5112개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
KTU Activists Arrested!
The cops today detained 17 members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union/KTU who demonstrated near the presidential office in Seoul to denounce a government decision to punish their colleagues who joined a growing anti-government campaign earlier this month.
Scores of teachers, led by KTU Chairman Jeong Jin-hoo, were forcibly blocked by riot cops when they tried to approach to the presidential office, the "CheongWaDae", to deliver a letter of protest to the president.
A video-docu about the "event" you can watch here!
Related articles:
☞ [6.29] VoP Report (incl. video and pics)
☞ Probe of Teachers Starts (K. Times, 6.29)
☞ KTU prepares second emergency declaration (Hankyoreh, 6.29)
☞ 88 teachers face punishment for anti-govt. action (JoongAng Ilbo, 9.27)
☞ Teachers' union slams gov't for undermining democracy (K. Herald, 6.19)
SsangYong Strike: It's (Class) War!
"There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class,
that’s making war, and we’re winning.” (Warren E. Buffet)
Well, to cut a long story short: While thousands of riot cops, "security guards" (i.e. mobsters/organized thugs, hired by the SsangYong Motor[SYM] management/in the pics: the black dressed with the white helmets) and incited strikebreakers(in the pics: with the blue headbands), supported by water cannons, police helicopters etc., turned the occupied (by 900 strikers) SYM plant in Pyeongtaek into a war zone for more than 32 hours (between Friday afternoon and last night), the plan to break the resistance failed - once again!
During the repeated attacks - the mobsters, but also the strikebreakers were armed with steel pipes, "gasoline bombs" etc. - at least 30 strikers were injured. At the same time (y'day evening/night) a candlelight rally by relatives of the striking workers and many supporters was also attacked by hundreds of riot cops and mobsters. Dozens of protesters were arrested!
But finally the strikebreakers, according to SYM officials, gave up "their" plan to enter the occupied plant - to avoid further losses.
Today, during a press conference held in the occupied plant, "the union's leaders vowed to work with civic groups and labor organizations to maintain their strike and try to save the company from going bankrupt", according to Yonhap(*).
Following some impressions from the "war zone"(6.26~27):
* Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported following:
Union Vows to Continue Fight; Joins Forces With K.M.U.
Striking workers at Ssangyong Motor.. said they will continue to occupy the factory in Pyeongtaek, about 70 kilometers south of Seoul, after clashes with management and fellow employees which led to several injuries.
The workers’ union filed a complaint on Sunday with police against the automaker’s two court-appointed representatives and security guards for a violation of the law governing the latter.
At a press briefing at the plant, the union said, "Security workers hired by the company wielded steel pipes, fire extinguishers and clubs, injuring about 30 union members. They were not supposed to use violence. It constitutes a violation of the security guard law," it said.
The union said it will continue its fight to protect the jobs of workers and join forces with civic groups and other labor organizations to maintain the strike and save the company from going bankrupt.
Ssangyong won bankruptcy protection from a court in February and plans to lay off 36 percent of its workforce as part of restructuring efforts to stay afloat and avoid liquidation. In response, union laborers have occupied the plant since May 22 to protest a massive job-cut plan. About 800 remain inside the troubled plant.
Several injuries, with some victims taken by ambulance to hospitals, were incurred Friday. One clash involved about 900 people, some of whom used clubs and fire bombs. After the outbreak, 3,000 Ssangyong employees and management pulled out of the plant.
The labor union claimed the withdrawal of executives and employees from the facility Saturday night was part of a "ploy" to take definitive steps to close down the carmaker.
Management maintained a tense 32-hour standoff with the union inside the plant. Ssangyong managers said they did not want any violence, but warned that unless the union accepted a proposal issued on Friday, Ssangyong would have no choice but to close its doors.
"If the union continues to strike, the company will go bankrupt and 4,000 workers will lose their jobs," the company said.
However, the Korean Metal Workers Union, a unit of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said tens of thousands of its members will gather at the Ssangyong Motor plant Monday in support of the automaker union’s strike. The metal workers union is also starting a general strike on July 1.
Related reports by:
☞ KCTU
☞ OhmyNews
☞ VoP
More reports/documentaries here!
1. Struggle News #6 is "on air" since Tuesday, 6.23 (the script you can read here)!
2. Latest news:
SsangYong Motor Strike: The Showdown is Under Way!
Pyeongtaek: Since the afternoon(KST) at least 500 riot cops and hundreds of mobsters, hired by the SsangYong management, are attacking the workers who are in sit-in strike since May 21. During the ongoing violent crackdown several workers were already injured and transferred to hospitals. More and detailed informations you'll read here as soon as possible!
3. Tomorrow's Protest Rally to Support the Yongsan Struggle:
"Bandhobi: The Most Interesting Korean
Movie You’ll See This Year!"
(The Grand Narrative, 6.22)
Following interesting piece about the movie (it will hit select S.K. theaters today!) was published before y'day in the (bourgeois) newspaper Korea Herald:
Film thrusts migrant workers into limelight
Karim (Mahbub Alam), an intellectual in Bangladesh, had a big dream when he flew to Korea as a migrant worker. But his life in the land of promise turned out to be full of pains and betrayals.
Min-seo (Baek Jin-hee), a 17-year-old high school girl, is embarrassingly precocious. She does not believe in a fair society, nor does she give up on her hope altogether. She screams at her mother, steals a lost wallet, engages in an illicit part-time job, but retains her teenage spirit.
Karim and Min-seo do not share their core problems, but both are similarly sidelined in Korean society. Director Shin Dong-il, dubbed the "Korean Woody Allen" at the Berlin International Film Festival, brings the two characters together in a way that is at once entertaining and disheartening.
