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Laborfest 2008 Calendar Of Events

by Laborfest
Laborfest, is an annual labor festival commemorating the 1934 general strike will again be held beginning on July 5, 2008. This day is known as bloody Thursday when two strike supporters were killed. The festival includes music, art, theater, walks, book presentations, poetry and an international working class film and video festival
sf_gen_strike_funeral_march.jpg
http://www.laborfest.net/2008schedule.htm

LaborFest 2008 Schedule

July 5 (Saturday) 2:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Sacco and Vanzetti (82 min) 2006
By Peter Miller
Sacco and Vanzetti brings to life the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. Millions of people around the world protested on their behalf, and now, 80 years later, their story continues to have great resonance, as civil liberties and the rights of immigrants are again under attack.Powerful prison writings (given voice by John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub) and passionate interviews with Howard Zinn, Arlo Guthrie and Studs Terkel are interwoven with artwork, music, and film clips. Through the story of Sacco and Vanzetti, audiences will experience a universal - and very timely - tale of official injustice and human resilience. http://www.willowpondfilms.com/sacco_and_vanzetti.html

Eugene Debs & The American Movement
(43 min) 1977
By Cambridge Documentary Films
This film tells the story of railroad worker Eugene Debs’ life through his speeches and photographs. He is one of the most important labor leaders in the history of the United States. Jailed for opposing the 1st world war, he fought for workers rights and received over one million votes while running for president from jail. He founded the American Railway union and led the Pullman strike in 1894. He founded the Socialist Party in 1901 and ran four times as its presidential candidate. He also organized the Industrial Workers of the World with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood and others.
http://www.cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org/debs.html#
http://www.eugenevdebs.com/

July 5 (Saturday) 7:00, 9.00 PM ($8.00) - Victoria Theatre - 2961 16th Street, at Mission, San Francisco
LaborFest '08 Opening Night
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
It’s A Free World (96 min) 2008 West coast Premier
Director: Ken Loach (England), Writer: Paul Laverty, Starring: Kierston Wareing, Juliet Ellis, Leslaw Zurek
Loach’s film, It’s A Free World is about the business of immigrant exploitation. Angie a young women with a daughter sets up an illegal employment agency for immigrant workers in east London after she has been fired by her sexist boss. Operating from a pub in the neighborhood, Angie and her flat-mate Rose select casual workers from immigrants who turn up each morning searching for work. With millions of migrant workers throughout the world, this searing drama shows reality of “market capitalism” and the logic of ruthless entrepreneurship that is at the heart of our “free world.”
This film exposes the real economic conditions in a first world country for it’s migrant workers, their families and the lives of immigrant workers who are helping to build and make the country run. It also looks at how the reality of capitalism pits one worker against another and the cost of this system on working people. In light of the racism and race baiting by the corporate controlled media against immigrant workers in this country and the use of the ICE raids to terrorize workers, their families and the community this look at how the system operates economically is absolutely critical. The present ICE raids are now being organized not only to silence the millions of immigrant workers who have marched on May Day but also to smash organizing drives of unions seeking to represent these workers.

July 5 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon ($15 to $50 sliding scale donation to CounterPULSE). Bring a bag lunchMeet at 1310 Mission St. at 9th, SF
Labor Bike Tour with Chris Carlson of San Francisco’s labor history.
For more info: call Chris Carlsson (415) 608 9035 carlsson.chris [at] gmail.com

July 6 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) - Meet at the corner of 330 Ellis St., at Glide Memorial Church, SF
SF Anti-War History Walk
By Historian David Giesen
Take a walk through the anti-Viet Nam War street action in San Francisco back in the 1960s. Then flash forward to the anti-war-in-Iraq action on San Francisco’s streets in 2003. Join historian and teacher David Giesen on a walking tour of a bit of San Francisco’s anti-imperialism gusto through the years, from the Philippines in 1898 to Lennar and Hunter’s Point in 2008. Along the way you’ll encounter the enduring evidence of territorial power and exclusion that increasingly divides San Francisco into haves and have-nots. By walk’s end you will “be in the know” regarding San Francisco’s now obscure Big Idea for making everyone a de facto land owner and rent collector. Meet at 10 am, Glide Methodist Church, 330 Ellis at the corner of Ellis and Taylor streets in San Francisco.
For more information: telekosmos [at] yahoo.com, 415-948-4265

July 6 (Sunday) 11:00 AM (Free) - Meet at Coit Tower entrance
Coit Tower Walk & WPA Murals Presentation
By Mark R. Johnson
The important WPA art works have just been added to the National Historical Registry, and there is a continuing fight to stop the privatization. The Coit Tower murals are part of the New Deal’s Public Works Art Program (PWAP) and were also part of a historical struggle when the witch hunters tried to censor the social and labor murals of the people of California.

