2250개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
2003.11.30: THE BATTLE OF CHEONGGYECHEON
In the early summer 2003 the then mayor of Seoul Lee Myung-bak - yeah, likely the next president of S. Korea!!! - published his idea to restore the former Choenggyecheon (i.e. Cheonggye Stream). In the 1960s it was filled up and a huge elevator street was built there. Since that time 1970s thousands of street vendors found their daily income by selling goods and food beside the new built Choenggyecheon Street. But after Lee presented his idea (to reconstruct the stream) to the public it was clear that the street vendors there would be the first victims of the project. Because in Lee Myung-bak's plans for the New Cheonggyecheon was definetely no place for poor people - i.e. the street vendors.
And just few months later - after the (now well organized) street vendors appealed, demanded, protested for an acceptable solution of their problems - it became clear that the Lee Myung-bak administration (i.e. the Seoul Metropolitan Gov't) will finally solve this problem by force - the eviction of the street vendors.
Street vendors' protest..
..summer 2003, Cheonggye 8-ga
In late November 2003 the municipality announced that Nov. 30 would be the deadline for the street venors to leave the area..
So in the late hours of Nov. 29 hundreds of street vendors prepared for the (likely) final clash between them and the state power.
Nov. 30, in the early morning hours 5000 riot cops, backing 3000 gangsters (according to independent reports), hired by the Seoul Metropolitan Gov't arrived at the scene (Cheonggyecheon 8-ga). And after some hours of fierce battles between them and few hundred of street vendors, many of them were elderly people, the "state power" "defeated" the resistance..
2003.11.30, 4AM, Cheonggye 8-ga - before the battle
Just one hour later: Criminal gangs, backed by thousands of cops..
..attacked few hundred of street vendor resistance "fighters"
After the battle (2003.11.30, 10AM)
Related video documentaries:
Before the Battle
☞ "청계천을 지켜내자!!" (숲속홍길동同志, 2003.11.16)
The Battle☞ [청계천 노점상 생존권 사수 투쟁] 제1부 (숲속홍길동同志)
☞ 30일 새벽, 청계천 한때 불바다.. (참세상TV, 2003.11.30)
After the Battle☞ [청계천 노점상 생존권 사수 투쟁] 제2부 (숲속홍길동同志)
Related article:
☞ 노숙자 동원한 청계 노점 철거 (Hankyoreh, 2003.11.30)
But with the Battle of Cheonggyecheon the "promblem" just began! Only a short time later the Lee Myung-bak administration started with the idea to destroy entire residential areas, located in in the direct neighbourhood, such as Samgak-/Suha-dong..
..led to the eviction of at least one thousand of residents (incl. the complete destruction of their basis of existence):
☞ 자본주의는 반사회적 이다 (철거민 투쟁) (2004.12.12)
☞ 철거민투쟁. (2005.01.11)
☞ "날마다 전쟁" - 삼각, 수하동.. (2005.01.18, 숲속홍길동同志, video docu..)
☞ The Cheonggyecheon Project, #1
☞ The Cheonggyecheon Project, #2
☞ The Cheonggyecheon Project, #3
And last but not least (^^):
☞ Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project (Seoul Metro. Gov't)
About the first (provisionally) "defeat" by the French working class, in particular the railway workers (after nine days of strike), in their struggle against Sarkozy's "reform" plans The Guardian (UK) published y'day following article:
Round one to Sarkozy but president still
faces fight for reform
As personal cost of action mounts, unions may find concessions hard to resist in return for new work ethic and pension deal
In the 5am darkness outside a bus depot in southern Paris the diehard 20-man picket-line stood warming their hands by a makeshift fire, contemplating the future of France.
"We're the human stones ready to be lobbed at the government. We're the last line of resistance to protect France from neo-liberalism, capitalism and the end of society," said Herve Berthomé, a bus driver, whose father used to reminisce about striking in May 1968.
Berthomé, 43, would normally be driving the 84 bus from the Pantheon through Paris's Left Bank, humming his favourite Genesis songs to himself. But instead he and a handful of fellow drivers - the grassroots of the powerful, communist-linked CGT union - were holding their ground in a transport strike that has gridlocked France and proved the defining moment of Nicolas Sarkozy's promised new era.
