25개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Last Saturday, only one day after Pushpa Kamal Dahal ("Prachanda") has been elected (*) as the first PM of the F.D.R. Nepal..
Anti-Miss Nepal campaigners meet PM; vow to stop the event
Members of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Revolutionary Women's Association met their party chief and Prime Minister elect Pushpa Kamal Dahal and discussed their campaign against Miss Nepal contest scheduled to be held next month.
Campaigners against Miss Nepal contest submitting a memorandum to newly...
The delegation members told the Prime Minister that they were determined to disrupt the contest, and sought help from the government for their move. In response, the Prime Minister said he was positive about the demand of women activists and assured he would discuss the matter with leaders of other parties.
Association's leader Amrita Thapa Magar who led the delegation told reporters that her organisation had vowed to disrupt Miss Nepal contest.
The women activists have described the beauty show as being socially unacceptable and as a tool to exploit the contesting women for commercial gain. Women organisations of some other parties including Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) have also joined forces with the association...
http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/aug/aug16/news04.php
* Prachanda elected PM with 464 votes (NepalNews, 8.15)
Y'day (8.17) in Seoul:
Migrant Workers Protest Unfair EPS
"Give human and labour rights for migrant workers!"
Some more pics from comrade "Hong Gil-dong in the Forest" you can see here!
Related:
☞ Migrant workers protest unfair EPS (MWTV)
PS: As you can see on the pics, only very few people joined the rally (in Daehangno)/demo (to Jong-no Tower) - although 35 organizations signed the final protest declaration (Only on the paper!!). Beside some student activists, the largerst supporting group came from the activists who are defending their homes against destruction by the construction mafia (Jeoncheolyeon/전철연):
815 - A 'Colourful' Liberation Day in Seoul
While last Friday in the afternoon the Friends of the DPRK declared the "unification-blue" to the fashion colour of the day...
...in the evening/night, during the crackdown of the 100th anti-gov't
"candlelight protest", the Friends of the S.K. Gov't/Ruling Class
(i.e. the riot cops) decided to join the trend colour of the day!
More pictures about the nightly crackdown you can see here!
Related reports about last Friday's protests (incl. many impressive pics):
☞ OMN Report (incl. 2 videos)
☞ Police indiscriminately arrest civilians.. (Hankyoreh)
While the S.K. anti-gov't movement is preparing for tomorrow's 100th Candle-
light Protest Rally/"Culture Festival", KCNA published before y'day following
"news" (*):
Program for August 15 Event Announced in S. Korea
Representatives of civic and public organizations in south Korea including the
Solidarity for Progress and the South Side Committee for Implementing the June
15 Joint Declaration on August 7 inaugurated the Committee for Promoting the
August 15 Meeting for National Reunification and announced its action program.
At the inaugural ceremony held in Seoul that day speakers said that the said
meeting would be focused on the implementation of the June 15 joint declaration
and the October 4 declaration and the realization of peace on the Korean
Peninsula.
They said that during the period of the meeting they would make public the
August 15 declaration on national independence, hold a national rally vowing the
struggle against the distortion of history and for liquidation of the colonial
remnants and defence of Tok Islet and conduct August 15 grand march and
cultural event for independence and sovereignty and thus demonstrate the
Korean nation's will for independent reunification.
August 15 will mark the 100th day since the candlelight actions were launched
against the import of American beef, they noted, stressing that the promotion
committee would vigorously conduct the movement against Japan's shameless
moves for grabbing Tok Islet and the Lee Myung Bak group's confrontation policy
towards the DPRK, holding the slogan "Turn candlelight against mad cow disease
into candlelight for national dignity and independence and sovereignty!"
An appeal read out at the ceremony underlined the need to clearly show the spirit
of national independence to the flunkeyist traitors who are selling off the people's
right to existence, yielding to foreign forces. It called upon all the people to turn
out as one in the work to ensure the successful holding of the August 15 meeting.
* Sorry, but if you have such "friends", then you don't need enemies anymore!
Hankyoreh last Friday published following article:
[100 days of candlelight] Activists say candlelight
protests continuing to develop
Despite feelings of fatigue and disappointment, most feel demonstrations have
been significant
“The changed nature of the candlelight demonstrations is disappointing, but they
still continue.”
Major players in recent candlelight protests who met with The Hankyoreh
expressed their fatigue and disappointment over the last 100 days, over the
course of which they could not produce tangible changes. They stressed,
however, that the demonstrations are not yet over. In in-depth interviews
conducted by The Hankyoreh with 28 people including teenagers, the directors of
online policy cafes and general cafe administrators, the leaders gave their diverse
opinions on the last 100 days.
The thing to note in their answers was their judgment of the current situation, in
which the demonstrations have tailed off. Some 13 respondents, almost half of
the total 28, expressed a sense of defeat and disappointment. This was a very
high number, twice as many as the five who said they felt new possibilities.
In particular, of the 11 teenagers interviewed, eight expressed disappointment, a
very high ratio. The teens generally expressed disappointment about the slide of
the candlelight demonstrations into violence. 18-year-old Kim Eun-jin, a senior at
Yeongdong Girls High School in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, said she was
most disappointed in this transformation in the candlelight ceremonies, and the
vigils should continue to stick to nonviolence like they did in the beginning.
