26개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
While the expected 600 foreigners failed to show up on the Anti-Candlelight Protest announced for last Sat. in downtown Seoul (actually only 300 people attended the "event"!!^^) activists and supporters of MTU joined the massive Anti-gov't Rally and combined it with their own campaign against the ongoing wave of crackdown (by the S.K. gov't. "authorities") on undocumented migrant workers in general and MTU activists in particular:
7월 5일 오후 5시부터 8시 30분까지 촛불집회가 열리는 서울시청 광장에서
'이주노동자 권리찾기' 캠페인을 진행하였습니다.
광우병 쇠고기 수입 반대 촛불집회에 참가한 수많은 시민들이 이주노동자 권리찾기
캠페인에 함께해 주셨습니다.
줄을 서서 서명운동에 동참하고 모금도 해주시는 등 호응이 너무나 좋았습니다.
"한국사회에서 이주노동자들이 올바른 인권과 노동권을 찾을 수 있도록 연대하자",
"단속추방이 너무 심해 촛불집회에도 나오기 힘든 이주노동자들의 권리를 찾자" 등
우리의 주장과 호소에 너무나 많은 시민들이 함께해 주셨습니다. 모금도 42만원이나
되었고, 서명용지가 모자랄 정도였습니다.
참여해 주신 모든 분들께 감사드립니다.
1. While the S.K. ruling class and its gov't is assuming that the protest movement is "short before the final collapse", the 'security forces' are threaten now another part of the society with repressions:
☞ Police Warn Religious Leaders Over Candlelit Protests (K. Times, 7.07)
2. Last week Scot B. (www.kingbaeksu.com) published following interesting(*) impression/view about the recent protest events in Seoul(**):
Tonight I walked to City Hall at around 7:30pm and was disgusted by what I saw. A group at Ch'onggye Plaza was protesting human rights abuses in China, but all of 5 people were stopping to listen to a speech that was being made. Nearby, on the corner by Seoul Finance Center, another group was protesting against global warming and advocating green living and vegetarianism, but again nobody was even listening. Then I went to City Hall, and it was flooded by people listening to a monk give a speech about the need to renegotiate the beef deal. I'm sorry, but why is a vegetarian monk promoting eating beef at all? Shouldn't he be calling for outright cancellation?
I left after a few minutes and spoke with the anti-global warming people once again. They had a large-screen TV showing how cows produce methane gas which in turn increases global warming. I spoke with the nice halmoni there for a while and asked her what she thought of the beef issue. At first she said she didn't care because she was a vegetarian, but then after some prodding, she said, "Those people have low consciousness" and went on to talk about how traditionally Koreans didn't even eat much meat, and that the cattle industry in both the US and Korea was harming the environment in serious ways. I agree with her completely. She ended by saying, "Those people don't seem to really understand what's going on in the world we live in. All I want to do is give some information about the Earth." Too bad nobody really cared about what she had to say, because they were all too busy protesting their right to cram their faces with "safe" beef at City Hall.
Well, if they are really as radical as they fancy themselves to be, they should simply announce that they will stop eating beef entirely and start actually giving a fuck about the environment for a change. I mean, I cannot even begin to imagine how much trash has been generated by two months of daily protests comprising millions of people.
I must say that while 2MB certainly sucks, this movement is starting to seem more and more morally bankrupt the closer I look at it...
Well, it’s a very long post, and must be read in its entirety:
Yesterday during a "conversation" with Jamie (TwoKoreasBlog) he wrote following:
"..I have to say that at this point, this whole protest movement can be characterized as the Korean left being sore losers.
They fucked up in the last elections (Dec. '07 and April '08), but that's their fault not Lee's. An equivalent analogy would be if a runner lost a marathon race because he didn't prepare or train hard enough beforehand, and then blamed the winner for his loss.
Again, at this point they're simply being sore losers. Everyone knew what Lee was about prior to the Dec. election. The progressives and the left here have no one to blame but themselves.
Last night people were telling me in all seriousness that Lee needed to be assassinated."
* Well, that's interesting, but - probably - it's not reflecting the entire "reality"...
** Related stuff (incl. nearly 100 comments to Scot B's impressions):
☞ Excellent Commentary on Demonstrations (The Marmot's Hole)
First of all: From yesterday evening until today's morning about 500,000 people took the streets in Seoul to protest against the (policies of the) current S.K. gov't/the LeeMB administration.
