Page 147 - KAZOVA - ENGLISH
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ing that we needed to take more radical action,” she says. The fate
of the action was also changed by one its supporters. At the same
time Metin Yegin, a lawyer who is also a journalist, writer and pro-
ducer of documentaries, showed them the way forward. All to-
gether they watched a documentary entitled “Patronsuzlar”
(“Those who are without a boss”). The series of documentaries
about workers in bankrupt firms in Latin America who occupied
them and took over production had the necessary effect on the
workers. The slogan “Occupy, resist and produce” had an effect
on the Kazova workers. Aydemir says, “The Latin American exam-
ple left an impression on us. The story of the women, their chil-
dren and the workers resembled our situation.” She continues:
“The workers realised their own authority. For the rights denied
to them, they occupied the factory and restarted production. We
thought we could do the same. We were 30 resisting workers. Our
numbers were small but our voices were loud.”
Kazova a first in Turkey
Bulent Unal, one of the Kazova workers, says this about the
changing direction of the resistance and occupation of the factory:
“We needed to capture a new position. Two months after the start
of the resistance we decided to occupy the factory. Eight of us
workers went inside. Our other friends stayed outside in an en-
deavour to protect us from the police. If the police came they
would chain themselves to the front of the door. Our bosses had
not worked for months, moreover they had sold the building to
someone else, but when they learned of the occupation they in-
formed the police that ‘my workers are preventing production and
have seized hold of the factory’. But at this point the new owner
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