27개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Today's Int'l Migrants' Day has been marked by MTU, KCTU and some supporting human right groups with a press conference in front of the gov't complex near Gwanghwamun in downtown Seoul...
...where the activists accused the repeated/ongoing violation of migrant workers' human and labour rights by the S.K. ruling class (gov't - MoJ/Immigration Office/police - and employers/capitalists).
Already last Sunday(12.13) MTU, KCTU and various solidarity organisations "celebrated" today's Int'l Migrants Day with a protest rally in downtown Seoul:
Source of the pics: IMC S.K.
Well, to cut a long story short: While the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen is up to now a complete failure (surprise, surprise!!) - the German bourgeois magazine Der Spiegel headlined today "New climate agreement on the brink of collapse" - the 'Copenhagen Police Festival' is a complete 'success'(^^)...
Until now almost every protest has been (mostly) brutal suppressed and so far (between last Sat. and y'day) the cops detained - "preemptive", as they call it - at least 1,700 people, the vast majority of them just peaceful demonstrators...
Related:
☞ Yesterday's Police Violence (Photo Gallery)
For more (independent) info/news please check out:
☞ Indymedia DK
Solidarity With the Struggle of Migrant Workers in S.K.!
Agit-prop Rally/Candlelight Vigil in Seoul
Tomorrow(Wed.), 7 p.m., Daerim Stn.(subway line no. 2), exit no. 12
!!'불법'사람은 없다!!
For more info please check out:
☞ 12/16 이주노동자 단속반대를 위해 뭐라도 하기위한 액션공지
Yesterday afternoon a few migrant workers and some solidarity activists marked this year's Int'l Migrants' Day with a rally in downtown Seoul (in front of Seoul Stn).
MTU wrote y'day following about the event:
Today 'Alliance for migrants equality and human rights' held International Migrants Day Rally - "We are labor, labor is one" in the Seoul station plaza.
Various migrants organizations including MTU participated in the rally and other Korean organizations like KCTU gathered too.
Opening concert was Indonesian workers' band. They filled the place with full energy and migrants voice.
KCTU vice president and Amnesty International officer condemned the government and demanded the migrants' rights.
MTU representative also raised migrant workers' voice.(see the following)
Korean singer and Korean language class student group's performance followed.
In spite of the cold weather, participants stayed and enjoyed the rally.
Each country migrants groups and Korean groups had speeches.
In the end all of migrants went on the stage and sang the song "we shall overcome" in English, Nepali, Bangladesh and Korea. The migrants lifted up the picket "LABOR IS ONE", each letter filled with participants' photos. It was wonderful performance.
Thanks to all participants.
For more details please check out:
☞ International Migrants Day Rally (MTU, 12.13)
Some impressions from the event (by pics and an audio report) you'll get here (YongsanAction Radio, "Struggle News")!
Finally here some impressions from y'day's "Int'l Migrants' Day" rally in Daegu:
Resistance Against the Mad, Destructive and Deathful "Redevelopment"! Here just a few impressions from yesterday's struggle rally (about 300 people, mainly activists of the Federation Against House Demolition participated) in downtown Seoul:
More pics you can see here and here!
Related:
☞ News report (by VoP)
☞ Audio report (by YongsanAction Radio)
☞ Video 'report' (by comrade 'Hong Gil-dong..')
Seoul's ongoing/planned mad and destructive "Redevelopment Project" got its next - allegedly "defenseless"(*) - victims: (likely) thousands of (mainly very poor) street vendors, as today's (bourgeois) Korea Herald reports:
Vendors driven off the streets of Seoul
Seoul City recently stepped up efforts to clean itself of disorderly street vendors, and those making their daily living in the streets seem to be paying the price.
As part of its ambitious plan to redesign the city, Seoul has come up with a set of reinforced guidelines on the street vendors.
All street vendors who sell food, accessories or other goods have been obligated to standardize their cart to a fixed size, costing around 3 million won ($2,381). Though district offices financed 1 million won per seller, most had to loan the remaining amount.
"These expensive standard carts do have better facilities, but the heating and lighting are way too costly, so are not of much use to me," said Kim Sung-joo, a snack vendor in Jongno.
From next March vendors will also be charged for occupying the streets, based on the city's attempts to convert the under-the-table street selling to an official business category.
