2254개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
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)
SAVE JEJU ISLAND! NO NAVAL BASE!
Why should you care?
The South Korean Government is constructing a naval base on Jeju Island. Officially named an “Island of Peace” by the late President Roh Moo
Hyun, Jeju was the site of a 1948 massacre in which more than 30,000 civilians were estimated to have been slaughtered during a democratic
uprising.
Located strategically in the Korea Strait, the island’s potential to become a military target in the event of an armed conflict in this tense
region would increase exponentially with the addition of a naval base. The threat this poses to the men, women and children of Jeju Island is
unconscionable, and it can be avoided through halting the base construction.
Since plans for the naval base were announced five years ago, 95% of Jeju residents have voted against the base and used every possible
democratic means to block its construction. Yet their protests have fallen on mostly deaf ears.
Jeju Island is situated in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and covers a lava plateau with a shield volcano at an elevation of 1,950
meters above sea level. The high biological diversity, unique volcanic topography and the culture of Jeju Island attract many tourists.
The home for this proposed military facility is the pristine fishing village of Gangjeong, which is surrounded by three UNESCO sites.
Construction is in the early stages but accelerating daily with the dredging of the island’s seabed and its coral communities currently underway.
Many observers of the region believe that the Jeju Island naval base will serve as a port of call for the U.S. military’s sea-based component of
its ballistic missile defense system. This same technology is also a proven anti-satellite weapon.
This is not only an issue of protecting the environment or preventing military expansion. Human rights and free speech are also at stake.
Villagers have been arrested during nonviolent protests. Police and construction workers have assaulted elderly members of the community, who
represent a large portion of the activists.
Jeju Island is under attack. “Touch not one stone, not one flower,” is its residents’ battle cry. Will you join them?
For more info please check out:
☞ SAVE JEJU ISLAND
The 4th "Hope Bus" Campaign...
...led last weekend about 5000 activists (the organizers expected 10,000) to the S. Korean capital Seoul, and not like in the past to Busan. But the main topic was still the same: supporting the struggle of dismissed Hanjin workers and Kim Jin-suks sit-in strike on the crane No. 85.
Saturday's main protest event in downtown Seoul was opened in the afternoon by a rally of "irregular" workers, but unfortunately only about 100 activists, mainly elderly workers and some activists who are right now fighting in Myeong-dong against their forced eviction attended it.
Later on the main "Hope Bus" protest rally - attended by about 5000 KCTU members, civil right and political activists etc. - ended at 10 pm. During the rally, Japanese comrades delivered their solidarity message to the audience and Kim Jin-suk held a powerful speech by telephone, urging all S. Korean to fight until a just solution for all workers and people in resistance to exploitation and oppression is achieved.
After the rally a protest march to the presidential palace (Blue House) was planned, but the entire area, resp. its exits were blocked thousands of riot cops and nobody was able to leave (or enter) the place.
But finally the masses were able to escape (actually after a very short time/"guerilla" style^^), but hunted by the cops. During the next 30 minutes they were also able to avoid twice blockades by the riot cops and ultimately escaped complete and created in almost the entire downtown area traffic chaos...
But today, during the last "Hope Bus" protest...
...came the government's, i.e. riot cop's vengeance:
Related reports/articles:
☞ 4차 희망버스, “희망버스 기획단장은 이명박과 조남호” (NewsCham, 8.28)
☞ 대통령님, 이 현수막 잘 보이시죠? (OMN, 8.29)
☞ Police fire water cannons at 'Hope Bus' ralliers (Korea Times, 8.28)
☞ Police fire water cannons on pro-union protesters in Seoul (K. Herald, 8.28)
From today's Hankyoreh:
Shadow of homeless eviction
A homeless man sleeps on the steps in front of Seoul Station, while civic organization members and homeless people hold a press conference to protest the state-run railroad operator Korail‘s eviction of homeless people from the station, Aug. 22.
Korail officials drove out dozens of homeless people for the first time around 1:30 a.m. and prevented them from bringing sleeping bags and mattresses as the station re-opened at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning. There were reportedly no major physical confrontations between the homeless and Korail officials who expelled them. Korail said it has no choice but to evict them using force due to growing complaints from passengers that homeless people cause inconveniences and even threaten travelers’ safety.
The expelled homeless people from Seoul Station spent the night inside other stations in Seoul.
