CINA

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Labor party lawmaker announces presidential ambition

A former leader of the progressive Democratic Labor Party Thursday announced his candidacy for a party primary for December's presidential election.

"The focus of this year's presidential election will be whether a candidate can offer ways to revive the economy and foster peace on the Korean Peninsula," said DLP Rep. Kwon Young-gil.

..No comment!!!

"I will surely bring a bright future for Korea with a shift to a progressive regime," he said.

Kwon ran in the 1997 and 2002 presidential elections on the ticket of the DLP but only garnered 1.2 percent and 3.9 percent of the vote, respectively.

Kwon is expected to compete for his party's nomination with two colleagues, Rep. Shim Sang-jung and Rep. Roh Hoe-chan, who already announced their presidential bids.

Kwon has proposed a federation-based unification of the two Koreas, the withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea and the abolishment of the anti-communist National Security Law.

"I will be with any force that is willing to narrow the gap between rich and poor and that is against the free trade agreement with the United States," he said.

(Yonhap, 4.26)

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20070426/610000000020070426135409E0.html

But beside the fact that Kwon and the other DLP-candidates - in my opinion - have complete no chances in the coming election, remember what the SK more radical left said just few years ago about Kwon:

"Some times ago DLP called Kwon Young-gil as the Korean T. Blair. Now they're calling him the Korean Lula.."

And - BTW - I remember that Kwon, during the last election campaign promised in front of foreign capitalists (I think it was in the American Chamber of Commerce, but I'm not really sure..) that he would try his best to guarantee peaceful solutions for possible labour disputes between them and their Korean workers, to avoid strikes, ie actions of class struggle..

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Today, in Moscow, was the funeral for B. Yeltsin - the world's most famous alcohilic (76 years old he died last Monday).

But he wasn't just a "funny", hard drinking person..

He was also responsible for major political/war crimes.

For example:

1991:  While more than 75 per cent of the people in the Soviet Union/SU (except Moldavia, Georgia, Armenia and the Baltic Republics) voted for the preservation of the USSR, Yeltsin forced the complete destruction of the SU. ->(aka)THE REAL BEGINNING OF THE RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY!!

♦The reaction of the western "democracies" - NOTHING

1993:  Yeltsin, after he was trying to get the total power over the Russian Federation, unconstitutional declared the dissolution of the Russian parliament.
The parliament was trying to resist, but Yeltsin ordered the army (several tank units) to crackdown the (actually democratic) resistance. Oct. 4 the army broke the resistance with extreme violence (the parliament B/D was bombarded by the troops).
At the same day more than 100 oppositionals were killed in a small stadium behind the parliament B/D (Berliner Zeitung, 4.24).

♦The reaction of the western "democracies" - NOTHING

1994: Yeltsin started the war against Chechniya. At least 80,000 people, mainly civilians were killed.

♦The reaction of the western "democracies" - NOTHING

Related stuff:

☞ The Rise and Fall of the Drunken Czar (Der Spiegel)

☞ Yeltsin: A man with a complicated legacy (Asia Times/RFE)

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Following strange report was published in y'day's DailyNK:

Disabled Persons Ousted From the

Revolutionary Capital of Pyongyang

 
..In North Korea, special treatment for disabled persons is uncommon as is the concept of helping people voluntarily.

Countries with such systems symbolize a developed social welfare class and an advanced level of people’s living standards. Though North Korean citizens proclaim they live in a paradise, the average person is dying of starvation and disabled people live lives far worse.

While soldiers who are injured on duty are cared for by the nation, all other disabled persons are as they say, “should not have been born.”

There is no opportunity to develop your abilities and talents. Here in South Korea, people say that disabled people are discriminated against. But the facilities, benefits and opportunities for employment here, by far outweigh the privileges in North Korea.

In North Korea, a symbolic policy for disabled people is by expelling them from Pyongyang. Even today, you will not find any disabled persons living in the major districts in Pyongyang, Joong, Pyongchun and Daedong River.

The reason is simple. The mere presence of disabled people in the revolutionary city of Pyongyang leaves an unpleasant impression to foreign visitors. Kim Jong Il made this order himself.

