27개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Now the S. Korean ruling class wants to retaliate (according to yesterday's K. Times):
18-month prison term sought for female labor activist
The prosecution has sought an 18-month prison term for Kim Jin-suk, a labor activist who staged a sit-in on a giant crane in the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction in Busan for 309 days, on charges of interfering with business.
In a hearing at Busan District Court, Tuesday, prosecutors asked the court to hand down the jail term to Kim, who pled guilty.
“By holding the long-term protest, Kim paralyzed the company’s business, disgraced the firm’s image and created a bad precedent that a person can act illegally to attain their purpose. We want the ruling to show those committing illegal acts should take responsibility,” a prosecutor said.
“The strike at Hanjin Heavy was protracted and became a nationwide issue. Outsiders on Hope Buses also intervened and their actions caused extended chaos in Busan,” he said.
Kim admitted to the accusations but claimed her acts were justifiable in a two-page final statement.
“A company should keep agreements with laborers but Hanjin Heavy failed to do so often. Those not keeping promises should be punished first, then justice can be realized,” said the 51-year-old in a working uniform.
“The suppression of Hope Bus rallies was too harsh. The movement was a social demonstration to prevent a massive layoff, to protect laborers who were abandoned by society,” she said.
Kim was indicted without physical detention on charges of interfering with the company’s business by staging a sit-in inside the operator’s cabin of a 35-meter-high giant crane from Jan. 6 to Nov. 10 last year to protest a massive layoff.
The verdict will be delivered on Feb. 16.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/117_103866.html
Two days ago(1.28) the spokeswoman of the Jaeneung Struggle Collective released the following statement:
I and my fellow fighters have waged a battle against the Jaeneung Education Institute for the last 1,500 days, and it still doesn’t end. Each and every one of us has been put through indescribable daily hell; we did not rest a single day for the past 100 days. Nonetheless we brace for another chapter of the ongoing struggle.
A while ago, I found a middle-aged man weeping before our camp at dawn. I was surprised to see the man because he was a stranger to the camp. It turned out that he was a member of the labor union at Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction, which recently won a victory in a seemingly impossible situation; the union members were promised to be rehired a year later. This miracle-like triumph planted a hope among people. In all those years, we could not even make a tent before the headquarters of Jaeneung at freezing nights. I and my fellow warriors spent countless nights in a cold vehicle. But we were not alone; some intoxicated people came by and, in a rising fury, knocked heavily on the door of Jaeneung Education Institute or knocked down flowerpots nearby.
You might wonder: "Why are you on the street everyday like a reminder of sadness and sorrow?"
The teachers who continue to work for Jaeneung and visit homes of their students could have forgotten us. Those who know us might want to forget us. About 3,800 teachers banded together when teachers at Jaeneung first established a labor union. But not all the original members sticked together in raising our voice over the past 12 years -- they stayed with us for less than a quarter of that time. For the remaining 8+ years, those who stayed fought alone on the streets with tooth and nail against the behemoth in the private education industry. Many of our fellow members were hounded, scathed, hurt and crushed and in the end left the struggle in a defeated spirit.
Yet, we remained and continue to fight on the street.
We demanded that the company rehires all the 12 laid-off workers, but they refused to rehire one member of us.
Ms. Lee Ji-hyeon was one of our former warriors. She was one of the workers who set up a labor union in 1999 and has been with us in this struggle for years and years. But she developed cancer during our collective struggle. We could hardly afford to visit her lying in a sick bed; we silently wept when we heard that her health is rapidlly declining and failing her. We wept again on the day she passed away.
We are a small group of people who number slightly over ten, yet we choose to confront the gigantic force who has constantly oppressed their workers. Amidst our bleeding, we sometimes direct our fury against each other, but nonetheless we keep planning our daily battle.
You might ask: "Why do you keep fighting?"
We demand two things:
1) Jaeneung acknowledges and permits our labor union, which Jaeneung deprived from us solely because we chose to fight
2) Jaeneung rehires all laid-off workers
Each warrior has his or her own reason to continuously participate in Sit-in Struggle.
One fighter wants to bring back the wonderful time of 33 days in and around December 1999. It was a time when "Labor Union of Educational Workers at Jaeneung: Our Shared Love and Dream" was founded, which kindled hope and brought smiles to faces of teachers as they worked at homes of their young learners.
Another member simply wishes to leave behind ten years of being unemployed and join the flow of people who go to work.
Another warrior aspires to rebuild the disbanded labor union. Another one of us seeks revenge against the corporation that wielded its vast capital to destroy his life.
And there's a warrior who wants to go back to co-workers who have trusted their darling students and him and stayed together through thick and thin.