July 6 (Sunday) 2:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Un Poquito De Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth) (93 min) 2007
By Jill Friedberg
This film shows the role of the fight for community/labor control of media in the struggle in Oaxaca in 2006 and 2007. We look at workers, peasants and activists fighting to get their voices on the airwaves about their struggle for survival and justice. http://www.corrugate.org

Dear Mandela (6 min) 2007
By Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza
The promise according to Nelson Mandela was that the end of the South African apartheid regime would resolve the housing crisis. Instead, the lack of proper housing and the destruction of housing by the government has worsened qualitatively the living conditions for millions of South African people.This short film follows three teenagers as they are targeted by the South African police for defending their right to housing. http://sleepinggiantfilms.wordpress.com

The Deported (22 min) 2007 By Musgtaque Ahmed (Mahbub), Korean Migrant Media
The story of the struggle of Bangladeshi and Nepali workers in South Korea and the effects of the government crackdown on these immigrant workers. The Korean Confederation of Unions KCTU has recognized migrant workers unions as part of their federation. These workers learn about the Korean labor situation and become conscious about the fight for justice and economic rights.
http://www.mfasia.org/mfaStatements/Statement15-KCTUActionAlert.html
migrantact [at] gmail.com

July 6 (Sunday) 3:00 PM (Donation) - ILWU Local 6 Hall 255-9th St. near Howard, SF
Postal Workers Video & Forum - Managers Going Postal: Letter Carriers Speak Out!
Sponsored by Letter Carriers Today
The drive to privatize and downsize is leading to a growing harassment and terror against postal workers. Management in San Francisco and around the country have retaliated against shop stewards and others who stand up for the contract and human rights on the job. This forum and video screening will provide a first hand view of the growing attacks against postal workers in San Francisco and around the country.
Sponsored by TV 214Letter Carriers Today
For information call (415) 786-7530 or email carltv214 [at] aol.com
Video Postal Management Going Postal (20 min) wil be shown.

July 7 (Monday) 5:30 PM (Free) - SEIU 1021 HALL 350 Rhode Island Suite 100, SF
Opening Reception for Labor Art Show
Art Hazelwood has put together images from workers struggle from many areas of work. The show will continue through July 31.
http://www.arthazelwood.com/

July 7 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) - Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St., at 20th St., SF
The Search For A Civic Voice, California Latino Politicds
Book reading by Kenneth Burt
Burt has provided an overview of the growing power of the Latino community in California. As the largest growing ethnic community in California the history of its fight for justice and equality has been tied to social and community movements according to Kenneth Burt. Burt who is presently Communications Director of the California Federation Of Teachers presents this history in a popular way.
http://www.kennethburt.com/index.html

July 8 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) -San Francisco Labor Archives 480 Winston Dr., SF
The Federal Theater Project & It's Work
Presentation by Joel Schechter
The Federal Theatre Project stages a pro-union play seventy years ago.
SFSU Professor and theatre historian Joel Schechter will discuss Pinski’s play, its original production, and other progressive works staged under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Theatre Project between 1935 and 1939. The presentation includes a slide show of production photographs, and reading of excerpts about these works and plays from Schechter’s new book, Messiahs of 1933, just published by Temple University Press.
http://userhttp://www.sfsu/~jschech/

July 9 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) -Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St. at 20th St., SF
Outside The Box: Corporate Media, Globalization, & The UPS Strike
Presentation by Deepa Kumar
The need for a critical analysis of how labor struggles are presented and packaged by the corporate media and how labor can counteract the anti-labor bias is the focus of this book. It looks at the media battle behind the most important successful national strike in recent years by the International Brotherhood of Teamstersagainst the United Parcel Service. The New York Times complained that the problem of the strike was that the public believed that the strike was about “part time” work.
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~dkumar/book.htm

July 10 (Thursday) 5:00, 8:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The International / Beynelmilel (106 min) 2006 West coast Premier
By Muharrem Gulmez & Sirri Sureyya Onder (Turkey)
Set in Adiyaman, Turkey, the business for a group of local musicians hits rock bottom due to curfew laws implemented in 1982 by the US supported military coup in 1980. The repression by the junta takes a twist when the region’s martial law commander decides he needs a band for the upcoming visit of the junta generals. The town band is now ordered to put on some uniforms and perform a welcoming ceremony for the military council’s visit to the town. At the same time, the daughter of the local orchestra’s head becomes involved with the town revolutionaries who are seeking to make a statement against the generals. The life and music of the people of Turkey is merged in the struggle to expose and challenge the brutal military rule. This film was one of the most popular films in Turkey about military rule and resistance.
S?rr? Süreyya Önder was born in Ad?yaman in 1962. He was a political science student at Ankara University during the military coup of September 12, 1980. He was one of the students arrested during the riots and was convicted as a political felon. Önder served 12 years in Mamak Prison. He defines himself as a distressed person, a man who feels a responsibility for the land he lives in.

The Life in Tuzla Shipyards / Tuzla Tersaneleri'nde Hayat (41 min) 2008US Premier
By Petra Holzer, Selçuk Erzurumlu, Ethem Özgüven Kurgu (Turkey)
Tuzla graveyard overlooks the massive ship building plants. As you start to descend from the hill on the left is a vast military area and it is entirely green and empty of humans. Then, as if cut by a knife from this, cement buildings appear. These are the homes of workers laboring at the shipyards. They are evacuated at 7:00 AM in the morning by the workers who work “outside” at the ship yards in leather plants and other supporting industries. Sprinkled between the family homes and apartments single workers live in flop houses as they try to survive and hope for the future.
Their concerns are death and survival, their hopes and worries are the hopes and worries of all of us. The Tuzla graveyard overlooks this massive shipbuilding area where great profits are made and workers die. petramh [at] gmail.com


July 11 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) -Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The International / Beynelmilel (106 min) 2006
By Muharrem Gulmez & Sirri Sureyya Onder (Turkey)
Please check the detail on July 10.

