Brüno (18)

Directed by Larry Charles
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, Jeff Schaffer and Peter Baynham
On general release from 10th July 2009

There is a special type of laugh that might only be heard at screenings of Sacha Baron Cohen films. It starts with a rapid, high-pitched expulsion of air from the lungs, at the moment when you can't believe he just did that. But it is quickly strangled in the throat, in the instant when you realise you're not sure what you're laughing at, or whether you'd like to sit next to the kind of person who finds that sort of thing funny.

Following on from lightweight political spoof Ali G Indahouse (2002), and the often deceptively clever journey into the dark side of the American dream that was Borat (2006), Brüno is just a silly caricature of a gay man. Sacked from his Austrian fashion TV show, he travels to the US with loyal assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten) in step, seeking celebrity by any means necessary.

So yes, he films a disastrous pilot show, he swaps an African baby for an iPod and names him ‘O.J.’ (“a traditional African name”), and he even tries to become hetero, with the ‘help’ of a deeply bigoted church pastor, and ever-so-straight activities such as going into the woods with a bunch of men and killing furry creatures.

On Da Ali G Show – the Channel Four series that spawned all three of Baron Cohen’s big screen alter egos – he used the naivety of his creations to draw out subversive revelations from his often clueless yet pompous establishment guests. Brüno in particular has travelled a long way since then. Previously, he encouraged us to laugh at the vacuity of the fashion industry, as he metaphorically stripped away the glitz and revealed that the emperor was actually starkers. Now, as a hypersexual cartoon, he offends and upsets exactly the people you might expect to be offended and upset by having queerness thrust in their faces (puns very much intended).

In one scene, 2008 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul is Brüno’s victim. Paul is a racist, anti-abortionist, ultra-nationalist representative of the US super elite. But as Brüno postpones an ‘interview’, marches Paul to a bedroom and starts gyrating – apparently attempting to ‘seduce’ the seventy-three-year-old so he can make a sex tape – it’s easy to feel sorry for an elderly man who has blatantly been conned and sexually intimidated. Under extreme provocation, he leaves the bedroom and barks a few words at a crewmember, like most people would. Is this meant to be funny, or merely shocking?

Buried under piles of cash beyond his wildest dreams, it is easy to see why Baron Cohen wouldn’t be particularly bothered by establishment hypocrisy these days. Instead, like some of the worst comedians in circulation, he has been reduced to nothing more than shock tactics. Time and time again, Brüno acts in a way specifically designed to upset certain people, and then they are upset. Presumably, we’re meant to pat ourselves on the back for only laughing ‘ironically’. It's like...vassever.

Workers' Fightback: Update 10

Three weeks after the brutal UK Borders Agency raid on cleaners at the School of Oriental and African Studies in Camden, and the milestone student solidarity response (see WF 7), details have emerged about the predicament currently facing some of the cleaners abducted in the swoop. According to freesoascleaners.blogspot.com:

"One of the UNISON members picked up, who was traumatised by the clandestine nature of the raid and the appearance of around 40 officers in full body armour, arrived back in Bogota, 48 hours after the raid, wearing the same clothes she was arrested in and with 75 pence in her pocket. Disorientated and distressed, she was simply dumped in Bogota—hundreds of miles from her home town without any concern as to how she could get back to her family."

Similarly, Rosa Perez was deported on 30th June, without the statutory 72 hours notice, and therefore without the chance to say any goodbyes. Marina Silva is being detained at Yarl's Wood in Bedford, where inmates face appalling conditions and many are currently protesting this in the only way left open to them: hunger strike.

Clearly, despite the early declaration of 'victory' by the Socialist Workers Party contingent at SOAS, great suffering has caused by the collusion of anti-worker SOAS Director Paul Webley and UKBA. The student resistance has not been enough to save Perez, Silva, and their colleagues from a terrible fate. Another critical analysis of the student occupation recently appeared in The Commune, arguing that:

"While an open and self-critical debate is needed to ensure that future occupations realise their potential, many aspects of the SOAS protest nevertheless offer hope for the future: the breadth of the coalition assembled, the willingness to adopt militant action, the barriers (at least initially) that were broken down between workers and students, and the growing awareness of the connections between immigration policy and exploitation in the workplace."

