공지사항
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- '노란봉투'캠페인/국제연대..
- no chr.!
26개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
A few days ago the S. Korean labour movement, joined by large parts of the civil society, announced that the "3rd Hope Bus Tour" to support the ongoing struggle of the workers at Busan's Hanjin shipyard will take place on the 30th of July...
And just a moment later the S.K. gov't "promised" a new, possibly aggravated wave of POLICE TERROR against the planned solidatity activities in Busan!!
Yesterday's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following:
Police warn of crackdown on 'Hope Bus' ralliers
The nation’s police chief pledged Monday to crack down on illegal activities of outside supporters of labor activist Kim Jin-suk who is holding a sit-in against layoffs at a giant crane at the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC).
In an apparent warning, National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Hyun-oh said, “Disputes between laborers and management don’t usually reach their worst stage unless there is intervention from a third party.”
His remarks came about a week after 7,000 citizens and labor activists from across the nation went to the shipyard in Busan to hold another rally in support of Kim and other striking workers. They traveled to the shipyard in 185 buses and other vehicles in what they called a “Hope Bus” campaign.
Kim has been holed up at the 35-meter-point of a giant crane at the shipyard for almost 200 days, calling for the withdrawal of a massive layoff plan. The supporters plan to hold a third “Hope Bus” rally on July 30.
On the second rally on July 10, thousands of supporters of Kim violently clashed with riot police.
“What are we supposed to do when some 7,000 protesters tried to break the police line and get inside the shipyard? That’s illegal. If the police had ignored that, it would simply mean the police have no reason to exist,” Cho said.
During their second round of the campaign, thousands of protesters marched from Busan Station to the shipyard, occupying eight-lane roads and attempted to enter the shipyard.
During the clashes, police used water cannons and tear gas to prevent thousands of supporters gaining access to the shipyard. Protesters and civic groups claimed the police used toxic chemicals which can severely harm to people (*)...
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/116_91133.html
* Related report in yesterday's Hankyoreh:
☞ Hope Bus participants exposed to chemicals added to water canons
Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following:
'Slut Walk' protest held in Seoul
A “Slut Walk” protest took place in downtown Seoul, Saturday, with some participants dressing provocatively, arguing women should not be blamed for sexual assaults simply because of the way they dress or behave.
“There is no one who deserves any kind of sexual assault anywhere in the world,” participants at the rally said in a statement. “We have the right not only to dress freely as we want to but also to live without fear of sex crimes.”
It was the first time that such a rally has been held in Korea. Similar protests have taken place in cities such as Chicago, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London and Sydney since the first Slut Walk protest on April 3 this year in Toronto, Canada.
The protests began after Michael Sanguinetti, a Toronto police officer, said, “Women should avoid dressing like sluts” to remain safe.
The Korean version of the Slut Walk protest was initiated by a woman who suggested the rally on her Twitter account after the alleged sexual assault by three male medical school students at Korea University on a female colleague during a school trip in May.
About 10 participants mostly dressed provocatively with some just wearing shorts and bras and others in skintight short skirts, first gathered at 2 p.m. in front of Korea University.
They marched on the campus, protesting the sexual assault case and calling for harsh punishment of the three students.
The protesters later moved to the Wonpyo Park in Sejong Road, downtown Seoul. They staged various performances as a protest against those who try to explain or excuse rape by referring to any aspect of a woman’s appearance.
The number of participants increased to about one hundred at around 4 p.m. despite occasional heavy downpours.
They then moved to the streets near Hongik University and held performances until they dispersed later that night.
The organizers said they plan to donate funds raised during the event to help the female student.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/07/117_91060.html
Yesterday's AFP had the following short 'report':
S. Korean 'SlutWalk' hits Seoul
Dozens of South Korean women in skimpy clothes and wearing sunglasses or masks rallied on Saturday as part of the "SlutWalk" global protest against sexual violence.
About 70 people, mostly women who met online to coordinate the action, danced together in the rain in central Seoul to make their point that "a dress does not mean yes."
"Don't touch my body," read a slogan written on yellow ribbons wrapped around the body of one woman.
"We have rights to wear whatever we like," the local movement, SlutWalk Korea, said in a statement. "We reject what they define as being sexy. There is no body in the world that can be touched without consent"...
Related reports (incl. some pics):
☞ 성범죄가 여성 때문? '야하게 입을 권리' 주장...한국판 슬럿워크 시위 (VoP)
☞ "내가 벗었다고 네가 만질 수 있는 건 아니야" (OMN)
☞ "성범죄가 여성탓?" 도심서 노출의상 시위 (연합)
International Solidarity Supporting the Hanjin Struggle
Some 10,000 workers and citizens from every part of South Korea participated on the night of July 9-10 in the "Hope Bus" march to the Hanjin shipyard in Busan to protest against dismissals in breach of contract and precarious work at the shipyard, and to make a solidarity visit to hunger-striking protester Kim Jinsuk. After a culture festival at Busan the participants started a candlelight march to the shipyard. One kilometer from the yard riot police blocked the road and opened fire on marchers with water cannons and liquid tear gas... (IMF report, 7.13)
But despite (or more precisely because of) the tightened STATE TERROR against the S. Korean solidarity movement, a mass campaign to support the Hanjin struggle becomes increasingly popular among the int'l labour movement!