By the eighth morning of the strike this week Berthomé had already forfeited €800 (£570) in docked wages. Some of the strikers with families and children were beginning to feel the strain. "Our wages are so low anyway that we can only shop in discount stores - if we have to live off noodles to continue the strike, so be it," said one father of two. After more than a decade driving buses Berthomé earns around €1,800 a month and is currently able to retire at 54. Sarkozy wants to reform the special pensions deals that allow train and bus drivers - and certain other workers including Paris opera stagehands - to stop work earlier than other state employees on favourable terms.
But to Berthomé and his comrades the pension fight was round one in a bigger battle. He was inspired by Britain's miners' strike, Ken Loach's film on the horrors of privatised British railways, The Full Monty and Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, which contrasts the nightmares of America's healthcare system with the benefits of France's ever present state. Berthomé feared France's social system was going to be dismantled, and pensions were only the start.
"Sarkozy is our Thatcher," he said. "He's a provocateur, he plays one France against the other. He's ready to serve his class and his cronies, the rich who eat caviar off a golden spoon."
The strikers gave a prolonged honk of an antique bus klaxon, but there was little danger of waking up the neighbours. For the past week millions of French people have been waking at 4am and resorting to increasingly desperate methods of transport, from roller skates to quad bikes, children's scooters to hitch-hiking, to try to get to work despite their crippled buses and trains.
Morning rush hour would often see 300-mile tailbacks across France as people took to their cars. Police had to force back commuters from overcrowded Paris train platforms. A surge in bike and scooter accidents hit those braving the roads. Others slept at work.
When Sarkozy promised a new work ethic as the president "of the France that gets up early", people rising before dawn due to strike chaos was not the image he had in mind.
Outside France commentators deemed this "black November" Sarkozy's Thatcher moment - a chance for the new, modernising president to break France's forces for social and economic immobilism. France has often been said to be impossible to modernise, never ready for reform but always ready for a revolution. Before his election Sarkozy promised to "liquidate the legacy" of the May 1968 protests.
The recent days of strikes cost France around €400m a day. Industry faced a shortage of materials as freight trains stopped, hotels and restaurants lost businesses, boutiques said their 50% drop in trade had not been seen since the May 1968 protests.
On Tuesday civil servants staged their own separate 24-hour strike over pay and conditions and students blockaded faculties over university funding reforms. The transport strike limped on for nine days with some Paris lines still disrupted yesterday. A hard core of students continue to resist, with the Sorbonne closed until Monday after violent clashes yesterday when some students tried to blockade it.
But both the right and left his week said parallels with Thatcher were inexact. Sarkozy has been cautious, quietly offering concessions that unions will find hard to resist - the SNCF railway management has proposed a €90m a year financial package to compensate staff for the extra two and a half years they will be required to work..
The full article you can read here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2216336,00.html
Related:
☞ French Strike Winds Down as Workers Return to Jobs (Bloomberg, 11.22)
☞ Sarkozy Approval Down as Rail Strike Ends (Der Spiegel/D, 11.23)
STRIKE IN FRANCE: THE 7th DAY
Today's German (bourgeois) magazine Der Spiegel is reporting following:
Five Million Civil Servants Join Strikes
It's Black Tuesday for French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Five million French civil servents have gone out on strike, joining millions of others already on the streets protesting planned reforms.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing his stiffest political test on Tuesday as five million public servants stage a one-day strike. They are joining transport workers who are staying off the job for the seventh straight day.
Today in Marseille: Striking railway workers..
..are blocking some of the main roads
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Monday that the transport strike was costing the economy between €300 million and €350 million ($440 million and $513 million) a day.
The strikes are causing disruptions to air traffic, postal delivery and even weather forecasts and French people are being forced to forgo their newspapers as printers and distribution employees stay away from work.
However, with the demands of the different groups differing widely there were no plans to hold a single protest march on Tuesday. France's transport unions are continuing their strikes despite the fact that negotiations with employers and the government are scheduled for Wednesday. The transport workers are trying to protect their special pension rights which currently allow them to retire on a full pension earlier than employees in other sectors.
The public servants, meanwhile are protesting the president's plans to drastically down-size the civil service, cutting up to 23,000 jobs in 2008, almost half of which will be in education. Many are also protesting against low wages and the increasing cost of living. The issue of a reduction in "purchasing power" as prices rise is currently a hot issue in France.