There are disabled persons on the outer skirts of Pyongyang. These people are able to live there but secretly, as it is merely the outer perimeter of Pyongyang. Nonetheless, they live under the strict protection of families.

Authority orders bring unhappiness

Our family was living in Pyongchun-district, Pyongyang at the time. I have a younger sister, but when she was young one of her legs became numb after an incident of infantile paralysis. As a result, one of her legs was very thin and shorter than the other, which made her body shape different to other people.

One day in July of `82, my father who worked for the agricultural committee came home looking saddened. Without finishing his evening meal, he went in his room. My mother followed him instantly knowing something was wrong.

After a very long time, my father and my mother came back and said while stroking my sister’s hair, “Come what may, you will have to go to uncle’s house for a while.”

At first my sister was happy thinking it was a holiday but then burst into tears, “I don’t want to. I want to stay with mommy. I don’t want to go.” Though others may have snickered pointing their finger at my sister calling her a spastic, my parents treasured my sister above all the children. And we children, also knew the hearts of our parents well.

My parents just barely saved my sister from dying of infantile paralysis and the thought of having to send her to the country broke their heart. Even though it was a relative, undeniably no one would welcome a disabled cousin. My sister also felt bleak at the thought of parting the nurture of her loving parents to live in the country with relatives.

That morning, my father was called by a secretary of the Party. The secretary informed of the orders which expelled my sister from Pyongyang. He said, “Comrade, we are aware your daughter is disabled. An order has been given by the Party. Either you send your daughter to the country, or your whole family goes to live in the country.”

Though my father pleaded by saying “I will raise my daughter well, without letting her leave the home at all times” it was to no avail. The secretary merely replied, “There is nothing I can do. Under the regulations of the authority, disabled persons are not allowed in the revolutionary capital of Pyongyang.”

In South Korea, people are free to live in the country or come to Seoul as they please. However, it is not the same in Pyongyang. You can only live in Pyongyang if have a certain level of social position. If one’s parents committed a felony, or children have not been disciplined in the correct manner, a family can be expelled to the country. Similar procedures occur if a person disobeys authoritative policy.

Pyongyang is seen as the city of hope to North Koreans as rations are distributed on the rare occasions. You are considered a big success if you leave the country for Pyongyang. After completing his 10 years of military service, my father graduated from the University of Agriculture and began working for the agricultural committee under the Party. It was in fact, a very difficult situation for him to leave his position to live in the country for his daughter.

In the end, my father asked his older brother who lived hundreds of kilometers away to look after my sister, “until further measures were made.” My uncle who was always proud of his younger brother for living in Pyongyang happily agreed.

“Why were you banished?” Feelings of estrangement and isolation

My mother could not hold her tears as she watched my sister walking away on her crutches. I can still vividly remember my mother sitting on the ground crying, nodding her head. As I held my sisters hand, I said, “You must study hard” and promised to go get her one day.

Although my sister was uncomfortable in the legs, she studied well and was pretty. In our family, she received a lot of attention but people treated her differently in the country. She couldn’t socialize with the other children as she walked abnormally and she was teased by the other children.

Further, people have a tendency to look down on people who have been expelled form Pyongyang. They teased her and said, “Why were you banished? Did your father lose his job?” My sister who was angered by this remark threw a stone at one child and as a result, my aunt was called by the security agency and there was a lot of trouble.

My sister didn’t place one foot outside the door as the teasing was severe. She did not attend school and the school was more content with this. After spending 3 years in the country still unable to fit in, my sister came to Pyongyang in the holidays and resisted returning to the country.

Leaving little choice, my father consulted my grandmother in Nakrang-district, Pyongyang and after giving a large bribe to the authorities there, my sister went to live with our grandmother. From then, my sister was prohibited from leaving the home and learned needlework. Since she had not even completed her middle school studies, she was unable to enroll at the school for disabled people.

My sister always regretted being uneducated. I realize that battling and surviving any discrimination is the key to living. However, my sister left school unable to endure the hardship, though it is not entirely her own fault.

Today, I see disabled people in South Korea and my heart goes out to my sister who still lives with our grandmother in North Korea. 

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01300&num=1956

*****

PS:

When I visited PY I really saw only one group of disabled people (j.y.dongji should have at least one picture about it.. perhaps .. will upload it..??!!)