July 11, 12 7:30 PM, July 11, 12 2:00, 7:30 PM (Donation for St. Boniface in community service & help for the homeless.) St. Boniface Theater -175 Golden Gate Ave., SF
I Remember Mama (A Play)
A Play about the life of Katherine Forbes, a daughter of Norwegian immigrant working class community of San Francisco in 1910. Union members Papa, and the uncles cope with some hard times.
Info: (415) 861-1179, dougmarshall_94142 [at] yahoo.com

July 12 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza - Front of Ferry Building, SF
San Francisco General Strike Walk
With ILWU Local 10 longshoreman Jack Heyman and Labor historianLouis Prisco
This walk and history talk will look at the causes of the ‘34 general strike and why it was successful. How was the strike organized and why are the issues in that strike still relevant to working people today? Also you will walk by the key historical sites in this important US labor struggle.
Join us on the waterfront.

July 12 (Saturday) 12:00 Noon (Free) SF Main Library - Koret Auditoriium - 100 Larkin St., at Grove
New Deal Films and Presentations
With Harvey Smith, Gray Brechin and others.
New Deal historians Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith will introduce and screen films produced in the 1930’s and 1940’s about the largest public works project in the history of the United States.
For information call (510) 649-7395

July 12 (Saturday) 12:00 - 1:00, 3:00 - 4:00 PM (Free) Hyde Street Pier - Hyde and Jefferson St., SF
Living History: SF Waterfront Strike 1901
A theatrical Performance of 1901 City Waterfront Federation Strike by Living History Players.
Witness a recreation of the strike that shut down the San Francisco waterfront from July 13 to October 2, 1901, and resulted after its conclusion in the general acceptance and growth of labor unions throughout the city.
Living History Players take roles as striking seamen and teamsters demonstrating on the pier, carrying picket signs and distributing leaflets, with impassioned speeches calling for unity and brotherhood, and theatrical confrontations with employers and ship owners.
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Hyde Street Pier at the foot of Hyde Street
For More Information Call: (415) 447-5000

July 12 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) Phoenix Theatre Annex - 414 Mason St., 4th Floor, at Geary St., SF
Appalachian Redneck (A Play) World Premier
Play by Edward Hernandez
This is a staged reading of the new play Appalachian Redneck by Edward Hernandez. The stakes are high as Peter and Willy, fearing another deadly coalmine disaster, fight to organize workers. Powerful forces, fueled by corporate greed and indifference, face off against two insignificant and unknown coal miners in a battle that may save the lives of hundreds of workers, and protect what little they have left in their lives. This play takes place in the Appalachian coalmine region in the 1930’s, a time labor woke up, and the final lines were drawn, in a battle to change the face of organized labor forever. The first ‘rednecks’ were the coalmine organizers wearing red scarves around their neck during this period of time.
For info: 209-535-3434, profess2000 [at] yahoo.com

July 12 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 6 Hall -255 9th St., near Howard, SF8
1968 - 2008 The Global Lessons From '6
With Mehmet Bayron, David Ewing, Dahrm Paul, Anatol Anton & others
The movement of ‘68 was the largest global mass movement since the 1930’s. This forum will look how it affected countries around the world from Turkey to China and what that movement means in today’s struggles of working people to survive the corporate onslaught.

July 12 (Saturday) 8:00 PM (Free) -885 Clayton St., at Carl St., SF
Song and Poetry Swap
For over 20 years, the Freedom Song Network has been helping keep alive the spirit of labor and political song in the Bay Are, on picket lines, at rallies, on concert stages and at songswaps. Bring songs or poems to share. Every one is welcome, regardless of musical ability or training.For more info: (415) 648-3457

July 13 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free) Chinese Historical Society -965 Clay St., SF
Chinatown Labor Walk (Possibility of some changes, please check later)
By Pam Wong, Jean Pfaelzer and the Chinese Historical Society
Chinatown in San Francisco is the largest Chinese population of the United States. It has a rich history of labor and workers and this presentation and walk will focus on the history and perspectives of Labor And San Francisco’s Garment Industry.

July 13 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Free) Meet at North East corner of Shattuck & Haste, Berkeley
Berkeley Walk
Walk with Richard Schwartz, and learn about 19th century working people of Berkeley, from eccentrics, heroes, and cutthroats of old Berkeley.
http:// http://www.richardschwartz.info

July 13 (Sunday) 1:30 PM (Free) Meet at Post & Steiner , in front of the mural (Evolution of the Blues), SF
The Black Community & The Western Addition - A Walking History
With local historian Al Williams and Bobbie Webb, member of AFM Local 6
These historians and artists will discuss this history and walk through a neighborhood full of musical legends and struggles including against racial discrimination.
http://notfortourists.com/viewRadar.aspx?city=SF&radarID=22298

July 13 (Sunday) 2:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
To Die In Madrid (58 min) 1963 By Frederic Rossif
This documentary from newsreel clips by Frederic Ross shows the horror, disillusion and bravery of the Spanish Civil War. This powerful documentary is one of the most powerful made.

