LaborFest: Films for the 20th Anniversary of Major South African Strikes

In 1987, a militant mass strike wave took place in South Africa against the apartheid regime. This strike involved railway workers, teachers, public workers and the entire Black labor movement. To commemorate this strike, Brother Robert Mashego 2nd Vice President of SATAWU from Johannesburg, South Africa who was in the strike has been invited to speak. We will also show a video of that strike, a video The Long March, The BTR Strike and a video of the 1984 Action Against Aparthied at Pier 80 in San Francisco and the support for this action by ILWU Local 10.
"COSATU and The Freedom Charter": This valuable historical video record of the 1987 strike wave against the apartheid regime of South Africa covers the miners, railway workers, auto workers and the strike rallies and actions during that year. Union members speak out throughout the film and debate at the COSATU Congress the role of their unions and why they need a “Freedom Charter.” This film is a critical resource in understanding and depicting the working class struggle in South Africa against apartheid and for workers power.
"The Long March, The BTR Strike": Follows the NUMSA Sarmcol strike. This strike of the BTR workers in South Africa won support from throughout the world including the Bay Area. The workers organized collectives to raise funds through the production of t-shirts and other products. These workers wrote plays about their struggle and fought starvation and many assassination attacks by government and company supporters.