26개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
The 3rd "Bus of Hope" campaign: From y'day evening until today's early afternoon once again - despite the previous massive media-hyped counter-attacks/agitation - about 10,000 activists(according to intependend sources) from all over S. Korea gathered in Busan to support Kim Jin-suk's struggle against HHIC...
Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following about it:
'Hope Bus' rally ends without major clash
The third round of the “Hope Bus” campaign in Busan by progressive civic and labor groups opposing massive layoffs by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) ended Sunday morning without a major clash with the riot police.
According to the police, about 3,500 protesters from all over the country started gathering in the nation’s largest port city, Saturday to protest against the redundancies.
During the rally, participants expressed their opposition to the layoffs and support for female labor activist Kim Jin-suk, who has held a sit-in at the 35-meter-high point of a giant crane at the company’s shipyard.
Protesters have previously violently clashed with police, after they traveled to the shipyard in 185 buses and other vehicles in what they called Hope Bus campaign.
But participants in the third round rallied peacefully and continued in the form of an overnight cultural event. They dispersed voluntarily on Sunday morning.
Considering a deepening ideological division over the campaign, participants refrained from escalating it into a violent rally. They moved to Yeongdo, where the shipyard is located, by public transportation, instead of illegally occupying roads and marching together. They did not attempt to enter the shipyard.
Instead, they broke into small groups to enjoy a concert of independent bands, sang songs together and held a free speech event, participants said...
But there were minor clashes between protesters and an alliance consisting of conservative civic groups, employers’ groups and merchants in Busan who opposed the campaign.
About 300 alliance members blocked the Yeongdo Bridge to prevent the Hope Bus campaigners from entering Yeongdo. Some protestors and members of the alliance suffered minor injuries.
Even before the campaign, the alliance had denounced the rally, arguing busloads of protesters hurt the local economy and cause inconveniences to Busan residents. It also claimed that their protests make it more difficult to settle the seven-month dispute between the labor union and the management of HHIC.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/113_91951.html
Related, but more detailed reports (incl. many pics/videos) you'll get here:
☞ '평화'로 꽃피운 3차 희망버스, 1박2일의 아름다운 '휴가'
☞ 김진숙 "매일 유서 쓰는 심정으로 버틴다"
☞ 희망버스, 김진숙과 조우...3차 희망버스 본행사 열려
☞ ‘3차 희망버스’ 거리행진 자제…보수단체는 도로점거 훼방
Two days ago the (bourgeois) Korea Times published the following feature, regarding the planned so-called "redevelopment" project in Myeong-dong (downtown Seoul):
A Tibetan activist is preparing to protest against a development company in Myeong-dong, central Seoul after being told to vacate his popular family-run restaurant.
D.P. Lama, better known locally as “Minsu,” said he and other tenants in the area would protest if the Myeong-dong Special Development Company attempts to evict them by force.
Their protests would coincide with ongoing actions waged by already-evicted tenants and activists in the redevelopment zone. It is also the latest chapter in an ongoing, sometimes volatile debate over tenants’ rights.
“I can’t stop the builders,” Minsu said. “What I am talking about is this system that basically leaves people to die. It needs to be changed to give tenants some rights.”
Any protest by the well-known human rights activist is likely to draw keen attention given the popularity of his Potala restaurant, a bastion for Tibetan culture here.
The controversy began in April, when tenants north of Myeong-dong Cathedral ― mostly small businesses ― were told to evacuate by May.
Activists said the development company negotiated directly with landlords, leaving the store owners with no recourse. Some tenants have been compensated to leave, they said.
The area has been divided into several zones, three of which are currently or anticipated to be sites of protests.
The developers moved first into Zone 3, serving a final notice before hired hands blocked the tenants from entering and in some cases removing furniture. Potala is located in Zone 2.
Out of some 40 stores in Zone 3, 11 began to get organized, setting up a small base on the street after altercations with the hired hands.
Spurred by the recent success of a similar campaign, the tenants began squatting in one of the evacuated businesses. Students now squat there around the clock and are demanding better compensation for the businesses.
In June, a small noodle shop in Western Seoul called Duriban won compensation from a construction company after its campaign won support from thousands of citizens.
Protests urging strengthened measures to protect tenants and denouncing the use of intimidation are not new to Korea.
In 2009, five tenants and one policeman were killed in Yongsan, central Seoul, during a violent clash when authorities tried to forcibly evict them from a building which was set to be demolished due to redevelopment plans.
A personal battle
Minsu said his business has yet to be seriously affected, but that the development company could move in sometime next month. He stands to take a big loss if evicted.
“I’ve been here for three years and, until now, have struggled to make the business successful,” he said. “I was just beginning to pay back loans when the notice from the developers came.”
But for the Tibetan and his wife, a Korean who co-runs the restaurant, the struggle goes beyond the financial. In 1986, his father-in-law was fired for trying to unionize his workplace in Busan, forced to take up street vending. But authorities harassed him as part of a crackdown on street hawkers, Minsu said.
The vendor committed suicide in 1989 to protest the system of crackdowns and intimidation, after writing a letter to President Roh Tae-woo calling for change.
Decades later, he won compensation from the government for contributing to the cause of democracy. But Minsu said his struggle continues.
“It’s been 25 years and still the system hasn’t changed. Now his daughter is in the same position,” he said.
