Why are South Korean protestors so hardcore?
Apr 1 2005 17:10
I've seen footage of steel workers attacking cops with massive steal poles and DIY fire-cannons, students 10 rows thick charging cops and today on the news the navy with handheld blow-torchs fighting the cops outside the American embassy in Seoul.
How come they are so hardcore? The cops always just seem to stand there at let shit come at them... are unions really strong in SK?
Apr 1 2005 18:34
#2
Probably something to do with (relativly) recent experience of a brutal military dictatorship. Not much of a tradition of peaceful protest...
Apr 1 2005 18:45
#3
like in greece too, the anarchists are fucking mental at protests, even the non-insurrectionist types, which is also probably due to the (fairly) recent dictatorship as well.
also i've heard somewhere that pretty much any kind of anti-government thing gets denounced as being pro-north korean, and it may well be plausible as far as the security forces are concerned that they are, so they presumably get quite a lot of repression anyway so think what the hell lets give as good as we get.
koreas not as hardcore as china though, where they apparently regularly lynch the local bosses, and the favourite kids game in many towns as "kill the boss" where they reenact it. but then they've actually got a dictatorship, so that's more obvious.
Apr 1 2005 19:55
#4
Yeah there was a massive general strike for about a year (i believe) in 85/86.
Popular resistance to a dictatorship in recent memory, like this:
http://www.enrager.net/history/articles/kwanju-uprising-1980/index.php
Became hardcore due to massive repression... But yeah footage is always incredibly impressive. Oh and every male citizen gets 4 years in the army (and learning Tae Kwon Do) as well. Don't know about women...
Apr 2 2005 12:16
#5
Ah - the South Korean workers! They kick so much ass! Whenever I am down, I just put "south korea + riot" into Google images and get amazed! Has anyone else seen "Fourth World War"? There is a section in that on the general strike there in the late nineties that is just amazing.
Edit: rkn, where can I see that footage? It sounds astonishing!
Apr 2 2005 12:57
#6
Cant remmeber the student stuff... the steel workers im sure is on some riot porn video somewhere no idea what one. Also i think i saw it on EuroNews. I saw the blowtorch thing yesterday on a digital channel called Vectone, SE asian news channel.
Apr 2 2005 14:04
#7
Quote:
The cops always just seem to stand there at let shit come at them...
well, there's some footage on some indymedia site of what the cops do when they're NOT being bombarded with petrol bombs, homemade flame throwers and steel poles there. it's of some attempt at a peaceful sit down protest by some trade unionists. the police just charged in and clubbed everyone unconscious. so that's probably another reason why they're so hardcore, if its either that or know for certain that you'll get your head cracked open...
Apr 5 2005 19:02
#8
I actually have a friend whos korean so I asked him bout the unions and violent protest and he basically said the unions are very strong and stick together. But he also mentioned the culture plays a part in it. At school he said people got beaten up or punched if they did not address a person older than them by 2 years in the polite form of speak, respect is a large part of their culture. I mean beating someone up because he spoke to you in the wrong form is pretty hardcore...
Apr 15 2005 10:07
#9
GT: damn right the Chinese are even more hardcore:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1460263,00.html
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20050411160220329
8)
Shit: can you imagine something like this kicking off in, I dunno, rural south Wales or somewhere? No, me neither.
Nov 15 2005 18:43
#10
Hi
Quote:
can you imagine something like this kicking off in, I dunno, rural south Wales or somewhere? No, me neither.
Disarm the police and raise the standard of living in Wales to Korean levels. You’d get it.
Love
LR
Nov 15 2005 19:02
#11
there was a general strike in S. Korea in the late 90s when the tiger economies crashed as well.
The unions are very militant and from what i understand, pretty close to syndicalism (someone who knows more about it than me equated them to COBAS)
Nov 15 2005 19:07
#12
Hi
Disarmed police and secure incomes account for the confidence of South Korean workers.
Love
LR
Nov 15 2005 19:23
#13
asa wrote:
GT: damn right the Chinese are even more hardcore
That's right whitey!
Nov 15 2005 21:44
#14
Did anyone see the footage of South Korean famers getting stuck into the cops on Sky News today?
It was pretty hardcore, although I was expecting some sort of sheep projectile firing device to appear at any moment, whereas instead they just stuck to scaffolding poles.
Perhaps a French farmers delegation needs to be sent over?
Nov 15 2005 23:19
#15
Hi
Quote:
Did anyone see the footage of South Korean famers getting stuck into the cops on Sky News today?
Oh yes…
Why are South Korean cops so pathetic?
Love
LR
Nov 16 2005 03:05
#16
that one links to here and this one links to there - it's like a whole south korean feedback loop of violence.
Nov 20 2005 10:04
#17
Used to live in S. Korea. Yes, fairly hardcore stuff though student organisations seem to have bought into Juche (N.Korean) ideology served with a side dish of nationalism (reminds me of somewhere else!), anti-US imperialism, reunification etc... Most important event in recent years the Kwanju Uprising in 1980 which they commemorate every year by having another full-on with the cops
http://flag.blackened.net/infohub/organise/content.php?article.523
Incidentally, prominent student leaders during their first year of military service (3 years) are made to join the riot police and so crack the skulls of former comrades, or else they have little 'accidents'. The government also hire a group of casually denim-clad folk with a license to do what they like during protests...very nasty
Nov 20 2005 18:45
#18
Nov 20 2005 19:50
#19
Hi
Quote:
Incidentally, prominent student leaders during their first year of military service (3 years) are made to join the riot police and so crack the skulls of former comrades, or else they have little 'accidents'.
My apologies for quoting this cross-thread.
Warm regards
LR
It's because they have a strong class analysis.