Workers' Struggles during the Crisis

The film gives an overview of labor struggles in the region around Duisburg and Düsseldorf (Germany) in the past few years. It is not a detailled documentation of those struggles, but serves as a reminder, as a form of self-understanding, and as an encouragement for those in struggle. The film emphasizes the importance of the independent agency of workers and talks intricately, but for all participants understandably, about the conflicts with union representatives. During the conflicts union representatives had tried to prevent a broad politicization.

The knowledge about these conflicts and their importance remained largely enclosed in the factual "parallel world" of migrant labor in the "hidden sites" of the direct production process; just a few German media reports contained information about these struggles.

A summary of these struggles can be found in the book: "Arbeitskämpfe im Zeichen der Selbstermächtigung" (Workers' Struggles under the Banner of Self-Empowerment (Ed.: Anna Leder). The book will be presented in Café Commune, Reichenbergerstr. 157, Berlin Kreuzberg, on April 24, 2012, at 7 p.m. by Christian Frings, Willi Hajek, and Bärbel Schönafinger.