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NEW EARTH
A film by Joris lvens
Music Hanns Eisler
Singing J. v/d Broek
Sound montage Helene van Dongen
In 1920, according to the plan of engineer Lely...
...a massive assault on the sea began...
...with the objective of reclaiming 224,000 acres of fertile land.
The closing off of the South Sea...
...was the largest undertaking of this kind in the world.
Total cost: 1 billion guilders.
The South Sea is separated from the North Sea...
...by a heavy dike, 35 kilometers long and 96 meters wide.
The large inland lake that is created as a result of this...
...is divided by other dikes into polders and drained.
The dry sea bottom provides new fertile soil.
This submarine dam of boulder clay...
...is then covered in certain places with large pieces of rice wood...
...weighted down with rocks, to protect them from strong sea currents.
Construction of the sinkable objects in Den Oever.
Towing them to sea.
At the place where the object is to be sunk.
Dumping boulder clay
Crane boulder clay
Behind this dike of boulder clay...
...sand press machines press sand...
...through long tubes into a massive body of sand.
The dike is then protected above sea level...
...against the attacking waves by a stone slope.
The building material for the dike is boulder clay...
...which the South Sea itself provides.
Large dredging machines dredge this boulder clay...
...a tough type of soil...
...from the sea.
On the landside of the Afsluitdijk...
...apart from the dry ground...
...the lJssel Lake is also being formed.
The water that gathers there...
...from rivers and polders...
...will have to flow into the North Sea at low tide.
For the dumping of this superfluous water...
...draining locks are being built on either side of the Afsluitdijk.
De dike is being closed.
The sea resists its closure forcefully.
The current, created by the changing tides, grows stronger...
...and sometimes breaches the dike deeply...
...and those holes are then plugged plugged by unloading boats.
Closed.
The first earth, reclaimed from the sea.
The vast undertaking of closing off the South Sea...
...and draining the first polder, has been executed.
Ten thousand workers have been working in 2 shifts, 12 hours a day...
...for 120 months to gain this great wealth through incredible toil.
1932: 3,680 acres have been planted.
10.000 workers...
...working in 2 shifts...
...12 hours a day for 120 months have conquered new ground.
The bottom of the sea yields its riches.
The first wheat.
However, the wheat of the world is not raised for food...
...but for market speculation.
WORLDWIDE GRAIN CRISES
ENORMOUS GRAIN SURPLUSES
GRAIN PRICES AT RECORD LOW
GRAIN MARKET COLLAPSES
MILLIONS OF TONS OF HIDDEN GRAIN LIE ROTTING
HUNGER MARCH IN US
There is too much grain, and not enough work.
In 1932, the year the South Sea was closed off...
...the official number of unemployed in Holland rose by 80,000.
In America, at the beginning of 1933...
...11.400.000 unemployed people are starving!
The American farmers cry out: "We're bursting with grain!"
CHEMICALS USED TO RENDER GRAIN INEDIBLE
DESTRUCTION OF HARVES "We're bursting with grain!"
Hunger march in America.
Hunger march in London.
"We're bursting with grain!"
31 million unemployed are starving worldwide.
"Our grain lies rotting in the fields!"
"We're bursting with grain!"
Starvation in Manchuria.
600,000 people are starving.
What to do?
The President of the American Farmers Board...
Mister Legg, says:
"An active, useful pig eats as much wheat as a family of five.
Give the wheat to the pigs, wheat is too cheap."
We have remarkable economists.
The millionaires have found the solution: life is not costly enough.
Therefore, throw the corn into the sea!
Cotton, vegetables, milk, coffee in the sea, in the fire, in the sea!
I LONG FOR STRANGE FARAWAY LANDS
WHERE THE SEA WIND CHASES OVER THE CORN
IN THE LAND OF PROMISE, ARGENTINA
GRAIN THROWERS ARE WANTED
THERE'S TOO MUCH CORN IN THE FIELD
AND IT WILL YIELD TOO SMALL A PRICE
SO. AS THE CONSCIENCE OF THE WORLD DEMANDS
HALF THE HARVEST IS THROWN INTO THE SEA
THROW IT IN, MY BOY!
THERE'S A PURPOSE TO THAT, MY BOY!
THERE'S A HIDDEN MOTIVE TO THAT, MY BOY!
THIS WILL BE SOME WINTER, MY BOY!
PROLETARIANS GO GET YOUR GOODS
THE RICH HARVESTS HAVE BUNGLED THE PRICES
TOO MUCH BREAD IS THE DEVIL'S COS SO CUT DOWN THE SHEAVES AND BURN THE LO SO CUT DOWN THE SHEAVES AND BURN THE LO THEY ARE THROWING BREAD INTO THE FLAMES
THEY ARE THROWING THE GRAIN INTO THE SEA
WHEN WILL THE BAG THROWERS
THROW THOSE ROBBING FATCATS DOWN?
YOU SEE, THAT IS STRANGE, MY BOY!
YOU SEE, THIS WILL BE SOME WINTER, MY BOY!
LIKE YOU'LL NEVER SEE AGAIN IN YOUR LIFE!
LIKE YOU'LL NEVER SEE AGAIN IN YOUR LIFE!
END