As teachers go on strike on Tuesday high-school pupils are expected to join students who have blocked and occupied many universities to protest government attempts to bring in more private investment into education.
While the majority of French supported Sarkozy's pledge to modernize France in the presidential elections in May many are beginning to feel disappointed with the failure to improve their daily lives six months on. Although there is little popular support for the transport strikes, many people sympathize with the civil servants' complaints about the difficulties of making ends meet.
Despite the opinion polls showing that popular support is dropping, the government has said that it will stand firm, with Prime Minister Francois Fillon saying the reforms must go through. The president has been keeping an uncharacteristically low profile over the past week, in an attempt to avoid aggravating the situation, but he is expected to give a major speech later in the week on measures to increase people's purchasing power.
The FSU union warned the government against ignoring civil servants while dealing with the rail workers. "They seem to believe this is just a movement of anger that will pass," union leader Gerard Aschieri told the Associated Press. "This is to underestimate the discontent."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,518426,00.html
Related articles:
☞ Civil servants join huge French strike (Guardian/UK, 11.20)
☞ Sarkozy Mounts Showdown against the Unions (Der Spiegel, 11.19)
☞ Saboteurs target strike-hit French railways (Guardian, 11.21)
Tens of thousands (Tongil News reported 45,000, the mainstream media around 20,000/but the organizers expected between 100,000 and 200,000.. "at least") of South Korean workers, farmers, students, anti-war and civil right activists defended today their right to demonstrate on the occasion of the traditional/annually "Nat'l Workers Rally" (western media, such as Reuters and AP, mis-interpreted the demonstration as just an anti-FTA protest..) and clashed - actually were forced to clash - with thousands of riot cops in downtown Seoul.
All streets leading to City Hall Plaza were complete blocked by at least 600 police buses. Almost 25,000 riot cops on the spot used water cannons, botons, shields and fire extinguishers to attack and stop the protesters.
At one location, riot cops beat male and female workers and college students with batons, forcing protesters to the ground and then kicking several of them into submission before dragging them away, one witness said..
According to KCTU at least 125 protesters were arrested. More than 100 demonstrators were injured by the riot cops' excessive violence.
For Dec. 1 the protesters vowed a new, massive demonstration: "We'll fight back! The forces of the people's power will change the world!" (whatever it means..^^)
Police, Protesters Clash Causing Traffic Chaos (Korea Times)
About 25,000 laborers and farmers protesting against major government policies clashed with riot police in central Seoul Sunday, causing traffic jams.
On their way to Seoul City Hall plaza, the members of the Korean Alliance of Progressive Movements and the Korean Confederation of Trade Union (KCTU) came across riot police barricading the street. The protestors were calling for the abolishment of temporary worker status, and demonstrating their opposition to the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) and the extension of Korean soldiers' deployment in Iraq.
Buses and large vehicles carrying demonstrators from other regions to Seoul were also blocked by police, who set up checkpoints on highways from the early morning.
In the afternoon, the streets were filled with policemen attempting to control the crowd of protestors trying to make it beyond the barricades. About 25,000 protestors marched to Gwanghwamun, dodging a total of 23,000 policemen, while those who did not make it to Seoul protested in their own way.
Hundreds of demonstrators blocked a lane on the Seohaean Expressway to protest police blockade.
A farmer from Haman, South Gyeongsang Province, tried to set himself on fire in the middle of the Gyeongbu Expressway when police tried to stop him and his compatriots from going to Seoul.
The police action came after the government vowed it would take stern measures against illegal collective action. On Friday, four ministries - justice, labor, construction and transportation, and government administration and home affairs - warned against the rally. They said the police ordered the KCTU not to hold the rally as it would create heavy traffic jams. It later defined the event as an illegal one.
However, the laborers said the right to perform collective action was guaranteed by the constitution and they would not stop. They also said banning it was an infringement of human rights. `` We are gathering to seek for our own rights and what the government is doing is unacceptable. Is this a democracy?'' a farmer from Busan said.