☞ 500,000 S. Koreans Stage Anti-US Beef Rallies (Seoul Times)
☞ VoP Report
☞ KCTU Report
☞ NewsCham Report
☞ Tong-il News Report
But the most important question is, if the protest movement isn't on its end: What comes next? Despite the motto of y'day's protest - "People's Victory Day" - there is (until now) definetely NO people's victory in sight! LeeMB will/must continue with his policy, because he "only" represents the ruling (capitalist) system. And also not unimportant: Is there any (real) alternative to LMB and the ruling GNP??
Related stuff:
☞ Candlelight Vigil Faces Calls for End (K. Times)
REACTIONARIES OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!
Yo, tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and evening could present us a very special, extraordinary event/performance in downtown Seoul!
The S.K. daily newspaper Hanguk Ilbo reported that "with tensions between protesters and anti-protest protesters on the rise" (just remember my yesterday's contribution!), hundreds of resident foreigners will be attending an
"Anti-Candlelight Protest Demonstration" :
The "Citizens Alliance Against Radical Illegal Candlelight Demonstrations"
(NoNoDemo) announced before yesterday that 500-600 foreign students and about 100 English teachers planned to attend a rally set for 5–8pm on July 5. Some 100 foreign laborers and Korean-Americans will also attend.
An official from the group said hundreds of resident foreigners have expressed their intention to voluntarily attend the demonstration. The official said that in the face of loud demands for the beef import deal to be renegotiated, the foreigners could not voice their own opinions about US beef, and that after they learned of the alliance’s online cafe, they contacted it looking to participate. He said the largest number of foreigners would be students in their 20s—30s.
He noted that the students not only wished to oppose the radical demonstrations, but also ask the candle crowd to pay attention to North Korean human rights.
Foreigners from all over, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan would attend.
Korean-Americans plan to attend following a performance asking the protesters to raise their candles instead for North Korean human rights. According to the alliance, the protest will also put to rest arguments that Americans don’t eat 30-month-old beef.
The anti-protest protesters will be protected by some 300 volunteer body guards from an association of ex-North Korean soldiers (*) who have defected to the South. The alliance official said this was because previous protests have met with friction with the candle crowd, and they wished for no more.
The demonstration is expected to get some 1,000 participants, making it the largest counter-demonstration yet. The demonstration will take place at the same time as a major anti-US beef demonstration, so some are worried about a potential conflict.
* Harrharr.. that seems to be a f... good idea!! Just imagine: "ex-N.K. soldiers" are meeting thousands of KCTU militants and other "skilled street fighters"! Of course, very likely, at least 10,000 of the notorious riot cops will be also at the scene.. (BTW.. it will be - once again - "good oportunity" for "activists" of the paramilitary HID and other similar semi-fascist gangster organisations, supporting the current S.K. gov't, to come out of their dirty holes!!)
☞ Foreigners to Join Protest Against Anti-US Beef Rally (K. Times)
☞ 촛불시위 반대집회에 국내 거주 외국인 대규모 참여키로 (쿠키뉴스)
☞ Foreigners & Ex-North Korean Soldiers to Protest Beef Protesters (ROK Drop)
☞ Why Don’t You Raise Candles for the North Koreans? (DailyNK)
But despite all any possible - or better said impossible!! - efforts by the S.K. (and their affiliated foreign) reactionaries to disturb the current anti-gov't movement (and this includes also many migrant workers, organized in the MTU!!!):
THE STRUGGLE GOES ON!!!
(according to KCTU's struggle plan: at least from Saturday afternoon until Sunday 10 p.m.)
PS:
And the S.K. reactionary idiots are preparing for another "highlight"!!! (according to y'day's Money Today):
Conservative groups will be holding a US beef tasting party for some 10,000 people in downtown Seoul on July 12...
Organizers plan to get the beef for free from a Korean-American rancher in the United States.
One conservative group member said the event would be an opportunity to promote the safety of US beef to the public.
Yesterday night a group of gangsters, organized in the Headquarters Of Intelligence Detachment (HID) attacked the office and activists of the New Progressive Party (NPP) in Seoul. (*)
This action is (very likely) the result of the - since weeks - ongoing massive discriminating propaganda (**) by the bourgeois reactionary S.K. press, such as Chosun ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo (aka "ChoJoongDong"/조중동 - THE main voices of the S.K. ruling class!!) against the current anti-gov't movement.
With this kind of propaganda the bourgeois press (i.e. the ruling class) is creating a climate of witch-hunt in the S.K. society! And possibly it's just a matter of time when one incited person and/or a gang of reactionaries (and there are still quite a lot of them in S.K./Some of them you can call without a doubt FASCIST!!) taking really "direct action", incl. murder...
