kotaji 거타지

And for people in London:

SOAS Centre of Korean Studies in association with the Daesan Foundation

Literary Event with Korean Novelist Hwang Sok-yong

4.30-7.00pm
Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Khalili Lecture Theatre
SOAS, University of London

“Hwang Sok-yong is arguably Korea’s most recognized and renowned author. Drawing artistic inspiration from his own experiences as a vagabond day laborer, student activist, Vietnam War veteran, advocate for coal miners and garment workers, and political dissident, he is embraced as a writer and champion of the people. His historical novel, Chang Kilsan, an extensive parable about a bandit that described the contemporary dictatorship, was serialized in a daily paper from 1974 to 1984 and sold an estimated million copies in North and South Korea. In 1993 there was international outcry when Hwang was sentenced to seven years in prison for an unauthorized trip to the North to promote exchange between artists in North and South Korea. In 1998, he was granted special pardon by the new South Korean president. The recipient of Korea’s highest literary prizes and shortlisted for the Prix Fémina Étranger, Hwang has seen his novels and shorts stories published in North and South Korea, Japan, China, France, Germany, and the U.S. Hwang was born in 1943 in Xinjing, Manchuria (now Changchun, China).”

‘About the Author’ in Hwang Sok-yong’s The Guest published by Seven Stories Press (2005)

The SOAS Centre of Korean Studies has been honoured to host Mr Hwang Sok-yong’s stay in London (as associate member of the Centre) over the past two years. The Centre is pleased to host this event in honour of the celebrated novelist, who was shortlisted for this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, as he leaves London and SOAS for Paris where he will be affiliated with the University of Paris over the next two years.

Mr Hwang will discuss his works and read from his novel, The Guest (손님), the English translation of which has been recently published by Seven Stories Press. A book signing and drinks reception will follow.

This event is kindly supported by the Daesan Foundation.

For further information or queries, please contact Grace Koh (gk5@soas.ac.uk)

ALL ARE WELCOME

Just before the month of November comes to an end, I wanted to flag up the fact that Words without Borders (’The Online Magazine for International Literature’) has a special edition this month dedicated to Korean writers. It includes fiction and non-fiction, writing old and new and has pieces by both Ko Un and Hwang Sôg-yông, who regular readers will know have been featured here fairly recently. Now I must find the time to read some of these things myself.

On a not-really-related topic I feel I should link to the Global Voices Online metablog (I think that’s what it should be called anyway), largely because they’ve been linking to me quite a bit recently and it seems like an interesting and admirable project seeking to aid the diversification of the blogworld. I see from a quick google that the site has even had a write-up on the BBC news site. Perhaps it’s slightly ironic that they’re linking me as a voice from Korea when I live in London, where I was born and brought up. And I have no Korean ancestry (as far as I know). Anyway, more power to their elbows, especially when they post such excellent blog round-ups, like this one today from Palestine.

Excuse me if I go off on a tangent momentarily, but I just wanted to point people toward the new English-language blog started by staff at Al Jazeera to protest about the recent revelations that Bush may have been planning to bomb the AlJaz HQ in Qatar last year. Their blog has the somewhat cheeky title ‘Don’t Bomb Us’ and also links to their collection of photos on flickr, mainly shots of recent protests outside the Qatar HQ.

Meanwhile, back in the UK where the Bush-Blair transcript story broke in the Daily Mirror, one blog is encouraging bloggers to follow the lead of Boris Johnson and Ian Hislop (editors of The Spectator and Private Eye respectively) and promise to publish the infamous memo should it fall into their grubby paws. [FYI: the attorney general has threatened to prosecute anyone who does this under the Official Secrets Act]. The Blairwatch blog has even produced a button for bloggers to proudly display their defiance of Mr Goldsmith. As for me, I find it highly implausible that some anonymous Deep Throat type is going to come up to me as a I get the bus home tonight and press a sheaf of crumpled papers into my hand, so I doubt there’s much point in promising to publish the memo. I am looking forward to reading it though.

You can follow the unfolding story of the mysterious Al Jazeera bombing memo/transcript at its work-in-progress Wikipedia page.

It could be argued that the late Edward Said and his critique of Orientalism have become sacred cows in their own right. It seems that many of the fundamental insights of Said’s classic book, Orientalism, are valid and have rightly reached the level of orthodoxy in many universities (I sometimes wonder whether SOAS should alter its name to read the School of Orientalism and African Studies). But it’s not difficult to feel uneasy about the slack and sometimes less than discriminating application of the term. This concern is expressed very clearly in a sharp article by the Indian historian Irfan Habib that was originally published earlier this year in the journal Social Scientist and has been republished in the latest issue of International Socialism Journal.

