2248개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Last week, activists who are supporting the struggle against the "redevelopment" scheme in Seoul's Myeong-dong area founded the 'Myeong-dong Liberation Front'(MDLF).
The main aim of the group: particularly 'active solidarity' with the struggle of the tenants in Myeong-dong, who are in danger to be (forcibly) evicted (sooner or later) and in genreral to create a kind of mass movement to fight against the gentrification, i.e. the so-called "redevelopment" projects.
For more info (unfortunately only in Korean) please check out Myeong-dong Liberation Front!
In case you do not know, the 190 day strike by shipbuilding workers for Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction(HHIC) in Busan has come to an end. Last Monday(6.27) the union leadership has made an arrangement with the management to end the strike without the union being liable for "damages" due to the strike. Workers who participated in the strike are also not to be reprimanded for striking. However the agreement does not repeal the company layoffs.
Workers and their families are still angry with the new arrangement between union leadership and management because the settlement does not allow for the reinstatement of the laid off workers. In response to this workers have protested and blockaded the workplace. Workers and their families do not want to accept the deal imposed by management and the union leadership. Workers are calling for a total victory in an end to all layoffs.
Last Tuesday's Hankyoreh published the following editorial referring to the issue:
HHIC union’s unexpected compromise
Yesterday, Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) labor union leaders made the decision to call off its general strike after 190 days and return to work. The union reportedly made the decision after reaching an agreement with the management on four issues. These were offering voluntary resignation to those of 170 terminated employees who are interested, and canceling criminal cases and accusations on both sides. But with no withdrawal of the layoffs, the key demand of the strike, the sense of conflict and crisis is actually greater.
Dozens of union members are now joining the tower crane protest of Kim Jin-suk, a Direction Committee member for the Busan chapter of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). We have even seen the plaintive spectacle of dismissed HHIC workers tying themselves to the crane with rope and crying, “Save us.”
The abrupt decision by the union’s leadership to call off the strike appears to have been motivated by concerns about the possibility of the union’s annihilation with the introduction of government forces if it were to physically resist forcible proxy execution of a court order to vacate the premises. A growing sense of strike fatigue also appears to have been a factor, with some members abandoning the strike as it drew out over six months, and many experiencing extreme hardship.
Nevertheless, it is highly dissatisfying to see the union’s leadership agreeing to call off the strike at a time when political and social interest in the HHIC situation is at a peak, with the National Assembly scheduled to hold a hearing with HHIC Chairman Cho Nam-ho on Wednesday. What this means is that the day was carried by company’s immoral power logic of irresponsibly laying off masses of workers, citing “financial reasons.”
The agreement across party lines to hold a hearing is clear evidence that fundamental responsibility for this situation lies with the company. In particular, Cho drew public indignation by traveling overseas in order to avoid appearing before the National Assembly. Even civil society lent its support for the HHIC workers with an unprecedented deployment of “Hope Buses.” The people of South Korea are likely to be experiencing no small amount of consternation and disappointment to see the union calling off the strike under these circumstances. This is also the reason for the expression of dismay by the KCTU and Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), who contended that union member opinions were not properly gathered.
The union’s leadership may have agreed to call off the strike, but the HHIC situation is not over. The worker layoffs are a present-tense situation that must be withdrawn. The National Assembly should examine the improper nature of the layoffs at Cho’s hearing. If he does not attend, it should lodge an accusation. Cho, for his part, should not come to the mistaken conclusion that the situation was wrapped up with the decision to call off the strike. He needs to put his head together with the workers to reach a solution on the layoffs.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/484847.html
For more (updated) info please check out LabourStart!
Just one hour ago I got the information that our comrade, video activist Lee Sang-Hyeon (aka "Hong Gil-dong in the Forest") commited suicide four days ago.
Nodong-ui Sori released y'day the following statement:
오늘(6.25)일 오전 인천연수동에서 자취하던 이상현(숲속홍길동)동지가 집에서 목을 매 자살한 상태로 경찰에 발견되었습니다. 경찰이 주변의 신고로 이상현동지의 집에 들어갔을 때 목을 맨 상태였다고 합니다. 이상현동지의 유품에 적힌 영상운동을 하는 동지의 전화번호로 경찰이 전화를 했고, 이 후 동지들에게 소식을 알리게 되었습니다. 인천 연수경찰서로 급히 방문한 노동가수 박준동지에 의하면 이상현동지는 목을 매 숨진 상태로 발견되었고 시간이 며칠 지난상태였다고 합니다. 유서도 발견되지 않았다고 하구요.. 현재 경찰은 이상현동지의 가족을 찾고 있다고 합니다. 월요일 동사무소와 연계하여 가족을 찾아보겠다고 했답니다. 평상시 이상현동지는 누구에게도 가족이야기를 하지 않았다고합니다. 혹시 글 읽으시는 분들중에 이상현동지의 가족을 아시는 분 있으시면 꼭 연락바랍니다.(011-211-8966) 가족이 나타나는대로 가족과 상의하여 이후의 장례일정을 논의할 것입니다. 혹여 가족이 없는 경우엔 빠른 시간내에 지인들과 함께 장례위를 구성할 예정입니다. 안타까운 소식을 전하게 되어 참으로 참담합니다. 고인의 명복을 빕니다.
