26개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
"Day X": Protesters under Fire - Bangkok on Fire
Since the early morning APC, tanks and thousands of troops are storming Bangkok's center with the aim to smash the "red-shirt" protest campaign(*):
The result: While "six key leaders of the red shirt movement surrendered to police after Thai soldiers breached the barricades", as al-Jazeera reported six hours ago, right now at least 12 sites in downtown Bangkok, incl. the Bangkok Stock Exchange, a TV station and several of the most famous department stores got up in flames:
And meanwhile from more and more cities in Thailand's north-eastern provinces mass riots (incl. attacks against police stations, city halls etc.) were/are reported...
* Related updated reports:
☞ Bangkok burns after army crackdown (al-Jazeera)
☞ Thai forces surge into protest area... (CNN)
☞ Troops storm redshirt protest camp (Guardian)
☞ Thailand going up in smoke (Asia Times)
Today's 30th anniversary of the Gwangju Democracy Uprising in the Korean media:
☞ S. Korea honors May 1980 pro-democracy uprising (Yonhap)
☞ Gwangju democracy uprising 30 years on (JoongAng Ilbo)
☞ Korea marks 1980 Gwangju uprising (K. Herald)
☞ Gwangju and Bangkok (Korea Times)
Today's Hankyoreh also "celebrated" the date - but in its own inimitable(^^) way:
President Lee Myung-bak shakes hands with Chun Doo-whan, president during South Korea’s military dictatorship, who says “Have you decided not to attend the May 18 Democracy Movement commemoration ceremony for protestors in Gwangju? Those people were really out of control rioters, weren’t they?” President Lee and President Chun smile in front of the May 18th National Cemetery in which victims of the brutal suppression that took place during May of 1980 are buried.
Above late President Chun, a sign pictures him as a soldier who was deployed to Gwangju and suppressed protesters at that time and says, “This type of person is ... an elder who is to be admired.” Above President Lee, a sign pictures him as a riot police officer repressing a candlelight vigil demonstration and says, “This type of person is ... a church leader.”
The phrases “respected elder” and “leader of a church” point to the absurdity of both individuals as one to be admired and one who talks of adhering to Christian values while supporting and ordering violent acts against civilians.
Chun was found guilty of the bloody suppression against innocent civilians that took place on May 18 in 1980.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/421281.html
☞ Lessons of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising (Chosun Ilbo)
☞ Meeting Marks Anniversary of Kwangju Uprising (KCNA)
India: People's Struggle Against the POSCO 'Empire'
Last Saturday, heavily armed police units and locals - mostly women and children - clashed in the Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa. The cops used batons, tear gas and fired rubber bullets, injuring over 100 people while hundreds of local villagers and some supporters were attempting to block POSCO-India from beginning the construction of the planned steel plant.
☞ 100 injured in police action at Posco-India project site (The Hindu, 5.16)
The background: The South Korean multicorporate enterprise POSCO, one of the largest producers of steel in the world, is well-known in India and, not precisely because “steel loves nature” as stated on the cover of its presentation file and still less because it loves people.
In 2005 POSCO signed an agreement with the Indian government for the establishment of a steel plant, a port and mine prospecting in the Eastearn State of Orissa. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been opposing the project because of the huge negative impact it will have on the villagers.
The area where POSCO is proposed to be allotted the mines spreads over 6000 hectares of primary forest. These forests are inhabited by a wide variety of wildlife and flora.
Furthermore, the tribal communities which form 74 per cent of the population in the surrounding area are completely dependent on these forests for fuel, fodder, fruits and medicinal plants. The water springs in the area provide water for drinking as well as irrigation...
In August 2007, a large group of people belonging to various political parties and social organisations protested at the doors of the POSCO offices, protected by a large contingent of police force. The demonstrators, that included many women, raised slogans against the Korean company and blamed the government for facilitating the Posco steel project in Jagatsinghpur district, despite the opposition of displaced villagers.
