The Isaan Record, a non-profit organization promoting transparent and community-engaged journalism in northeastern Thailand, will visit Seattle for a public screening of its award-winning documentary film âBlood Berriesâ. At the SIFF Film Center on August 8th, attendance is free and all are welcome.The hope is that the film screening will be a chance for related groups and activists to connect and engage in discussions at the SIFF Center during Q&A following the 52-minute screening of the film. The filmâs director, Hathairat Phaholtap, will be present and answering audience questions afterwards.
âBlood Berriesâ follows the story of a migrant worker supply channel, abetted by the Thai government for many years, and facilitated by companies that have since been prosecuted or are under criminal investigation in Scandinavian countries. The network targeted Thailandâs Isaan region, which has a decades-long history as a main supplier for migrant labor both domestically and abroad. Many thousands of workers from Isaan took out loans to pay for a chance to travel to Finland or Sweden to pick berries in the forests, with promises of European-standard earnings during the berry-picking seasons. They hoped to return home to Isaan in a position to pay off their debts and restart their lives supporting their families. Many thousands of Isaan people were lured with a carefully-crafted social media campaign on Facebook and Tiktok portraying people with large wads of cash to illustrate the earnings they could supposedly bring home after just a few months in Europe. Unfortunately, despite months of grueling work in the Scandinavian forests, many of those workers were sent back home with nothing but debt. Until now, they are yet to be compensated.
Many of the workers were embarrassed by their lack of earnings and afraid of repercussions from speaking out against the apparent scam that involved fellow Thais and their own government. The story reached the attention of The Isaan Record after workers were driven to desperate measures to try to free themselves from crippling debt collection, some forced to put their belongings up for loan collateral. There were even reports of suicides among the regionâs returning migrants. The people who were promised an opportunity to change their lives, had instead returned home heavily indebted and ashamed of their callous exploitation.
âBlood Berriesâ is the result of multiple years of journalistic investigations by The Isaan Record into the lives and stories of migrant workers affected by this berry-picking scandal. Whereas many were scared of repercussions, a critical mass of former migrant workers agreed to record interviews with the Isaan Record and started a movement to fight back for their rights. The investigations uncovered cases of rapacious bribes involving government officials at the highest levels, and the film shows the impacts of such corruption on the daily lives of people who were simply looking for a way to support their families.
The creators of the film were attacked with SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) lawsuits by a top official in the Thai government, attempting to silence The Isaan Record for its reporting on the scandal that allegedly exploited over one hundred thousand migrant workers from Thailand. The journalism that led to this film was supported by the European Unionâs ASPIRE Programme and leading academics from Mahidol University. We hope you will join us for this free public screening on August 8th, at 1PM.
For more information, please contact The Isaan Record: [email protected]
