What resonated with me through the video diary was how poorly the workers were treated, the lack of care the factories had for their employees overall health and life, the damage that these factories have continuously done to the environment of the people, the amount of lives that are at risk because of the way these factories are working, and the fact that Manuel García Lepe (Baja California Office of Economic Development) believed that the workers living conditions and the amount they are being paid was all fair and fine because they settle down illegally. He said he’d go around the city everyday, and that he knew and loved his city and knew that the city was “in good shape” (Lepe). It also baffles me that action was taken from the government once the international media coverage was involved.
The tactics/strategies that the artists employed in this piece in order to engage with the issues identified by the groups they worked with in Tijuana were interviewing people that had been directly affected by the pollution of the water that was dumped from the factories, they had meetings in a houses until more people joined them and they found an office space of their own. They then planned a demonstration outside the PROFEPA offices so they could demand a visit from the environmental official who was in charge if the environmental health. They would demonstrate day and night until he came to them. Also, I believe that in the video diary, at one point they were hanging up the different colored smocks (each color was to portray the rank of the factory...Group Leaders, Supervisors, Operators) in different places. They also created this video diary itself as a tactic and strategy.
I think that the fact that these women never gave up or take no for an answer from these men in power was the most powerful approach to go about the entire problem. I also think that to give the audience (people viewing the video diary) an idea of how awful these factories affected the environment and how many lives were put at risk, and by literally showing us what these chemicals are doing to their skin, their land, water, how it affects their health, living conditions, and overall sense of parts of their everyday life is absolutely disheartening to witness. It left me dumbfounded how the kids were running through this toxic water, the kinds of birth defects such as children that were born without fingernails, and some kids were born without brains and would die. Also, I was left dumbfounded and disheartened when they told us about not having electricity in Lagunitas and so they would hang wires from the cables. They then interviewed a man who’s daughter was electrocuted because of the wires and water. If the wires touched each other, they would “short-circuit and burn”. The wires would also sizzle when they came in contact with the water. The girl’s father, Vicente, was at work when they called out that the girl fell in the water. A friend was taking them to Red Cross when he was beating at her chest and trying to give her air, she started throwing up purple and red blood and he thought she wasn’t going to make it. The doctor had said that the flames came out of her hands, entered through her legs, and other places and came out through her cheeks, where marks were left from it. The doctor said that if the current had come out through her brain, that she would’ve died.
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