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Latest news reports, articles... about the planned 3rd "HOPE BUS" tour to support the struggle of the Hanjin shipyard workers in Busan
1. Today's (reactionary)newspaper Dong-A Ilbo wrote/predicted the following: "Police estimate that some 20,000 protesters will flock to Busan when the third (Hope Bus) campaign opens. If the campaign is held as scheduled, clashes between protesters and police are inevitable"
2. Since a few days the S. Korean bourgeois media is developing a smear campaign under the motto: "Busan residents oppose 'Hope Bus' rallies" (K. Times, 7.21)
Yesterday's ('left'-liberal)Hankyoreh published the following piece, related to the issue:
Local gov't criticizes third Hope Bus campaign
An 80-organization committee has expressed support for the campaign and requested understanding from local residents
Opinions in Busan are divided over the forthcoming visit, on July 30, of the third “Hope Bus” campaign, a movement conducted by citizens from across Korea to demand the reversal of the mass firing of workers at Busan’s Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC).
Some residents and commercial associations in the Yeongdo ward of Busan, where 51-year-old Kim Jin-suk, a member of the Direction Committee of the Busan branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is conducting an aerial protest at Yeongdo shipbuilding yard, as well as some commercial associations near Busan Station, where the Second Bus of Hope held a concert, are expressing opposition to the third bus.
“We have no choice but to oppose the third Hope Bus Campaign, because it is local residents alone that will suffer if the event organizers and police clash in the streets again,” said Kim Han-su, an official of residents’ councils in Yeongdo ward.
On July 12, the conference of resident council chairpeople, as well as seven of the nine members of Yeongdo’s ward council, stated, “Residents suffered a lot of damage during first and second Hope Bus campaigns including an array of discarded garbage, loud shouting and singing, and road closures. If the third Hope Bus Campaign comes to Yeongdo, we will not hesitate to make significant efforts to block it.”
On July 18, 15 commercial associations, including one representing businesses near Busan Station, stated, “We will block the third Hope Bus Campaign if plans for it forcibly go ahead.”
On July 13 in a press room at Busan City Hall, Busan Mayor Hur Nam-sik, Busan Metropolitan Council President Je Jong-mo, head of Busan’s local office of employment and labor Jang Hwa-ik, and Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Shin Jung-taek made the criticism that “The Hope Bus Campaign constitutes third party interference.”
In contrast, a Busan civic committee for saving HHIC and the Busan economy, comprised of more than 80 local civic, social and labor organizations including Citizen’s Solidarity for Participation and Self-Governance of Busan, the Busan branch of an association of parents working for better education, and Green Busan, intend to actively band together with the third Hope Bus Campaign. These groups did not lead the march through the streets when the second Hope Bus traveled to Busan, but they are actively looking into playing a leading role in organizing cultural festivals if participants in the Third Bus gather in specific areas of the city such as Haeundae.
“The HHIC redundancy problem has become more significant than just a single workplace and symbolizes the conflict between chaebols [South Korea’s major family-run conglomerates] and workers,” said Pastor An Ha-won of Saenal Church. “Therefore, I hope the citizens of Busan will show understanding. Participants in the Hope Bus movement also need to show a mature stance, including taking their garbage away with them.”
On July 18, the 118 workers who were dragged away by 150 personnel hired by court law enforcement officers on June 27 while conducting a sit-in protest at HHIC‘s Yeongdo shipbuilding yard filed a suit at Busan District Court against the law enforcers and HHIC demanding compensation of 2 million won ($1,895) per person, or a total of 236 million won, saying, “Labor union members suffered emotional harm after being forcibly dispersed by personnel hired illegally by law enforcement officers.”
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/488207.html
Related article:
☞ ChongWaDae Joins in Controversy over Bus of Hope (Kyunghyang Shinmun, 7.21)
Monday(7.18) morning large units of thugs, hired by the construction mafia, attacked once again the Myeong-dong Sit-in Struggle Collective!
The attack's aim: an attempt to intimidate the increasing resistance against the so-called 'redevelopment' project in Myeong-dong. But ultimately the attack failed, as you can see here:
SOLIDARITY is needed!!!
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
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)
Let's Get on the 2nd 'Bus of Hope' Trip to Hanjin!
In late last year Hanjin Heavy Industry(ship builder based in Busan) laid off about 400 workers when the company gained hugh profit and distributed large sums of money to its shareholders, with an ovboius intentio to move its shipyard to the Phillipines.
The workers organized a walkout, and the struggle still goes on.
High up on the 85th crane is a famous female labor activist, Kim jin-seok, continuing her 180 days of occupying sit-in struggle allone.
This second 'Bus of Hope' trip from every corner of the country is bound to the shipbuilding factory to join the workers and meet with her.
While every gate of the factory was closed but about 1000 of us, the first 'Bus of Hope' trip to Hanjin participants suceeded in climbing over the wall and made ourselves into the factory.
And now we're organizing the second massive bus of hope trip to hanjin company to put pressure on the company so that it scraps the lay-off paln.
The police issued subpeonas several tens of the organizers to supress the movement but it gets strong day by day.
Now we're trying to charter 185 buses on july 9 to the Busan factory.
If we can pull this off, it's gonna be a huge historical victory, for sure!
To get on the bus, just come to the JEI sit-in struggle place right next to Seouls City Hall on July 9, at noon. The buses will leave at 1pm for Busan, but you can also come to the Youngdo ship-building company main gate by 6:30 pm on satuday, July 9.
Let's spread the hope and join the workers' struggle in solidarity!
Related:
☞ 희망의 무지개 버스, 우리가 가는 이유 (인권오름, 7.06)
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