When asked what they felt was most disappointing in the course of the
demonstrations, the opinions proved most diverse. This showed that with the
demonstrations still in progress, evaluations of the last 100 days could only differ.
Ten of the 28 pointed to insufficient energy to keep the protests going, while six
were disappointed that the protests could not stay peaceful to the end.
Nine gave different answers; one member of an SLR camera club who did not
give his name said that demonstrators needed time to rekindle the cause after the
protests had continued for a bit, but they could not.
“Sijipeu,” an administrator of the “Citizens Alliance Opposed to Policy,” said he
was most disappointed that cracks in the group’s resolve began to appear due to
the group’s inability to communicate opinions as the group began to work with
outside Internet users.
Opinions differed, too, about the People’s Countermeasure Council against Mad
Cow Disease, which led the candlelight protests. “Citizens Alliance Opposed to
Policy” administrator Ahn Nuri, 37, said that the April 19, 1960 Revolution did not
need leadership to work, but the candlelight protests had difficulty setting a
direction due to the large number of Internet users and lack of political power and
organization.
Gang Jeon-ho, the vice-head of an anti-Lee Myung-bak Internet cafe, said the
candlelight demonstrations were produced by the People’s Countermeasure
Council against Mad Cow Disease and Korean Internet users.
As opposed to their evaluation of the last 100 days, the interviewees were united
in their opinions on where the protests should go from here and their significance.
Some 24 of 28 respondents said the candlelight protests must continue. Only
four said the protests should stop to give the government time. There was a split
in opinion, 9 to 10, between those mainly involved in online policy cafes, who
believed a minority should continue to resist to make their voices heard, and the
teenager groups, who thought the demonstrators should organize more explosive
protests after taking a breather. When asked about the significance of the
protests, most said that, in reality, no major changes had taken place, but the
protests are still continuing to develop.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/303090.html
Related:
Massive Rally Set for Liberation Day (K. Times)
Civic groups plan to hold a large-scale candlelight vigil Friday, the 63rd Liberation Day. The People's Association for Measures against Mad Cow Disease will stage its 100th rally at Seoul City Plaza against the administration and the resumption of American beef imports.
The association said it will continue to fight for renegotiation of the U.S. beef deal and campaign against other policies favoring the rich and privileged.
Police pledged a stern response to the rally, calling it illegal and unauthorized.
They also said they will arrest violent protesters on the spot. "Those who simply participate in the rally as well as rally leaders will face prosecution,'' an officer said.
☞ Authorities 'to Crack Down' Liberation Day Violence (Chosun Ilbo, 8.14)
Yonhap reported today about ITUC's "Call on Authorities to Cease Repression of KCTU":
Int'l labor group protests detention of Korean activist
An international labor union has sent a protest letter to President Lee Myung-bak condemning the recent detention of a local activist who led street rallies against U.S. beef imports, South Korea's umbrella union said Wednesday.
Police arrested Jin Young-ok, vice president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, and sought to detain several others for their leading role in one of the larger protests against U.S. beef in early July.
The International Trade Union Confederation, which claims the membership of 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories, said Seoul was violating international labor standards by persecuting labor leaders and suppressing street protests.
"The ITUC is extremely concerned that your government is again choosing to target top trade union leaders exercising legitimate trade union activities and even violate the privacy of their spouses," Guy Ryder, general secretary of the Brussels-based organization, said in a protest letter sent to Lee on Aug. 4.
Ryder was referring to the way Jin was arrested on July 24, with police forcefully apprehending her as she was going out to meet her husband.
More than a thousand people have been detained during months-long countrywide demonstrations opposing an agreement Seoul signed with Washington to lift a ban on U.S. beef imports.
In July, Amnesty International issued a statement condemning Seoul for using "excessive force" in the beef rallies.
"The ITUC would once more like to remind the government of Korea of its obligation under international law deriving from its membership of the ILO (International Labor Organization) to respect core labor standards, including the right to freedom of association," Ryder said.
The Korean labor union's spokesman, Lee Chang-geun, says the group has not yet received any response from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
Related stuff (MUST READ!!^^):
☞ International Trade Union Joins in Stupidity (RoK Drop, 8.13)
Irregular female workers of Kiryung Electronics are today since 1,085 days in strike and some of them since 63 days in sit-in protest and hunger strike. Last Friday Hankyoreh published following editorial about their case:
How long can we put the lives of irregular workers at risk?
The day of the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics, August 8, is also the 1,081st day of a difficult fight by irregular female workers at Kiryung Electronics. They are resisting their wrongful dismissal and demanding “direct” employment. It is also the 59th day of a sit-in protest and hunger strike against the company’s reneging on a last-minute agreement that had been arrived at with company management.
Last Thursday: Hunger strike since 58 days
There should be no need to describe what the situation is for these laborers, since for two months they have been camping out atop the guardhouse at the front gate of the company’s plant, sometimes facing violent heat and sometimes facing violent rains. Medical personnel who have met with them say they have arrived at their “medical limits.”
