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AUDIO-VISUAL PRESENTATIONS:

To facilitate the discussions and to complement the lectures the following audio-visual aids were used:

a. "On the fringe of Society": A 16mm movie film produced by the Catholic Council for Development in Thailand (CCTD). It depicts the agonies of a rural situation in North-Eastern Thailand and shows eventual organisation of a co-operative by the farmers. It clearly brought to focus the city educated youth and their role in organising the peasants and farmers, and also the structural challenges the co-operatives face from the middlemen and traders in the village eventually leading the villagers to rely on its only power: People. The discussions that followed the screening of this film resulted in sharing of similar experiences, and in a deeper understanding of the collective bargaining power.

b. "Bloody Octobers": A set of 140 slides highlighting the student activism in Thailand from October 1973 to October 1976 when the student movement was brutally crushed. One lesson that has been brought home form this presentation was the dominant role played

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by the students in the setting up of a democratic government and the eventual organisation of the Federation of Farmers and Trades Unions. However, the student movement failed to see the real potential in these unions of workers and peasants and continued to play the leading role in these organisations. Hence the crackdown on the National Student Centre of Thailand (NSCT), the umbrella organisation of all student unions, on October 6, 1976 brought to a sad end all the gains made in the past three years. This realisation among the student community in Asian countries called for a re-examination of the strategies of student activism. The Staff of IMCS Asia and the Catholic Federation of Students in Thailand (CFST) gave leadership to this session.

c. "Justice": To enable the theological discussions, this set of 40 slides which took its text from the prophets in the Old Testament showing God's concern for His "people, the poor" was screened. The overarching message in the presentation was the partisan attitude of God towards the poor and the oppressed and His promise of justice.

d. "China Visit": A presentation of slides made by the SCM of Hong Kong of their June 1982 visit to a village in Canton where they stayed and-worked with people for ten days. The presentation enabled the participants to observe the community life as seen in production teams and communes.