Into The Fire - American Women In The Spanish Civil War
(58 min) 2002 By Julia Newman
Over eighty women joined the fight during the Spanish civil war. This illuminating film interviews 16 of these women on why they went to Spain and what they did there. This rich story of their lives and experiences in Spain adds an important addition to our understanding of US and women’s history.
Event co-sponsored by Veterans of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/intothefiredvd.ht

July 13 (Sunday) 5:00 PM (Free) City Lights Bookstore 261 Columbus at Broadway, SF
LaborFest Writers Workshop and Waterfront Writers
The LaborFest Writers Workshop will be reading from their own work and will give a short presentation on the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project. They will read excerpts from the American Life Histories of the Folklore Project. Writers include Margaret Cooley, Susan Ford, Keith Cooley, Phyllis Holliday, Jerry Path and Alice Rogoff.
Also a writer of the waterfront M.C. Warrior will read.
Born and educated in England, M.C. Warrior spent nearly 35 years working as a seine boat crewman and coast logger in British Columbia. He now works as a researcher for the Laborers’ Union’s Northwest Region Organizing Coalition. He recently came 4th in the Being at Work Poetry Challenge and has been published in numerous Canadian magazines and anthologies.
Tom Wayman will also read. He is widely recognized as one of the leading and lifelong Canadian poets. For many years he has been in the Norton Anthology of North American Poets. He has over twenty publications to his credit. He has never left his Working Class roots, and, in fact, many of his books speak to that experience. He teaches and, last year, was a Fulbright Fellow at the Arizona State University.

July 13 (Sunday) 7:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Dare To Struggle, Dare To Win (96 min) 1968 By Jean-Pierre Thorn
This classic on a worker occupation of the Renault Boulogn-Billancourt factory near Paris shows how the workers take over the factory and their struggle to continue the occupation and strike. Thorn was a student just out of film school and this was his first work. He has continued to make films about the lives of working people including women workers and immigrant youth.

Le Fond de l’air est rouge (1977, 1993 re-cut) By Chris Marker France
By the leader of the modernist left bank school, this film shows the struggle from the streets of Paris in this historic documentary of the Paris 1968 rebellion. It also includes footage from Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Prague and other countries around the world during the 1968 battles. Also included is the political divide of the left over these battles including Fidel Castro who opposed the invasion of the Czech Republic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=midl8JPMeq4

July 14 (Monday) 6:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
In The Year Of The Pig (103 min) 1968 By Emile de Antonio
Produced at the height of the Vietnam War, this documentary chronicles the war’s historical roots. Nearly 40 years have transpired and yet the US is again involved in another imperial adventure. This historical documentary brings home the question why is the US involved in another war? In 1968, the war was about fighting “communism” and it reverberates in today’s “war against terrorism.”

Blow For Blow / Coup Pour Coup (90 min) 1972 By Marin Karmitz
Marin Karmitz produced this important work in commemoration and memory of the ‘68 strike movement. It shows the organization of a strike in a French garment factory from the point of view of the actual workers. The workers are also the actors in the film and played a key role in scripting the film.The strike, which was organized and led by women workers also shows their battle for control of the union with mostly male leadership. This film was a result of the massive struggles of May, June ‘68 in France both for power against the bosses and state and for democratic control within the unions.

July 14 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St., at 20th St., SF
Centennial of The Great White Fleet
A reading with writer and labor archivist Lincoln Cushing and others.
On July 7, 1908, the Great White Fleet left San Francisco to show the flag and expand US power in Asia. At the time, Mark Twain and AFL founder Samual Gompers opposed this expansion of the United States through the occupation of the Philippines and other countries. Cushing will look at this history and it’s relevance to today’s wars in the Middle East.
http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/PN/GreatWhiteFleet2008.htm

July 15 (Tuesday) 10:00 AM (Free) SF Main Library Meet on 6th floor near the New Deal Exhibit
The New Deal Exhibition
With SF SEIU Local 1021 member librarians, Jason Baxter and Christina Moretta, Historical Photography Editor
This extensive exhibit shows the role of the New Deal for working people in San Francisco from the construction projects to the other work that was done during this period.

July 15 (Tuesday) 5:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
It Is Not Just Our Skin / Utoia and IG Metal (81 min) 2007 (Germany)
By Holger Wayman
In May 2005, the Bosch-Siemens workers in Berlin who produce Siemens household appliances were threatened with the closure of their factory and the loss of 600 jobs. The company claimed that the location was too expensive and technically out of date. The company demanded that 600 workers transferred and take massive cuts in salaries and benefits. The workers faced a union that was organizing a deal which was unacceptable to the majority, and they were accused by the media of being “utopian.” This film shows the story of their struggle both personally and politically.
http://www.videowerkstatt.de/

July 15 (Tuesday) 6:30 PM (Free) Red Hill Bookstore 401 Cortland Ave., SF
The Social and Political History of Bernal Heights
Presentation by Molly Martin & Terry Milne
Bernal Heights has a long tradition of labor and political activism starting from the 1907 carmen’s strike. This presentation will look at this tradition and the working class personalities of the neighborhood.
For information call (415) 648-533

July 15 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) West Portal Public Library 190 Lenox Way, SF
The New Deal In The Sunset District
Presentation by Gray Brechin
The Sunset has many monuments to the New Deal including libraries and sites in the Golden Gate Park. This unknown history will be revealed in this entertaining talk.
http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu

July 15 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
9/11 Dust and Deceit at The World Trade Center (59 min) 2007
By Penny Little (She will be attendin)
The impact of the environmental disaster after 911 will continue for years. The health of those who were exposed to the toxic dust and told that the “air is safe to breathe” and the continuing cover-up of the problems has not been adequately reported in the mainstream media. Those who were most affected are often the least able to get the help they need.
http://www.911dust.org/

The Toxic Clouds of 9/11: A Looming Health Disaster (66 min) 2006
By allison Johnson
In this absorbing video we see the effect of the chemicals and toxins released into the environment by the collapse of the WTO towers. Despite the growing risk from these dangerous substances EPA director Christie Todd Whitman told the workers involved in the cleanup after the collapse that everything was safe to breath and later that it was safe for residents to return. The catastrophe and cover-up of 9/11 health costs is still going on for the workers, people who went to help and those who lived in the neighborhood.
http://alisonjohnsonmcs.com/3.html