We want to rejoin a Jaeneung that acknowledges labor union, a company where diligent educational workers are not forced to "pay for" the loss of client students out of their salary as punishment. We yearn to return Jaeneung as a proud teacher who specializes in private home-tutoring, instead of being relegated into a second-class teacher. We refuse to be sacrificed as a scapegoat just to bolster monstrous growth of the corporation. That is why we refuse to accept neither phase-in reinstatement nor selective reinstatement, which Jaeneung thinks are "generous" offers.
We have no idea how long our sit-in struggle will go on. We only ask for this: the right existence of our labor union! But the dinosaur of capital and power is freaked out and says it can't give us any.
We wish to record our story with a happy ending that imbues every heart with hope; "The last twelve fighters, who confronted the ugly force who never stopped exploiting laborers and taking away things that made them workers, finally made a breakthrough and lived happily ever after."
(Translation by Kim Sun-ah)
Here you can read the original text in Korean!
1.28~29: At least 300 activists 'celebrated' 1,500 days of Jaeneung Sit-in Struggle. Here some impressions from the 24-hours 'marathon protest':
Related articles:
☞ 재능지부투쟁 1500일, 우린 반드시 승리해야할 이유가 있습니다. (JinboNet, 1.28)
☞ 1500일 버틴 스스로학습 선생님들 "우리도 노동자다" (OMN, 1.28)
☞ 재능투쟁 1,500일… "인간 존엄 보여줬다" (BeMinor, 1.29)
☞ 재능투쟁 1500일, 집중집회...“이제 끝내야 한다” (CCmedia, 1.29)
☞ 재능 투쟁 1500일, 우린 왜 미안함으로 남아 있는 걸까요? (NewsCham, 1.29)
☞ ‘특수고용노동자’ 상징 된 재능투쟁, 1500일간의 싸움 (CCmedia, 1.29)
Since my first contact with the migrant workers movement in S. Korea in spring 2002 (via ETU-MB/평등노조 이주지부, MTU's predecessor organization) I assumed that - at least - in case of a prospective North-South reunification a dark future for the migrant workers in S. Korea...
And today, as far as I know, the S. Korean media (via DailyNK) connected for the first time the "imminent" reunification process with a planned deportation of almost ALL migrant workers.
Under the headline "If Sudden Change Happens in NK" DailyNK reported the following:
On the 24th the Korea Employers Federation(KEF) in the report ‘Labor Market Changes and Policy Challenges After Reunification’ asserted that if change occurs and a radical unification happens, it could lead to a situation where many North Koreans come to South Korea, resulting in social economic chaos. The KEF claimed that South Korea is capable of only taking up to 2,220,000 North Koreans.
...the report stated that North Koreans coming to the South... South Korea needs to suggest alternative policies to reduce foreign worker dependency.
According to the KEF, the unmet reinforcement in domestic low-skill workers is 86,000 people. The target can be met by the 344,000 North Korean workers.
Based on figures from October of last year, there were 497,000 non-professional foreign workers in South Korea and 175,000 illegal aliens. If 70% of these workers were to be replaced by North Korean workers then 47,000(*) North Koreans can be recruited, according to the Korea Employers Federation.
If the low skilled workers and non-professional foreign workers were to be replaced by North Korean workers (including the dependents) around 222,000 North Korean workers can be accommodated in South Korea...
* This number in the English article is of course wrong! In the Korean text ("급진통일시 북주민 365만명 내려올 수 있다"): "47만 명...", i.e. 470,000 N. Koreans (could replace migrant workers)
Last Saturday's Hankyoreh published the following article:
Migrant labor organizer bids bittersweet farewell to Korea
Family duties bring MTU’s Michel Catuira home after six year struggle in Korea
On January 31, 40-year-old Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants' Trade Union (MTU) president Michel Catuira will leave Korea after six years in the country and return to the Philippines. Just as he came to Korea to help his family, he is returning to the Philippines because of his family.
“Anyone has to go back when the time comes, but it's a pity to be going back when I haven't achieved much in particular here,” said Michel with a smile, when meeting with a Hankyoreh reporter on Thursday at the union's office in Nokbeon neighborhood, Eunpyeong District, Seoul. He has decided to return home to look after his grandmother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. The cousin that has looked after her until now is going to work in the United States, leaving nobody else to care for her.
Michel, who was forced by poverty to sell rice cakes on the street from the age of 13 and came to Korea after spending his 20s haunted by low wages and unemployment, acquired various titles while living in Korea as a “migrant worker.” In 2009, he became a chairman of the union, and the following year became the first ever foreign delegate in the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). “I didn't know about the labor movement in the Philippines, but I couldn't stand the unjustified abuse and unreasonable treatment in Korea,” he said. In 2007, Michel learned about the MTU while protesting against the unfair firing of a friend. After becoming chairman, he spent his days working in factories and his nights organizing workers. “A union where workers can discuss [issues] and make decisions themselves is absolutely necessary for the sake of migrant workers' rights,” he said.