On 28th June, soldiers serving under US-trained commanders seized power in Honduras, expelling elected President Manuel Zelaya, and appointing Roberto Micheletti as Acting President. Zelaya had angered the US by having friendly relations with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and while neither Zelaya nor Chavez had challenged the profit system in any practical sense, both have made significant populist concessions to their respective working classes. The coup has therefore shown that even small impediments to profit-making will not be tolerated during this economic collapse, and is a stark warning to working people around the world.

So it is even more significant that Honduran workers have not taken this attack lying down, fighting back with strikes and protests. Teachers in particular have been militantly opposed the new dictatorship, and have now been on indefinite strike for two weeks. Narco News reports:

"In the one school where some (not all) classes were scheduled to begin on Monday, the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), students occupied the school to maintain the strike despite the university rector's attempts to re-open the school. A student who is participating in the occupation told Radio Progreso that the students will continue to occupy the university until Zelaya returns."

Workers’ Fightback: Update 9

This past week has been relatively quiet on the industrial front. However, this is only in comparison to the past several, have seen workers gain real if unstable victories at the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolnshire, the Linamar car parts factory in Swansea, and a link-up between students and cleaners at the London School Of African and Oriental Studies.

So with other disputes simmering, the 'only' direct action explosion this week has been the re-occupation of Wyndford Primary School in the Maryhill area of Glasgow. The city council's Labour administration closed twenty-two primary schools and nurseries this year, with many more closures planned. Inevitably, this results in very difficult school runs for parents, as Colette James explained to the WSWS.

"I’m a single parent with three kids. One’s just moved to nursery school, one to primary. They both start at 9 o’clock. Now, the primary school is just a stone’s throw away from the nursery. But how am I supposed to get to two places at the one time if the primary school is mile and half away?"

An earlier occupation of the site (along with nearby St Gregory's, which is also slated for closure) took place over the Easter holidays, but the Council refused to be moved, despite 95% parents opposing the plans during a sham 'consultation'. Last Friday, 26th June, was to have been the last day at Wyndford, but according to the Anarchist Federation, "Amid tears and distraught goodbyes, parents in one of the targeted schools slipped past security and chained the doors shut behind them."

Occupiers won an early victory, by preventing a council van from taking equipment away on Saturday morning. Again, AFed reports:

"On Saturday the Council vans arrived at 7am and began emptying the school of its furniture and equipment, catching the occupiers offguard who looked on with dismay as it seemed the Council would achieve its aim of the school closure being a fait accompli.

The occupiers sent out urgent messages requesting support and quickly a crowd gathered at the front gate. Suddenly the tables had turned, and it was the occupiers who were in control! As council officials looked on impotently, the campaigners refused to let the vans leave the front gates until all the furniture and equipment was returned to its rightful place, back inside the school!"

Extraordinary footage of this event can be seen here.

The Council have now cut off the water supply in the school, but many litres have now been donated by the local community! Money donations are urgently needed, and the campaign bank account is : "Save Our Schools”. Sort code 30-25-83 Account number 0558506

Those within travelling distance are invited to pay a visit, and bring food, a laptop, inflatable beds, sheets, poster paint, PVA glue and paint brushes to make banners, cable ties, disposable cups, games for the kids, and themselves if they wish to volunteer. The occupation's Facebook group is here, and the wider 'Save Our Schools Glasgow' group can be found at this location.

In Update 2, I drew attention to the struggles of textile workers in Bangladesh (check your clothes labels; this a huge industry). In response to reduced orders (caused by the global economic crisis) and cutbacks coupled with unpaid wages, worker militancy has increased dramatically in the Ashulia region, and provoked a fierce response by the state.

Last week, two garment workers were killed by police, and this Monday saw immense pitched battles with cops, which saw the state forces completely overwhelmed. Protesters then started burning fifty factories, in an apparent attempt to stop strikebreakers.

The Liverpool Workers’ Fightback group will be meeting at Next To Nowhere social centre, 96 Bold Street, on Tuesday 7th July, from 6pm. Solidarity with local resistance will be on the agenda, and all who are interested in supporting rank-and-file workers in struggle are welcome.