The International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) recently sent a letter to the S. Korean president, calling for the gov't to stop all violence against the workers at Hanjin Heavy Industries shipyard...
The IMF, KMWU and LabourStart have launched a campaign calling on the S. Korean gov't to end the violence immediately (click here to join the effort and send your protest NOW!).
Protest letters were sent also by AMWU and AWU(Australia), CNM/CUT(Brazil), CGT métallurgie(France), IMF-JC(Japan), FIM-CISL(Italy), NTUI(India), Fellesforbundet(Norway), the Pakistan Labour Federation, the Philippine Labour Federation and Metal Workers Alliance, USW Métallos(USA), CAW(Canada), IG Metall(Germany) etc...
Yesterday's Kyunghyang Shinmun reported the following about last weekend's STATE TERROR in Busan:
10,000 Participants of ‘Hope Bus’ Forcibly Dispersed by Police..
Harmful tear gas and batons used against peaceful protestors
About 10,000 citizens from around the country, albeit police estimates at 7,000, aboard a second wave of 'Hope Bus' on Saturday paid a visit to Youngdo Shipbuilding Yard, Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) Busan.
This visit was aimed at cheering up Kim Jin-sook, who is staging a protest against the HHIC's sacking of workers alone high up on a Crane No. 85 and to pep up fired workers of the HHIC simultaneously .
However, while the police forcibly tried to disperse protestors using tear-causing gas and water cannons, and apprehended 50 and wounded 100, this stirred up a controversy that the crackdown was too forceful and violent.
Participants of Hope Bus held a cultural festival at Busan Station at 7 o'clock pm Saturday and marched towards Youngdo Shipbuilding Yard, but were thwarted by the police 700 meters ahead of the Yard.
Protestors made a demand of the police to secure a peaceful demonstration to reach to meet Kim Jin-sook in person, but the police issued an order of dispersal instead.
In the wee hours of Sunday, when the protestors marched towards a wall set by the police, the police began to fire tear-causing solutions.
Upon police firing of tear gas, Lee Jung-hee, Leader of Democratic Labor Party, blacked out and was taken to Busan University Hospital for treatment.
The police afterwards shot water cannons with tear-causing solutions at the protestors, wielded shields and batons to disperse the protestors.
In the process, 50 protestors including Shim Sang-jung, former leader of Progressive New Party, and Lee Gwang-seok, Chairman of National Farmers Federation, were apprehended and quite a number of them were wounded.
Woo Seok-gyoon, Policy Director of Health and Medical Group Association, said, "A great number of the wounded got chemical burns causing blisters. Considering the symptoms, the tear-causing solution seems to be the same kind that was used at the crackdown at Ssangyong Motors in 2009."
Woo added, "At that time, the International Cancer Research Center defined the methylenechloride solution contained in the tear-causing solution as carcinogenic and a research team at Harvard University announced that CS gas is a kind of 'toxic chemical weapons'."
About 2,000 protestors out of the whole dispersed themselves after staging, for a while, a sit-in demanding retraction of staff curtailment and criticizing forcible crackdown by the police.
However, their demand for a face-to-face meeting with Kim Jin-sook did not materialize, who is now a symbol of protest in HHIC's massive personnel curtailment.
http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201107111717127&code=710100
Related stuff:
☞ ‘Harmless’ teargas (Hankyoreh, 7.12)
☞ 희망 버스 막은 최루액, 과연 안전한가? (참세상, 7.11)
Today's Hankyoreh feature about last weekend's "Hope Bus" solidarity tour/movement:
"Hope Bus", an ‘icon of resistance’ rooted in insecure society
Police use water cannons and tear gas to prevent thousands who support HHIC aerial protest
The Hope Bus is establishing itself as an icon of resistance to employment anxieties that are threatening worker and working class livelihoods. The Hope Bus Campaign was launched by supporters with the goal of supporting embattled union members and Kim Jin-suk, a Direction Committee member for the Busan chapter of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Kim is currently in the 186th day of an aerial protest calling for the withdrawal of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) layoff plans from the No. 85 crane at the company’s Yeongdo shipyard in Busan. The buses aspire toward a “world without layoffs and temporary workers.”
Amid heavy rains Saturday afternoon, a caravan of around 150 Hope Buses and 50 vans headed for the shipyard where Kim is protesting along with six union members who have tied themselves to the crane with the stated goal of protecting her. While the first round of buses had around 700 riders, some 5,000 people from all over the country got on board for this second round.
The range of participants is also more diverse. In addition to citizens unaffiliated with any group and representatives of political parties, labor activists, university students, health care professionals, religious figures, and legal professionals, the latest round saw large-scale participation by members of socially vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, sexual minorities, eviction protesters, migrant workers, and young people.