In October 2008, a resolution signed by more than 100 organizations and people, most of them academics, condemned the increasing state of repression in Orissa against the peaceful resistance of people to the anti-people POSCO steel Project. Despite the state’s increasingly repressive regime, the struggle had reached a new height, with more local residents, especially women, joining in and more democratic voices from all over the world condemning the state for acting in denigration of Constitutional values and human rights, and in favour of corporate interests. The level of repression reached its highest point when the president of the anti Posco movement, Abhay Sahu was jailed...
But the struggle against POSCO's steel project goes on!
With Slingshots Against Machine Guns
Scenes from Bangkok's "Live Fire Zones"
At least since last Friday Bangkok is "a city at war", as The Guardian (UK) describes the current situation in the Thai capital (*):
* Related reports:
☞ Protesters seek U.N.-mediated talks (CNN, 5.16)
☞ Parts of Thai capital under curfew (al-Jazeera, 5.16)
☞ Redshirts warn of civil war (Guardian, 5.15)
☞ Bullets shatter fragile Thai peace (Asia Times, 5.14)
From today's Hankyoreh:
Satire of S.Korea’s redevelopment created by German artist
An art installation near the Blue House was created to highlight the “contradiction” of redevelopment
“So they are redeveloping the neighborhood right next to Cheong Wa Dae? Is that the president’s decision? How big is the area?”
“What, they’re doing this without even telling the people that live here?”
These are the sorts of whispers heard around the area of 30, Tongui-dong, opposite the western side of Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential office in South Korea or Blue House) and the Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. It began on May 7, after a real estate agent’s office in a shipping container appeared on the corner of two alleyways and put up a bird’s eye view drawing of a plan to redevelop the entire area by putting up blocks of massive apartments in front of the Blue House.
Lying up against the side of a nearby building site, the office features a neon sign saying “Royal Blue Real Estate.” Unusually, its facade is made entirely of glass. A look inside reveals a drawing of state-of-the-art, 18-story apartment blocks filling the Tongui neighborhood area that are outrageously to be erected directly in front of the Cheong Wa Dae, an area reserved for the president. The telephone number on the sign, 02-77*-8888, does not exist.
Is it fake? The answer is yes. The whole real estate agent is fake. The drawing and the sign are also fake. It turns out that they are an installation work by an artist. The fact that the site of the building sits just next to an art gallery adds extra, delicate resonance.
The creator of the work is Oliver Griem, a 46-year-old German video installation artist. Griem, who has worked in South Korea for 14 years, says his intention was to express the absurd paradox of redevelopment by installing a structure like a real estate agent’s office on a construction site.
“My aim was to surprise people by showing them a plan for redevelopment next to Cheong Wa Dae, thereby giving them a new sense of the contradiction of redevelopment,” he says. “I live in Bogwang neighborhood, and when I saw the Hannam New Town construction project going obstinately ahead recently despite opposition from the people living there, I thought of creating this work.” Griem added, “My inspiration for using a shipping container also came from the temporary real state agent offices that spring up like mushrooms when redevelopment takes place.”
“The hardest thing to understand is how most South Koreans, who are always talking about tradition, like living in apartments and like to see the neighborhoods they live in being torn down as long as it brings them the promise of money,” says Griem.
The installation is a space project by Tongui neighborhood’s KunstDoc Gallery & Institute and will be demolished after “operating” until May 27...(*)
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/420803.html
* Some more info you'll get here!
After a (really) short cooling off period in Bangkok many there are expecting in the coming hours a new and possibly massive escalation of the conflict beween the Thai gov't and the so-called "red-shirts", as al-Jazeera reported a few hours ago from the Thai capital(*):
Security forces in Thailand are preparing to seal off a protest site in Bangkok occupied by protesters who ignored a deadline to end their two months of street rallies. Security forces said that they would surround the protest site with armoured vehicles from 6pm (local time), and would allow people to leave but not enter.
Shortly afterwards, a leader of Thai anti-government protesters urged supporters to surround armoured vehicles that converge outside their protest site to prevent them from being used to disperse the crowds.
"We will send out groups to surround these vehicles to prevent them from advancing," Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader, told supporters. "We believe the army will try to crack down this evening or tomorrow morning."