Workers Fight Motor Meltdown

The recent reinstatement of union convenor Rob Williams by his bosses at the Linamar car parts factory is a welcome victory for the Swansea workers, as well as all those who expressed their solidarity. Amidst the celebrations, however, caution is needed. Linamar are likely preparing a counter-attack, and this is just one front in a global war on car workers’ conditions.

Linamar sacked Williams on April 28th. According to the company, there had been an “irretrievable breakdown of trust”.

Read more at The Commune...

Sunshine Cleaning (15)

Directed by Christine Jeffs
Written by Megan Holley
On general release from 26th June 2009

It is rare for a film to be both wearyingly dull and seat-punchingly frustrating, but Christine Jeffs (Sylvia) manages to serve-up just such a disappointing hodgepodge in her second film.

Rose (Amy Adams) is a former highschool head cheerleader whose life has gone downhill from those apparently dizzy heights. Now a thirty-something "failure" with silly 'positive thinking' post-it notes on her mirror, she moves from McJob to McJob, not really fitting in anywhere, and has an affair with a cop (Steve Zahn) who doesn't want to leave his wife. Younger sister Norah (Emily Blunt) quirkily drifts through her existence, finding nothing much to interest her for very long. Together they decide to start a business cleaning crime scenes ("a real growth industry") to make some money and put Rose's bright young son (Jason Spevack) into a private school.

Many potentially interesting ideas - upon which entire films could easily be based - are floated in one scene, or one line even, before being unceremoniously dropped. For instance, if cleaning crime scenes really is a growth industry, why could that be? Similarly, why is it that Rose suffers from such a lack of self-esteem? Why is she a bit ashamed to tell her old school friend she is a cleaner? After all, where would the world be without cleaning? And why does that guy only have one arm?

It can be difficult for artists to deal with matters of great social significance, and various processes have made it even harder over the past few decades, particularly for film-makers. But tensions that were bubbling under when Sunshine Cleaning was first conceived are now erupting on the surface. Jeffs tries here, but a total re-ordering of art is required, and this kind of coy flirtation with saying something is not sufficient.

Workers' Fightback: Update 8

Following the recent gains made by workers’ resistance at Visteon and Linamar plants, there is apparently more positive news this week. Wildcat strikers at the Lindsey oil refinery – in conjunction with others in solidarity around the country – have seemingly won the reinstatement of seven hundred sacked construction workers.

The dispute was triggered when fifty-one steel erectors, platers and welders involved in the construction of a £200 million desulphurisation plant were sacked by Total sub-contractor Shaw Group UK. 1,200 workers at the site then took immediate – and illegal – strike action, demanding a reversal of the redundancies. Some of the fifty-one had been on the strike committee when Lindsey workers struck back in February, and Total clearly intended to show that dissent would not be tolerated. Indeed, they responded to these latest wildcats by sacking a further six hundred and fifty constructors last week.

However, Total and their sub-contractors had obviously not counted on the determination of the workforce, and those in a similar situation countrywide. Around 2,500 workers at thirty sites have been involved in wildcats, and this has clearly stunned Total, because they have now agreed to go back on their decision.

The gains made by the united Total workforce have been made by acting outside of the law, and rejecting the official procedures laid down by trade union tops. But the matter is far from over. Total will be keen to avenge this defeat and make the most of the opportunity the unemployment crisis gives them to further drive down wages and conditions. A ballot over formal strike action is just a few weeks away, but that still gives Total time to prepare a response. Join the ‘Victory to the workers at Lindsey Oil Refinery’ group here.

As previously reported in Update 5, parents have been occupying the roof Lewisham Bridge Primary School since the end of April, in protest against the demolition of the school, and its replacement with a privatised ‘foundation school’. An eviction attempt was made on Thursday, but this was successfully repelled by the occupiers. The ‘Hands Off Lewisham Bridge Primary School’ group reports:

“At 9.30am 4 police vans pulled into Elmira Street including a TSG (Territorial Support Group) van… We secured the gate and drew up the ladder much to the concern of the few journalists who were now stuck on the roof with us… As the police formed their line around the school the bailiffs arrived. The journalists were finally let out by the security inside the school to the hysterical screams from Lewisham’s press officer that they would all be arrested for trespass… There then followed a 2-hour standoff. We kept up our chants and even sang songs courtesy of Goldsmiths students’ musical accompaniment…Finally the cops realized that they couldn’t physically remove us from the roof and they left, followed swiftly by the bailiffs."