BTW.. even old people, in SK everywhere you see them on the streets, in PY.. it seems that they are not existing, not at all..

Eh~ of course in SK the situation for disabled people isn't so good. At least for them, living outside Seoul, there are - for example - no possibilities to move. Even they are living, let's say in Pyeongtaek(with a subway connection to Seoul), they never will have the possibility to go to the capital, because in the subway there are no elivators. And just imagine the life of disabled people on the SK countryside...

Related stuff:

☞ 경찰, 장애인의 날 행사 80여명 폭력연행 

☞ 4.20 장애인대회 (사진報告 #1)

☞ 경찰의 잘못으로 장애인 한분이 20일 밤 집회후 교통사고로 크게 다쳤습니다!!

☞ 또 다른 세상은 가능하다 (지난 주 투쟁報告)

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Following - in my opinion - interesting article was published in today's Hankyoreh:

Foreigners cite nationalism, discrimination

as barriers to life in Korea
In wake of Virginia Tech incident, Korean society called on

to accept its own immigrants

A 30-year-old foreign woman, who gained South Korean nationality last year after leaving her home in a central Asian country to marry a Korean, wept on April 20 as she talked to a Hankyoreh reporter. Her bloodshot eyes were mixed with anger and chagrin. Her anger centers on how her 10-year-old son is treated in school, where he is a third-grade elementary student. "Fourth and fifth grade students beat my son because he is different in appearance. Despite my appeals to the school, the matter hasn’t been resolved.” Because of the matter, she transferred her son to another school, but the situation did not change. "My son is scared of going to school," she sighed.

***

A 36-year-old Mongolian woman came to South Korea in 2003. Though she received Korean nationality last year, she has seen no difference in her poor treatment. While she received a Korean identification card instead of a foreigner’s one, and while her appearance is similar to that of Koreans, these do not help her. "When I go to a restaurant or a store, people use polite expressions to greet me. But when they hear my pronunciation, they begin to talk impolitely to me." She plans to change her name to a Korean one because her five-year-old son would otherwise be discriminated against at elementary school, which he begins next year. Even in kindergarten, students ask the teacher whether her son, Min-su (not his real name), is Korean or not.

***

Given this atmosphere, how would South Korean society react if an immigrant commited a crime similar to the Virginia Tech massacre?

In the wake of the tragedy caused by a South Korean immigrant, some critics pointed out that South Koreans should reflect upon their attitude toward foreign immigrants such as Southeast Asian workers and others. In particular, as some foreigners who have gained South Korean nationality still suffer from widespread discrimination and prejudice, racism in South Korean society is under close scrutiny.

The central Asian woman said, "While the U.S. is a multiracial society, discrimination and prejudice are much more rampant in South Korea because Koreans think of themselves as a homogeneous people." The Mongolian woman said, "When I talk with my Mongolian friend on the subway, I am surprised by the coldness seen in the reactions of Koreans around us." She said her Filippino friends were told by other Koreans they were being noisy when they talked in their mother language.

Lee Cheol-seung, head of a foreign labor consultancy in South Gyeongsang Province, said, "Typically, Koreans treat immigrants as expatriates because they aren’t ethnic Koreans. If one were to commit a crime similar to that of Seung-hui Cho, ethnic Koreans would consider him as a non-Korean, as still being a member of the society from which he initially came," Lee said.

Kim Yun-jae, a lawyer who emigrated to the U.S., said, "Most Koreans see the [Virginia Tech] tragedy as a cause for shame and guilt, instead of considering it an incident caused by structural problems in American society. In light of this attitude, most Koreans are likely to treat immigrants and naturalized Koreans in the same way [they treated the Cho incident]," he added.

Kang Seong-hye, head of an emergency call center for immigrant women, said, "To resolve the matter of Koreans’ nationalistic exclusivity, we should figure out ways to reshape the community, and teach this in schools in order to share it with society. Services are also needed to help immigrants adapt to being Korean," Kang said.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/204736.html

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Already about half year ago, when I heard the first time that the British Prince Harry will go to Iraq to join the occupation forces there, I thought that will be really funny. After his arrival there, all the Iraqi militant groups in opposition to the occupation will be involved in a race - who will be able to take him as hostage (or alternatively kill him).

