Page 160 - KAZOVA - ENGLISH

the people and work for the people. For the time being we bought
a quantity of thread with money we collected among ourselves and
from donations outside, and we have repaired machinery. Some
producers have aided us in finding thread. To sell what we pro-
duce we will create a cooperative in the very near future. We will
put a label on what we produce which describes the Kazova resist-

ance.

• Bulent Kaplan: During the resistance we sometimes went
hungry but we never thought of giving up. We wanted to go and
see the Prime Minister on the first day of the holiday both to cel-
ebrate and to explain our problems. But they declared us to be
terrorist. We were detained even before the buses had a chance to
depart, and held in a police station. For months my family looked
after my wife and children.

The same thing was experienced in Argentina

The Kazova resistance resembles resistance that has taken
place in Latin America and in Europe. After the 2001 crisis in Ar-
gentina, about 200 people occupied a factory with the slogan “Oc-
cupy, resist and produce” and they started production. In Brazil
the first factory occupation took place at the CIPLA factory, in-

volving 1,200 workers. In France in 1973, the LIP factory passed
into the hands of the workers. In the Basque region in Spain, the
Mondragon cooperatives were established and these have been the
longest-lasting experiences of production without bosses. Eighty-
three thousand workers have worked in such cooperatives and they
stand out as being the biggest workers’ cooperatives in the world.

“Resistance is a product”

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