Film Review
It's a Free World by Ken Loach and Paul Laverty

Glenn Kelly, UNISON national executive, (personal capacity)

Going to the cinema is normally a pleasure but last Thursday was also a privilege as I attended and was asked to speak at the special preview of Ken Loach's new film, It's a free world.

The preview was called in support of the Newham Unison branch secretary Michael Gavin who has been suspended by the council for "showing a lack of loyalty to the council". Addressing the preview Michael said that "his loyalty was to the workers and union members he represented".

In introducing the film and giving his backing to the Unison campaign, Ken Loach launched a scathing attack on the Labour party saying "the Labour party was no longer the party of Labour" and, "it had turned his stomach to see Brown shake hands with Thatcher".

The film is set in Leytonstone, east London, and tells the tale of the exploitation of both 'legal' and 'illegal' migrant workers. Unusually the story is told through the eyes of the exploiter Angie, a victimised worker herself, struggling to care for her child.

She turns to being a small time gangmaster to make a living, lining workers up in a pub car park every morning farming them out like slaves to factories.

This is too much for her own father who challenges her saying: "I thought these days were gone," posing the question: what hope would there be for a decent job for her son when he grows up, when these workers were being paid less than the minimum wage.

The film shows some of the graphic conditions that these workers are forced to live in, in what was effectively a derelict caravan site, more reminiscent of a shantytown.

If this is the plight of the legal workers, for those illegal ones things are even worse. Egged on to make more money Angie is told to use "illegals" as "no passport equals no back chat and no problem workers".

Resistant at first at fear of being caught she is persuaded by being shown an actual case of a gangmaster running thousands of illegal workers who was only given a warning letter as his punishment!

Driven on to make more money, the last elements of humanity are driven out of her. Having helped out an Iranian family living in a freezing shed she later sinks to new depths, calling in the immigration services to deport and clear out the camp site, only so she could then move in a new group of Latvian illegal workers who had paid her £250 for the privilege of being exploited.

Angie's plans come unstuck when the bigger crooks in this chain of abuse fail to pay her £40,000 she's owed.

Not being paid for weeks, the migrant workers demand she help them to feed their families but she refuses to use the money she has.

Denied any legal or organised recourse some of the workers wreak their own revenge on a boss who has ignored their plight.

It is hard to watch this film and remember that it's happening today just streets from where we were sitting and under a Labour government. This film again demonstrates that the government will do little to resolve such exploitation and there is a desperate need for the unions to actively organise these workers and fight for justice.

In other Ken Loach news, Sixteen Films have released a double box set (16 discs in total) of Loach's best films, personally selected by the director himself. The set includes classics such as The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Land and Freedom, Carla's Song, Kes, Cathy Come Home, Hidden Agenda and Bread and Roses. Alas, it's not a complete collection of all his films and it's quite expensive (£120/€175 in total, but available cheaper through Sixteen Films), but perhaps it would make a nice Christmas indulgence.

Film Review
The War on Democracy by John Pilger

Edd Mustill

John Pilger's first cinema-released documentary is a damning indictment of US policy in Latin America, past and present.

Mainly focusing on Venezuela, especially the US-backed coup in 2002 which temporarily overthrew the democratically elected government of Hugo Chávez, the film unmasks the contempt the US ruling class has for the opinions and rights of working-class people as well as the atrocities they have committed in the name of freedom.

The film begins by showing the stark contrast of living conditions in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, which are replicated across Latin America. While parts of the centre look like the business district of any major Western city, the surrounding hillsides are covered in poorly built slums known as barrios, where the majority live in dire poverty.

Pilger explains how historically such people have been ignored altogether by the ruling classes of the Latin American nations, who see themselves as part of a privileged international capitalist class and have far more in common with the wealthy of the USA than their fellow countrymen.

One Caracas resident, amidst the almost sickening ornate décor of his huge home, explains how he may soon have to emigrate to Miami, his "second home", because the situation under Chávez is becoming "unbearable" for him.

And yet the election of Chávez in 1998 allowed the masses to burst onto the political scene for the first time in years, as shown by the massive display of support which restored his government after the 2002 coup.

One almost unbelievable aspect of the film is the clips from mainstream pro-US media channels where prominent commentators constantly de-nounce the Chávez government as "criminal" and call for Chávez's murder. This despite the fact that Chávez and his supporters have won eight elections in the last decade.

But as one pro-Chávez activist states, in a sentence that could barely be understood by the personality-obsessed capitalist media: "This is not just Chávez's struggle. It's our struggle." Those wanting a film charting the policies and direction of Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution, however, will be disappointed. Some government programmes are touched on, such as the use of oil revenues to fund social programmes, or how articles of the new constitution are printed on the packets of everyday products to make citizens aware of their rights.

But the purpose of the film is not a detailed analysis of the social movements rising across the continent, but an attempt to explain why they came into existence. As such, it is loaded with the dark history of US involvement in the region.

Pilger is not afraid to interview his enemies. In fact he almost certainly chooses the most honest faces of imperialism; those who dare to say what others in the capitalist establishment are afraid to admit. Duane Clarridge, former head of the CIA in South America, explains how the US will not put up with "nonsense" in its back yard. By nonsense he means any political movement independent of American supervision.

Disgustingly, Clarridge flat-out denies that there were thousands of killings after the US-backed coup in Chile in 1973. There were merely hundreds of deaths, he protests, and all in the interests of national security. In the next scene, Pilger shows us the cemeteries and memorials to the victims.

More CIA men explain how they trained death squads at the School of the Americas in Georgia, teaching them that torture and murder were legitimate weapons to use against political opponents. Emotionally, the film is highly charged, reflecting the mood of Latin America's masses.

A comprehensive explanation of the situation would be impossible to achieve in a 90-minute film, so sadly some important developments like those in Mexico and Brazil are omitted.

Nevertheless, the film is essential viewing for anyone interested in the region, and effectively unmasks the hypocrisy of the "War on Terror". I would urge everyone, regardless of their political persuasion to see it, as with only eight people in the cinema when I saw it, it felt as though Pilger was preaching to the converted.

Although politically the film has its shortcomings, it does end on an excellent point. Pilger issues a warning to the leftist leaders of the region that if they find themselves seduced by power and wealth, they will suffer the same fate as those they replaced, and the working class will find themselves new leaders in their ongoing struggle.