Police blocked nearly all the roads to city hall causing inconvenience to pedestrians. They complained that the police action caused more noise and traffic chaos.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/11/117_13497.html
For more please see/read also:
☞ S.Korean protesters clash with riot police (Reuters, slide show)
☞ Massive demonstration causes confrontation.. (Hankyoreh, 11.12)
☞ Police, protesters battle in streets.. (JoongAng Ilbo, conservative daily, 11.12)
☞ How Much Longer Must We Put Up with Such Violence? (Chosun Ilbo.. ^^)
Source: AP
☞ ‘11.11 범국민행동의 날’.. (Tongil News, incl. pics)
☞ 경찰 "총으로 다 쏴죽이겠다" 협박 (KCTU)
☞ 전국 8만 여명 참가...민중총궐기 "승리했다" (VoP, incl. several video docus)
☞ 노무현 정부도 '계엄령'을 아는가? (OhmyNews)
☞ 범국민 행동의 날.. (Chamsesang News, incl. pics)
☞ 아찔했던 경찰헬기 저공비행 (OhmyNews..)
☞ 경찰버스 오르는 노동자-농민에 소화기, 물대포 난사 (..TV)
☞ 2007.11.11. 범민중총궐기대회 광화문 행진 (Chamsesang..)
☞ 집회 불허 뚫고 시청 앞 전차로 점거 (..TV)
☞ 20071111 -- 범국민대회 (땅의 사람, pictures)
"12월 1일 다시 모이자.
민중의 힘으로 세상을 바꾸자"
11.11 NATIONAL WORKERS' DEMONSTRATION
Well, while the S.K. progressive - workers', anti-war, human right.. - movement is preparing for a massive protest, the gov't is preparing for massive repression measures, i.e. STATE TERROR.. JoongAng Ilbo reported that the gov't will deploy about 45,000 riot cops "to confront the rally".
Activists to hold rally despite police ban (K. Herald, 11.06)
Defying police disapproval, a coalition of activist groups plans to stage a massive protest in Seoul on Sunday against the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, labor polices, and the extension of troop deployment in Iraq.
More than 70,000 members of various progressive organizations, including Democratic Labor Party, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Jinbo Corea, will participate the rally in front of City Hall, the groups said.
However, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency issued a notice that prohibited the protest to the related groups on Monday.. Police said they informed the members that the meeting will be considered illegal if pushed forward.
The protest groups oppose the ratification of the government's free trade agreement with the United States and press for the removal of irregular or temporary workers. The group members will also call for the withdrawal of Korean troops stationed in Iraq and Lebanon.
About 70,000 to 200,000 people are expected to join the gathering, according to the police.
Korea Times newest edition reports following:
Labor Unions Snub Government's Move
Labor unions defied a government warning against massive rallies..
The Korea Alliance of Progressive Movements, an association of labor and farmers' groups, criticized the government’s statement against collective action by labor groups during a press meeting in Seoul, Friday, and confirmed there ``will be no change’’ on a scheduled rally.
The progressive group plans to stage a rally on Sunday in downtown Seoul. The protest is for the abolishment of temporary worker status, and to oppose the Korea-U.S. FTA and the extension of Korean soldiers deployment to Iraq.
``The government doesn’t want to listen to why we are staging the protest and just regulates our rally as illegal. They distorted our true purpose of collective action,’’ said Lee Sok-haeng, the lead organizer of the protest.
``We organized 200,000 protesters when President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached. At that time, the government allowed our rallies but now they say `no’ to our action for laborers' rights. They have double standards,’’ Lee added. (*)
Earlier in the day, four ministries - justice, labor, construction and transportation, and government administration and home affairs - warned against the rally..
The statement said the police ordered the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions not to hold the rally on Sunday..
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/11/113_13458.html
* Wow, it's always funny (actually not really) how the Roh gov't can "surprise" the progressive movement in S.K...^^
But already during the days of the attempted impeachment of Roh Moo-hyun (spring 2004) there were enough voices, such as ETU-MB, who said that we never should trust (and fight for) Roh and his gang..:
☞ MSSC.. thoughts about the present political situation (ETU-MB, 2004.3.14)
☞ leaflet for 탄핵무효"activists" (MSSC, 2004.3.31/"flugi반전.doc")
Related (MUST SEE!!):
2003.11.09 Nat'l Workers Rally:
Police terror and workers' resistance led to massive street battles in downtown Seoul..