It is also putting a risk at the restaurant that has become a resource for those seeking information on Tibetan human rights issues, a cause Minsu has fought for since arriving here.
The activist warned people not to take the tenants lightly.
“This is not only about my restaurant. This is a problem for all of Korea,” he said. “It’s time for the country to start developing its system for poor people. Otherwise, next time, it could be you.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2011/07/139_91687.html
Coming Saturday the 3rd 'Hope Bus' Protest Tour to the Hanjin shipyard (in Busan) will start from almost all cities across S. Korea...
The following cartoon, related to the issue, was published in yesterday's Kyunghyang Shinmun:
The Korean text says: "Kiryung, SsangYong, Yooseong, Hanjin... The sweat of 'irregular' workers, the tears of workers dismissed and people's hope accumulated in a 200-day long sultry heat finally leads to 'blossoms of salt tree' at (Busan's Hanjin) Yeong-do shipyard"
Related article:
☞ South Korean woman spends 200th day in crane-top protest (BBC, 7.25)
More related (updated) news can check out on LabourStart
'David' Attacked by 'Goliath' (골리앗vs.다윗)
Last Monday in Myeong-dong: Scores of thugs (i.e. organized mobsters) - hired by the Daewoo Construction (Mafia) - were attacking an activist who just want to defend his right to exist:
A previous notice, related to last Monday's attack you can check out here!
Latest news reports, articles... about the planned 3rd "HOPE BUS" tour to support the struggle of the Hanjin shipyard workers in Busan
1. Today's (reactionary)newspaper Dong-A Ilbo wrote/predicted the following: "Police estimate that some 20,000 protesters will flock to Busan when the third (Hope Bus) campaign opens. If the campaign is held as scheduled, clashes between protesters and police are inevitable"
2. Since a few days the S. Korean bourgeois media is developing a smear campaign under the motto: "Busan residents oppose 'Hope Bus' rallies" (K. Times, 7.21)
Yesterday's ('left'-liberal)Hankyoreh published the following piece, related to the issue:
Local gov't criticizes third Hope Bus campaign
An 80-organization committee has expressed support for the campaign and requested understanding from local residents
Opinions in Busan are divided over the forthcoming visit, on July 30, of the third “Hope Bus” campaign, a movement conducted by citizens from across Korea to demand the reversal of the mass firing of workers at Busan’s Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC).
Some residents and commercial associations in the Yeongdo ward of Busan, where 51-year-old Kim Jin-suk, a member of the Direction Committee of the Busan branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is conducting an aerial protest at Yeongdo shipbuilding yard, as well as some commercial associations near Busan Station, where the Second Bus of Hope held a concert, are expressing opposition to the third bus.
“We have no choice but to oppose the third Hope Bus Campaign, because it is local residents alone that will suffer if the event organizers and police clash in the streets again,” said Kim Han-su, an official of residents’ councils in Yeongdo ward.
On July 12, the conference of resident council chairpeople, as well as seven of the nine members of Yeongdo’s ward council, stated, “Residents suffered a lot of damage during first and second Hope Bus campaigns including an array of discarded garbage, loud shouting and singing, and road closures. If the third Hope Bus Campaign comes to Yeongdo, we will not hesitate to make significant efforts to block it.”
On July 18, 15 commercial associations, including one representing businesses near Busan Station, stated, “We will block the third Hope Bus Campaign if plans for it forcibly go ahead.”
On July 13 in a press room at Busan City Hall, Busan Mayor Hur Nam-sik, Busan Metropolitan Council President Je Jong-mo, head of Busan’s local office of employment and labor Jang Hwa-ik, and Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Shin Jung-taek made the criticism that “The Hope Bus Campaign constitutes third party interference.”
In contrast, a Busan civic committee for saving HHIC and the Busan economy, comprised of more than 80 local civic, social and labor organizations including Citizen’s Solidarity for Participation and Self-Governance of Busan, the Busan branch of an association of parents working for better education, and Green Busan, intend to actively band together with the third Hope Bus Campaign. These groups did not lead the march through the streets when the second Hope Bus traveled to Busan, but they are actively looking into playing a leading role in organizing cultural festivals if participants in the Third Bus gather in specific areas of the city such as Haeundae.
“The HHIC redundancy problem has become more significant than just a single workplace and symbolizes the conflict between chaebols [South Korea’s major family-run conglomerates] and workers,” said Pastor An Ha-won of Saenal Church. “Therefore, I hope the citizens of Busan will show understanding. Participants in the Hope Bus movement also need to show a mature stance, including taking their garbage away with them.”
On July 18, the 118 workers who were dragged away by 150 personnel hired by court law enforcement officers on June 27 while conducting a sit-in protest at HHIC‘s Yeongdo shipbuilding yard filed a suit at Busan District Court against the law enforcers and HHIC demanding compensation of 2 million won ($1,895) per person, or a total of 236 million won, saying, “Labor union members suffered emotional harm after being forcibly dispersed by personnel hired illegally by law enforcement officers.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/488207.html
Related article:
☞ ChongWaDae Joins in Controversy over Bus of Hope (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 7.21)
Monday(7.18) morning large units of thugs, hired by the construction mafia, attacked once again the Myeong-dong Sit-in Struggle Collective!
The attack's aim: an attempt to intimidate the increasing resistance against the so-called 'redevelopment' project in Myeong-dong. But ultimately the attack failed, as you can see here:
SOLIDARITY is needed!!!
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