Now today the German magazine Der Spiegel (in its online edition) headlined: "Iraqi Militias Publishing Harry-Pictures".. Harrharr!!!

"Abu Zaid, commander of the Malik Ibn Al Ashtar Brigade of the Mehdi Army militia, said: 'We are awaiting the arrival of the young, handsome, spoilt prince with baited breath and we confidently expect he will come out into the open on the battlefield.

'We will be generous with him. He will return to his grandmother [the Queen] but without ears,'(*) added Zaid..", according to today's Observer (UK).

Related articles (by the Observer):

☞ Harry is target in Iraq

☞ Harry 'the mother of all targets' in Iraq

Jan. 2005

So what..?? If he will be kidnapped/killed or not..(^^)

* Wow, that's a f.. great idea, really!! BTW it seems that (at least some parts of) the Iraqi "resistance" has developed in the recent month a very special kind of humor..^^

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Here some parts of the final "Conference Statement":

"Facing all those challenges the 5th Cairo conference has concluded with the following recommendations:
..
- Organization of demonstrations worldwide against visits by Zionist officials/Bush, Cheney (*)
..
- Development of a website of Boycott of Zionist entity (**)
..
III. Building bridges between the Left and Islamic movements (***) against Imperialism and Globalization"

- etc..

* ?? Cheney, Bush - Zionists? Yeah, the USA are ruled by Jews!!! Only by Jews.. And the Jews - of course - are ruling everything (..and not the - international - capitalist class!!) BTW.. this a "really beautiful" example of pure anti-semitism!!! (*)

** a.k.a. Israel

*** Hamas/Islamic Jihad - "our strong allies"(^^) ..are ruling nowadays Gaza:

- In recent months, about three dozen Internet cafes and shops selling pop music have been attacked in the Gaza Strip, with assailants detonating small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage.. Palestinian security officials have said they suspect a secret vice squad of Muslim militants." so the Israeli "left"-liberal daily Haaretz (4.15).

- Armed assailants set off explosives at an international school in northern Gaza early Saturday, damaging the building but causing no casualties, Palestinian security officials said.

 
The attack took place around 5 am, several hours before the start of the school day. The attackers overpowered security guards, then set off bombs in several areas of the school, security officials said.

 
The American International School, one of Gaza's best private schools.. has more than 600 students. In March 2006, the Dutch principal and an Australian teacher were briefly kidnapped, and foreign teachers left after that incident. (AP, 4.20)

- etc..

Propaganda for the Iraqi "resistance" on

a German fascist web site

Related stuff:

☞ Towards an International Alliance against Imperialism and Zionism

☞ Campo Antiimperialista (**)

☞ [카이로회의 선언문]"제국주의와 시온주의에 맞선 국제적 동맹을 위해"           

* And this was also one of the main explanations by the NS/fascist Germany why it is/was necessary to exterminate the, at least European, entire Jewish population (because they were/are ruling the capitalism). And as you - possibly - know, this goal (the physically extermination of the European Jews) was nearly "successfully". About 6,000,000 Jews in Europe were killed by mass executions and the industrialized mass murder in the gas chambers.. 

** Campo Antiimperialista - an "anti-imperialist", self-called "communist" coordination site - with strong connections to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah...

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..but of course only without the f.. US Imperialism!!(^^)

WTF is that??

This picture was taken on yesterday's memorial rally for Heo Se-wook - "민족민주노동열사"(*) - who burned himself to express his opposition against the S.K.-US FTA.

Related articles:

☞ Anti-FTA rally held in memory of dead protester (Yonhap/Hankyoreh)

☞ Man who immolated himself in protest of FTA dies (Hankyoreh)

☞ In a time when people still end their lives in struggle

☞ Heo Se-Wook, passed away on Sunday (VoP)

☞ 'Candlelight is Heo's wish.'

☞ 한미FTA 무효! 한미동맹 폐기! 고 허세욱 동지 민족민주노동열사장 (SPARK)

☞ "FTA반대 분신" 故 허세욱 동지 추모제 (People Times)

* "민족민주노동열사... this is a series of nouns.