Shin's subject matters are ambitiously sensitive: immigrant workers, racism, poverty, duplicity of Korean adults, not-so-fair education system that gives advantages to the wealthy. Fortunately, he presents the thorny issues in a lighthearted way, often mixing situation humor with a mockery of the current Lee Myung-bak administration.
A case in point: Min-seo wants to make some money to attend English conversation school during summer break, where she can learn from "native speakers." Her choice is to work in an illegal massage parlor with a falsified ID, and one of her clients, well, is her own teacher. What's hilarious is her tongue-in-cheek comment to her teacher: "You must've been hungry."
Yes, she knows a lot more than you might imagine about the duplicity and falsehood of Korean society, but she's a good girl, so don't worry about her, worry about some other crazy Koreans, including those who employ migrant workers like Karim and then declare bankruptcy in order not to pay a dime to the poor foreign workers.
Karim wants to get his money back, knocking on all the doors he can find in the neighborhood where his former boss is supposed to live, but what he gets is a derisive look.
The only person who treats Karim like a normal human being is Min-seo, who has her own reservations about the people of different colors, as demonstrated in her refusal to sit near Karim in a bus. But her prejudice quickly dissolves and then transforms into something tender. This explains why the movie is titled "Bandohbi," which roughly translates into "female friend" in Bengali.
But make no mistake. Even though this film is billed as the first feature to star a migrant worker, its narrative is not solid enough to pull off a full-fledged critique of social and cultural prejudices surrounding migrant workers.
At a press conference following the press preview, Shin said his latest film is just the beginning of a genre that focuses on migrant workers in Korea, and he hopes more films will delve into the issue.
"It is very regrettable that the rating agency has rated my film as 19 and older, even though the film is concerned about a teenager's perspective about the world," Shin said, adding that the rating agency's decision severely undercuts his intention behind the independent film project.
Mahbub Alam, who appeared briefly in Shin's previous feature "My Friend & His Wife" (2006), said his first role in a feature film was a pure delight.
"There were some personal problems I had to deal with, but it was my pleasure to work for this film because it is the first attempt to focus on immigrant workers in Korea," he said.
Baek Jin-hee, who has left a strong impression with her impeccable depiction of a quirky yet likable girl, said she found it a "meaningful experience" to team up with a foreign actor. "The only difference with other Korean actors is that Mahbub Alam has a different skin color," she said.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/06/23/200906230011.asp
Related:
☞ 'Bandhobi' Interweaves Growing Pains, Cultures (K. Times, 6.18)
☞ Interview with Shin Dong-il (Indieforum, 5.29)
SsangYong Strike: Violent Crackdown in Preparation!
Since yesterday hundreds of mobsters, hired by the management of SsangYong Motor(SYM) are trying to break the sit-in strike (occupation) in the SYM Pyeongtaek(70 km south of Seoul) plant - but so far without success.
According to the strike activists(organized in the K.M.W.U./SsangYong Branch) and the media the (final??) showdown is expected for Friday(6.26)..
Large units of mobsters are waiting for the order to storm the occupied plant
First preparations for the planned attack..
..alert watched by the workers' resistance
Related:
☞ Employees Unable to Enter Ssangyong Motor (K. Times, 6.24)
☞ NewsCham Report (6.23)
Last week in Ulsan: An exhibition with paintings, sculptures, videos and other artworks related to the Yongsan Massacre took place..
Here just a few impressions from the event:
More impressions from the exihibition in Ulsan you can see here:
☞ Photo Gallery #1
☞ Photo Gallery #2
☞ Photo Gallery #3
☞ Photo Gallery #4
URGENT! Attack Against the Yongsan Protest Goes On!
Since last Friday(6.19) the cops are attacking every day the protesters and their supporters who are resisting the "redevelopment" project (i.e. the eviction of tenants!) in Yongsan(*).
It seems that the "authorities" are - possibly - preparing for the "final battle" to break the resistance!
For more detailed reports(incl. photos and videos) please check out:
☞ The Attack on Fri.(6.19)
☞ The Attack on Sat.(6.20)
☞ Today's Attack
* IMC S.K. has following report about yesterday's attack:
There was another police's attack on Yongsan strugglers today.
It occurred around 8 pm while the dead's family and protesters were marching to the Yongsan Station after a rally to morn for the dead, whose bodies have been still kept in the hospital for 5 months. While trying to stopp the march, the police broke the pictures of the dead that their wives were holding. When the wives protested strongly about that, the police began to arrest the wives and the supporters. They brutally hit and kicked the protesters and even stamped the people who fell down while struggling. During the police's crackdown, several people got injured including four wives and one Catholic priest, who were consequently brought to the ER. Many other participants also got hurt while resisting against the police.
Now the protesters are confronting the police in the street.
5 months has passed since the police's horrible crackdown killed the 5 evictee strugglers. However, the government and police have not apologized for their violence, and still the evictees' bodies are contained frozen in the mortuary. The mainstream media never pay attention to this issue.
It's a really hard situation.
Now the strugglers get together in front of the Namildang building declaiming desperately against the police. Their voice is full of tears, anger, and desperate hope for their victory.
Related previous editorial in Hankyoreh(6.18):
☞ Gov't responsibility in restoring honor to victims of Yongsan Tragedy
(MUST listen & ENJOY^^: SchoolGirl LiberationFront's song..)
1. "Soli-Night for Comrade Java":
IMC S.K. announced following: A solidarity party will be held (tomorrow, 6.19, 5 p.m.) in Shinchon to raise money for our comrade java who's in jail for participating in a demonstration on May 2nd. Go to the Mapo-Gu Candle Light Solidarity website for more information: http://cafe.daum.net/mapocandle
(the web-poster, incl. a map for the location you can see below)
2. Solidarity Concert for the 4th Migrant Worker Film Festival:
*****
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