Buy from foreign "producers" not outsourcing corporations!

[cascadiance]

Just got a note today from Avi Lewis, who, along with Naomi Klein, made the excellent documentary "The Take" which documented how workers down there reclaimed closed and bankrupt factories to make them thriving businesses again, without their corporate (and IMF beholden) owners. The site he mentions in his letter which I've included below is:

http://market.theworkingworld.org/

For more information on "The Take", go to the following site. You can get a copy at amazon.ca (which is where I bought mine), though it's hard to find anywhere in the U.S. or on any U.S. web sites.



"Occupy. Resist. Produce!"

http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=51363&v=h

You can try and buy it through the NFB site here, but if you go to there "Buy" link and search for "The Take" you have to have noted yourself as a Canadian resident to see this film in the search results, which I'm guessing might make it hard to get from there to a U.S. address. I bought mine from Amazon.ca, which does ship to U.S. addresses (or at least it did a year ago or so for me for this film).

NFB page:
http://www2.nfb.ca/boutique/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?a=b&formatid=51735&support=DVD

Amazon.ca
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006I0RPO/qid=1135529938/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_0/701-5160414-7849937

You might try Ebay or some other Canadian sites too, where perhaps you can buy "more blue" and/or get it cheaper.

For those of you that have tried to help Venezuela and Hugo Chavez more directly by buying gas through Citgo gas stations, here's another stop to go to to help Argentinian locals in the same fashion! Buy local here first to help support American workers. But if you can't find what you want with decent small local companies here, buy direct from those supplying stuff and reward them with better salaries, etc. that those like Wal-Mart, etc. aren't while they are the middle men!

The text of the message from Avi Lewis was as follows:

------------------------------

**Visit The Working World Market and spread the word!**
http://market.theworkingworld.org/

Dear Friends of The Take,

In keeping with our ambivalent attitude towards the seasonal consumer frenzy, we are sending you a message encouraging you to buy things after you've already done your holiday shopping!

Thank you for your wonderful activism in the past year: with petitions, fax attacks and email floods, you have been dedicated in fighting for the Argentine workers' movement we documented in our film.

But today you have a chance to support the movement in a new and constructive way.

Many of you have heard of The Working World, an amazing organization started by Brendan Martin, an audience member who saw The Take in New York City. Over the past year, we have raised more than $100,000 to launch a democratic capital fund to support the recovered companies in Argentina. And we've hired many of the people in Buenos Aires who helped make The Take - including Lalo Paret, the movement organizer who is one of the main characters in the film.

So far we've made 14 successful loans at minimal interest ñ helping cooperatives buy machines and raw materials, and helping create good jobs in democratic workplaces.

Today, we're launching a new project: The Working World Market.
http://market.theworkingworld.org/

The site is still in its infancy, but for the first time (if you live in Canada or the U.S.) you can buy products from Argentina's recovered companies, knowing that every possible cent is going directly to the workers themselves.

We're still working the bugs out of our international/online ordering system, so by ordering from the site you'll also be helping out The Working World, as we grow and get better at this end of our project.

When I saw the first draft of the website, I gasped: it is a dramatic reversal of the typical consumer experience. The prices are half what you would pay in a retail store. Instead of slick ads and shiny logos, you meet the people who made the products, and learn about their inspiring struggles. And the best part is that you see precisely where every cent goes: and the vast majority of it goes directly to the workers.

In the months ahead we'll add many more products from other worker-run businesses, and expand our delivery to Europe and beyond. But in this season of endless shopping, we wanted to give you an opportunity to meet some of the workers you didn't meet in The Take, and be able to support them directly thanks to the efforts of one of your fellow audience members!

Happy Holidays,
Avi Lewis
Director, The Take