26개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
In Commemoration of Lee So-seon, the "Mother of the S. Korean Working Class"
Kyunghyang Shinmun wrote the following:
The Debt We Owe Lee So-seon
Lee So-seon, mother of labor activist and martyr Chun Tae-il, died on Sep. 3. Mourners are now queuing up to pay their respects to her.
The story of Lee's intense life of justice, intensity and hardship is a highly moving one. If her son, Chun, was a patriot and comrade of our era, Lee was like a mother to Korea's labor, democracy and human liberation movements.
Lee devoted half her life converting the light that her son turned on into hope for the future. She pushed ceaselessly at the small hole her son had pierced in the pitch-black skies above Korea's workers, gradually making it wider.
She devoted herself entirely to realizing her strong desire that even the poorest of lives be lived with human dignity. Her life was one of love itself.
Chun Tae-il, who set fire to himself on November 13, 1970, left a note to his mother asking her to be sure to achieve that which he had not yet managed to do. Lee promised him, "As long as I remain alive, I will do what you intended to do."
She did not even have time to grieve over the loss of her son. Chun's will was just, and his will became that of his mother. The unjust world that had enraged her worker son enraged his mother, too.
But although Lee was determined and resolute when it came to injustice, the path she took was always a reassuring climb to the comrades that accompanied her. This is why everybody referred to her as a mother figure.
Lee was a symbol of solidarity. She would be present wherever there was a struggle for human dignity. Even recently, she would drag her aching body to the sites of sit-in protests.
At the beginning of this year, she visited Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction workers fighting against redundancy firings and stayed up all night in a tent beneath the crane of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions activist Kim Jin-suk.
In the harsh era of the 1970s and 1980s, too, Lee's virtues of solidarity and sympathy lent great strength to the survival of the democratic labor movement.
In the face of adversity greater than that of death itself, she never lost hope or became discouraged. Her life was one in which life through death cultivated hope.
Even in the midst of hardship, Lee never gave up her dream of a world without discrimination. "Workers have fallen into the river and there is nobody to hold out a hand to them," she said last year. "Part-time workers can do nothing. What are politicians doing? I really hope I see a good world before I die."
Lee, who spent 41 years as a fighter and mother to all, bearing in her heart the memory of her burned son, died in the fervent hope that labor discrimination would disappear.
Lee proved as founded the hope that the world can be changed by fighting against injustice and banding together with justice. Now it is our turn to inherit the promise that she made.
http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201109051320167&code=790101
Related articles:
☞ “이소선 어머니, 희망버스를 손수 몰고 계신가요” (NewCham, 9.07)
☞ 전태일 열사 산화한 그곳에서...이소선 여사 노제 진행 (VoP, 9.07)
☞ 2000여 시민들 통곡 "야속합니다, 어머니..." (OMN, 9.07)
☞ Mother of laborers in heaven (Hankyoreh, 9.05)
First of all: Exactly 5 minutes after the following (now outdated, sorry^^) report was ready for uploading, the first of our yesterday arrested comrades arrived here in our struggle/sit-in center ('Cafe Mari')! Usually you've to spend 48 hours in custody, but - possibly because of our unorthodox protest - they were released after 'only' 28 hours!
*****
Here just some impressions from today's press conference in front of Namdaemun Police HQ(responsible for yesterday's crackdown) where we demanded the immediately release of our seven comrades(arrested y'day afternoon) and the end of the repression/violent attacks against us, i.e. resisting/protesting and the supporters:
"War orphan", since y'day missing her father:
Translation: "At this time, this cute dog's ('Nana') father has been arrested by the cops, because he protested (yesterday) against 'redevelopment' in Myeong-dong. Therefore Nana is now a sad orphan."
To cut a long story short today was not a successful day for us, not really!
Like last Thursday a crane truck, in order of Daewoo Construction (Mafia) tried to enter the Myeong-dong "redevelopment" area to continue the demolition of buildings close to our struggle center ('Cafe Mari').
Well, for the first two hours - from 06:00am(KST) until 08:00am - we were able to block the shit. At 08:00 the truck left the site and we - very happy to sleep few hours more - went back to our struggle center('Cafe Mari').
But only three hours later we'd to learn that ultimatey the truck entered its destination and was already prepared to start the demolition process. At around noon two of our comrades, backed by about 40 activists/supporters just occupied the crane. But of course only a short while later the riot cops(at least 120) moved in and punctually(^^) to supper time(06:00pm KST) they finished our "performance"(i.e. protest).
The final result: Five(*) of our comrades, incl. four MDLF activists were arrested(they're are still in custody) and at least one person was taken by the ambulance to a hospital. Here some impressions(chronologically arranged) from today's "events" in Myeong-dong:
* According to Yonhap: Seven actvists were arrested, incl. two supporting organized street vendors.