Today: Hunger strike since 63 days!!
At negotiations held June 7 that took place with much difficulty, the president of the company proposed hiring people as regular employees “after a year of training,” and workers accepted the plan. The very next day, however, mid-level managers came out in opposition to the deal and it collapsed. It was absurd. If the agreement had been abided by, female laborers of Kirung Electronics would never have gone on a hunger strike that is putting their lives at risk.
The company’s position is that it cannot give them regular employment because it is going to stop plant operations in Korea and start up one in China. The ruling Grand National Party even came up with an arbitration plan on July 23, but it was something utterly unacceptable to the protesting workers, who have been on strike for three years demanding direct employment. The GNP suggestion is that the company guarantee only that they be hired as irregular workers by a new outsourcing company, whose legitimacy has been in question, with a final decision made on whether they are given regular status after a year and a half.
With things as they are, this hunger strike by female employees is going to continue. If so, their lives will be at risk. Legislators, members of the Lee Myung-bak administration, and civil society need to take a special interest in the situation and rise to resolve it. Management and laborers need to take a step back and make a concentrated effort to produce an amicable agreement.
The issue of giving full-time, regular employment to the workers laid off by Kiryung Electronics is a question that urgently requires serious dialogue about whether hiring them that way would really be impossible, whether there are alternatives that would give them the same job quality and security if they cannot be fully hired, and how to relieve the mutual resentment between labor and management that has accumulated over the past three years. There is not much time. Our society becomes a barbarous one if we ignore these workers putting their lives on the line in a hunger strike. Now is the time for all of us to pool our strengths together to allow them to return to the company smiling.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/303092.html
Hankyoreh editor’s note: The Kiryung workers’ demand for “direct” employment is based on a desire for change in the system many companies use to employ irregular workers. The system is “indirect” when workers are hired by an outsourcing company for employment at a second company, which takes no responsibility for the worker or their rights.
Related articles/reports:
☞ 기륭 단식자들, 소금과 효소마저도 끊어 (NewsCham, 8.12)
☞ "오늘부터 소금과 효소도 끊습니다" (VoP, 8.12)
☞ 기륭전자 단식 63일째... (OMN, 8.12)
☞ 광화문과 기륭의 촛불이 만난 날 (VoP video, 8.11)
Yesterday: Candle-light protest meets Kiryung Strike (web poster)
2008.8.8, Beijing:
2008.8.8, South Ossetia/Georgia (*):
NO COMMENT..
* Related:
☞ Someone timed Russia-Georgia crisis to coincide with Olympics
While the S.K. poet Kim Seon-woo (in her column in y'day's Hankyoreh) described the new hard-line tactic by the state and/or its police to oppress anti-gov't street protests as a "declaration of war against the public", the reactionary (and of course pro-LMB) Chosun Ilbo today - surprisingly (^^) - in fact praised/hailed the new development:
Police Get Serious in Cracking Down on Protests
Police have become more active in their response to illegal street protests after being accused of passivity in the last couple of months. On Tuesday night, police issued verbal warnings to some 2,700 anti-Bush demonstrators every time they tried to occupy the streets and did not hesitate to arrest anybody who violated the law.
Protesters, apparently used to rather lax treatment, seemed taken aback by the prompt action taken by the police. Thanks to strict law enforcement, traffic in downtown Seoul was back to normal before midnight. Demonstrators seemed to have learned the lesson from the night before, and after only three warnings from the police, those who rallied in front of KBS in Yeouido on Wednesday night dispersed without much resistance.
Police took unprecedentedly swift action on Tuesday night, having earlier warned they would deploy water cannon and arrest violators. They tracked down especially violent protesters and arrested them when they fled, a task made easier by spray cans they turned on them. Protesters scattered into smaller groups of 100 to 300, and the crowds dispersed to Euljiro, Toegyero and the Myeongdong Cathedral. Traffic downtown was normalized by 11:30 p.m.
Up until a few days ago, police reacted with forbearance and did not prevent demonstrators from occupying the roads, and even after issuing warnings they waited for hours overnight until the protesters dispersed voluntarily. Water cannon were used only to protect barricades set up by police buses. Accustomed to lax reaction from the police, the demonstrators did not flinch when the police issued warnings, and did not give into water cannons. On July 26, some 1,500 demonstrators freely walked along the streets downtown for 12 hours, and kidnapped, stripped and beat two police officers.
Police promised rewards to officers to encourage them to act against illegal protesters. Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kim Seok-gi said, "Actions disturbing law and order have continued throughout the demonstrations in recent months. We decided to introduce the reward system to boost the morale of police officers since there were officers who avoided arresting protesters because of the danger at the rally scenes."
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200808/200808070022.html
*****
Citizen Quota: “We’ve afforded you a very warm welcome, although there are some opposed to your visit out back,” says President Lee Myung-bak to President George W. Bush.
“Out in back,” the police are busy “citizen hunting,” for which, it has been proposed, they might receive financial reward for making arrests. (Hankyoreh, 8.7)
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