Trade unionist John Sferazo from Iron Workers Local 361 and IUOE Local 138 will attend and discuss his efforts to defend the first responders. Sferazo is President and Co-Founder of Unsung Heroes Helping Heroes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z-eUz2pUJk
http://www.unsunghhh.us/

July 16 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St., at 20th St.
The Secret Language of the Crossroads: How the Irish Invented Slang (Possible change of title, please check later)
Book reading by Daniel Cassidy
Irish immigrant workers migration to the United States not only changed them but also transformed the culture of this county. Cassidy, one of the most celebrated historians of Irish culture and history will show how Irish working people integrated their language and history into the story of America. His work has made a major contribution to the understanding of our language.
http://www.counterpunch.org/cassidy05132006.html

July 16 (Wednesday) 5:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Water Front (53 min) 2007
By Liz Miller
This powerful film by Liz Miller tells the story of the destruction of Highland Park, Michigan, the birthplace of mass production and good paying union jobs for hundreds of thousands of workers. The destruction of this industrial powerhouse leads to corporate schemes to save the city by privatizing the water system. Homeowners start receiving bills for thousands of dollars and face the shutoff of this basic necessity. Some bills reach $10,000. The film follows Vallory Johnson who turns her anger into organizing a grass roots campaign for affordable water as a basic human right.
The literal criminal destruction of tens of thousands of homes in the Detroit area is a stain on the history of the United States. Obviously there is no oil in Detroit, just human beings.
http:// http://www.thewaterfrontmovie.com
Elizabeth.miller [at] sympatico.ca

July 16 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Lock Out (56 min) 2007 (Australia)
By Jason Van Genderen
The year 1929 was one of the darkest chapters in Australian industrial history. There was a brutal effort to crush the strong labor movement in Northern Coalfields of New South Wales. During this dark period, 10,000 miners found themselves locked out of their Hunter Valley coal mines in a bitter industrialdispute over pay rates. What began as an undeclared war on industrial labor ended up overpowering a government, crippling an industry and besieging a community. This event challenged the rights of every Australian, and redefined the political and industrial landscape of a country that witnessed an event forever remembered as “The Great Australian Lockout.”
http://www.lockout.tv/

The Archive Project - The Realist Film Unit in Australia (98 min) 2006 (Australia)
By John Hughes
This film shows the history of a group of politically conscious Melbourne Australian filmmakers who produce labor films about the lives of working people in the midst of the cold war. As a result of their work, they were hounded in a witch-hunt by the corporate press and the lessons of this experience are relevant today.http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue72/8068

July 17 (Thursday) 5:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
SF Mess (42 min) 2008
By Greg Rodgers
This locally produced documentary in San Francisco looks at the union organizing effort in the San Francisco bike messenger world. Learn about the lives and conditions of bike messenger workers.
Greg24fps [at] yahoo.com

Our Families, Our Community, Our Union (12 min) 2007
By Jano Oscherwitz
This documentary shows the struggle of Native American healthcare workers to organize and the issues that they face.
Jano.oscherwitz [at] seiu1021.org

Justice Can't Be Temporary (8 min) 2007
By Jano Oscherwitz & Octavio Velarde, SEIU 1021 Organizer
Tens of thousands of public workers in California are prevented from getting permanent full time jobs by their “temporary” or “part time status.” This video shows why these workers are struggling for full rights after many years on the job.

July 17 (Thursday) 7:00 PM ($7.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Ghosts Of Duffy's Cut (52 min) 2006 Ireland West Coast Premier
Producer: Dave Farrell, Directors: Stephen Rooke & Ruan Magan
This documentary tells the story of indentured Irish workers from Duffy, Ireland, who were brought to the United States in April 1832 to build one of the earliest stretches of railroad in Pennsylvania.
The search for the truth about what happened to these workers when there was a cholera outbreak is uncovered in this hidden history of our country and we see the real lives of these indentured workers.
From a stone to commemorate these 57 young Irish workers “To build their lines, Pennsylvania railroads had to tunnel through mountains, cross wide rivers, span deep gorges to lay the track upon which their trains would run. This was hard, physically demanding, low-paying labor and dangerous work. To find men desperate enough to build and maintain their lines, Pennsylvania railroads for generations relied upon foreign workers – Irish and Chinese, and Italians – and upon African Americans from the south. In 2004, a state historical marker was erected for fifty-seven Irish Catholic men whose fleeting chance at the “American Dream” ended in horror in August, 1832.”
http://www.tilefilms.ie/

The Equal Pay Story:Scenes From A Turbulent History
(29 min) 2008 U.K. US Premier
Directed by Jenny Morgan, Produced by Jo Morris
This shows the historic struggle for equal pay for women workers since the 1888’s using archival footage. It is part of a labor education project called Winning Equal Pay, The Value Of Women’s Work sponsored by the UK TUC.
http://www.unionhistory.info/equalpay/

Labor Music Videos Shorts By Chris Cambell
Shut Down Blues Canada (2007) 5 minutes, Gotta Be Safe Canada (2007) 4 minutes, There’s A Wild One Going On Canada (2007) 4:42 minutes With singer Renee Gibbon and Writer Daniel Cassidy

July 18 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) --Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Eugene Debs & The American Movement (43 min) 1977
By Cambridge Documentary Films
This film tells the story of railroad worker Eugene Debs’ life through his speeches and photographs. He is one of the most important labor leaders in the history of the United States. Jailed for opposing the 1st world war, he fought for workers rights and received over one million votes while running for president from jail. He founded the American Railway union and led the Pullman strike in 1894. He founded the Socialist Party in 1901 and ran four times as its presidential candidate. He also organized the Industrial Workers of the World with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood and others.
http://www.cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org/debs.html#
http://www.eugenevdebs.com/

San Francisco State On Strike (20 min) 1968
This film shows the struggle of the students and teachers in the 6 months long strike at San Francisco State University.