민족: nation

민주: democracy

노동: labor

열사: patriot who laid down his/her life for justice or democracy or his/her country

민족, 민주 and 노동 - these three nouns modify or define the last word, 열사, so consequently, it means that Heo Se-uk dongji, the taxi driver who burnt himself, laid down his life for his nation, democracy and liberation of labor. I think 민족 should be taken out from the phrase because part of his 민족 had been betraying him until his life reached the dead end." (explanation by "mark")

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RACISM IN THE GERMAN ARMY

Well, it seems that the Bundeswehr, the German Army is already preparing for RAHOWA (*). Just watch following short docu:

The "dialog":

The order by the sergeant:

"You now are in the Bronx.
A black Van stops in front of you.
Three Afroamericans step out and insult your mother on the roughest." 
The sergeant continues:
"Before each fire burst I want to hear a loud
'Motherfucker'."  

"Move on".

* ☞ Racial Holy War

Last year in Afghanistan:

German troops on "peace mission"

Related:

The German Defense Ministry said Monday that an incident in which a soldier was told to imagine facing hostile blacks in the Bronx while firing a machine gun was "absolutely unacceptable."
"This behavior is absolutely unacceptable and contradicts the training standards of the German army," defense ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said. (AP, 4.16)

☞ German Army to Investigate Racist Incident (Der Spiegel)

☞ Macabre Photos Disgrace German Military

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평양, 4.15

Before y'day (4.15) "the entire world celebrated the 95th birthday of Kim Il-sung, the Great Leader, the eternal President of the Korean people, the Shining Sun of the entire mankind.." (Rodong Shinmun).

And - because it was also celebrated in the DPRK - its leadership invited such "illustrious" birthday guests like a high-ranking delegation of the "Liberal Democratic" Party of Russia(LDPR) and gave a "great reception" (according to KCNA, 4.16) for them.

But the LDPR has complete nothing to do with liberalism and/or democracy. It is one of the most reactionary parties in the entire former Soviet Union/Russia. It's a very nationalist, racist organization (GNP/Hannara-dang, for instance, is - compared to the LDPR - a bunch of progressive activists..^^/eh~ sorry!!). LDPR has very good relationships to several European fascist organisations, such as Front National in France, the British National Party, NPD in Germany, Vlaams Belang in Belgium etc.. 

And in several articles Rodong Shinmun, during the last days, was glorifying/praising the ongoing struggle of the "Korean Style Socialism" against the (US) Imperialism/Capitalism. And this is exactly the same what - for example - the German (fascist) NPD means when it calls for "National Socialism instead of Capitalism"!!

FIGHT ALL KINDS OF NATIONALISM & RACISM!!

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Following text is translated from the anarchist magazine El Libertario (# 49, March 2007), the "Voice of the Comision de Relaciones Anarquistas" (in Venezuela).
(BTW.. since several days Indymedia Venezuela is online!!! ☞ cmi venezuela)

Prisons in Venezuela: Extreme Violence, Extreme Indifference

2007 began as a wonderful year for the power elite. The overwhelming victory upon their electoral competitors fills with air the saturated space that belongs to the “revolution” and their supporters. However, the penitentiary space does not “share” the same spirit of victory and oxygenation that does the chavista bureaucracy and, on the contrary, the year 2007 began with a sort of aberrant riots that serve as a prelude of the coming violent times.

* Extreme Violence

The past January 2 of 2007, it was started the new year in penitentiary matter with a quarrel at the Uribana prison of the Lara State due to a internal power struggle leaving an outcome of 16 dead prisoners and more than 13 injured ones, according to the official version offered at the midday by the Chief of the staff of the CORE-4, colonel José Enrique Maldonado Lupuy. According to the unofficial information obtained, all the leaders of minimum, middle and maximum were killed and even mutilated in some cases, with spiked sticks, fire arms and others. The happening that began in the midnight of Monday gave the mentioned outcome and only in the morning hours were reestablished the control of the prison.

In a first moment it was told about a fragmentary grenade that were flied and caused the deaths, however, that was refused by the military chief and he said that it was a riot for the control of the prison. As usually happens in those cases, the relatives were located at various meters of the prison due to the area was taken over by the military and just after 1.5 hour it was known officially the names of the dead imprisoned. In the morgue of the Hospital Central, the scenes of pain and desperation were growing while the unofficial information was passing from person to person between friends, relatives and even curious ones.

