2258개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
..Between Appeasement and State Terror
"Many events, some massive and some tiny, were held yesterday to celebrate May Day. Some people worried about the possibility of violent protests, as it was the one-year anniversary of candlelight vigils held to protest the government’s decision to resume importing U.S. beef.
But, fortunately, we got by without any major incidents..
A change in attitude by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions - long defined by its instigation of militant rallies - was a main reason for that.", the (reactionary) newspaper JoongAng Ilbo wrote yesterday in its editorial.
Well, after KCTU made its "kowtow" to the MB-administration by accepting the prohibition to demonstrate in downtown Seoul, its "Mayday" rally in Yeouido turned into a mass workers picnic(^^)..
But only few hours later - in the early evening - while various labour unions, student groups and resistance organisations went to downtown Seoul, they were confronted with a massive wave of police terror!
MUST SEE!! The video, produced by comrade "Hong Gil-dong.."
PICTURES: "Mayday" in Seoul..
Related reports:
☞ 노동절 참가자 명동에서 거리집회 (참세상, 5.01)
☞ "계층을 넘은 연대로, MB에 맞서 싸우자" (민중의소리, 5.02)
☞ 119주년 노동절 ‘다양한 연대’ 실험 (참세상, 5.01)
☞ '반MB연대' 신호탄 올랐다 (통일뉴스, 5.01)
Seoul: Pre-"Mayday" Repression
1. While the central "Mayday"(i.e. the Struggle Day of the Int'l Working Class) rally was planned to be held on Seoul City Hall Plaza only one day before SMPA banned any political gathering there and any other place in the downtown (e.g. Daehak-no, Cheonggye Plaza, Gwanghwamun etc). And KCTU, one of the main orgainizers of the "Mayday", obeyed! So the central rally will be held tomorrow at 3 p.m. in Yeouido's Culture Park (i.e. in the boondocks!!).
2. Already today in the afternoon (KST) about 20 student activists who wanted to support the struggle of the Yongsan residents resisting the eviction (yesterday 100 days ago the Yongsan Massacre took place!) were arrested by the riot cops.
Possibly as a warning against any so-called "illegal" activities around the "Mayday"...
3. This - most likely - means that all tomorrow's "Mayday" activities will be confronted with a massive wave of oppression conducted by thousands of riot cops!
Related:
☞ Police chief warns against illegal protests ahead of large May rallies (Yonhap)
But, despite all the oppression efforts by the MB Administration: celebrate the..
공산주의 만세!
IMC S.K. will be making the weekly Yongsan Radio Broadcast from this week.
Yongsan broadcasting station 'Media Redevelopement' and its radio action team 'Radio In Action' will make radio broadcast 2 hours everyday (1 hour live from 11:30am-12:30pm and 1 hour rerun from 5:30-6:30pm) in Yongsan area and also through the Internet.
IMC S.K. will do it on every Tuesady.
We will record weekly 1-hour installment at the open radio studio at the Yongsan site, and as we talk on the open mic, it will be delivered loudly and widely throughout the area, using the propaganda truck with mega sound amplfier equipment.
Every installment will made into mp3 file type and heard on imc korea website and the official Yongsan struggle website.
It's open to everyone!
The radio action is gonna be radical, subversive, fun and off the hook.
You will NOT hear anything like this in anywhere else!
Tune in and come to Yongsan Massacre site(*) to join the people's struggle against capitalism and the state.
Anyone who wants to participate in this exciting 'radio in action' project, just contact imc@jinbo.net!
* How to get there:
Subway line 4 신용산(Shinyongsan) station exit 2. Walk toward the Yongsan disaster spot (it takes 3 minutes). You will take a path to the rear load, and look for "Rhea(레아) Hof", 2nd fl.("Candlelight Media Center").
(source: http://blog.jinbo.net/dopehead/?pid=712)
"Redevelopment" Without Resistance: Mass Eviction!
The plan to "modernize" Seoul, especially its central parts, is not new. And the resistance by the residents/tenants who are (potentially) affected isn't new either.
But at least since the preparation phase of the 2002 Soccer World Cup the situation for thousands of residents/tenants in many areas of Seoul got worse.
And after (the current S.K. president) Lee Myung-bak (aka LMB, 2MB..) took the office as Seoul's mayor (2002 - 2006) the situation, especially for the poorer citizens of Seoul escalated. As a result of his "refurbishment" plan for Seoul residents/tenants in Yongsan-gu, Samgak/Suha-dong, Songbuk-dong, Cheongjin-dong (Jongno-gu) etc. had/have to struggle for their basis of existence!
But that's just the beginning! "Under the city's New Town plan, up to 98,742 homes are expected to be torn down in the year 2010 alone", Korea Herald wrote Feb. 5. This means that tens of thousands of families will be evicted until the end of next year!
But in the past the resisting residents/tenants, threatened by (forcibly) eviction, mainly were left alone by the S.K. "progressive" movement in their struggle (a rare exception: Ilsan/Pung-dong Struggle in 2004)!
Ultimately it needed five killed resistance fighters (during the Yongsan Massacre) to get a kind of public attention!
So, in the coming days/weeks I'll focus on some of Seoul's "re-development" projects and the existing (resp. potential) resistance against it.