*6월 25일 토요일 '두리반 마지막 음악회' 출연진 및 공연 시간표
하헌진 (17:00-17:30) 아홉번째 (17:30-18:00) 멍구밴드 (18:00-18:30) 악어들 (18:30-19:00) 밤섬해적단 (19:00-19:30) 조한석 밴드 (19:30-20:00) 쏭의 빅밴드 (20:00-20:30) 스팀보이즈 (20:30-21:00) 적적해서 그런지 (21:00-21:30) 앵클어택 (21:30-22:00) 다큐멘터리 상영(오후 10시-11시) 두리반과 연대한 사람들이 모두 모이는 뒷풀이 (오후 11시부터)
*6월 26일 일요일 '두리반과 명동의 연대' (명동 향린교회 주차장)
벼룩시장과 바자회 (오후 4시부터 공연이 끝날 때까지 계속됩니다. 누구든 나누고 싶은 물건을 가져오세요!)
연대 공연 출연진 및 시간표 (밴드가 추가될 수 있습니다)
얌얌 (19:00-19:30) 섭섭해서 그런지 (19:30-20:00) 회기동 단편선 (20:00-20:30) 야마가타 트윅스터 (20:30-21:00) 무키무키만만수 (21:00-21:30) 노컨트롤 (21:30-22:00) 머머스룸 (22:00-22:30)
Well, at least since y'day the conflict at Yoosung Co. in Asan is (once again) escalating... Resulted by the onging massive attacks against the unionized workers:
6.22: Organized thugs, hired by Hanjin management on the way to attack protesting workers...
...and as usual, the thugs were backed by the riot police
Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following:
Labor, management clash at Yoosung
Unionized workers’ illegal occupation of a key auto parts maker, which had disrupted the production of local automakers, came to an end a month ago. But the labor-management strife continues, making it difficult for the company to normalize its operations.
About 11,000 unionized workers of Yoosung Enterprise attempted to enter its main plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, wielding iron pipes and other blunt objects at 18 companies of riot police guarding the factory’s main gate. The workers clashed with police but failed to make their way into the plant.
During the violent clash, 108 riot police and about 10 unionists sustained injuries and were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.
A union official argued that riot police exerted excessive force against the workers, saying several workers sustained serious injuries and many others suffered cuts and bruises.
But a police officer refuted the union’s claim, saying that riot police had to fight back as the unionized workers used force against them.
He said a dozen riot police members sustained various injuries.
Kim Ki-yong, head of Chungnam Provincial Police Agency, said police will set up a special investigation unit to track down those responsible for using violence against police. Kim also said police will not allow unionized Yoosung workers to hold a rally near the Asan plant.
Earlier, unionists also clashed with employees friendly toward management at the factory’s main gate, with 24 individuals from both sides taken to hospitals.
The unionized employees have been trying to enter the plant en masse since June 15, insisting that all of them should be given their jobs back.
However, Yoosung management has been preventing them from doing so, demanding unionists return to work on an individual basis in order to screen out union leaders and other hardliners.
The plant has been operated by non-unionized workers since May 24 when thousands of riot police raided the plant, where hundreds of unionized workers were holed up, to put an end to a week-long strike.
At the time, police met little resistance from the workers while dispersing them. About 500 unionists were apprehended.
The unionized workers began occupying the factory on May 18 after they failed to reach a compromise with their management on working conditions and salaries.
Following the walkout, the management of Yoosung, which specializes in piston rings, cylinder liners and other key components of car engines, imposed a lockout at the plant. The strike disrupted production of all five automakers operating here as the company supplies key engine components.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/06/113_89497.html
Well, here you can check out several more impartial reports(incl. many pictures) about the current struggle there:
☞ 22일 유성기업 충돌 원인은 용역의 무차별 폭력 (VoP, 6.23)
☞ 유성기업 노동자 연대...경찰, 밀려나 (C-Media, 6.23)
☞ 경찰, 유성기업 노조 ‘집회 원천 금지’ 왜? (NewsCham, 6.23)
☞ CJ시큐리티 용역, 유성기업 노동자 폭행...22명 부상 (NewsCham, 6.22)
☞ Workers resist lockout, violence (GreenLeft, 6.16)
☞ [6.10] Hanjin Strike Escaleted by Thugs, Hired by the Management (video)
The first organized Myeong-dong sit-in struggle group/collective (now, since Monday morning they're united with almost all the other affected tenants in the area) released recently the following statement about their struggle, objectives and the background:
"Redevelopment", the Death-knell of the Tenants
We will fight to the end for the people’s fundamental rights
and against unjust "redevelopment" laws!
Hello dear neighbors, Seoul citizens and foreign visitors,
We are business people and merchants installed for the past few years in the Meok-ja alley in front of the Seoul Myeong-dong cathedral.
