CINA

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"Londoners (and of course their guests) can see the finest examples of modern artwork from Democratic (??/^^) Korea at an exhibition in the heart of the capital. Works by north Korean People's Artists can be viewed for the first time in Britain..", london communists (^^) announced July, 31.

Artists, Arts and Culture

of North Korea

Cool Hunting wrote two weeks ago, just a day after the opening ceremony:

It's not often that the flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.) flies over London's Pall Mall, a few hundred yards from Trafalgar Square, but it was this week during a rare exhibit of North Korean artwork from the isolated nation's "people's artists," a select group that numbers less than a dozen. One attendee of the opening, which featured North Korean diplomats and their wives, described the scene: "There were loads of people, it was really packed. The embassy was there and some old (British) hanger-on Communists (*)—you know the type, with their bad-fitting cheap suits and beards—they were being a bit weird and annoying people."

The artwork itself, all from the famed Mansudae studio, ranges from original propaganda posters (unsigned), ceramics, pastoral landscapes and "jewel" art—a form of painting made from crushed minerals that are bountiful in the mountainous Korean peninsula. Over two years in the making, the show is a chance to get a peek at a rich culture, including top North Korean artists Jong Chang Mo, Son U Yong and Hwang In Je...

http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2007/07/artists_art_and.php

* ..Exhibition of Art Works from the DPRK (RCPB/ML)

Related:

☞ Trendy London Welcomes North Korean Art (A. Times, 8.01)

Artists, Arts and Culture of the D.P.R.K. runs at La Galleria, 5b Pall Mall, London SW1Y 4UY, until September 2.
(La Galleria is in Pall Mall, at the entrance of the Royal Opera Arcade, one of the earliest arcades in London and just minutes away from Trafalgar Square and the West End.)

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Following statement MTU released last Thursday (8.02):

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Last Thursday (8.02) KCTU published following statement/report about the current E.Land/New Core.. Struggle:

The Second Brutal Attack by the Police against the Striking Irregular Workers at E-Land and New Core:

There will be no more warnings. The police brutal acts will be avenged! (*)

  In the early morning on July 31, the police again violated the workers' right to strike. We now characterize the Roh Moo-hyun government, which has consistently resorted to force against the workers, as a government of violence. And we will make E-Land, the company that has mobilized thugs and threatened violence against the striking workers, regret the actions they have taken today under the protection of the government.

  After police forces dispersed striking workers on the 20th of last month, the government hasn't acted to bring the employers to the negotiating table. Rather they have sought to crush the calls of the workers. They have arrested a member of the trade union's negotiating committee, and have blocked the right of the workers to strike by applying for a provisional disposition regarding obstruction of business. Recently it has even provisionally seized the bank accounts of members and mobilized thugs to threaten force. These examples are only the most recent examples that confirm where the responsibility for the current crisis lies. As the second sit-in strike has shown violence will not resolve this stand-off.

  The management philosophy of E-Land, which promised 100% employment succession and guarantee of trade union activities when it acquired Carrefour's stores, is said to be 'work over money, and people over work.' This 'focus on people' in reality has translated into 10 hour days for 850 dollars in monthly wages, mass layoffs and outsourcing in order to evade direct employment and correction of discrimination, reduction in contracted workers, casualization of regular workers, and contracts of 3, 6, 9, and sometimes even 0 months. Their actions were a retail store of labor oppression under the name of cost-cutting. Workers worked on holidays and 24 hour shifts. The rest area for workers was turned into a praying room for religions activities aimed at raising sales. On top of it all, the collective bargaining agreement was violated by the management before the response from the workers. This is the essence of E-Land.

  Faced with such a situation, workers have for the first time joined a union and organized a sit-in strike. These women workers have taken their cause directly to the public, and many citizens have shed tears at their plight. But the government has crushed the actions by these workers with police shields, solely reiterating the claim that the actions were illegal. If the law and government force is used to trample on the majority of workers, then they cannot expect to be respected. E-Lands CEO, the head of a company which has engaged in unjust labor practices for over 10 years and now has laid off hundreds of female workers while utilizing negotiations as a tactical tool for repression, needs to be arrested. 

  The catastrophe that the government has brought on by protecting abusive companies and deceiving the public with the bill to protect irregular workers will only further the repression of irregular workers by employers. It can be expected that irregular workers will not stand by while this happens, and more struggles will occur. The country will have to bear the costs of social conflict, and responsibility lies solely with the employers and the government. They will have to pay a price.