* Today's Hankyoreh published following about the "incident":
Members of the New Progressive Party try to fix the party’s broken signboard at their headquarters on July 1. The signboard was broken by members of an association of former members of the Headquarters Of Intelligence Detachment, the seat of South Korea’s secret counterintelligence operation. On the evening, members of the association made a assault at the headquarters of NPP, and resulted in property damage, some persons of injuries and five arrests, .
According to an NPP official, five members of the association arrived at the NPP’s headquarters shouting, “Come out Jin Joong-gwon! We will kill all communists!” Jin, a journalist and activist who is known for his criticism of both conservatives and liberals alike, has been active in broadcasting reports from the site of the candlelight protests since they began on May 2.
During assault of the association members, one woman of NPP was injured and a man of NPP hospitalized. Jin was also injured..
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/296545.html
Related report/article:
☞ 보수단체, 진보신당에 난입하여 당직자 폭행등 난동 (진보신당)
☞ Pro-Government Activists Attack Left-Wing Party (Korea Times)
☞ Anti-U.S. activists lead protests (JoongAng Ilbo, 6.28)
☞ Anarchy in the republic (JoongAng Ilbo, 6.30)
☞ Legitimate Protesters or Hooligans? (Chosun Ilbo, 6.24)
☞ The Real Identity of the Mad Cow Fearmongers (Chosun Ilbo, 6.13)
☞ Anti-US Groups Linked to Beef Protests (ROK Drop/GI Korea, 6.16)
☞ Anti-US Groups Show Their True Colors (ROK Drop, 6.18)
Well, tomorrow there will be the next "highlight" for the (current) anti-gov't struggle in S. Korea: KCTU's "General Strike" (*)
민주노총
투쟁대회
7.2, 18시 ~ 7.3, 00시, 서울시청 앞
The central strike rally/demonstration will be staged tomorrow(Wednesday) at 6 p.m. on (surprise, surprise!!) Seoul's City Hall Plaza (until after midnight, according to KCTU)!
BTW... The LeeMB gov't "vowed to deal harshly with the general strike to be staged by the KCTU on Wednesday, branding it politically motivated and illegal", according to Chosun Ilbo (7.01).
* Today's Korea Herald is reporting following about the "General Strike":
Tens of thousands of union workers will stage a joint strike tomorrow in protest against the resumption of U.S. beef imports.
Workers at major carmakers including Hyundai Motor Co. will join the action called by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.
The government pledged a stern response. The Labor Ministry declared the planned walkout illegal because it is not related to corporate issues such as wage and work conditions.
"We will fight and damage production," warned Lee Suk-haeng, leader of the labor umbrella group, during a news conference before yesterday...
Tomorrow, more than 200,000 will join the strike nationwide, he said. Its members will gather in Seoul from tomorrow through Saturday to join candlelight vigils against the beef imports.
This will be a start of the annual summer strife, which will be longer and fiercer this year than before, he threatened.
"The summer struggle will go on well beyond July and I expect it will continue through September given the government's plan to restructure the public sector," he said.
The action comes after a general strike by truck drivers between June 11-19, which has been estimated to cost the nation about $6.6 billion in lost trade.
The government and business organizations demanded the union cancel the plan, which will devastate an economy already suffering from record-high oil prices and a sagging global market.
Workers at Hyundai Motor, Korea's top car maker, plan to stage a two-day partial strike as part of the nationwide protests and its own collective action for wage increase.
The union is part of the Korean Metal Workers' Union, a key member of the KCTU. The metal industry union, consisting of about 230 companies, approved the strike plan on Sunday with the support of 76 percent of its voting members.
The Hyundai Motor union said some 45,000 will stop work for two hours each on Wednesday and Thursday. They will not work overtime until the settlement of wage talks.
They demand the company come to automobile industry-level negotiations, in which labor unions will have greater leverage. The carmaker rejected it.
Workers at Kia Motors Corp., GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., and Ssangyong Motor Co. will join the two-day partial work stoppage, union officials at the companies said.
The Labor Ministry refused to recognize the legitimacy of the planned strike.
It said the action is motivated by the political purpose of blocking U.S. beef imports. Especially, Hyundai workers did not sit for a wage negotiation with management before undertaking industrial action, which violates the law, the ministry said...
The KCTU rebuffed the criticism. "The beef matter is directly related to the health and everyday life of workers. It is natural that we fight over the issue," Lee said...
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