"The very reason many people would start off a vending cart in the streets is because they cannot afford the rent for a real store," said Kim Jeong-gwon, an accessory vendor in Gangnam.
"Charging further fees to such people literally means depriving them of their means of living."
In some of the districts, an entire cluster of such street vendors were moved from their original location under the city's orders.
Last month, more than 100 street vendors along the Jongno streets were moved to the backstreets near Changgyeong Palace under Seoul's city redesigning project.
"Street businesses naturally form in the most crowded districts," said Kim.
"The city cannot naively expect that they will do just as well when moved to another neighborhood. This is not like rearranging one's things in one's room."
Though Seoul City is actively promoting the Changgyeong Palace area as a new tourist spot, it is still short of weekend visitors, and most of the sellers are thus experiencing a drastic sales deficit, he said.
Well-to-do Gangnam-gu has also removed most of the street vendors from its main streets over the past year.
The Gangnam subway station district, located between the neighboring Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, shows a clear contrast.
"The Gangnam-gu side of the street is almost clear of all street selling, especially the food-selling carts," said Lee Myung-jin, 26, a frequent visitor in the area. "Most of the carts and stalls have been either removed or moved to the inner streets."
Some were also forced to move further away from the Gangnam station crowd.
"I am now making less than half the money I used to make around Gangnam Station," said a snack seller, who was shoved to a relatively secluded spot in Nonhyeon-dong, outside of the commercial quarters.
City officials, however, remain determined to maintain a clean and orderly streetscape.
"These randomly placed street businesses do not only disturb pedestrians but also are threats to public safety as they may block police cars or fire trucks in emergencies," said an official of the Dongdaemun-gu office.
Citizen responses varied.
"I understand that Seoul, as a metropolitan city which it came to be, needs to have certain rules and orders in the streets, and thus cannot just neglect these vendors," said Lee Jin-young, a 31-year-old public servant.
"It is nevertheless quite irresponsible for the city to force the consequences on these working class people and not to offer sufficient support."
Some also said they missed the coziness of the street foods and goods.
"Seoul is not all about modernity and its 'other sides' should also be respected as they are," said Park Ji-hye, a university student.
"I personally feel deprived of my souvenirs, with all the tteokbokki carts driven away from the streets."
Whereas some others agree with the city's plans, in terms of safety and city designs, it is the general opinion that an active support is needed to prevent street vendors from additional debts.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/12/11/200912110028.asp
* because "they're just on the bottom end of the society", as the S.K. ruling class assumes... But they (the current "rulers") should remember following:
☞ 2003.11.30: THE BATTLE OF CHEONGGYECHEON
Once again:
An End of KCTU-KFTU "Love Affair"
It's only recently that the S. Korean "progressive"/labor movement - once again(!!) - hailed the "rosy future" of the imminent "Unified KCTU-KFTU Struggle Front", confronting (and bringing down!!) the LMB regime...
But (surprise, surprise!!) only moments later the KFTU (leadership) - once again(!!) - demonstrated that it's more interested in the collaboration with the ruling class...
The end of the KCTU-KFTU "honeymoon" came about after Jang Seok-chun, head of FKTU, broke the tenuous partnership with the KCTU, and went alone into last-minute negotiations with rulers (gov't and "employers") last Friday(*).
And of course - once again(!!) - the KCTU, especially its current chairman Lim Seong-kyu, called the FKTU (leadership) a "betrayer" and canceled the KCTU-KFTU "honeymoon"...
Two days ago The Hankyoreh asked Lim Seong-kyu: "Is your agreement to cooperate with FKTU officially over?"
And he replied: “Yes, it is. FKTU had not disclosed to us, their partner, any information about changes in the umbrella union’s existing position prior to FKTU Chairman Chang Seok-chun’s press conference on Nov. 30. It appears its leadership also tricked FKTU’s members on the ground. Since FKTU had previously voted to hold a general strike and burned its bridge with the current administration, we had thought they would continue to cooperate with us through the middle of this month, even if they were conspiring, however, they changed their direction quite suddenly. It seems the FKTU leadership intends to follow orders from the Lee administration.”
* Related stuff by K. Times (12.7):
☞ Turn of Events Leaves Labor Drive Out of Air
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