As it would be expected, the major “milico” of the CORE-4 filled his mouth telling that “the situation is under control”, applying for it the reorganization of the prison, the transference of the imprisoned implied on the crimes, counting on 200 men of the Guardia Nacional for stepping up vigilance in the external areas of the prison while the officials of the Ministerio de Interior y Justicia tried to control the internal areas. After the slaughters of that Monday, the January Wednesday 3, six of the imprisoned transferred from Uribana to Guanare resulted dead in a collective riot. It was told that it was an act of vengeance due to the happenings of the Uribana prison.

* Extreme Indifference

The Venezuelan population has become accustomed to live with the disasters generated inside prisons as it would be something natural. However, maybe the worst of it all is to look into the indifference and slovenliness that the red bureaucrats observed the situation. Beginning with the new Minister of Interior and Justice (MIJ), Pedro Carreño, that abstain himself from confirming the information about the riots, although he said that the Directora de Custodía y Rehabilitación, Fanny Márquez had moved to Guanare to know about the situation and informed that she will impulse the restructuring of the 25 prisons of the country as the messianic coming of the above-mentioned official could stop the violence between imprisoned and the absurd fact that restructuring an obsolete and out-of-date institution could get better the prison situation…

One person that does declare oneself against the situation was the Defensor del Pueblo (Ombdusman), Germán Mundaraín that regretted for the violence happenings in those penitentiary centers and for the general situation of the Venezuelan prisons because they “are against the well-known advances that – upon Human Rights – had been produced in other areas of society”. The aberrant cheek which is characteristic of the employees of the Venezuelan state seemed to be a “sine qua non” condition for occupying their positions. Another person in showing his cheek on that matter was the director of Sabaneta, Elí Ramón Salgado when he said that “everything is ok. The happenings of yesterday were a product of a confrontation among maximum security imprisoned and those of the so-called “prison”. The firsts tried to trespass to the seconds´s area and those killed them with fire arms.” As the imprisoned were animals, the officials shown a clear contempt for human life. Also, The Inter-american Court of Human Rights declared its preoccupation for the prison situation in Venezuela, but, as usual, this was not more than a text reproduced without any reflection about it in this Caribbean enclave.

* The mortal cycle

The extreme indifference which is shown by the authorities and the general society caused extreme violence as a mortal cycle. The lack of assistance, the slovenliness, the classical justification of a state where any arbitrariness has a justification – if you´ll forgive the repetition – are in a certain way the causes of those vandalism actions that only benefit the penitentiary authorities that are the first to introduce arms in the prisons. “Divide and Rule” tells a popular saying and this is the policy that is applied in prisons. For avoiding escapes and riots, the “authorities” are into favouring the riots between rival bands and they dispute for “territories” and in this manner maintaining a tense calm within prisons.

Uribana, Guanare and Sabaneta are premonitory cases of what could keep occurring. 8 years of Bolivarian “revolution” had been equivalent to 8 years of penitentiary carelessness. The social debt with the most forgotten sector of society is very big. No restructuring and no funds for get better the precincts: we, as anarchists demand the freedom of all the imprisoned and the substitution of the prisons for more human measures that do not carry the charge of freedom deprivation. Keeping them apart from society and imprisoning do not pay for the committed damage and do not rehabilitate to the individual. I don´t know if “socialism” is conquered by fighting but I do know that freedom does. Also, it is conquered demanding the just. We make a calling not only to the antiauthoritarian local movement but to the whole human race to put to a end to the prison system.

To organize right now a big network reporting the arbitrariness’s that happens in prisons and to break the cynical informative blockage, to organize into groups of similar interests according to its own means and strategic possibilities, in the margins of any party or establishment that pretends to monopolize the anti-prison struggle, to study in depth about the abolitionist principle and far from the irrational violence that it is the way of the state.

With nothing more to say but that we wait hopefully the fall of the Walls of Jerico and that the word prison would be a synonym of demolition.

¡¡¡ Down to the walls of prisons!!!