* Since about one hour heavily armed troops are storming Bangkok's central district, occupied by the "red-shirts"... According to BBC and CNN one of the protesters' leading figures was shot by live ammunition. BBC reports right now: "A Thai general who supports the 'red shirt' protesters (**) has been shot and seriously wounded, according to a witness at a Bangkok hospital."
MUST READ(!!): Asia Times(HK) recently published two interesting pieces about several surprising backgrounds of some ideas/persons related to the "red-shirt" movement:
☞ Thai power grows from the barrel of a gun (5.13)
☞ On guard at Bangkok's frontlines (5.11)
** According to several independent sources in Bangkok: ex-Major General Khattiya "Seh Daeng" Sawatdiphol (-> "On guard at Bangkok's frontlines")
Related report(10pm, KST):
☞ Gunfire heard in the Thai capital (al-Jazeera)
On Monday(5.10) an interesting CNN report described the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ, a.k.a. MDL) as a peerless eco-paradise on the peninsula: Hundreds of species of rare birds migrate here. The DMZ is also home to wild boar and Korean water deer... Some soldiers and farmers have even reported seeing black bears and leopards... Described as “an accidental paradise”.... the DMZ is certainly one of the few places in both Koreas that tigers might yet dwell...
On the same day, according to Chosun Ilbo, the S. Korean Ministry of "Defense" announced, "If N. Korean involvement in the Cheonan incident is confirmed, as a military measure we are examining the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts across the MDL."
Well, this f*cking (complete infantile!!) idea is the same as the S.K. gov't would announce tomorrow to declassify Sorak-san for a combat aircraft training area...
And let's call it what it is: ECO-TERRORISM!!!
Related articles:
☞ Psychological Warfare on the List... (DailyNK, 5.10)
☞ MoD considers resuming psychological warfare... (Hankyoreh, 5.11)
☞ U.S. thinks North sunk Cheonan.. (JoongAng Ilbo, 5.12)
An increasing number of S. Korean citizens are protesting/resisting against one of the most dumbest(!) projects of the MB administration - the so-called "Four Major Rivers Restoration Project".
Just yesterday thousands of people demonstrated in downtown Seoul(*) against the economical useless and eco-disastrous(**) project:
Last Thursday's (bourgeois) Korea Herald published the following interesting coverage about some environmental aspects of the project:
River project poses threat to ecological system
Hoeryongpo, about three-hour drive south of Seoul, is a small village where a dragon-like lake twists and turns around the houses and trees.
The river’s century-old sedimentation activities of have created a sandy plain surrounding the town, which has become a habitat for migratory birds and plants.
“This unique landscape may not be found in Korea any more,” said Lee Won-young, professor of urban planning at the University of Suwon, while looking at the village from the observatory last week.
As part of the government’s Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, construction is underway for dredging and damming the Nakdong River, which runs through the eastern part of the country.
When one of the planned dams is completed in the upper stream of Naesungcheon, a tributary of the Nakdong River, the professor said, less sand will flow into the waters surrounding the village and will change the ecology of the area.
“The sand in the Korean Peninsula, mostly from granite, filters water through the space between grains. In particular, the sandy plains, frequently spotted along the Nakdong River, provide a perfect habitat for wildlife,” Lee said.
“However, I heard a government official described the sandy plains as thick layer of fat that should be removed while promoting the river project.”
Costliest project
Amid fierce resistance from environmentalists and opposition parties, the government launched the river project in November, aimed at improving water quality and preventing natural disasters along the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan rivers.
The government also estimates the project will create 340,000 jobs and 38 trillion won ($34 billion) in long-term economic benefits.
With a combined 22.2 trillion won ($20 billion) injected from public funds, the river project is expected to become the costliest engineering work in the nation’s history.
It is also a core project of the “Green New Deal” policy pushed by the Lee Myung-bak administration. The government plans to complete the construction work by 2012 before Lee’s five-year term ends in 2013.
According to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the construction work on a total of 16 dams were on average 12.2 percent complete as of Monday.
The ministry said 60 percent of the main projects including building dams will be completed within the year.
With social and political controversies over the project deepening, the National Election Commission ordered a halt to the ministry’s promotion of the project, warning that the issue could affect the local elections next month.