Civic organizations helping the homeless have undertaken “two days, one night resistance actions” including a culture festival and a forum inside Seoul Station. They have criticized that Korail‘s forced eviction is not fundamental solution, but also would threaten their lives and cause other adverse effects. They said the government should provide a comprehensive package of measures ranging from housing, to employment and healthcare.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/492955.html
The 'fruits' of our last days' 'efforts':
For more info plaese check out: http://cafe.daum.net/mdmari
For more info please check out: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/144786088942866
Since several years I'm reporting about the terror committed by organized gangsters (so-called "security personnel") hired by the S. Korean capitalists (construction companies, industrial trusts/'Chaebol', e.g. Daewoo Construction, SsangYong, Hanjin etc...) against activists who were/are resisting eviction orders(e.g. tenants in Ilsan Pung-dong, Seoul Samgak/Suha-dong, Myeong-dong/street vendors in Seoul's Cheonggyecheon area...), striking workers - e.g in Pyeongtaek(SsangYong), Busan(Hanjin), protesting 'disabled' people...
The following editorial in today's Kyunghyang Shinmun is dealing with this subject:
Can 'Hired Muscle Violence' Be Left to Become an Everyday Occurrence?
Violence committed by "errand men" belonging to security companies has reached high levels.
On August 1, the makeshift camp of the "Hunger Strike Team of Hope," which had been conducting a hunger strike protest in front of the Deoksugung Palace, was forcibly demolished by employees of Junggu Ward and a "hired muscle company."
Two days later, errand men were dispatched to the site of a sit-in protest at "Cafe Mari" in Seoul's Myeong-dong District 3, which is due to be demolished.
On August 12, employees of a hired muscle company commissioned by Gangnam Ward made a surprise attack on "Poi-dong Demolition Village" and demolished the temporary buildings in which citizens who had lost their homes to fire two months ago were living.
In each case, several citizens and errand men were injured. Violence by errand men is becoming part of the system and of everyday life to the extent that some are calling Korea the "republic of hired muscle."
Hired muscle companies are permitted to operate under the current Korean law on security companies. The problem is their illegal violence.
Errand men are deployed as problem solvers to places where conflicts of interest occur between individuals, where they overtly commit acts of violence.
More serious is the fact that their scope of activity is widening and the number of hired muscle companies is increasing in number.
They are deployed everywhere, from redevelopment sites to strikes, rallies and even demonstrations. The situation is such that even government offices are using them.
Such thriving business means that the number of security companies registered with the police increased from 2,671 in 2006 to 3,270 in 2009, and stood at 3,544 as of July 2011.
Competition among hired muscle companies is exacerbating their violence, too. Because profits from redevelopment increase with swift demolition, companies that use stronger violence receive more work.
A pattern where big security and hired muscle companies subcontract work out to small ones, while these in turn employ temporary workers, is becoming generalized.
The deployment of temporary errand men with no accident insurance to conflict spots occurs frequently. In May, four illegally employed 17-year-old minors were dispatched to the site of a sit-in protest by Yoosung Enterprise Co., Ltd.'s labor union.
Failure by the police to intervene also plays a role in promoting violence. Not only do they regard the deployment of errand men as the legitimate exercising of authority; they effectively do nothing about violence because it is hard to predict the errand men's illegal acts before they occur.
Violence by errand men cannot be allowed to continue this way. A state where private violence runs rampant is not a constitutional one. Violence by errand men is dangerous not only to their victims, but to the errand men themselves.
The fundamental solution is to remove the need for hired muscle. If this is not immediately possible, violence must be prevented through the tightening of regulations regarding hired muscle.
Work by those with criminal convictions or by minors for hired muscle companies must be punished yet more severely, and only registered errand men must be deployed on jobs. Security companies that break the law must be eliminated.
Some take the view that the recent increase in violence by errand men is linked to next year's general and presidential elections. In other words, contractors are hurrying to get building work done in a situation where they do not know what will become of current new town policies after the elections.
Measures must be taken before a bigger accident occurs.
http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201108181555037&code=790101
Cho Nam-ho, chairman of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction(HHIC) bows in apology during a press conference in the port city of Busan on Aug. 10. A long-standing labor dispute at the shipyard, located at the port, has grown into a social and political debacle. Unionized employees at Hanjin Heavy had been on strike since December, protesting against the company's decision to cut about 400 jobs as part of its restructuring drive.
The embattled HHIC chairman vowed to make efforts to settle an eight-month-long labor dispute triggered by the shipbuilder's massive layoffs. After arriving home earlier Wednesday from what critics have called a monthlong escape abroad, Cho Nam-ho vowed, "I will fulfill all my duties in order to revive the company." (Yonhap)
But possibly (f*cking) Cho just wanted to say, that he will call for the riot cops to "...bring the company management back on track". According to 'Korea Herald' "He did not hint at the possibility of withdrawing layoffs or reinstating the fired workers in the near future".
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