Habib’s basic criticism of Said is that he applies the accusation of ‘Orientalist’ to far too broad a spectrum of scholars working on Asia and Africa, arguing that anything written in the ‘West’ is inherently Orientalist, Eurocentric and racist, ignoring the fact that there has been much good scholarship by Western historians that cannot be accused of any of these vices (Habib brings up the examples of Joseph Needham and Ignaz Goldziher). In the process Said himself, Habib argues, uses some rather dubious and unfounded arguments, based on highly selective and misleading quotation. Habib particularly takes him to task for his treatment of Marx – a treatment that has helped to turn the Marx = Eurocentrist equation into a modern day commonplace:

Marx as a subject of Said’s study… offers further examples of the cavalier way in which Said can stuff anyone he dislikes or wishes to belittle into his nasty basket of ‘Orientalists’. Much has already been said on this matter by Aijaz Ahmad in his essay, ‘Marx on India: a Clarification’ (In Theory, Delhi, 1994, pp221-242). He shows that Said builds his interpretation on just two passages taken from Marx’s two articles published in the New York Tribune in 1853, and seems to be unacquainted with what Marx wrote elsewhere on India. Here it must be added that while Marx necessarily relied on (the quite extensive) European reports on India, the picture that he drew out of it, of the social and economic devastation that British rule caused in India, was largely his own—and this was hardly an ‘Orientalist’ enterprise under Said’s definition. Moreover even in Marx’s second essay, apparently consulted by Said, there is a passage looking forward to the Indians overthrowing ‘the English yoke’ (K Marx and F Engels, Collected Works, vol 12, Moscow, 1979, p221). Marx also writes in the very same article of ‘the profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of bourgeois civilisation [which] lies unveiled before our eyes, turning from its home where it assumes respectable forms, to the colonies where it goes naked.’ And yet, again and again in his book, Said sneers at Marx as being, at the end of the day, a pro-colonial ‘Orientalist’. So we are told, ‘This Orientalism can accommodate Aeschylus, say, and Victor Hugo, Dante and Karl Marx’ (p3). The view that ‘Indians were civilisationally, if not racially, inferior’ is indirectly ascribed to Marx on page 14. On page 102 Said goes so far as to put Marx among those writers who could use all the following ‘generalities unquestioningly’: ‘An Oriental lives in the Orient, he lives a life of Oriental ease, in a state of Oriental despotism, and sensuality, imbued with a feeling of Oriental fatalism.’ The italicised words constitute a fantastic misrepresentation of Karl Marx’s writings on Asia. But Said does not still stop here. On p231 he puts Marx among those who held that ‘an Oriental man was first an Oriental and only second a man’—a meaningless formula seemingly coined simply to belittle Marx.

An update to the last post: I’ve solved the problem of the huge discrepancy in demo numbers. Predictably, this appears to have been one of those confusions over the Sino-Korean number system. The article in this week’s 다함께 newspaper evaluating the APEC protests, reports that there were 30,000 protestors in Pusan last Friday (3만명), not 300,000 as reported in Socialist Worker. Oh dear, one of those mistakes that seems to be so easy to make. It’s now been corrected, at least on the web edition of the paper.

The 다함께 paper also has a reply to the article from 참세상 that I linked in the last post, taking issue with some of the points made by the writer 라은영 (that the radical left was too weak within the organisation of the anti-APEC protests; that there was an overemphasis on the anti-Bush aspect of the protest and concern about the role of the left in the movement against neoliberal globalisation). There follows, among other things, an interesting discussion of the tactic of focusing on the ‘anti-Bush’ aspect of the protest and whether this is the same as a simplistic anti-American stance.

I promise to stop going on about the APEC protests now… The anti-WTO protests in Hong Kong will be coming up soon anyway.

A quick wrap-up of coverage on last week’s anti-APEC protests in Pusan. Actually, Two Koreas has already done a pretty good job of rounding up the few sources in English, including this good article at Monsters and Critics (Jamie was also kind enough to quote my brief overview of the events from Friday).