Until now, the Korean government has not regarded the MTU's activities with pleasure. Three of its past chairpeople have been the objects of “target crackdowns” by immigration authorities and forcibly deported. Michel, whose residency status in Korea was legal, was not exiled following a crackdown, but once found himself in danger of being forcibly expelled. In February last year, Seoul Immigration Office cancelled his application for an extension of stay and ordered him to leave the country. In September, however, a judge at Seoul Administrative Court took Michel's side, saying, “I suspect that Seoul Immigration Office's handling of the case may have been because of the plaintiff's labor union activity.”
The Korean government is not a signatory to the UN's International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which stipulates the right of migrant workers and their families to be free from discrimination compared to citizens of the country where they work, and includes the right to form labor unions. Michel spoke sarcastically about this, saying, “As a member of the UN, Korea is only interested in benefits to itself. It doesn't fulfill its obligations.”
“Meeting people I admire, like Kim Jin-suk, Direction Committee member of the Busan branch of the KCTU, and Yu Myeong-ja of Eduwork, while working and engaging in labor activism in Korea, has been a really worthwhile experience,” said Michel. His affection for the Korean labor movement is such that he named his pet rabbit Chun Tae-il, the late South Korean labor activist . He plans to create a network of Filipino workers that have returned from Korea and international alliances between the KCTU and Filipino unions while looking after his grandmother.
Michel's last official engagement will be his farewell party on January 28(*), before leaving the Korea that he “loves and hates” on January 31.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/515773.html
* Michel's "farewell party" will start next Saturday at 8pm, in the office of MTU(KCTU Seoul Regional Council) near Bulgwang Stn(subway line no. 3/6)... For more info, please check out MTU's facebook site!!
While the official Germany marks the anniversary of Wannsee Conference (Spiegel, 1.20), when - 70 years ago - senior Nazi leaders coordinated plans for the Holocaust, i.e the complete annihilation of the European Jewish population...
...a new study by a German parliament-appointed commission shows 20% of Germans harbor "latent" anti-Semitism, but anti-Jewish crimes are almost exclusively committed by the far right.
The 188-page report – which draws on several different surveys and other research – puts Germans in the middle of the pack in Europe, with a German university survey showing more latent anti-Semitism in countries such as Poland, Hungary and Portugal, and less in Italy, Britain, the Netherlands and France.
The study released y'day said the surveys show that about one-fifth of Germans agree with anti-Semitic statements, such as "Jews have too much power in business."
Desecrated Jewish cemetery in Germany
The study also showed that 90% of anti-Semitic crimes are committed by right-wing extremists, who number about 26,000 according to official estimates.
It recommends better coordination of local, state and federal strategies to combat anti-Semitism.
The report makes reference to "a wider acceptance in mainstream society of day-to-day anti-Jewish tirades and actions".
“Anti-Semitism in our society is based on widespread prejudices, deeply rooted clichés and on sheer ignorance about Jews and Judaism," stated one of the report’s authors, Dr. Peter Longerich of the University of London, Holocaust Research Center.
The report cites the Internet as a contributing factor to the spread of anti-Semitic thought.
"With regard to modern forms of communication - we point to the Internet in particular - it is virtually impossible to prevent the spread of such thinking," Longerich continued...(*)
* Related article in German:
☞ Antisemitismus in Deutschland fest verankert (Spiegel, 1.23)
Last Friday(1.20) Yonhap reported that "South Korea called today for North Korea to enter into dialogue to ease tensions as Pyongyang stepped up its accusations against South Korea's conservative president."
"South Korea expects North Korea to quickly restore stability and react positively to dialogue," Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik said in a meeting with 21 Seoul-stationed ambassadors of the European Union", the report continued.
And Pyeongyang's immediate reply, unsurprisingly: "F*ck you!!!"(summary^^)
Here the Pyeongyang's complete statement, published in KCNA(1.21):
The Lee Myung Bak group of traitors is now more noisily trumpeting about "dialogue" after rubbing salt into the wounds of fellow countrymen in the DPRK grieving over the great loss.
It is asserting that it would "make efforts to mend the fences with the north", talking about "door to an opportunity" and "removal of mutual mistrust."
It is highly ridiculous and shameless for the most hideous group of traitors to still vociferate about "dialogue" even after it received the DPRK's solemn declaration of no longer dealing with it.
How can the attitude the group took during the mourning over the great loss to the nation when even the sky and the land seemed to wail be interpreted as a simple ethical issue or a mistake of policy.
The group must be well aware that the DPRK has not made any concession nor shown any mercy over the issue related to the dignity of its supreme leadership.
The DPRK has never pardoned the Kim Young Sam's group of traitors for treachery it committed during the mourning over the passing of President Kim Il Sung and it will remain unchanged in its strong counter-action against the treachery.