☞ 국민을 개패듯 패는 참여정부 (video docu by comrade Hong Gil-dong..)
Anyway, the "event" on Sunday will start with the KCTU rally, 1 pm in front of City Hall..
Today, exactly 90 years ago, the leadership of the SDPR(B) instructed the revolutionary masses in Petrograd to start the uprising against the bourgeois/civic government in Russia. That day was the beginning of the Great Socialist October Revolution.. For the following 80 years it changed almost everything across the world..
But today, 90 years later, nearly no-one is talking/writing about it anymore (oops, what a surprise!!)..
So, just let's enjoy^^ some few results (of course.. Made in China):
"The International" by Tang Dynasty (唐朝)
Last Monday (10.29) the Swedish magazine The Local published following report:
South Korean hunger striker targets Tetra Pak
A leafy Swiss park is the unlikely setting for a showdown between a South Korean hunger striker and a global corporation he accuses of "gangster" tactics in shutting down a factory.
Chung Janghun, a 41-year-old union official, has been on hunger strike for just over a month in a park in the western city of Lausanne, close to where the processing and packaging company Tetra Pak has its international headquarters.
Tetra Pak was founded in Sweden in 1953 and is famed for its innovative milk and drinks packaging. The Swedish company's registered international headquarters are in Pully, a Lausanne suburb, for tax purposes.
Chung and his comrades from the Korean Chemical and Textile Workers Federation are protesting against Tetra Pak's proposals to close the Yoju plant in South Korea and cut 108 jobs.
"It's very hard, but what keeps me going is the struggle against Tetra Pak," Chung told AFP in an interview.
Since September 26th, he has survived on just water and mineral salts.
Chung also has a twice-weekly check-up at Lausanne's University Hospital and must heed doctors' advice -- one of the conditions imposed by the Swiss city's authorities when allowing his protest.
Tetra Pak announced last March it was shutting the Yoju factory, saying its operations were commercially unsustainable.
However, Chung claimed the factory "had never been in the red," and said the decision to close it down was politically motivated.
All but three of the 76 workers on the factory floor were union members, he said, speaking through an interpreter.
Looking frail but determined in his tent in Lausanne's Parc de Milan, Chung said his aim was to highlight the "immoral and inhumane" methods of Tetra Pak, including hiring what he called "half-gangster" security firms to intimidate union officials.
Tetra Pak also bombarded workers and their families with text messages in a bid to get them to accept a voluntary redundancy package, he added.
Tetra Pak said in a statement that it had offered employees "a significantly more generous redundancy package than required under South Korean employment law."
The two sides have held three meetings since the Korean delegation has been in Europe -- one in Sweden and two in Switzerland.
The unions alleged these amounted to a "monologue, not a dialogue."
Tetra Pak said it wants to continue a dialogue, and "hope(s) that the South Korean Union delegation will soon refocus their campaign onto their health, well being and future."
Switzerland's economy minister Doris Leuthard has rejected calls to become involved in the dispute. Her ministry says that under international directives laid down by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the matter must be settled in South Korea.
Chung Janghun insists the dispute has implications for workers worldwide and not just in his home country.
"I want to make it an international issue to correct the immoral attitudes of multinationals," he said.
He said he had received a "very good impression" of Switzerland during his protest, and that local people had come to the park to voice their support and provide blankets and food to his companions.
The union official said he was grateful to the Lausanne authorities for allowing his protest and admitted he would face an ethical dilemma if doctors advise him to stop his strike on health grounds.
"I am resolute to go to the very end," he said -- but on the other hand, "unlike Tetra Pak, I won't break my promises," Chung added.
http://www.thelocal.se/8936/20071029/
Signature campaign..
..in Lausanne
For more informations please check out:
☞ 테트라팩홍보팀 (Struggle Tour Dairy, many pics and copies of Swiss newspapers)
Y'day BWI published following article in solidarity with the struggle of construction workers in Incheon
South Korean Electrician Sacrifices His Life During a Strike
Shouting, "The Incheon electrician's strike is just, arrest Yoo Hae San," 48-year old Jung Hae Jin, member of the Korean Construction Workers Union, KFCITU, set himself on fire at 1:54 p.m. on Saturday, October 27 in front of Youngjin Electrical Company during a march and rally in protest of the employer's refusal to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the union. He would later die from his injuries at 9:00 despite efforts by doctors to save his life.
