Nae Pasaran

NAE PASARAN is a feature documentary about the Scots who defied Pinochet by award-winning director Felipe Bustos Sierra. The film explores the impact of a four-year solidarity boycott by factory workers at Rolls-Royce East Kilbride. The research led to the discovery of the Chilean Air Force military engines which disappeared from the factory in 1978. One of the engines – the first stopped in the boycott – has been returned to Scotland and will be unveiled in East Kilbride early next year.

‘NO PASARAN’ is the anti-fascist battlecry of the Spanish Civil War which saw thousands of men and women throughout the world travel to Spain to fight Franco’s troops. The stories of the Scottish International Brigades are legendary and have been a strong source of inspiration ever since, particularly for the Rolls-Royce workers who led the Chilean engine boycott.

The story goes like this:

1974, Scotland. Bob Fulton, a Rolls-Royce engine inspector, returns to his section, upset and anxious. He’s just told his colleagues that a Chilean Air Force jet engine has arrived in the factory for maintenance and he’s refusing to let it go through, in protest against the recent military coup of General Pinochet. He’s seen the images of people packed into football stadiums and the Chilean Air Force jets bombing Santiago, and now one of the engines from those very same planes is right there, waiting for inspection. He can see his supervisors approaching, he knows he’s about to be fired yet he feels a responsibility.

By the 1970s, all Avon engines were repaired in the same factory… Rolls-Royce East Kilbride. With nowhere else to go for maintenance, the workers’ action could potentially be devastating for the Chilean Air Force.

The boycott of Chilean engines at the Rolls-Royce factory was a minor cause célèbre. The workers kept the boycott going for four years, leaving the engines to rust at the back of the factory, until one night… the engines mysteriously disappeared. The workers were told their actions had been meaningless.

But now the film-maker needs some solidarity himself.

Award-winning director Felipe Bustos Sierra has launched the final crowdfunding campaign to complete his feature-length documentary, which ends in a few days time (20 December).

Sierra explains:

“It’s been a long project to research and our characters and their story have been an incredible buoy throughout: a true barometer to keep us going in the right direction. We’re asking that if international solidarity means anything to you, if you believe – like we do – that we are all connected trying to make a life for ourselves while treating each other like human beings before politics, class, language or borders muddle it up, this is a story for you and it has a painstakingly-documented happy ending. Please pledge to help us reach our funding goal ahead of our film festival deadlines in early 2018. If you can’t help financially, tell others about the “Scots who stopped Pinochet’s engines”.

Back their Kickstarter here.

Follow Nae Pasaran online on Twitter: @naepasaran

Comments (5)

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  1. Iain Black says:

    Good stuff. And listen to Ewan Maclennan’s song on the same subject.

  2. Wul says:

    Really looking forward to seeing this on the big screen and have helped to fund it.

    Just shows that you don’t always know, at the time, the effect your actions of support/dissent are having (and the Establishment will do its best to convince you you are wasting your time).

    Re; the picture above of the banner saying “Thank You Scotland for your Solidarity”; Reminds me of the well known unionist journo on twitter, who recently took exception to Catalonia saying “Thank You Scotland” and felt it necessary to remind the Catalonian people that “Not all Scottish people…” supported them. (Sorry, can’t remember his name)

  3. B. Williamson says:

    Was this programme filmed before Mr. Somerville was awarded his MBE?

  4. Hugh Scott Smith says:

    The film has been released to some acclaim and it has even had a recent showing on BBC Scotland. In the meantime the Rolls Royce works at East Kilbride has closed and the site is currently being developed as a housing estate.

    Can anyone tell me what has happened to the engine which was returned to Scotland?

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