Pictures and a video of the confrontation can be seen here.

In an illustration of the lengths the state will go to when profits are threatened by labour resistance, police have stormed an occupied car factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, reportedly causing eighty injuries. 2,600 out of 7,100 workers had been sacked by SsangYong Motors, so more than one thousand have been occupying the plant for over a month. On Thursday, they rejected a “final offer” from SsangYong, and on Friday the police were sent in to protect strikebreakers and end the occupation, illustrating the hand in glove relationship between corporate and political power.

The Liverpool Workers’ Fightback group will be meeting at Next To Nowhere social centre, 96 Bold Street, on Tuesday 7^th July, from 6pm. Solidarity with local resistance will be on the agenda, and all who are interested in supporting rank-and-file workers in struggle are welcome.

Workers' Fightback: Update 7

This last week has been a momentous one for our young phoenix of resistance as it rises from the flames of economic devastation, because we have witnessed the first major link-up between this generation of students and workers in struggle in the UK.

Last Friday (12^th June), cleaners at the School of African and Oriental Studies in Camden were instructed to attend an early morning meeting. The gathering was then raided by around fifty police in riot gear. The cleaners were then locked in the room, and nine were taken into detention. The cleaning contractor – ISS – is known to have requested the police action, which coincided with a rally that was due to take place in support of another sacked ISS employee. The cleaners were in the process of unionising, and had just won the London Living Wage.

In response to what seems to have been a horrific act of collective punishment, students occupied part of the university, starting on Monday. On Thursday, the student union and SOAS principal Paul Webly agreed to the following points, and the occupation ended:

1. SOAS will write directly to the Home Secretary within 12 hours of the end of the protest, requesting that he grants exceptional leave to remain in the UK those cleaners who are still being detained. In addition; SOAS will request the immediate return of those who have been deported and exceptional leave to remain for those forced into hiding by Friday's raid.

2. SOAS will open discussions with ISS, and separately with UNISON, UCU and the SU to review in detail the events of last Friday.

3. SOAS will discuss the possibility of bringing cleaning services in-house at the next scheduled meeting of its governing Body.

4. SOAS will meet with the relevant unions to discuss health and safety issues relating to immigration raids and acknowledge UCU policy of non-compliance with immigration raids.

5. SOAS will not take action against those involved in the protest.

Socialist Worker immediately and uncritically declared an “important victory”, though a correspondent in The Commune was more circumspect. Anyway, as always, more support is still needed, and the issue is not dead yet. Click here for the ‘Stop the Deportation of SOAS University cleaners!’ group.

Open hostilities have resumed at the Total Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire, following a spate of sackings and walkouts. On Wednesday 10^th June, fifty-one workers were given ‘imminent redundancy notices’ by the Shaw sub-contractor. On Thursday 11^th, Shaw employees went on wildcat strike, and were supported by scaffolders, electricians and workers of other trades and other sub-contractors. Management refused to negotiate, and stated the fifty-one would still be sacked. At a mass meeting on Wednesday 17^th, the Lindsey workers decided to remain on strike until the redundancies are withdrawn. However, today (Friday), Total confirmed they are sacking a further nine hundred workers. Solidarity wildcats have broken-out at refineries around the country this week. Click here for the (non-nationalist) ‘Reinstate the 900 workers at Lindsey oil refinery’ group.

Meanwhile, LibCom reports that “workers in the warehouse for the Swedish state’s alcohol monopoly have started a wildcat strike in response to management attempts to replace the workforce with short term workers”. Having got short shrift from union reps, they struck anyway and blockaded the warehouse, until riot police cleared a path for strike-breakers. Still, snaps supplies are way down, and workers have moved their blockade to the Systembolaget (Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly) HQ in Stockholm.

