The Take: Occupy, Resist and Produce (2004, Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis) (Essay Sample)

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The Take: Occupy, Resist and Produce (2004, Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis)
Reflection
“The Take-Occupy, Resist, Produce” is a Canadian documentary film which was mainly produced with an aim of telling a story of workers in Argentina particularly in Buenos Aires who reclaimed the control of a closed auto plant due to the economic policies that were established by Carlos Menem. The act of this workers, led to an emergence of an economy in Argentina. This resulted into closure of hundreds of factories whereby the workers used to close themselves inside so that they can run these factories on their own without the control of their bosses. This movement took over most factories in Argentina starting with a garment factory years back. A lot of legislative processes were done and later on the group of workers managed to secure legal rights to operate the plant. Generally, this film gives a description of the ideological fights which are beyond cooperative ownership showing how Menem regained strength during the process of running for a second term. This was despite the fact that there was poor performance of privatization while he was in office. This left a lot of questions unanswered especially whether this system can be sustainable in the US economy. This paper provides a reflective account of how the documentary “The Take-Occupy, Resist, Produce” relates to the social economy.
According to MacLeod the social economy is majorly considered or referred to the association of economic based initiatives which are mainly founded on values such as autonomy and citizenship (18). As in connection to the film “The Take-Occupy, Resist, Produce” we evidently see workers at Forja auto plant straggling to take over the plant showing autonomy. Through possessing the plant and taking their own imitative to become their own bosses, the workers show the spirit of autonomy and citizenship. This is mainly because of their efforts to fully own the plant.
The social economy is based on various principles. One of them is a primary goal to service members of the community rather than working to accumulate profits (In Armin, 129). The workers in the film made a move to protect the company from being sold off due to debts which could make it have low chances of returning to production. As a way of showing that service to the community was being highly regarded, the workers decide to occupy the company and to begin a long battle which would ensure that they take over the company. This is evidently a sign of social economy basically because the company served for the good of the community including only development. The main aim of the existence of the company was not only general profits but rather, it existed for the general good of the community.
According to Coraggio and Arroyo a social economy is also based on the principle of autonomous management. This implies that a system is developed whereby the employees as well as other work groups in an organization are given the authority to manage their own activities through established work details (20). The aim is to promote productivity and innovation. Relating this to the situation of Forja Auto plant as seen in the film “The Take-Occupy, Resist, Produce”, it can be evidently noted that changing the company to a cooperative was a move of creating a management system which was autonomous in nature.
Democratic decision making processes also encompass the aspect of social economy. This implies that the voices of the majority are always considered when making decisions (Rothschild 1030). Relating this to the documentary “The Take-Occupy, Resist, Produce” we evidently see a collective decision made by the workers to take over the Forja Auto plant and turn it into a worker cooperative. Collective decision making or democratic decision making is also evident in the film whereby the workers made a decision to go through court processes as well as the legislative systems to secure the plant which they actually did. Further, collective decision making as part of upholding a social economy can evidently be seen during the reelection of Carlos Menem despite the fact that he performed poorly when upholding privatization policy while in the office. Privatization as a policy which was upheld by Carlos Menem failed while he was in the office. According to Rothschild privatization can be defined as the transfer of businesses from public ownership to private ownership (1025). This evidently did not work as seen in the film because people were after a society that upholds the social economy policies. For an economy which upholds the principles behind the social economy, upholding privatization policies becomes very difficult more reason why this failed during the first term of Menem.
According to Coraggio and Arroyo the supremacy of people over capital and profit redistribution is also another principle of social economy which is evidently exposed in the film “The Take-Occupy, Resist, Produce” (27). As seen in the film, the workers show their supremacy through changing the company to be a cooperative so that they can all benefit from the company. They do this having motives for the general benefits of the community and not considering the general motives of their won bosses which is to make profits as well as improvements in capital. In a social ecocomony, the operations or activities should be based on various principles which include the principles of participation, empowerment as well as accountability. Through the formation of a cooperative, all these aspects were evidently applied to the company as evident in the film “The Take-Occupy, Resist, Produce”. The workers now took over the company; they were able to work as a team showing collective participation and decision making. They were also empowered to manage the company on their own without the control of their own bosses.
Generally, a social economy enterprise operates as a business which mainly focuses on production of goods and services for the general market but on the other hand it directs its surpluses to the general good of the community both socially and also environmentally. It is for this reason that the privatization policy of Menem during his reign failed (Coraggio and Arroyo 56). This is because most people did not uphold his policies behind the privatization of properties. Hundreds of companies located in Argentina made a move to become a cooperative. This was mainly aimed at ensuring that organizations and other businesses operate to...