Environmental study
On a construction site in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, reporters were introduced to a habitat of a rare type of chrysanthemum, which was found late last month during construction work.
Even though the endangered species, called “Aster altaicus var. uchiyamae,” is believed to grow only along the South Han River, the Yeoju area was omitted from the feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of Environment.
Despite a local environmental office’s order to halt the project in the area, the construction work was still underway on Sunday.
While the main community of the species was surrounded by a boundary line, some of them were moved to another place for transplant.
Their originally green leaves had turned brown. An official from the Korean Water Resources Corporation said “they were adapting to the new environment.”
“Almost half of rare species extinctions are caused as their habitat is changed. For the accurate study on them, they should be monitored every year over the long term,” said Jeung Min-gull, an ecological geneticist at Kongju National University in Gongju.
“The nation lacks specialists in the field and related infrastructure. That’s why we need enough time to conduct such a large-scale environmental study,” he said.
For the river project, the government omitted the preliminary investigation and completed the feasibility study within about four months.
Academics join fight
Jeung, the professor, participated in the environmental review panel on the river project. However, he quit the job after having found that the study was aimed at offering advice, not pointing out problems to change. Then, he joined a group of professors who fight against the river project.
The Professors’ Organization for Movement Against Grand Korean Canal was formed two years ago in protest against one of President Lee’s campaign pledges to develop a pan Korean waterway by connecting the Han and Nakdong rivers.
Even though the president withdrew his canal plan after taking office in February 2008, the group with a membership of some 2,500 professors has led the campaign against the river project, assessing the environmental and economic impacts of the plans and offering information to the public.
“We have recognized our negligence painfully. If we had spoken of the environmental importance of our rivers from 20 years ago, people would never have accepted this flawed project today,” said Lee of Suwon University.
Jeung showed some old photos of the Han River in Seoul in which a sandy river bank was crowded with citizens.
“Other countries such as Switzerland and Germany are breaking concrete dams and other artificial facilities to restore the natural beauty of the riverside. But the nation’s river project is bucking the global trend, isolating people from the rivers,” he said.
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100506000632
* Related reports:
☞ 10,000 protest four rivers project (JoongAng Ilbo, 5.11)
☞ Four Rivers protests... (Hankyoreh, 5.11)
** Ultimately (just in my opinion!) it's just a state-approved/controlled resource of profit maximization for the S. Korean 'Jaebol', resp. their beleaguered construction sector!!!
MTU issued last Thursday(5.06) the following statement:
Stop the repression on migrants in the name of G-20 Summit
● On May 4, 2010, the Ministry of Justice announced the on-set of the "intensified crackdown period" beginning in June 1, 2010 until August 31.
According to their released copy, the guidelines will be advertised in newspapers starting May 6, and will end on May 30, 2010. Afterwards the "Intensified Crackdown" begins on the 1st of June until August 31, 2010.
The government is once again offering the voluntary departure program to the undocumented workers within this period. They claim that all migrant workers who voluntary leave Korea within this period will be exempted from paying a fine for overstaying and will be exempted from a 5-year immigration ban in Korea. They also said that the workers who voluntarily leave will be able to take the korean language test.
The employers are also encouraged to surrender their undocumented workers so that they can be exempted from paying the fine of up to 20 million won. They will also be able to hire EPS workers that would replace their lost manpower.
The procedure for the employers would be to accompany their undocumented employees to the Airport Immigration office with a airline ticket or to the Immigration office where they are under jurisdiction. They would need to bring proof of their business registration and employment/wage records for the undocumented workers. Once they do this, both the worker and the employer will not be punished.
If they fail to do this however, the workers will be arrested and detained in the immigration center and will be held there until the fines are all paid. After they have been deported, there will also be a 5-year ban imposed on the undocumented workers caught. The new provision also states that this would be the general protocol even after the crackdown period.
The employer can pay up to a maximum of 20 million won in fines and a 3 year ban on hiring EPS workers.
They have also stated that these procedures are being done in preparation for the G-20 summit that Korea will be hosting in November.