July 18 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00/Donation)
SF Community Music Center 544 Capp St., SF
Concert of The Choruses & Show Me Where It Hurts
The concert features El Coro Jouralero, the Day Laborer’s Chorus directed by Ricardo Torres. The San Francisco Bay Area Labor Heritage Rockin’ Solidarity Chorus, directed by Pat Wynne will perform a set about healthcare.
In the theater piece, Show Me Where It Hurts, Annie Larson & Karen Ripley, as characters take a whirlwind ride through the Great Depressions of the 1930s and the 2030s. They time-travel from Hoovervilles and hobo camps to the Workers’ Non-Paradise of the “BigBoxHumongaMartDepot”, the world’s largest shopping mart. All social services have been completely dismantled. Social security, retirement, pensions, unemployment benefits, Medicare and Medi-Cal gone. Could it be very far from the truth?” Ripley and Larson have been Bay Area favorites for two decades and have been performing together to standing ovations all over the U.S.
Named Best Musical Comedy –San Francisco Fringe Festival -2005

July 19 (Saturday) 9:30 - 5 :00 PM (Free) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 2868 Mission St., near 25th St., SF
Labor BookFair
1st Annual LaborFest BookFair & Poetry Reading
Join LaborFest for our first annual Labor Book Fair, Word Slam and Video Screenings. Understanding our history and working class issues are an essential ingredient to change our lives. This includes the poets and artists who are contributing to our awareness and understanding of our history and reality. The event will take place between 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM at the Mission Cultural Center For Latino Arts. Click here for schedule

July 19 (Saturday) 9:30 AM (Free) Meet at Berkeley High School Main Entrance on Milvia in Berkeley
The East Bay Schools, The New Deal & The Education Crisis Today (Presentation & Walk)
With Harvey Smith, Fred Glass, Oakland Education Association (OEA) and Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) representatives.
For information please call (510) 649-7395

July 19 (Saturday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St., at 20th St., SF
Black Workers, Hanging Nooses & The State of The Labor Movement
Panel discussion with Leo Robinson, Carl Bryant, Fernando Gapasin, Jack Heymanand others
Despite the corporate media censorship, there has been an epidemic of hanging noose incidents not only in the South but also throughout the country in workplaces. This forum will look at the growing number of racist attacks and incidents and what the labor movement should do about this development.

July 20 (Sunday) 10:00 AM (Free)
The Redstone Building 16th Street at Capp, SF
The Redstone Walk - Labor, Art & The Politics of The Mission Dist.
By Louis Prisco
An inside look at the Labor Temple that was headquarters of the 1934 General Strike, plus a brief tour of the historically rich working class neighborhood outside. To register, call the leader, Louis Prisco, at 415-841-1254 or send e-mail to penguinflow [at] hotmail.com.



July 20 (Sunday) 5:00 PM ($35.00) Terminal E South side of the ferry building, SF (End of the Market Street)
Boat Tour - Building Bridges and Labor Maritime History
(Space available)
Join us for this evening cruise on labor history and also a close up look at the massive construction project of the eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The skills of the iron workers, operators, carpenters, laborers, electricians and maritime workers who are building this monument are creating a vital link and beautiful artifact of the Bay Area. Joseph Blum who isdocumenting the construction of this project will let us know what is being done and how they do it. Also dinner will be provided.
Join labor process photographer Joseph Blum, labor historians Gray Brechin, Tim Dresher, Harvey Schwartz and others.
We thank the Blue & Gold Fleet to providing the boat, and the members of MMP and ILWU-IBU for volunteering their labor.
4:45 PM Boarding, 5:00 PM Departure
Tour last 3 hours
A meal will be provided, however, if you are on a special diet, please bring your own food.
To make your reservation:
Call (415) 642-8066 or send e-mail to laborfest [at] laborfest.net
and give the following information.
1) Your name (please spell it out if you use phone)
2) Number of your reservation
3) Your phone number
You should send a check to:
LaborFest, P.O. Box 40983, San Francisco, CA 94140

July 21 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St., at 20th St., SF
1968 The Emergence of The Women's Liberation Movement & Its Relationship to Working Women
With Chude Pam Allen and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Chude Pam Allen was an early working class organizer in the women’s liberation movement and was in San Francisco in 1968. She helped build the Union Women’s Alliance to Gain Equality in 1974, she coordinated their 1975 Organize! Conference and later became editor of its newspaper, Union WAGE. She is author of the Union WAGE pamphlet, Jean Maddox, Labor Heroine.
Roxanne Dubar Ortiz has been involved in the struggle for women’s rights also since the 60’s. In New Orleans, she organized the Southern Female Rights Union and the New Orleans Women Workers Association. She is a university lecturer and has written 12 books. Roxanne grew up in rural Oklahoma of a family of tenant farmers. Her grandfather was active in the Oklahoma Socialist Party and the IWW in the first 2 decades of the 20th century.

