-show-388344
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Azzellini, Dario sobre el entrenamiento militar de EEUU a ejercitos extranjeros y derechos humanos.
RT en español, 21.09.2015, 11:04 min.
Los investigadores advierten de la cantidad alarmante de misiones de entrenamiento e intercambio de las Fuerzas Especiales de EE. UU. en numerosos países del mundo.
En Detrás de la noticia, con Eva Golinger, 18 de septiembre 2015.
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2901
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1FjTX4Jm5o&feature=youtu.be
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Plan estatal para hallar personas desaparecidas en Colombia
DW Latinoamerica, 27.07.2015, 4:39 min.
Las autoridades colombianas iniciaron hoy la excavación de la que está considerada la "mayor fosa común urbana del mundo". ¿Quiénes son las víctimas de la escombrera de Medellín? El análisis por Darío Azzellini, investigador y doctor en Sociología y Ciencias Políticas.
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2880
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITULVzD4kv0
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Cuadriga - Venezuela: ¿esperanza de cambio?
Deutsche Welle Latinoámerica | 25.06.15 | 45 min.
La Comisión Nacional Electoral venezolana ha puesto fecha a las elecciones legislativas. Leopoldo López levantó en consecuencia la huelga de hambre. ¿Un respiro en medio de la crisis política que vive el país?
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2874
http://dw.com/p/1FfSy
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7. Events (Dresden, Madrid, Athens, Berlin)
30. September 2015 | 12:15 - 14:15 Centro Cultural La Corrala | Madrid
Congreso internacional Imaginarios utópicos: pasado, presente y futuro
Desde el 15-M de 2011, son muchos los acontecimientos que han puesto de relieve la existencia en España de una corriente de reivindicación política y social imaginativa y contestataria, que responde a demandas de sectores de la ciudadanía desengañados con las formas convencionales de representación y con la gestión política de las instituciones. Esta corriente no es exclusivamente española, sino que enlaza con un reverdecimiento en todo el mundo de vías para expresar la disconformidad en formatos que tienen mucho de utópicos. Con toda su pluralidad, estos acontecimientos vienen a recuperar discursos y prácticas que tienen una larga trayectoria histórica: la tradición de la utopía, que aparece desde los comienzos mismos de la modernidad y que ha acompañado de forma crítica a la construcción de los estados nacionales y del sistema económico y social gobernado por los mercados.
https://dedona.wordpress.com/2015/09/24/programa-definitivo-del-congreso...
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2897
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02. Oktober 2015 | 20:15 Greek Film Archive Foundation | 104 35 - GR, Athens
Film project in the framework of the International Film Festival – Opening Nights
The Athens Biennale 2015–2017 “ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ”, in the framework of the Athens International Film Festival (Opening Nights), presents the film project of Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler Occupy, Resist, Produce on October 2, 8:15pm. In view of the critical historical juncture, the Athens Biennale 2015–2017 “OMONOIA” unfolds in three strands of debate and research intervention: the emergence of alternative economies, the performative in the political and the establishment of institutions that redefine existing structures. In relation to these pertinent issues, the Biennale presents for the first time in Athens, the social project of Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler Occupy, Resist, Produce, which presents occupied factories where workers managed to organise labour under their control. The three films focus on the factories of RiMaflow (Milan), Officine Zero (Rome) and Vio.Me. (Thessaloniki) respectively.
http://athensbiennale.org/en/news/film-project-in-the-framework-of-the-i...
http://www.azzellini.net/en/films/occupy-resist-produce-%E2%80%93-offici...
http://www.azzellini.net/en/filme/occupy-resist-produce-rimaflow
http://www.azzellini.net/node/2899
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13. Oktober 2015 | 18:00 - 20:00 Salon der Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung | Franz-Mehring-Platz 1 | 10243 Berlin
BerlinOccupy, Resist, Produce – Vio.me 2015
Film und Gespräch mit DARIO AZZELLINI (Filmemacher) und
TOM STROHSCHNEIDER (Neues Deutschland Chefredakteur)
zu einer Fabrikbesetzung in Thessaloniki, Griechenland.
Die Arbeiter von Vio.Me haben 2011 ihre Fabrik besetzt, nachdem sie von den Besitzern verlassen worden war. Seitdem arbeiten sie selbstverwaltet. Früher wurden in der Fabrik Baumaterialien produziert. Heute werden dort «solidarische» Produkte produziert.
http://www.azzellini.net/film/occupy-resist-produce-%E2%80%93-viome-2015
http://www.neues-deutschland.de/termine/62934.html
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Dario Azzellini
www.azzellini.net
Institute of Sociology, Department of Politics and Development Research
Johannes Kepler Universität (JKU) Linz