Impressions from today's activities(flea market, opening of the photo exhibition "48 Hours") outside and inside 'Cafe Mari" in Myeong-dong's 'redevelopment' zone:
PS: Today we'd visitors from Japan, the U.S. and Germany!!
Yesterday(9.01), at 05:00(KST) - just two hours before we hit the sack - a crane truck, in order of Daewoo Construction (Mafia) tried to enter the Myeong-dong "redevelopment" area to continue the demolition of buildings close to our struggle center ('Cafe Mari'). But we - a small group of activists and some tenants of the area - were able to block the truck:
Cameraman, documenting the entire stupid stuff for Daewoo Construction (Mafia)
Only two hours later - a part of our group started their propapaganda tour around the block - we suffered a next surprise. A small bunch of elderly and disabled people started to play up, by blocking our propaganda mobile. Of course we were really surprised, but we'd to learn that they acted not on their own behalf, instead they were hired and paid by Daewoo Construction (Mafia) just to annoy us:
Finally exactly at noon, 'only' 7 hours after the beginning of the trouble, the truck and the bugging dudes(unfortunately, during their silly 'performance', three of our comrades were slightly injured) disappeared and we were able to enjoy the rest of this f*cking hot day...
9.04(Sun.), 05:00pm: Opening of the photo exhibition "48 Hours" in Myeong-dong, 'Cafe Mari':
SAVE JEJU ISLAND! NO NAVAL BASE!
1. Yesterday's Korea Times wrote that "Crackdown imminent at naval site"!
2. Today, at 02:28pm (KST) Save Jeju Island (Facebook) published the following report/appeal: "Arrests are taking place in Gangjeong village at this moment. The leader of the peace movement and two other leading activists have been arrested in just the past few minutes. Perhaps more soon. This is an affront to democracy in South Korea! We are now more dependent on the international community. This is a rallying call. We must all rise up in defense!!!"
3. Today's conservative/reactionary daily newspaper JoongAng Ilbo wrote this piece:
Police see Jeju ‘festival’ as ruse
Police are preparing to use force to control growing opposition to a naval base being built on Jeju as a watered-down rally is expected to go ahead on Saturday despite a court injunction against it.
Some 449 riot police were dispatched from the mainland yesterday to the tense coastal village of Gangjeong in Seogwipo, the island’s second-biggest city, to join the 157 riot police previously sent there from Gyeonggi.
Construction of the 530,000- square-meter (131-acre) base, which is about 30 percent complete, has ground to a halt as protestors from the island and mainland have physically blocked workers from entering the site.
Opposition to the base has been mounting since the central government announced the plan in 2007, and construction has been stalled for several months.
The protestors, who see the base as a threat to peace on the island, are expecting to see their numbers swell in the coming days as supporters from other parts of the country fly in to join a festival on Saturday that could turn into an illegal rally.
Organizers of the so-called “Plane for Peace” rally have agreed to cancel the demonstration and hold a festival instead after the Jeju District Court granted an injunction on Tuesday forbidding any interference with the base construction.
But authorities suspect the parade is a ruse to keep the rally alive as it includes a parade along a section of the Jeju Olle Trails that passes by the base site on the way to Seogwipo’s Gureombi Beach.
“Although they said they would hold a peaceful festival, they had better refrain from entering the construction site as this would be illegal,” said Yun Jong-gi, the police officer in charge of crowd control at the festival.
“We are sending a large force out to deal with any possible contingencies.”
Some 2,000 people are expected to attend, including 170 people aboard a T’way Air flight from Gimpo Airport - the source of the canceled rally’s name.
The Catholic Human Rights Committee purchased their tickets to fortify numbers at the event, which has since been renamed the “Let’s play, play, play with Gangjeong” festival.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency sent six mobile squads, including two teams of female police to deal with children and elderly people, to the island yesterday evening.
The new arrivals will conduct riot-control maneuvers in Seogwipo City before and during the festival, which will also feature a music concert, police said.
Their presence has further inflamed local residents. A group of 40 people set up tents to prevent police officers from entering the construction site yesterday, barring them from putting up notices bearing the court’s ruling. In the end, the protestors partially relented and allowed one to enter.
The Ministry of National Defense issued a statement yesterday demanding an end to the “outsider-led demonstrations.”
“We stress once again that this military-commercial joint venture is an important project not only for the national interest, but also to defend transport routes in the South Sea and for the development of Gangjeong Village [by boosting tourism there],” it read.
“The government urges these groups [from outside Jeju] to suspend their protests against the base as it is only deepening the rift between local residents [who are already torn over the issue].”
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2940990
4. Related articles:
☞ Clash brewing at Gangjeong village (Korea Times, 8.30)
☞ Standoff escalates over Jeju naval base (K. Herald, 8.31)
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