● On May 4, 2010 the National Police Agency announced that they have also started the "G-20 Preemptive Response" last May 2.
According to their press release, the "special" investigation and arrest will be done in preparation for the G-20 Summit in November.
They have stated that as the foreign population increases, so do the crime rate in the foreign population. Starting on May 2, 2010, the police force will conduct special investigations in areas where there is a high concentration of foreigners. The investigation will continue for fifty days on the national level. For the Seoul region the investigation will continue for two weeks.
Since majority of the foreign population in Seoul are 75% Chinese. It is easy to surmise that the target for arrests are primarily these ethnic groups. Areas specific to one nationality are classified as target areas or target locations such as the following: the Chinese in Yeoungdungpo, Guro and Guemcheon areas. Mongol in Junggu Gwanghuidong Mongoltown. Vietnamese in Seongdonggu, Geumcheongu and Seongbukgu. Russians and Uzbekistan in Junggu Gwanghuidong Russian street. Finally, the Nigerians in Yongsan and Itaewon.
According to their press release the target of their investigation are the following: 1) Foreigners who are suspects in a crime, 2) Foreigners who are in possession of deadly weapons (knives, etc.), 3) Foreigners who have pending arrest warrants, 4) Sex workers and their costumers and 5) Undocumented migrant workers.
According to their statement, the procedures would involve day and night raids in suspected areas as well as random street checking of the foreign nationals.
The "Foreigner Crime Concentration Investgation" is evidence of the RACIAL BIAS, RACISM and CLASS DISCRIMINATION of the KOREAN GOVERNMENT aimed towards all migrant. The G-20 Summit is just a convenient alibi for them to justify their attack against the migrants of this country.
The Ministry of Justice is again using the kick-out scheme under the guise of the "voluntary departure program", not even giving consideration to the long waiting list of job seekers in labor exporting countries. Also, they have just recently reduced the quota of foreign workers for this year despite the labor shortage in the manufacturing industries. Another factor that they refused to consider is the employability of the undocumented workers citing the fact that a considerable number of undocumented workers are already way past the age limit to be qualified for work. These seniors are by no means less productive. On the contrary, because of their work experience the seniors have higher degree of skills compared to the new workers.
The announcement/report circulated by the National Police Agency is proof that they are targeting individuals according to ethnicity and social background. They have seriously pointed out that the concentration and focus of this action are toward migrant workers.
The Chinese, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Russian, Uzbek and the Nigerians, to name just a few. Special target areas are also named like industrial complexes, factories and areas where there is a high concentration of foreign population.
They have also labeled undocumented workers as "criminals" so that they can justify their arrest. These undocumented workers are productive individuals that contributes their labor. They give back to the community by being consumers. They give back to the society by sharing their culture. They give back to the economy by indirectly paying taxes in everything that they purchase. They create commerce by creating a demand. They export the Korean culture and products. Most of all, they make it a point that they do not disadvantage anyone in the community for fear of endangering their stay in Korea. They are criminalized for not having a piece of paper. To lack a piece of paper is not a crime!
We highly condemn the recent order of battle of both the Ministry of Justice and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Force agency against the foreign community in Korea. The recently introduced protocols are in clear violation of the human rights laws and standards. It is not only unconstitutional it has also violated treaties and conventions from international governing bodies like the UN.
We heavily criticize the Korean dictatorship government of Lee Myeong Bak against the institutionalized commodification of human beings as reflected by the repressive national policies instituted under his dictatorial term. All of the policies introduced by the Korean government up to this day has proven to be self-contradictory to the concept of a Korean multi-cultural society. Today, Korea has once again reverted to barbarism and violence by adapting the failed immigration protocols in the past where death and injuries were rampant. It seemed that the hundreds of lives lost and ruined from the crackdown is not enough to move their conscience. They are willing to sacrifice the lives of migrants in image-building for the G-20 Summit.
WE ARE NOT CRIMINALS!
WE ARE NOT COMMODITIES!
WE ARE NOT YOUR SLAVES!
STOP CRACKDOWN!
ACHIEVE LABOR RIGHTS!