July 21 (Monday) 7:30 PM ($5.00 donation to actors) Fellowship of Humanity Hall 370 27th St., Oakland
Compared To What? (A PlaY)
By Judith Offer
A story about the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
The job of Pullman Porter loomed large over Black American life in 1926, because it was the only job where any number of African American men without higher educations could wear a tie to work, travel, and earn enough (with tips) to (modestly) support a family. They worked 18 and 20 hour days, often weeks on end; they had no paid holidays or control over scheduling; there was no route to promotion in the industry.
When A.P. Randolph and a small group of porters and ex-porters set out to form the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, they ran into the fear and reluctance of the porters to risk their comparatively superior position.
Judith Offer is one of the leading working class writers in the Bay Area. Her latest work Compared To What?focuses on the struggle of the sleeping car porters to build a union. This battle for unionization was also a battle against discrimination and segregation in the workplace and their emergence and success as a union is an important part of labor and black history in the United States. Discussion following the reading.
For further information, call Anniversary Productions at (510) 444-8521.

July 22 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) F 3
Co
By Judith Offer

July 23 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore 888 Valencia St. at 20th St., SF
Workin' Man Blues, Country Music In California
Book reading by Gerald Halsom
Gerald Halsom’s book looks at the social conditions that country music expressed in California. Many of these singers migrated to California to escape the poverty and economic collapse of the dustbowl and their songs reflected their lives and struggles for survival, love and the beauty of life. This rich history is developed in the context of these individual stories that are woven together as a song.

July 24 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 10 Henry Schmidt room 400 North Point at Mason, SF
The Lessons of May Day '08
With video screening of May Day 2008 action
No Peace, No Work, ILWU Shuts Down West Coast Ports To Protest War
(20 min) 2008 by Labor Video Project
The ILWU has a long tradition of independent labor action and solidarity and this past May was no exception. For the first time since the 1940’s, workers went out on May Day, which is the traditional day for workers around the world. They also took this action to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This educational meeting will examine how and why this took place. It will also screen the video No Peace, No Work, ILWU Shuts Down West Coast Ports To Protest War. Following the presentations and video there will be discussion.
Organized and presented by the ILWU Local 10 Education Committee

July 25 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) -Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Un Poquito De Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth) (93 min) 2007
By Jill Friedberg
This film shows the role of the fight for community/labor control of media in the struggle in Oaxaca in 2006 and 2007. We look at workers, peasants and activists fighting to get their voices on the airwaves about their struggle for survival and justice. http://www.corrugate.org

July 25 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 6 Hall 255 9th St. near Howard, SF
The Film Movement of '68 & Independent Media Today
Panel with Connie Field and Peter Gessner
The movements during 1968 also brought new filmmakers into action and these panelists will recount the filmmakers of the time. How they were organized, how they produced their work and what they were able to accomplish in showing the struggles and battles of the period. The importance of understanding this history of independent filmmaking is especially important today with the development of the Internet and the potential to broadcast these works throughout the world. The forum will also look at how a mass movement today will propel independent film and videographers.
The forum will also screen Finally Got The News, a Film by Stewart Bird, Rene Lichtman and Peter Gessner, about the Dodge Revolutionary Workers Movement in Detroit and Peter Gessner will discuss this work.
This is a forceful, unique documentary that reveals the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers inside and outside the auto factories of Detroit.
http:// http://www.newsreel.us

July 26 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Latham Square Telegraph and Broadway, Oakland
Oakland 1946 General Strike Walk
With Karin Hart of the Labor Studies Program at Laney College and Gifford Hartman of the Flying Picket Historical Society. This walk will revisit the sites of Oakland¹s "Work Holiday" that began spontaneously with rank-and-file solidarity with the striking mostly women retail clerks at Kahn¹sand Hastings department store whose picket line was being broken by police scabherding. Within 24 hours, it involved over 100,000 workers and shut down nearly all commerce in the East Bay for 54 hours. In 1946 there were 6 general strikes across the U.S.; that year set the all-time record year for strikes and work stoppages. The Oakland "Work Holiday" was the last general strike to ever occur in the U.S. and the walk and history talk will attempt to keep alive the memory of this tradition of community-wide working class solidarity.There will be a reception after the walk at the Niebyl-Proctor Library at 6501 Telegraph Ave. (at Alcatraz), in Oakland.Sponsored by Laney College Labor Studies (510-464-3210) and the Flying Picket Historical Society (415-751-1572).
Meet at the fountain in Latham Square, in the intersection where Telegraph and Broadway converge across from the Rotunda Building (Oakland City Center/12th St. BART).

July 26 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
Workers' Power In The Present
A Presentation “Workers’ power” is our ability to change reality. From post-war West Coast longshoremen, who dictated, daily, the conditions of work, to revolutionary explosions, like in France in 1968 or Hungary in 1956, aimed at seizing the reins of society, workers have always fought for control over their lives. We do it everyday. We do it because there is no alternative.
In this interactive presentation, led by members of the Bay Area Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, we will investigate the path of workers’ collective action.