Looking For Eric (15)

Directed by Ken Loach
Written by Paul Laverty
On general release from 12th June 2009

The Eric in question here is not really Monsieur Cantona – the ‘mercurial’ Man U star turned actor, who plays himself – but Eric the Manchester postman (Steve Evets), whose emotional turmoil is founded on half-buried relationship issues and a general sense of alienation from his ‘team-mates’ and the world. Though he can’t communicate this to anyone in his life, he tells all to a giant poster of his ‘god’, until the icon apparently comes to life. So will the real Eric stand up? He certainly will…

Cantona turns in a wonderful performance, sending up his philosopher persona, whilst still offering his postie friend decent advice. We learn his greatest memory of his playing days is not the dazzling runs, the screaming shots, or the showy individualist tricks. No, it is a surprise pass to Dennis Irwin on the edge of the box. The hollow ‘self-help’ approach to improving your life is also mercilessly mocked, as it absolutely needs to be. No, you must “trust your team-mates always”, and work with them to achieve your goals. Of course, this trust can’t come from out of nowhere; it is events that change people and their relationships. But when events threaten the life of Evets’ character, he finds he has many, many people in his squad.

Occasionally horrific, often desperately sad, yet ultimately joyful, Looking For Eric sits somewhere between Loach’s own Riff-Raff; It’s A Wonderful Life and Fight Club. It’s a bit of a departure for the director. Though his usual social conscience and commitment to naturalism are here, the ‘grittiness’ of the scenes he depicts is tempered with dashes of knockabout banter and camaraderie that he normally downplays when giving working class life a rare big screen outing. In particular, John Henshaw as ‘Meatballs’ is full of dry humour and wisecracks. So it’s interesting that Loach has added this element during the onset of economic crisis, at a time when it is most needed. As a result, this film glows with belief in the power of ‘ordinary people’. Meatballs is a “fucking postman”, you are whatever you are, and together the people who make this world go round can do anything.

Workers' Fightback: Update 6

Over half of UK workers have seen an attack on their jobs, pay or working conditions since the start of the recession, according to bosses’ website Keep Britain Working. LibCom reports that:

“27% of workers in the UK have taken a pay cut, 24% have seen a cut in hours, and 24% have “lost benefits”. 37% of workers have experienced one of these attacks, whereas 27% have experienced two and 5% have experienced all three.”

But some groups of workers are fighting back, showing that there is an alternative to the kind of despair that the BNP and politicians generally feed on: working class solidarity!

A solid strike by London Tube workers aside, the good news this week is that the decisive action of Ford/Linamar workers in Swansea has forced bosses into a retreat, and saved the job of their union convenor, Rob Williams. ‘Red Robbo’ was sacked when he expressed solidarity with the sacked Visteon workers, who were taking direct action in and around their Ford-linked factories (the Visteon fighters eventually won a much improved redundancy package). An indefinite strike had been due to start at Linamar on Thursday, but the company agreed to unconditionally reinstate Williams, averting the action with just hours to spare. It may not be a mere coincidence that Williams had recently visited the Ford plant in Kansas, which is the main receiver of parts from Linamar Swansea. But this will not be the end of the war; Linamar will still be looking to offload the cost of their profit crisis onto the workers who create that profit. Watch this space, and this one.

As if Ford weren’t having enough trouble, there’s also the beginning of resistance at their Getrag plant in Halewood, Merseyside. Getrag want to impose a cut to one of three shifts at the gearbox-making factory. Last year, production was halted for a month over Christmas, and in January workers returned to a four day week. Now bosses want further reductions, and Unite union negotiator Dave Osbourne seemed willing to comply two weeks ago, telling the Liverpool Daily Post that:

“We met senior Getrag management, who indicated to us their need to reduce shift work in the plant as a result of falling volumes. They have given notice they intend to move to two-shift working in mid-June or the end of June. We do not foresee any job losses.”

This statement exposes the nationalist perspective of the union tops. They are trying to protect their dues base by forcing concessions on workers, and hoping that employers will keep jobs in the UK. However, this week it emerged that Getrag want to move the shift to a site in Bordeaux, France, where workers will presumably face a higher rate of exploitation. Six hundred and fifty Halewood workers reacted with fury, and staged a ‘wildcat’ strike - walking off the job without going through time-consuming official procedures. Osbourne has now pledged to get the matter “satisfactorily resolved”, but his own bottom line is sure to be his primary concern.

Finally for this week, workers at a sweatshop in Mexico were held hostage by their employer last Friday, in an attempt to stop them striking for better working conditions, a cafeteria, health services and better pay. Managers and security guards at the Midland factory Ciudad Juárez prevented a walkout by forcibly holding some sixty technical and blue-collar workers, who produce machine equipment for the oil industry.