ACHIEVE HUMAN RIGHTS!
http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=27931#0
Related:
☞ Immigration checks to be toughened (K. Times, 5.10)
Today's Hankyoreh wrote: Presenting November’s G-20 summit as its justification, the Ministry of Justice announced on May 3 that it would implement a large-scale crackdown starting next month, foreshadowing another harsh wind to come. Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK) Executive Secretary Lee Young said, “It has become the worst possible situation for migrant workers since the current administration came into office.” Lee also said, “The government regards them as criminals and is focused only on isolating and arresting them.”
General Strike in Nepal... Ended(*)
Friday(5.07) afternoon in Kathmandu (according to an eye-witness):
Vigilante gangs broke off from civil society peace march, attacking protesters rocks and sticks. Police respond by tear-gassing canteen, beating Maoists who responded to the attack. Hindu-chauvinist groups attack Maoists with police assistance in the Terai, targetting leaders.... Don’t believe the mainstream press. They smear the movement, portraying right-wing gangs as local residents and protesters as outsiders.
Friday evening in Kathmandu (the same source reported):
UCPN(M) announces end of general strike. Violence from police and vigilante groups was widespread today. Nobody knows yet what this means – the new terms will be announced at mass meetings across the city on Sat./Sun...
NepalNews reported the following:
UCPN (M) withdraws general strike 'considering public woes and govt conspiracy'
After choking the nation for six consecutive days, the Unified CPN (Maoist) has decided to end its 'indefinite' general strike.
A meeting of the UCPN (M)'s standing committee held Friday evening decided to end the general strike "in view of the difficulties caused by the general strike to ordinary people" and the violent confrontations taking place during the demonstrations.
The party will organise mass meetings followed by demonstrations in the capital other major other cities across the country on Saturday and will picket Singha Durbar on Sunday.
"We have decided to stop the general strike considering the difficulty caused to the ordinary people, and also in view of the conspiracy hatched by this government to instigate violence. But we have not stopped our people's movement-III," Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal told media persons after the meeting.
Dahal informed that the party would carry out a series of protest programmes until May 28, the deadline to issue the new constitution.
UCPN(M) had enforced nationwide general strike from Sunday, a day after a it staged the mass rally to celebrate the May Day in the capital. The general strike brought the nation to a complete halt with transportation services, industries, educational institutions and marketplaces remaining closed down while the bandh was starting to cause shortage of food and vegetables in the capital and outside.
Initially, the General Strike was largely peaceful, but as the strike went on, there was increasing violence(**) between the Maoist agitators and those defying the General Strike.
But the General Strike wasn't unsuccessful, not at all! "Although Maoist led, the strike is supported by the majority of workers..", the Scottish Socialist Youth wrote last Wednesday...
And the consistent struggle for "People's Democracy"/"Liberation of the Exploited and Oppressed" has resulted in another important development, as NepalNews reported: "Dozens of popular artistes including movie producers, directors, actors and singers have joined the Unified CPN (Maoist). Party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal welcomed as many as 94 artistes and handed them party membership... Those joining the Maoists include movie producers and actors Yubraj Lama and Mausami Malla and popular directors Rajendra Khadgi and NB Maharjan. Emerging singer Anju Panta, who escalated to fame with her song ‘Na Birse Timilai’ also joined the Maoists."
* ...or rather suspended - for the time being!!
** At least since the 5th Day(5.06) of the General Strike the attacks (carried out by the ruling forces) against the striking people, especially against the Maoist activists were increasing, as the (bourgeois) TelegraphNepal reported:
While the youth cadres of ruling United Marxist Leninist and Nepali Congress parties led retaliatory actions against the Maoists’ cadres at various locations of the country, however, Birgunj, an economic center in the Tarai area, became the center of anti-Maoist violent demonstration. The youths affiliated to a Hindu organization not only vandalized a temporary camp established by the Maoist Party in Birgunj but set ablaze the camp...
Related articles:
☞ 6-day general strike was just a 'trailer' (NepalNews, 5.08)
☞ General strike ends, struggle continues (PSLweb, 5.09)
☞ Police, Maoists clash in Nepal, several injured (AP, 5.09)
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