On July 31, KCTU immediately had a meeting of representatives from the industrial unions and has decided that on the 21st of this month, a National Congress will be held that has only one item for discussion: resolving the New Core, E-Land issue. The Congress will resolve to extend the struggle to all levels of the organization. The regional offices will continue to organize activities to minimize sales at E-Land stores, and there will be concentrated efforts for '0 sales' on the 5th and 11th. On the 18th, there will be a workers' rally across the country with more than 50,000 workers participating. The only solution is an agreement that incorporates the demands of the workers at E-Land. If the government and E-Land want a dialogue, they must first apologize for the acts that have been committed so far...

KCTU's entire contribution, incl. a call for int'l solidarity/protest letter to the S.K. president, you can read here.


Related:
☞ UNI global union's special section for E.Land Struggle

☞ 이랜드자본규탄 4차 총력투쟁 모습 (P. Times, 8.05)

☞ 이랜드 노조, 전국매장 타격투쟁 (VoP, 8.05)

* "..will be avenged" REALLY???? When and how??

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First of all: Despite contrary news from yesterday "the US is considering a military solution of the hostage crisis in Afghanistan", according to the German (bourgeois) daily newspaper Die Welt. Only three days ago the German Der Spiegel predicted that if that will be happen "diplomats and political analysts are expecting - with a high probability - a blood bath" (i.e. all the hostages will be messacred)..

It seems that - at least in the opinion of the S.K. bourgeois media - a new wave of anti-Americanism is now spreading across S. Korea, at least in the "progressive" parts of the society (☞ S. Korean civic groups blame U.S. for hostage crisis, Yonhap, 8.03).

 
About ten days ago a S.K. netizen wrote following on Korean Action against Dispatch of Troops to Iraq/파병반대국민행동: 

Afghanistan resisters are holding korean missionaries and claiming withdrawal of korean troops. This terrible incident was made by korean government’s dispatch policy.

Now the situation is pushing President Roh Moohyeon to abyss. His politic crisis prevents him from forcing policy of dispatch not like 2003 year(He killed Kim Seonil by forcing dispatch troops in Iraq, 2003). So there’s a chance to save the victims. We should organize anti-war actions, claim withdrawal, save missionaries.

In this concern, a student questioned that “Isn’t it a fault of the missionaries, who using occupation of US army to mission Afghanistan people?”

He saw this argument in a newspaper. Today morning, korean right-wing newspapers insisted this kind of distortion, a distortion that it’s not about dispatch of Korean troops, but about religion.

We should make anti-war actions against this kind of distortion.

Yeah (even I don't agree with everything) there must be a MASS MOVEMENT!! But when 200 or 300 people are holding a candle light rally near Gwanghwamun.. That's definite NO mass movement - it will change complete NOTHING!!!


BTW 1: For me the Taliban (but also the majority of the Iraqi "resistance") are only representatives of the most reactionary way of oppression!
BTW 2: (Just) anti-Americanism(*) is also reactionary, at least complete stupid..
BTW 3: * but it can be used - uhuu~ I'm sorry! - for (eeh, more about it later^^)..

Well, in my opinion Hankyoreh is right when it said before y'day that "..Karzai’s government in Afghanistan is a creation of the Bush administration. The Afghan government depends on the U.S. administration" - complete on the US and NATO occupation forces.

The S.Korean gov't has definite no power to demand anything from the Afghan "gov't"! But the USA, together with the other NATO states, who are involved of the ongoing war there, have the power to force the Afghan "gov't" solve the hostage crisis - and it includes a possible prisoner swap - peacefully.

But only a S.K. mass movement is able to create a kind of pressure against its own gov't and on that way against the US administration.. (Don't forget that S.K. is the closest ally of the USA in Asia!!)

On the other side - if I understand it well - the ruling class (at least in S.K.) is already seeing the (possible) danger of such an development and react with counter measures, such as a (massive?) media campaign (likely supported by some/THE reactionary Christian forces): ☞ Hostage Families Reject Anti-American Rallies (Chosun Ilbo, 8.03)

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Yesterday (8.01) "Taliban 'Spokesman' Talked Exclusively to Chosun Ilbo":

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From today - as scheduled and announced by the S.K. gov't/MoJ - a new massive wave of crackdown (i.e. man hunt, imprisonment, mass deportation..) against un-documented migrant workers is starting. To inform and mobilize the S.K. public about/against that MWTV produced and released y'day following video:

 
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