What is the reason behind this voluntary uniting of people from different backgrounds in a show of solidarity for a labor-management conflict involving layoffs at a single regional workplace?
Hope Bus riders said they felt a sense of profound concern about the experiencing of HHIC union members, which “no longer seemed like someone else’s problem.” Poet Song Kyung-dong, who suggested the bus idea, also views this as the reason for the event’s increased scale.
“With increases in temporary positions and layoffs, we are living in an insecure society,” Song said.
“People do not talk about it, but there is an inherent anger about this, and this is where the solidarity has emerged from,” he said.
At a time when the social safety net is inadequate, the increase in layoffs and temporary positions threatens the survival rights of the working class. People who have experiencing this situation directly or indirectly are lending their support to Kim’s dedicated struggle.
“On the surface, the HHIC issue and issues involving people with disabilities do not appear to be connected with each other,” said Moon Ae-rin, 31, a participant in the second round of Hope Buses who is confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy. “But the reality is that working conditions are poorer for people with disabilities.”
“What they are going through is what I am going through,” Moon said.
Dongguk University Student Council President Kwon Gi-hong, 23, who took part in the fight for a 50 percent reduction in tuition rates, said, “We become workers when we graduate, and unless there are changes to the reality [of pressures on workers], what happened to the HHIC union members could happen to us.”
The Hope Buses’ impassioned call for a solution to the HHIC layoff issue appears set to develop into a larger demand for controls on corporate greed in seeking profits even at the expense of employment.
Office worker Park Jeong-hui, 27, who rode during both Hope Bus trips, noted, “In her speech, Kim Jin-suk used the expression, ‘People I cannot turn my back on even if they turn their backs on me,’ and I had the sense she was referring not only to HHIC union members, but to all of us who lack power and support and could be fired at any time.”
“The important thing about the HHIC issue is that it is opening up a forum for questioning how society should be controlling the unjust pursuit of profits by business,” Park added.
Intimately familiar with employment insecurities, workers engaged in long-term battles at Ssangyong Motor, YPR, and Valeo Compressor also began a two-day stay Saturday looking for “hope” in Busan. Thirty in-house subcontracting workers at Hyundai Motor who lost their jobs after demanding conversion from irregular dispatch worker status to regular worker status, rode into Busan from Ulsan on “Hope Bikes.”
“Hyundai Motor’s irregular workers are suffering oppression, with 104 of them dismissed over a 25-day period last winter sit-in protests, and around 1,000 having their bank accounts garnished as punishment,” said Park Yeong-hyeon, one of the Hyundai Motor in-house subcontracting workers.
“After seeing the citizen solidarity symbolized by the Hope Buses, we are considering getting back up to fight again,” Park added.
The second round of Hope Buses also drew Busan residents in their 40s and 50s back into the streets. While a number of assemblies had been held since HHIC made plans for layoffs in December, participation from citizens was slack.
“I made a promise to meet my old university friends from the 1980s at Busan Station, and I came racing here,” said a 54-year-old from Changwon, South Gyeongsang, identified by the surname Park.
A 44-year-old homemaker surnamed Shin from Busan’s Changseon neighborhood said, “It seemed like I could learn a lot just from watching, so I took part in the event with my two elementary school-age children.”
But the riders did not have the chance to meet Kim Jin-suk. Despite struggling empty-handed to burst through the police line, they were helpless in the face of the water cannons, tear gas, and batons.
Around 3,000 participants stayed until morning occupying the eight-lane highway in front of the Bongnae intersection protesting the police suppression and mass arrests. National Assembly lawmakers from four opposition parties, including Chung Dong-young, Cho Seung-soo, and Kwon Young-ghil, met with Busan Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Seo Cheon-ho to demand the release of all detainees.
Seo refused the request, saying, “The release of detainees must be at the direction of prosecutors.”
A key figure behind the second round of Hope Buses said, “We have resolved to organize a large-scale third round of Hope Buses within a month’s time to return to Busan to protest excessive suppression tactics by police and show support for Kim Jin-suk.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/486781.html
"7.10, Busan: A Nation of Mad Law Enforcement"
(cartoon in today's Kyunghyang Shinmun)
Some more pics, related to the last weekend's solidarity rally/demo in Busan you can see here.
Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times 'reported' the following: "Thousands of protestors violently clashed with police during an overnight rally Sunday as they attempted to get into the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction in Busan to support striking workers there..."
But in reality they just wanted to march through the almost deserted streets to reach the area near the shipyard, to end the protest day/night with a CULTURE FESTIVAL... But finally they were attacked by thousands of riot cops (7000 + 4000 'security guards', hired by Hanjin management) using water cannons and tear gas:
More detailed (Korean) info/reports, incl. many pics, you'll get here:
☞ “85호 크레인 길목 막으면 3차·4차 희망버스 또 온다” (VoP)
☞ 희망버스, 끝내 김진숙 못 만나고 떠나... (OMN)
☞ 2차 희망버스 정리..3차 희망버스로 (C-media)
☞ 2차 희망버스 9000여명 “김진숙과 함께하자!” (KCTU)
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