For readers of Korean, 참세상 has an assessment of Friday’s events that looks back on the organisation of the protests and expresses some regret, along with pride in some of the actions. I particularly like the part where the writer wonders how much people in other countries must have been surprised to see the Korean demonstrators braving water cannon to tie ropes to the shipping containers used as a barricade by the police, and then start to pull them down.

This week’s Socialist Worker has a report on the protests from CJ Park. I’m not sure about the figures he quotes - 300,000 seems greater than most other estimates by an order of ten. However, as some have pointed out, while the convergance of demonstrators at the bridge over to the conference venue may have been only some 20,000 people, but other demonstrations were taking place all over the city. The old numbers game eh… it always manages to baffle me. Anyway, here is the whole article:

Korea: 300,000 say no to Bush

by CJ Park from the South Korean socialist group All Together

A march of 300,000 people confronted George Bush when he went to South Korea to attend the Economic Leaders’ Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Community (APEC).

APEC aims to give support to the upcoming WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong and to push forward free trade and privatisation, and strengthen Bush’s war on terror.

But he had to go back empty handed — as he did earlier this month at the Summit of Americas.

In the same week South Korea’s cabinet backed a proposal to withdraw one third of the country’s 3,200 troops from Iraq.

The Washington Post complained, “As Bush wrapped up his stay in Beijing on Sunday and prepared to head home Monday after a brief stop in Mongolia, the trip has produced no real breakthroughs of any sort.

“On a wide variety of issues, from trade to security to human rights, Bush won no concrete agreements from any of his summit partners. Bush wanted to propel free trade during an economic summit in South Korea, but the general statement drafted by Pacific Rim leaders drops no tariffs and merely sets the stage for further talks.”

On Friday last week, the first day of the summit, 300,000 people from all walks of life came out on the streets of Busan to protest, chanting “No Bush, No APEC!”

The demonstration was the biggest protest this year in South Korea.

As a member of the Korean socialist group All Together said “it was a unity of diversity”.

This reflects the rising level of radicalisation and confidence of the anti-war and anti-capitalist movements in South Korea.That anger is fuelled by the growing inequality in Korean society.

Recently the movement has been inspired by the anti-war demonstrations in the US and anti-Bush demonstrations in Argentina.

Across the country people know that Bush is the biggest threat to humanity and the planet.

APEC is clearly only a mechanism to force through neo-liberal globalisation in the Asia Pacific region.

Building upon the success of the anti-Bush demonstration, the South Korean anti-war and anti-capitalist movements are working to bring all Korean troops home from Iraq.

CJ’s organisation, All Together (다함께) seems to have put a lot of energy into the anti-APEC protests, as befits their internationalist, anti-globalisation perspective. For a relatively small organisation, not part of the old mainstream Korean left, they manage to have a high profile with their prominent and sharply designed placards. Lots of which can be viewed at the photo galleries on their site (can’t directly link to photos as their site is blocked on my server for some unknown reason).

Anyway, here’s a taste:

A very quick update on what’s been happening in Pusan today (now yesterday in Korean time). It seems that the police set out to prevent the anti-APEC demo happening from the outset, preventing protestors (particularly farmers) from getting on buses in various locations around the country and even stealing the keys to some of the buses. As a result of this and perhaps also the violence that happened earlier in the week in Seoul, the turnout for the demo was lower than had been anticipated by the organisers, reaching only 20,000 apparently.

As the day wore on it seems that protestors converged towards the bridge connecting the city to the area where the summit was being held. Here they were met by thousands of riot police (a total of 30,000 were deployed in all apparently) with a barricade of buses and shipping containers. As might be expected, some some pitched battles broke out between the bamboo-spear wielding farmers and the riot police, who began to respond with water cannon. In the tradition of Korean demonstrations things got quite extreme with riot police apparently wielding 3-metre-long metal pipes at demonstrators and angry protestors responding by using ropes to pull the shipping containers from the barricades and into the sea. The fighting went on after dark, but it seems that the police were eventually able to disperse the protestors without too much trouble.

Some news sources (all in Korean unfortunately):

Newscham
Oh My News
Voice of People

And the BBC’s take on things, for what it’s worth.

It’s confirmed now: we’ve won a major victory at SOAS and achieved the reinstatement of the two sacked specialist librarians. Here’s what the director Colin Bundy had to say about it today (this was only his second communication with students in the long-running dispute, his first was two days ago):

SOAS LIBRARY DISPUTE RESOLVED

It has been agreed that Sue Small and Fujiko Kobayashi will be reinstated at SOAS. All industrial action has been withdrawn. The School and the AUT have invited ACAS to conduct a process of repairing and restoring collegial working relations in the Library and more generally in addressing issues of workplace relations and behaviour across the School. Two other processes recommended by the SOAS Governing Body are also being put in train: a review of Library strategy and an examination of HR policies and procedures.