Close to 400 members of the KFCITU were participating in the demonstration to support the 113 day-old strike of the Branch of Incheon Electricians. The Brach of Incheon Electricians of the Korean Construction Workers Union (KCWU) began negotiations with the 13 subcontractors that hired electricians in the Incheon metropolitan area on Frebruary 28, 2007. However, after repeated union efforts to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement ended in failure, the union began a strike that was supported by 88% of its membership on June 19, 2007. The union's demands included union recognition, 44-hour work week since many electricians had to work 12 to 13 hours a day, and an end to illegal subcontracting. In addition, the union emphasized safety at the work site as many electricians frequently worked under hazardous conditions, particularly since electricians worked on power lines that contained high distribution-level voltages. Should there be a slight mishap during the repairs of these power lines, a worker could easily loose an arm or leg and even worse their life as a result of electrocution.
The rally was part of the annual National Rally in Support of Irregular Workers Rights. At the time of the Jung's self-immolation, the union members were in a confrontation with riot police who had set up blockades to forcefully stop the union from continuing with the rally. Shocked union members rushed to douse out the fire but tragically Jung suffered third and fourth degree burns to at least 40% of his body. While Jung was rushed to the hospital, the riot police refused to allow the union members to leave and threatened throughout the day to arrest them. Eventually, the riot police removed their blockades allowing union members to go to the hospital to pay their respects to Jung Hae Jin.
Throughout the strike, Yoo Hae San, defacto owner of Youngjin Electrical Company even though his wife is the official CEO of the company consistently repressed the union. After obtaining a mandate from the sub contractors to represent them, Yoo Hae San refused to engage in legitimate negotiations with the union. In addition, he hired thugs to intimidate union members participating in the strike and forcefully pull down a tent that was part of a sit-down demonstration in front of Youngjin Electrical Company.
Jung Hae Jin had been an electrician for close to 20 years working for several sub contractors. In recent months, Jung Hae Jin was working as a "day laborer" substituting for contracted electricians due to lack of work and injuries (most recent to his back) that he suffered from two accidents on the job. In both occasions the employers refused to recognize the accidents as work-related and thus he could not receive workers compensation. He joined the union during the recent strike after witnessing the forceful tactics of Youngjin Electrical Company against the union. He had first-hand knowledge of the repressive methods of Youngjin as he had worked from them as a "day laborer" in several occasions. Jung was considered a very kind person and well-liked and respected by everyone.
His tragic death is part of the on-going struggle of South Korean construction workers to be treated like a human being. According to a fellow union member of Jung Hae Jin, "We work 12 to 13 hours a day without being treated as a human being. It is because of this we are calling on the employers to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement so we that they finally honor the labor laws and treat us like human beings."
Both the KCTU and KFCITU leadership have established an emergency committee to discuss how to address this terrible tragedy.
http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?Index=1201&Language=EN
Related:
☞ Song for Comrade Jeong Hae-jin (노동의소리)
☞ 민주노총 "故정해진의 죽음, 좌시 않겠다" (VoP, incl. video)
10.27/28: Not Really Successfully Performances
of the S.K. Class Struggle..
At first on Saturday (10.27) in Incheon, during a demonstration of construction workers - since 120 days the KFCITU (Korean Federation of Construction Industry Trade Unions/전국건설노동조합) is striking there for better working conditions [construction workers in S.K. are subjects of maximum exploitation: many of them are just irregular workers, the working time is very long - at least 6 days a week, minimum 10 hours per day, the risk of (deadly) work accidents is extreme high, the payment is very low..] - KFCITU member Jeong Hae-jin committed public suicide by burning himself. Actually a great loss, but likeley for nothing, because the S.K. capitalists and the gov't are giving a shit on actions like that!! (1)
Later the same day in Seoul (on Yeoui-do, near the National Assembly, the S.K. parliament) the "2007 National Rally of Irregular Workers" took place. According to reports of the independent media around 2000 workers joined the rally. BTW, there are at least 8,000,000 irregular workers in S.K.!!! (2)
Finally THE main rally/demo against war in general and the presence of S.K. troops in Iraq in particular took place today afternoon in downtown Seoul. Just few days ago Roh Moo-hyun decided that the presence of the S.K. occupation troops there must be extended for one more year - despite the parliamentarian decision to bring them back home at the end of 2007 (노무현: '파병 만세). But although in the parliament, according to the media, this plan has complete NO support by the majority, the S.K. public (even in the so-called progressive movement - DLP, KCTU, hundreds of civil right/anti-war groups) seems not really interested in this subject. So, according to VoP, only 500 people joined the rally/demo. (3)
Related:
☞ 분신조합원 27일 저녁9시 끝내 운명 (KCTU)
☞ [10월 27일].. 전국비정규노동자대회 (다함께)
☞ 전국 비정규노동자대회 (MUST SEE!! Video-docu by comrade "Hong Gil-dong ..")