Workers' Fightback: Update 5

Parents are still defiantly occupying the rooftop of Lewisham Bridge Primary School, six weeks after they began their action against a planned demolition and privatisation.

If Lambeth Council gets its way, the Grade Two listed building will be demolished, to make way for a new, privatised 3-16 foundation school. In the meantime, the Council are bussing children to the Mornington Centre, some nine miles away. Understandably, given the extra journey times (and everyone having to get up much earlier), tempers are getting frayed. But hey, just as long as there’s money to be made, eh? Join the Facebook group here, or read the blog here.

Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley has finally set a date for the start of strike action against the sacking of union convenor Rob Williams at the Linamar factory in Swansea, due to his reputation as a fighter and support for Visteon workers occupying their factories. However, Woodley’s first response to this dramatic assault on workers’ rights was to raise the matter with Gordon Brown, so he cannot be trusted to be an ‘honest broker’ between the workforce and Linamar/Visteon/Ford. At a time of crisis in the car industry, his first priority must be to protect his dues base. This is very different from the interests of rank-and-file workers. The strike is provisionally due for 6 am on Thursday. The Facebook group is here, or you can make cheques to the hardship fund out to "T&G 4/1" and send to Linamar Workers Hardship Fund, 31 Wanunwen Terrace, Swansea SA1 1DX.

And as Barack Obama praises his “steadfast ally”, Egyptian military dictator Hosni Mubarak, workers are fighting back against the Mubarak regime and corporate interests. Textile workers have begun an open-ended strike for bonus payments, while one hundred staff at the First Day Surgeries Hospital in Nasr City held a sit-in, having waited three months for basic wages and night shift allowances. And thousands of postal workers are defying ‘their’ union, to strike against a new ‘appraisal system’.

Workers' Fightback: Update 4

Workers at the Swansea Linamar car parts plant have voted for an all-out indefinite strike, in support of their sacked union convenor Rob Williams. Williams was originally sacked one month ago, after an “irretrievable breakdown of trust” with management – i.e. he actually tried to stand up for his fellow workers. Indeed in April he visited all three Visteon occupations (like Linamar, Visteon are strongly linked to Ford).

Turnout for the vote was 88%, with 139 voting 'yes' in support of the strike, and 19 voting 'no' against it. With a historic downturn – coupled with massive ‘downsizing’ (redundancies) – in the car industry, Linamar employees clearly see this strike as a vital defensive measure. They will need your support! Please visit here and join the support group, and watch a video of a pre-ballot rally here.

Students at Sussex University have been holding a protest camp outside management offices for more than a week now, in protest against the proposed closure of the Linguistics Department (see here). On Thursday, the management handed out letters to seven presumed ‘leaders’, threatening students with “disciplinary proceedings” if they did not end their camp by 5pm on Friday (see the letter at UK Indymedia). The seven face potential victimisation very similar to that of Rob Williams. Whether in a factory or a faculty, a cut is a cut, so more solidarity is needed!

Meanwhile, Upside Down World has a very interesting article on the situation in Argentina, looking back at the wave of occupations that took place in that country in response to their millennial financial crisis, and how surviving co-operatives are trying to ride out the current turmoil. According to reporter Marie Trigona:

“Many of the 200 worker controlled businesses and factories in Argentina are being affected by the crisis. But unlike their capitalist counterparts, the worker cooperatives are taking any measure possible to avoid laying off workers, something which they are opposed to doing.”

Workers' Fightback: Update 3

The big news this time is the end of the Visteon occupation in Belfast, and pickets in Basildon and Enfield, after seven weeks of protest and direct action, which has seen sacked workers win a much improved redundancy package. Their bank accounts are expected to credited with tens of thousands of pounds over the next few days.

There have been unofficial (‘wildcat’) strikes taken around the country at liquefied natural gas terminals. Like the dispute based at the Lindsey oil refinery back in February, there is a nationalist element to the walkouts. However, it’s still unclear how important ‘British jobs for British workers’ is for the workers at South Hook in Pembrokeshire and around the country. Certainly, that’s the angle that the corporate media are taking (e.g. The Independent).