July 26 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) UCSF (Detailed location will be posted shortly)
From New Orleans & Katrina to Public Health Hospitals in The Bay Area (The Struggle to Defend Public Healthcare & Our Hospitals)
The fight to reopen the New Orleans Charity Hospital, the largest public hospital in Louisiana will be part of the focus of this educational forum. Not only the Gulf Coast, but also San Francisco with the danger of a major earthquake is under threat by hospital closures.
Presenting will be: Brad Ott, Chair Of The Committee To Reopen Charity Hospital
Mary Ann Ring, UCSF CUE Local 6, Dr. Jill Atoine UCSF, Dr. Michael Freece St. Lukes Hospital Pediatrics

July 26 (Saturday) 7:00 PM ($5.00/Donation) SEIU 1021 HALL 350 Rhode Island, SF (Enter on Kansas between 16th & 17th)
Music From The WPA
Music From The WPA with The San Francisco Bay Area Labor Heritage Rockin’ Solidarity Chorus, Jack Chernos, Carol Denney and others. From Woody Guthrie who worked as a public artist to thousands of other musicians and singers the 30’s was a renaissance of working class music and culture.
The chorus will perform it’s Beans, Bacon and Gravy, a set of spoken word and songs about the depression and the New Deal.
The chorus has performed at the Convergence of the Choruses at the George Meany Center in Washington D.C. and at the celebration for the 75th anniversary of the Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee.
http://www.laborchorus.org/

July 27 (Sunday) 10:00 AM ($15.00) Civic Center Between Asian Art Museum & Main Library, SF
WPA Bus Tour
Join Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith as they travel through history on a bus tour of historic sites built by unionized labor. You will learn about the major contribution workers made during the depression era of the New Deal program. They will discuss 75 years of the WPA. Please be aware that the tour will take about 5 hours depending on the traffic and the discussions.
Co-sponsored by UTU Local 1740
Meet at the San Francisco Civic Center, between the Asian Art Museum and the Main Library.
Reservation required:
Call (415) 642-8066 or by e-mail: laborfest [at] laborfest.net and leave your name, # of reservations and phone number to get back to you in case of any changes.
Make reservation, then send check to:LaborFest, P.O. Box 40983, SF, CA 94140
(Sandwiches and drinks will be available on the bus.) Bus will be back at the Civic Center. Tour lasts about 5 hours.

July 27 (Sunday) 2:00 PM (Donation) San Jose State University - Martin Luther King Library Room 255
From The South Bay To New Orleans & The Spirit of 1929with Videos, Music & Food
With screening of Streetcar Stories about the transit strike in New Orleans in 1929.
By Michael Mizell-Nelson, speakers on Gulf Coast Reconstruction and The Fight to Reopen Charity Hospital with Brad Ott.
For contact call 408-420-5760, mhejazi [at] calcsea.org
http://www.poboyfest.com/history
http://www.poboyfest.com/history/vide
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-26/120063729340330.xml&coll=1
http://www.SolvingPoverty.com
http://neworleanslabormedia.org/health-care-new-orleans:-crisis-catastrophe

July 27 (Sunday) 4:00 - 6:00 PM ($5.00/Donation) 522 Valencia St., at 16th st., SF
SF Living Wage Coalition - Dinner, Raffle & Film
The SF Living Wage Coalition Special documents the successful campaign in 2007 that brought wage increases to over 15,000 low wage workers, primarily women of color. View the process and be inspired to organize your fight for economic justice!

July 27 (Sunday) 7:00 PM (Donation) La Pena Cultural Center - 3105 Shattuck at Prince, Berkeley
Folk This! And Friends
By Folk This!
Join Folk This! and friends at a tribute concert honoring the late Utah Phillips, singer, songwriter, storyteller, anarchist, railroad tramp, defender of the homeless and working people everywhere.
“I thought I knew all the revolutionary songs there were, but these folks just taught me five new ones.” Utah Phillips on Folk This!

July 28 (Monday) 6:00 PM (Free) Plumbers Hall - 1621 Market St. at Franklin, SF
San Francisco Labor Council Film Screening
Labor & Work In The History of San Francisco
Film showing by Rick Prelinger of Prelinger Library
The San Francisco Prelinger library is an important archive and collection of industrial, personal and other film from the history of San Francisco. In this special screening we will see the building of the Twin Peaks Tunnel of 1916, the construction of the San Francisco Bay Bridge in 1933 and an ILA march of longshore workers in San Francisco in the 1930’s. This is not to be missed.
http://home.earthlink.net/~alysons/library.html
http://www.sflaborcouncil.org/

July 29 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 6 Hall - 255 9th St. near Howard, SF
SF State Strike & It's Relevance Today
Screening of San Francisco State On Strike 1968 20 min.,
Students and teachers from the San Francisco State strike of 1968 discuss the strike, the issues, the movement and the relevance for today. Speakers include Dr. Ray Tomkins, Clarence Thomas, Bruce Hartford, Dr. James Garrett, Anatol Anton, Margaret Leahy.

July 30 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Modern Times Bookstore - 888 Valencia St. at 20th, SF
Wobblies On The Waterfront: Interracial Unionism In Progressive Era Philadelphia
Book reading by Peter Cole
Cole in his important work looks at the organization of an integrated industrial workers union on the Philadelphia docks in the early 20th century. We learn about their democratic traditions and how this worked in their battles for equality and justice. Although this union was crushed during the witchhunts of the First World War, the lessons of this history are rich for today.
https://www.hnet.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=62741195415551


July 31 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) Nap's 3152 Mission St. at Precita, SF
Closing Party
Please join us to celebrate the last day of the LaborFest with the Angry Tired Teachers Band, AT&T. This band, which is based in Hayward has written about the travails of teachers at working class districts in the Bay Area, and was also featured in a daily video strike bulletin of 2007 show called The Truth which can be seen by going to http://www.youtube.com and typing in “HUSD strike.”
http://www.andrewkongknight.com/att/mp.html

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