Miners in Tunisia, textile workers in India, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are the subjects of January’s London Socialist Film Co-op screening at the Bolivar Hall.
In 2011 a revolution in Tunisia overthrew the country’s autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and was followed by free elections. One of the protests that inspired this Arab Spring — and what has been called the Jasmine Revolution — is documented in a film by director Sami Tlili. Cursed Be The Phosphate tells the story of six-month sit-in by Tunisian miners outside the Redyef town hall in south west Tunisia.
Occupation: Millworker tells the story of textile workers who, after a four-year lockout, forcibly occupied Bombay’s New Great Eastern Mill. Once the backbone of Bombay’s economy and provided the city with its working class culture, textile mills are now succumbing to rising real-estate prices which has made selling mill lands more profitable than running mills. Patwardhan’s film records the action of workers who want to take over the mill and run it themselves.
After the two documentaries a discussion will be led by John Hilary, executive director of War On Want. Hilary will also have a lot to say on TTIP: a comprehensive free trade and investment treaty currently being negotiated –- in secret –- between the European Union and the USA.
Cursed Be the Phosphate. Dir: Sami Tlili, Tunisia 2012 [Advised PG], 78 mins. Occupation: Millworker. Dir: Anand Patwardhan, India 1996 [PG], Hindi with EST, 22 mins.
Sunday 11 January 2015, 10.20 for 11am. Bolívar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, Fitzrovia, London W1T 5DL. Tickets available from 10.20am on the day and may not be booked in advance. Admission £10, concessions £8. Annual members £6/£4. No credit cards. London Socialist Film Co-op.