Those who were following the Greek uprising over the winter may be interested in this update on LibCom. It’s certainly not gone quiet over there, what with cleaners marching, lawyers (physically) attacking the ‘Justice’ Minister over proposed anti-anarchist laws, and doctors striking for the hiring of more doctors!

Meet The New Boss: The United Auto Workers Union

What do you call a ‘union’ where the people at the top will directly profit from increasing the exploitation of their ‘membership’? Well, if Barack Obama gets his way, you can call it the United Auto Workers.

Yes, in return for a government rescue package, Chrysler executives and UAW bureaucrats have agreed a deal which has important implications for the class struggle worldwide, and marks a new stage in the liquidation of official trade unions.

Read more at The Commune...

Synecdoche, New York (15)

Written and directed by Charlie Kaufman
Screening at FACT from 15th May 2009

According to Wiktionary, a synecdoche is ‘A figure of speech by which an inclusive term stands for something included, or vice versa’. Examples include ‘fifty head of cattle’ and ‘a fleet of ships, fifty sail deep’. So basically, the title is a fancy way of saying the Schenectady, New York-set film is meant to represent the whole of humanity. But although there’s much to admire, it doesn’t quite succeed on that level.

When we meet Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), he is a middle-aged man being woken by his alarm clock on the first day of autumn. By the time he’s finished breakfast with his artist wife Adele (Catherine Keener) and daughter, Hallowe’en has been and gone. Yes, this is one of those pictures (that was a synecdoche right there).

Cotard is a small-time theatre director whose artistic ambition extends to casting unusually young actors for parts in Death of a Salesman. But as Adele flees for the relative glamour of Berlin, a strange disease apparently begins attacking his bodily functions, and he decides he wants to do something “important”, while he’s still alive. “That would be the time to do it”, chimes his psychiatrist.

Forty years then fly by, as Cotard wins a massive grant, decides to put on a massive, sprawling production in an ever-expanding warehouse, finds a new wife (Michelle Williams), has a kid with her, secretly longs for yet another woman (Samantha Morton), cries a lot, bodily and emotionally breaks down more and more, philosophises quite a bit, apologises to his daughter (who is now a tattooed stripper on her deathbed) for something he’s probably never done, meets a man who’s been following him for twenty years, and never, ever, gets his play ready for an audience. That’s just scratching the surface of the stuff that happens within dreamlike/nightmarish logic.

“We are all hurtling toward death”, Cotard tells us. “Yet here we are, for the moment, alive. Each of us knowing we will die; each of us secretly believing we won't." But this isn’t a ‘seize the day’ film; that would be far too simple, and the script is weighed down by too much cynicism. Instead, we are presented with dramatic cinematography, highly skilled performers often creating a deep emotional impact, and…nothingness. To give an example, Cotard is well named, because ‘Cotard’s syndrome’ is a rare psychological disorder whereby the person is convinced they are either dead or decaying, like the main character here. And indeed decay is everywhere in the film, decay that inevitably results in utter death, and annihilation.

Synecdoche is Charlie Kaufman’s debut as a director, having already written scripts for Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – films that are similarly difficult to grasp. In all of his work, desires are frustrated not by rivals or unfortunate material circumstances, but by ‘random’ events, by a cruel ‘god in the machine’ that could never be understood. In this universe of constrictive contortions, happiness is almost entirely elusive, or could only ever last a single night, making the anguish of loss sharper than the dull pain of loneliness. Despite apparently trying to say something about what it is to be human, Kaufman is just like Cotard – lost in his introspection and grand delusions.

There is a sense in which Synecdoche may well be the extreme culmination of a process that has been going on for four decades, but must now end. As the basic workings of western society have been obscured by seemingly endless credit, the decline of heavy industry and worship of the commodity, there has been a trend for insulated and isolated creatives to disengage with the world, and instead look for truth deep inside of themselves. But individual psychologies are the products of interactions with their environments, and change is the only constant.

Here is the line in the sand. This far, and no further, down the cul-de-sac of our own minds. It is 2009. The global economy is plunging into a historic crisis. Only the wealthiest will not feel the coming storm, and its implications. It is time for talented people to take a long, hard, look at the world, and make art that truly says something about the whole.