However Seoul city has plans for the redevelopment of our area of trade into a financial district. As such we are now engaged in a fight for our lives, under pressure of forced eviction.
The Myeong-dong district is divided into four separate districts. In the early hours of the 8th of April and the 4th of June last, with no passersby as witnesses, some 400 privately hired thugs came down upon us and forcibly evicted people from 11 different houses. In this process several tenant fainted and had to be hospitalized; there were also reports of sexual assault. It was made known that 16 houses in the 4th district would be forcibly taken over, as well as several houses in the 2nd district. These moves, claiming to draw legitimacy from ownership of the properties in question, fly in the face of the laws set up to protect tenants.
In the face of this danger, we tenants have banded together to fight this injustice. However the district government and the police are simply ploughing through, with on their side the money and the hired thugs. The Lee Myungbak administration has made the violent treatment of people in our situation all the more possible. It has also ‘streamlined’ safety policies, contributing to more exposure to carcinogenic materials for the laborers in Myeong-dong.
With the situation as it is, Seoul city and the Chung-gu local authorities, hand-in-hand in their desire to proceed with the reconstruction, are getting antsy. They have been quick to give approval to the project, without providing any measures for the tenants and without getting proper approval of the original building owners. They have not intervened even as we were subject to illegal expulsion attempts, and have done nothing to prevent our very livelihoods being taken away from us. How are we to stand this horrible situation?
And for what, for whom are we being trampled upon? For what is our right to survival being infringed upon? For who is this ‘development’? Why are we being stepped over and dragged out of our homes and businesses?
Behind the outlaw thugs are hidden IBK Bank, Daewoo Construction, and the BK Bank, driven primarily by IBK Bank. But IBK Bank is a government-run bank, meaning that the government itself is controlling this project.
They tell the people to save, they tell them to invest, and then they take that money and step all over us! This redevelopment plan shows how desperate they are to deprive tenants of their civil rights.
We remember the Yongsan incident. Thinking of those who burned in the makeshift watchtower brings tears to our eyes. So many tenants went down before the violence of the hired thugs and mercenaries, a phenomenon that started in the 1980s. We can hear even now the echoes of those who stood against the injustices in this society, who decried its fundamental double standard.
This is not just in Seoul. In the whole country, be it the ‘Four Rivers Project’, the ‘new town’ phenomenon or the old-fashioned ‘redevelopment’, the rights of tenants and the rights to housing are being flagrantly infringed. The weak and the marginalized are not mere insects to be trampled upon! People such as us will not allow our hopes to be shattered with the sway of the fork crane or the rumble of the bulldozer. If these inhumane and ruthlessly greedy practices keep on, there will be a second, and a third Yongsan!
We must absolutely win against those who would take away our civil rights and infringe upon the law, and keep alive our struggle until our rights as tenants and as humans are respected. We, the tenants of Myeong-dong, ask for your help and support in our struggle!
First of all the latest news about the sit-in struggle in Myeong-dong:
Sunday(!!) morning about 40 thugs, hired by Daewoo Construction Mafia attacked the sit-in struggle collective, smashed/destroyed the entrance door of the struggle center (before it was "Mari" coffee shop) and injured four of our comrades.
But as Chairman Mao said: "If our enemy is fighting us, it's good and not bad!"(^^)
Well, the attack resulted in a massive wave of solidarity and the S. Korean media became now also very interested in the issue of the struggle.
Here just some impressions from our yesterday's(last night) solidarity visit in Myeong-dong:
Myeong-dong, a famous district in downtown Seoul, isn't just composed of dozens of sparkling shopping centers and sky scrapers! There are also a few areas where you still can find some small and older houses, including a lot of cozy restaurants (like the Tibetan "Potala"), coffee shops, mom-and-pop stores etc...
Myeong-dong (sub-)district no. 3, located between Eulchi-ro and Myeong-dong Cathedral, is still such an area... But, possibly, not much longer! Because the entire territory is designed as "redevelopment" zone, where Daewoo Construction (mafia) will build for Kookmin Bank and IBK(기업은행) office blocks, i.e. new f*cking sky scrapers.
So, it means that the people who are living and/or working there were ordered to leave and the date was already for last month. But at least 42 people/tenants rejected eviction order and started two weeks ago a sit-in struggle to resist/fight against coming (forced!!) eviction.
Two days ago Michel, the MTU's chairperson, an Nepali migrant worker and me visited the sit-in center to express our solidarity with their struggle.
Yesterday afternoon I went there again to get more impressions of the area and here you can follow my tour, beginning in front of the Myeong-dong Sit-in Struggle 'Center'...
PS:
Possibly(?) it's needless to say, but the people there who are struggling for their right to exist, i.e. to earn some money to feed their families, need our SOLIDARITY!!!
Right now in Athens (GENERAL STRIKE in Greece!!):
Related articles:
☞ Greece hit by anti-austerity strike (Guardian, 6.15)
☞ Greek PM offers to quit amid protests (Al-Jazeera, 6.15)
☞ June 15th: General strike live updates (Contra Info, 6.15)
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