Nearly
all of the subjects of Huang Wenhai’s latest documentary were arrested in a
massive round-up of labor activists in December 2015. Several were also
arrested during Huang’s extended 2009-2015 shoot. Huang nearly shared their
prisoner-of-conscience experience first-hand, but he left just before the state
security police arrived one fateful night. The resulting film is as real as
real gets. Produced by Zeng Jinyan, who previously helped her former partner,
Hu Jia document their term of house arrest in Prisoners of Freedom City, Huang’s We The Workers (trailer here) is a vividly personal
indictment of Chinese labor exploitation, which screens this Sunday in DC, as
part of a series of films curated by Ai Weiwei.
Peng
Jiayong looks like a schlubby sitcom character, but there is nothing funny
about it when he is beat up by thugs or arrested and held incommunicado by the
cops. The working-class laborer-turned labor rights advocate is not the most
sophisticated or disciplined organizer at the Panyu Workers’ Centre, but there
is no denying his dedication. In contrast, clean-cut Deng Xiaoming is an
earnest young activist, who could have come from central casting.
Unfortunately, the beleaguered Deng is often forced to mediate conflicts within
his own family when he is not risking life and limb in the field.
We
will watch them fight the good fight over the course of several years. Both
will endure considerable stress and harassment, but Peng bear the most physical
violence. Sometimes it comes from goons hired by factory owners, but it is
probably more frequently the police who are violently targeting the activists. Apparently,
the cops often launch attacks following the Workers’ Centre’s victories, out of
retribution, even though the owners are by then inclined to let things be.
Many
of the activists find it prudent to relocate their offices every month. Even
the Panyu staff is forced to avoid their office space for months. When they
finally sneak back in under the cover of night, the eerie vibe is unmistakable,
like revisiting an old apartment from your childhood. In fact, Huang has a
knack for making viewers feel things. He gives us a grim taste of Chinese
factory conditions in an extended vérité prologue, while conveying a visceral
sense of the constant fear surrounding the organizers’ work. They are not perfect.
Frankly, at least one of the attorneys working with the Centre is a real
blowhard (like most attorneys), but they all have real guts and commitment.