(3) 10.28 Anti-War..:
☞ 파병연장 반대, 이라크 점령 종식 한미공동반전행동 (VoP)
☞ [10월 28일] 자이툰 파병연장반대.. (다함께)
Last Friday, 10.19, Voice of People (VoP/민중의소리) published following report. Actually "incidents" like that are still completely "normal" in S. Korea..
What did push him to suicide?
Oct. 12, Lee Geunjae who had been a pitchman for 13 years in the City of Goyang (north of Seoul) was found dead with a tree that his neck was tied to.
"He left home to get an odd job early in the morning" his wife Mrs. Lee sobbed out. But he must failed to get the job.
Lee Geunjae, 48 years old, and his wife had earned a living by selling street food in Goyang, Kyeonggi province.
They was making their lives in the day before Mr.Lee died as they had done so far. But the afternoon of the day was not usual.
At 2 p.m. Oct. 11, about 200 men with angry looks, black caps, black vests and combat boots got off from trucks suddenly and attacked approximately 30 street stalls including Mr.Lee and his wife's one.
The 'employed gangs' dragged the traders into their herd and beat and kicked without mercy so as nobody could take a picture and even witness the scene.
They also broke the traders' booths into pieces and took those to the district office as they could be paid about more than $350~550 per booth while their daily wages were $65 each.
The employed gangs' exposed bodies during the battle were entirely covered with scaring tattoos. The pitchmen who tried to take pictures their bodies and violence were especially assaulted.
The same crackdowns were also performed in the places of Goyang.
Of course, it was not the first crackdown for the pitchmen. The crackdown of the day, however, was on a different level since the local government of Goyang enforced the control harder from April. The trades got back their broken cameras without the film from the police after the happening was over.
Supprisingly, dozens fo local government officials and plainclothesman were at the spot but nobody stopped the violence.
"It is the 'official duties' and anyone who interrupt it could be arrested" They insisted instead.
The municipal authorities of Goyang budgeted $3.4 billions for the crackdown on the illegal street stall and the district office given the money made contracts with the service companies composed of the gangs. An municipal official of Goyang said that 150 of employees from the service companies and 300 of the government officials were called for the crackdown in the day.
Lee Geunjae and his wife were drubbed too.
Mr.Lee was very sorry to his wife. They consoled each other hand in hand through the night.
At 4:30 a.m. Oct. 12, Mr.Lee said his wife that he must get an odd job as the crackdown became tighter.
"Darling, I'm deeply sorry that you have been badly off since you married me. I don't want you to be anymore" he told his wife.
"Please, just come back to home as early as you can" his wife replied.
It was their final talking.
Mrs.Lee said his fellow Mrs.Yoon next morning that she was in a sulky mood on the wat to the meeting to protest the cruel crackdown.
At 12:30 p.m. Mrs.Lee was called from the police of Ilsan district and heard that her husband was in a critical condition. But it was a lie.
High school students found his body hung from the tree and the official reported from them comfirmed that he was died already.
The official made a white lie considering her shock. But she fell down with the news.
She had kept fainting and recovering for three days after she met his body in a funeral hall.
The pitchmen angry for his death met and demand the punishment of the responsible officials, apology from the Mayor of Goyang and stopping the crackdown.
It was, however, also suppressed by the violence of police.
Of course, somebody can criticeze his suicide. But after he answer to the question. What or Who pushed him?
http://www.voiceofpeople.org/new/news_view.html?serial=89362
Last week in Goyang City: Street battles between riot cops and street vendors:
Sources of all the pics: VoP
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