On Monday, May 3, Cinema Politica hosted a discussion with directors Ammar Aziz and Christopher Patz (DISCOUNT WORKERS), Sohnia Karamat Ali (Comité d’Action de Parc Extension) and Mostafa Henaway (Immigrant Workers Centre). This conversation was moderated by Dr. Mubbashir Rizvi, examining how the fashion industry’s exploitative supply chain and labour conditions Pakistan relate to grassroots organizing in labour and migrant justice in Montreal.
This event was co-presented by Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC), South Asian Women’s Community Centre (SAWCC), Comité d’Action de Parc Extension (CAPE), and Cinéma sous les étoiles du Funambules Médias.
ABOUT THE FILM
A textile factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan, kills over 260 workers, among them a widow’s only son. Saeeda’s transformation from domestic mother to influential activist brings her to the centre of a male-dominated workers’ rights movement. DISCOUNT WORKERS takes you on a journey along the supply chain of the fashion industry, and reveal that change may in fact be coming from those at its very end.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Ammar Aziz is a filmmaker and poet from Pakistan. He is a recipient of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award, among several other accolades. He has been selected for some the most prestigious film festivals, including IDFA, Hot Docs, Jean Rouch Intl. Film Festival and Moscow Intl. Doc Film Festival, in over a hundred countries. His poetry – published in various international literary journals – has appeared & forthcoming in several anthologies. He lives in Lahore.
Christopher Patz is a documentary film-maker and works at the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), which campaigns for corporate accountability legislation in Europe. Previously he worked on judicial and non-judicial cases against European brands and private auditors for their involvement in factory fires and collapses in South Asia. He holds an LLB and Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University.
Sohnia Karamat Ali worked as an activists’ educator for Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (PILER) from 2001 to 2007. After arriving in Montreal, Sohnia first invested a good amount of time to learn French, while also volunteering with South Asian Women Community Centre (SAWCC), Immigrant Workers Center (IWC) and Solidarity without Borders. Since 2015, Sohnia has been working with Comité d’Action de Parc-Extension – CAPE.
Mostafa Henaway is a longtime community organizer, radio producer, and writer. has been a community organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal since 2007 organizing with textile warehouse workers, and other precarious immigrants and migrants for both migrant and labour justice. Mostafa is currently a co-producer of labour radio on CKUT 90.3FM, and a facilitator at the Labour College of Canada, He is also a Phd Candidate at Concordia University focusing on Amazon and logistics workers.
MODERATOR: Dr. Mubbashir Rizvi is an Assistant Professor in Cultural Anthropology at Georgetown University. His research and teaching interests span social movements, environmental justice, indigenous and peasant land rights, postcolonial militarization, race and empire. His book, The Ethics of Staying: Social Movements and Land Rights in Pakistan (Stanford University Press May 2019), examines the rise of a land rights movement that challenged the Pakistani military’s policy to privatize state-owned farms. His publications appear in History and Anthropology, Anthropology Today, South Asian History and Culture, Verge and Text, Performance and Practice.
