The Santa Fe Film Festival unveils tonight a new video on the remarkable career of former UFW leader and current SEIU Executive Vice-President Eliseo Medina. Beyond Chron was sent a copy of the film, which can be viewed here. (Ed note: The link was removed by the video's owner on Dec. 6--we will try to get it restored) The video serves as a remarkable companion to my new book, Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century, which traces Medina’s career from his days learning organizing in the fields from Fred Ross, Sr., through his recent efforts in boosting Latino voting and building the nation’s immigrant rights movement.

The fourteen-minute video, titled Tribute to Eliseo Medina, offers wonderful footage of UFW grape boycott activism and of Medina’s organizing of workers. It includes coverage of Medina’s fast during the University of Miami janitors strike in 2006, an exciting campaign that involved former top Clinton Administration officials battling labor leaders and that comprises a full chapter in Beyond the Fields.

Among those included in the film is Scott Washburn, a longtime UFW activist and current SEIU Arizona State Council Coordinator. As I describe in my book, Washburn was inspired to become an activist when he heard Cesar Chavez call out “Si Se Puede” from his Arizona hotel room in 1972 -- this was the launching of the rallying cry picked up by Barack Obama in the anglicized “Yes We Can.”

The video also includes footage of Medina’s health care worker organizing in Los Angeles, and his involvement in building clergy-labor relations.

According to SEIU, it is being released now to revive attention to the immigrant rights movement, as Medina will be playing a central role in moving legislation for comprehensive immigration reform.

Randy Shaw is Editor of Beyond Chron and can be reached at rshaw@beyondchron.org