Colin Bundy
Director and Principal

18 November 2005

Meanwhile, the Student Union had this to say:

The Students’ Union of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is today (Friday 18th November) pleased to announce that industrial action planned by members of the AUT Union for next week has been suspended. The move follows eleventh-hour talks at the conciliation service, ACAS.

We, the Executive of the Students’ Union are heartened that the combined voice of nearly 4,000 students and academics has finally been listened to and acknowledged by SOAS Management. The deal is simple; the two Librarians have been reinstated to their former positions in the Library, and will return on the 28th November; no other Academic Related staff are under threat. The proposed ‘restructure’ has failed. Common sense has prevailed.

Mushtaq Ahmad (Co-President of the SU) on behalf of the SU Exec said, “I have no doubt that the thought of a full-scale walk out by students and academics combined, coupled with the prospect of non-payment of tuition fees started the dramatic push for talks on Tuesday afternoon”

The Executive Bodies of the AUT, UNISON and the Students’ Union have already agreed that from now onwards we will work more visibly together, to ensure that decision making at SOAS becomes more democratic and sound. We will attempt to prevent Management from taking decisions that will have a negative impact on staff, students and on the institution as a whole.
Academics and students must work effectively together to ensure our voices are heard.

Fujiko Kobayashi, reinstated SOAS Japan/Korea Librarian said, “I would like to thank all students, academics and staff throughout SOAS who from the first day have campaigned tirelessly for our positions, and for the future of the Library itself. Your emails and protests have touched Sue and myself greatly. Thank you all.”

The momentum generated by the success of this campaign will now be carried forward to our main issue for this academic year, and the one that students at SOAS demand the most; longer Library opening hours. We are confident that by working together, positive progress will be made during academic year.

We look forward to working with our colleagues in the AUT, UNISON and Management to restore good working relations within the School in order to extend access to the Library, to improve transparency in decision making, and to help restore SOAS international reputation. We believe that SOAS is one of the world’s most internationally recognised centres of specialist
knowledge, we must keep it that way.

Students can be assured that that the Students’ Union now has a powerful voice within this institution. We thank you all for your support through these difficult months.

Executive of the SOAS Students’ Union

One of the most heartening things about this is the way that it seems to have woken up both academics and students (me included) to what the management has been trying to do at SOAS. It has seems to have brought about a new unity among the three unions at SOAS which could prove crucial again in the future.

As many of the world’s favourite leaders gather in Korea’s second city, the big anti-APEC demo in Pusan is almost upon us. Hopefully I’ll have something to report tomorrow as organisers have been predicting a turnout of around 100,000 people and the demo against this particular club of neo-liberalising technocrats has become the focus for quite a few pissed off groups of people in Korea.

One such group is the farmers’ organisations, who demonstrated on Tuesday outside the National Assembly in Seoul against the liberalisation of the Korean rice market. Not too surprisingly the demo turned rather nasty with more than a hundred farmers ending up in hospital with injuries ranging from minor to very serious. For their side, the farmers managed to burn seven (yes, seven) police buses. As expected, Oh My News was on the scene to take some excellent pictures, which can be found here.

Jamie at Two Koreas, a man who knows something about anti-APEC demos from personal experience, has been doing a good job of covering the run-up to tomorrow’s fun. Newscham has also been reporting on the Pusan International People’s Forum taking place at the same time as APEC (in Korean).

Meanwhile, over at that home of cutting edge journalism known as the Korea Times, we learn that APEC delegates are getting to “experience unique Korean culture“. So, that’s ok then, the world leaders can contemplate calligraphy and listen to Confucian shrine music while they screw the world. Somehow, that makes it seem so much better. Of course the moment we’re all really waiting for is that cheesy photo-op when the 21 leaders will gather outside the conference venue donning the traditional Korean turumagi overcoats.

Here’s a somehwat more pleasing image:

Sort of reminds me of this:

And this:

And this:

(All pictures from Stop Bush demo, London, 20 November 2003)

Word has it that SOAS management has caved in and agreed to reinstate the sacked librarians, Fujiko Kobayashi and Sue Small. There will apparently also be a full review of the library restructuring with major representation from academic staff.

More information when I get it.