This being a hard reality, the Lee group is brazen-faced enough to call for "dialogue" far from making even a single apology for its high treason.
This is touching off irrepressible resentment among the Korean people.
The DPRK will never regard the confrontation maniacs as a dialogue partner as they are groundlessly hurting the dignity of the DPRK and its system and insulting and slandering its people, denying the DPRK's reality in which the army and people are stepping up their general advance full of conviction with redoubled efforts by converting their sorrow into strength and courage.
It is foolish and preposterous for the group to try to calm down the resentment of all Koreans and divert elsewhere the south Koreans' attention on the point of eruption with the nonsensical story about "dialogue".
Its hypocritical wordplay is only triggering bitterer anger among compatriots.
The foe of the nation would be well advised to stop talking nonsense at once.
Here you can read the editorial in today's Kyunghyang Shinmun, related to the 3rd anniversary of the Yongsan Massacre (2009.01.19/20):
Yongsan Disaster Three Years on: What Has Changed?
In the early hours of January 20, 2009, fire broke out in the lookout tower on the roof of the Namildang Building at "Yongsan Zone 4" redevelopment site in Seoul. Five evictees conducting a sit-in protest to resist forcible demolition and one policeman lost their lives. This was the "Yongsan Disaster."
Today marks the third anniversary of the disaster. Almost nothing, however, has changed.
The eight evictees detained at the time of the incident remain behind bars, while the livelihoods of the surviving family members of those that died remain in jeopardy.
The pain caused to tenants by indiscriminate redevelopment projects, unrealistic relocation compensation and violent forcible demolition continues.
Following the Yongsan Disaster, the government amended the "Built Environment Renewal Development Act" to increase the compensation for lost business provided to evicted tenants from three to four months' worth. It also introduced a "sunset system" whereby the designation of renewal zones is repealed if redevelopment does not take place within a certain period of time.
The government, however, has failed to produce a fundamental policy to prevent forcible eviction and demolition. Because of this, incidents of clashes between tenants and hired thugs continue to occur in areas such as Seoul's Sangdo 4-dong, Bugahyeon-dong and Myeong-dong.
If a second Yongsan Disaster is to be prevented, relevant laws must be passed as a matter of urgency. United Democratic Party lawmaker Chung Dong-young and others yesterday tabled a proposed bill for a "law on banning forcible eviction."
The bill is one that would ban violent activity by hired thugs at redevelopment sites and stipulate criminal penalties for those that violated the law, as well as banning eviction at times such as winter, bad weather, before sunrise and after sunset.
The bill also introduces a concept it calls 'resettlement of local residents,' and clearly stipulates specific policies for the resettlement of residents when redevelopment takes place.
Not much of the 18th National Assembly's term remains, but the ruling and opposition parties will have to find the will to pass the bill during the assembly's provisional session this February.
Another issue that requires a resolution on the third anniversary of the Yongsan Disaster is getting to the truth regarding what went on and releasing the evictees currently in prison.
At the time of the incident, prosecutors said that fire had broken out when the occupying protesters sprayed paint thinner and threw Molotov cocktails, but the evictees' surviving family members claim there is no evidence to conclusively attribute the fire to the Molotov cocktails, and are demanding an investigation to discover the truth.
Another problem is the fact that leading police officers have received no reprimand or punishment whatsoever, despite the fact that excessively hardline suppression constituted one of the causes of the disaster.
Then-chief of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Kim Seok-ki, who resigned following the incident, rose to a position as consul general in Osaka, Japan, and has returned to Korea saying that he will run as a candidate in the April general election.
While nobody claimed responsibility, the eight evictees were sentenced to four to five years' imprisonment and remain in jail.
Ahead of the Seollal public holidays the government has issued special pardons, commutations and reinstatements to 955 criminals convicted of livelihood-related crimes, while lifting more than 3,000 administrative restrictions placed on construction companies as a special favor. The jailed evictees, however, were kept off the list.
We believe the way to provide at least a minimum amount of solace to those that lost their lives through the Yongsan Tragedy is to release the comrades that were locked up after protesting alongside them.
We also believe that tragic situations such as replays of the Yongsan Tragedy can only be prevented by providing relocation compensation for tenants with a sufficient amount of money in the short term, and turning the paradigm of redevelopment projects toward housing welfare and boosting local communities in the mid to long term.
http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201201201605247&code=790101
Related articles:
☞ 끝나지 않은 용산의 외침, “여기 사람이 있다” (NewsCham, 1.20)
☞ ‘용산참사 지휘’ 김석기 총선 출마에 “끔찍하다” (Hankyoreh, 1.20)
☞ 용산참사 총지휘 김석기 '총선 출마' 끔찍합니다 (OMN, 1.19)
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