Happening now- Korea

[James48]

HAPPENING NOW: Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans are participating in a general strike to protest the government's election-rigging and union-busting.


The South Korean police - 4,000 of them- attacked a Union Labor HQ's several days ago, without a valid search warrant.

Today, hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike and are protesting the action.

:large


SHARE to show solidarity with workers standing up!

More photos here: http://bit.ly/1dJROcd

[abelenkpe]

1. Good for them. If only Americans would do the same nt

[kelliekat44]

19. If only. This should happen world-wide, a workers protest of the 2%, poor pay and poor conditions

It could make a huge difference if all peoples everywhere could stick it out for just one week.

[Teamster Jeff]

2. K&R

[cinnabonbon]

3. K and R

[Scuba]

4. Meanwhile, in the US of A ...

[WowSeriously]

6. American Sheeple

[Enthusiast]

27. And look where it has gotten us. First they got everyone to make concessions.

Remember concessions? It didn't do any good. They still outsourced.

I guess we need to go back to strikes. It seems to be the only language corporations understand.

[CrispyQ]

33. Geez, what happened in 1980?

I know many democrats who voted for him.

[Scuba]

35. Ask the Air Traffic Controllers. They might know.

[WillyT]

5. HUGE K & R !!!

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

7. We should learn from this.

But I don't hold out too much hope.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. Americans have been so brainwashed

by the concept of "American exceptionalism," "land of the free," etc. etc. etc. that they will never open their eyes to the gross injustices going on here. Now they're convincing people who can't find work that it's somehow their fault and that they deserve to suffer.

[AZ Progressive]

17. The Rich in America have mastered the art of propaganda

And that's why they have been able to keep the American people from turning against them, they have succeeded where other rich people have failed. Even Calvinist Protestantism (brought by the puritans) in this country was used to justify the exorbitant wealth of the rich.

[Plucketeer]

21. +1000

[Demo_Chris]

8. KICK!@

[James48]

9. More on the background-

This started out a few weeks ago as a protest against privatization of rail lines- and the government
arrested Union leaders - now the people are responding.

Here is some background-

http://www.themilitant.com/2014/7801/780103.html

[iandhr]

10. "protest the government's election-rigging and union-busting."

Can someone please enlighten me on the background.

[James48]

14. Yes

Yes - read this for background:

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/12/28/photos-100000-south-koreans-protest-election-scandal-labor-clampdown/

[madrchsod]

15. here`s some background on korea's labor problems

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996%E2%80%9397_strikes_in_South_Korea

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9612/28/korea.clashes/

http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2013-10/30/content_30445180.htm

http://www.autonews.com/article/20130814/COPY01/308149972/hyundai-kia-brace-for-second-straight-year-of-labor-strikes-in-korea

[madrchsod]

12. the korean unions do not fuck around....

the unions have fought pitched battles with korean army troops and tanks. there was a lot of blood shed and lives lost and it wasn't all that long ago.

what`s next...tanks?

[magical thyme]

13. The 1% will simply move their operations to a non-union country

It's easy to blame Americans for not protesting. The Koreans are new to the game. They have not yet been taught that if they demand a living wage and common decency, the 1% will either put them down or pack up and move.

[SunSeeker]

18. Yup, it'll only work if worker unions go global, like corporations have. nt

[factsarenotfair]

28. That's a very good point.

I wonder if any unions are working on going international.

[BelgianMadCow]

16. Thanks for posting! HUGE K & R

[jtuck004]

20. Is Dancing With the Stars on tonight? n/t

[NBachers]

23. It's a rerun with Tom Delay and Tonya Harding; Linda Tripp and Ollie North are the judges.

It's an NPR fundraising event, hosted by Cokie Roberts.

[jtuck004]

24. The American way. Freedum. n/t

[Enthusiast]

26. LOL!

[Nanjing to Seoul]

22. South Korea is pretty much controlled by about seven corporations

Samsung
LG
Hyundai
Kia
Anycall
Daewoo
Lotte

And the usual suspects of control around the world, mostly Yum Brands and McDonald's.

South Korea is about two steps away from the authoritarian rule they had under Rhee Syungman.

Good luck workers. . .good luck labor unions. Solidarity!

[totodeinhere]

30. But yet the life of the average South Korean is much better than life

experienced by most of their counterparts in North Korea. Yet I don't see any threads complaining about the way things are run in North Korea. I am not defending anti-union activities anywhere, but a bit of perspective is in order I think.

[rhett o rick]

36. I guess I get to be the first to throw the BS flag.

When you say: "I am not defending anti-union activities anywhere, but" it means you are going to defend anti-union activities but you are going to try to be clever about it.

Granted life is much better in South Korea but that doesnt make it unimportant when the South Koreans want it better. You are saying essentially, that the South Koreans should be grateful they dont live in the North and kowtow to their bosses.

And more of the same: "I don't see any threads complaining about the way things are run in North Korea." This is a news item. You seem to suggest that for every article about South Korea, there needs to be at least one about North Korea.

This is what I read into your post. If I am wrong, please clarify.

[totodeinhere]

38. Yes, you are wrong. You seem to want to put the worst possible interpretation on

my comments. Well, I guess that's par for the course for Internet message boards. But be that as it may when I said ""I am not defending anti-union activities anywhere" I meant it. When I say something I wish that failing any evidence to the contrary you would take my word for it. I am not questioning your honesty and I wish you would offer me that same courtesy. If you care enough to investigate you can do a search for previous comments I have made at DU and you will see that I have often made comments defending unions and I haven't ever made any anti-union comments.

Look at my comments in this thread for instance.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=70720

[rhett o rick]

39. If I misunderstood your intention, I apologize. But you seemed to make light of

this protest by pointing out that life is better than in the North. No one here is claiming that life in North Korea is any better.

I guess I didnt understand your point.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

40. Perspective? Trying living there for two years like I did before moving to China.

[Enthusiast]

25. This is inspirational.

The INTERNATIONAL FASCISTS won't like it.

[MrScorpio]

29. Korea's always good for a lively demonstration

It was that way back in the 80-'s too when I was there.

[iamthebandfanman]

31. These things tend to happen

when you go around the world installing right wing nationalists as your 'safe guard' against those darn commies.

the south Korean government has been corrupt since its conception.

I do support our being in South Korea tho.. and I do support protecting the people of South Korea from their neighbor to the north...

this was part of the deal we agreed to after WW2 after all... and the Korean peninsula being taken from the Japanese who had oppressed them since the 1910's.

if the Chinese and north Koreans hadn't invaded shortly after the end of WW2, no telling what relations may have been by now...
not that I don't blame the Chinese for taking their civil war victory (with the help of north Koreans) and reciprocating it to their struggling party members to the south... would seem like a pretty good strategic thing to do I suppose...
tho im sure the Russians made it sound way easier than it ended up being.. the UN barely had any forces there after all...

[L0oniX]

32. SOLIDARITY!

[Overseas]

34. K&R. Glad to hear it.

[Uncle Joe]

37. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, James.

[davidpdx]

41. I'm in Korea and heard about this as well

It is worth noting that the freedom of speech and assembly are much weaker in Korea than the US. Last I heard about this the workers were fired. I don't actively read the papers here because most of the ones in English are either written poorly or full of propaganda.