While the organizers (Attac, trade unions, left parties etc.) of last Saturday's mass demonstrations (against the "G20" summit in prticular and the capitalism in general) in Berlin and Frankfurt see it as a complete success ("The first step toward 'French circumstances'!"), the German ruling class and its media sees it - naturally!! - slightly(^^) different:
The bourgeois magazine Der Spiegel writes:
"German demonstrations about the economic crisis at the weekend were low-key and didn't draw the massive crowds one might expect given the scale of the recession facing Europe's largest economy."
"Tens of thousands of people marched in capital cities across Europe on Saturday to protest the economic crisis and demand that world leaders act on poverty, jobs and climate change ahead of the G-20 summit in London on Thursday."
"In Germany, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people took to the streets in Berlin, Frankfurt and other cities, but most of the protestors were trade unionists and left-wing activists. The broad mass of people stayed at home or went shopping.
That's because Germans haven't felt the full force of the economic crisis yet, despite foreboding economic statistics. At present, many people are still resorting to putting workers on short-time rather than laying them off, and parts of the auto industry -- which accounts for one in five jobs in Germany, is being shored up by the so-called scrapping bonus -- a €2,500 tax-free payment for people who scrap their old vehicles when buying a new car.
Center-"left" Frankfurter Rundschau writes:
"Half a year after the collapse of Lehman the sense of horror about the reckless behavior on financial markets and in the banking sector remains strong, and hasn't been alleviated by the shameless cashing-in of many top players. Not everyone has lost out, and some are even getting well paid for their failure. Given the impact on society it's astonishing that the storm of protest hasn't been more evident on the streets."
"Left-alternative" Die Tageszeitung writes:
"Despite the increasingly dramatic figures from the financial and the real economy, people aren't yet feeling the impact in their everyday lives. In addition, the origins of the crisis are as complicated as the proposed solutions, which makes it harder to come up with simple slogans and to motivate people. Still, the fact that visible protests have taken place is a signal in and of itself."
Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
"Several tens of thousands of people demonstrated for a fairer world economy over the weekend -- not peacefully everywhere. That's likely to mark the start of a turbulent G-20 summit in London. Security forces in London have been advising bankers to go to work without wearing ties this week. Even though the anger is understandable, things shouldn't go that far in a democratic state."
"It's OK for greedy bankers to feel uncomfortable in their golf clubs or when they're out shopping. But they mustn't be physically threatened. People who demand decency must behave decently. That applies to both sides."
The following article in today's Hankyoreh is drawing attention to the "slightly tense relationship" (^^) between the LMB administration (i.e. the prosecution/police) and the Federation Against House Demolition/Jeoncheolyeon (JCY), especially since the Yongsan Massacre and the following - and ongoing - protests. Well, you also might call it simply: The (increasing) State Terror against JCY!!
Prosecution intensifies its investigation into
demolition protest group
Group’s involvement in past demonstrations against redevelopment projects will likely be examined
The prosecution is intensifying its investigation into the Federation Against House Demolition (Jun Chul Yun/Jeoncheolyeon), the organization accused of spearheading the anti-urban development protest in Yongsan last month that left five civilians and one policeman dead following a fire ignited in the course of the protest. The jurisdiction for the probe has been handed off from the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office’s criminal division, which was in charge of investigating the fire, and passed to the public safety division.
In an emergency question and answer session at the National Assembly related to the tragic Yongsan blaze, Justice Minister Kim Kyung-han said, “Prosecutors are investigating Jun Chul Yun, which turned out to be behind (the protest). They will soon uncover every part of the truth.”
Kim Hee-kwan, a prosecutor in charge of the probe, added, “Our public safety team is investigating allegations raised against Jun Chul Yun. Everything deemed to be illegal will be checked.” This means that the prosecution will expand the scope of its investigation to include demonstrations against redevelopment projects with which the federation was involved in the past.
The investigative team will continue its efforts to arrest Nam Gyeong-nam, the head of Jun Chul Yun who is believed to be in hiding, but the public safety division will take over the investigation if Nam is not captured, a prosecutor said.
Yesterday, the prosecution arrested Chung Ju-seok, 47, who was treated at a hospital for injuries from the protest, and it plans to indict him along with Lee Choong-yeon, the head of the Countermeasure Committee for Displaced Tenants in Yongsan.
Also yesterday, civic and human rights groups held an all-night demonstration (in Myeong-dong). The groups called for the government to bring to justice those who are responsible for the deadly blaze. (*)
Before the demonstration began, the Committee Against the Brutal Suppression of the Yongsan Demolition Protest held a press conference at Myeong-dong Cathedral in central Seoul, demanding an immediate apology from President Lee Myung-bak and punishment of Seoul Police Chief Kim Seok-ki and Minister of Public Administration and Security Won Sei-hoon. Kim recently withdrew his name from consideration for the top post at the National Police Agency and Won is under consideration for the position of National Intelligence Agency director. The protest was attended by around 30 people, including Jeong Kwang-hoon, the head of the Korea Alliance for Progressive Movement, and Bae Eun-shim, the mother of the late Lee Han-yeol, the Yonsei University student activist who died during a 1987 protest and came to symbolize South Korea’s democracy movement.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/338354.html
* Related report:
☞ 용산참사 항의 철야 시국농성 돌입 (KCTU, 2.11)
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