Pen/Insular_Notes

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.

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)

I was lying in bed a couple of nights ago, about to enter the land of nod, when I distinctly heard the newsreader on the radio say in the usual matter of fact, nonchalant way:

…capitalism is destroying the planet and bringing more poverty and hunger every day…

He was, of course quoting the inimitable Venezuelan president, who was hanging out in Buenos Aires ahead of some major international rioting, oops, I mean a major international summit on the Free Trade Area of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Hugo and his mate Diego joined thousands of others in telling Bush to shove his war and neo-liberalism agenda where the sun don’t shine. Somehow Chavez also got to take part in the summit itself (oh yes, that must be because he’s the democratically elected leader of Venezuela).

Diego and Hugo

But lo, another chance to bash Bush appears on the horizon a mere two weeks away when Bush comes to Busan for the APEC conference (November 18). Here’s the official Korean Anti-APEC website. Plus some news stories on the preparations for the demos from Voice of [the] People and NewsCham.

The police for their part are apparently ’stepping up security’ (there’s a surprise) with the usual security cordons, cancelling of leave for riot police, banning of foreign protestors and promises to deal harshly with illegal anti-globalisation protests (English article in KT here). All of which has a decidedly familiar air, bringing to mind Genoa 2001, London 2003 and Gleneagles 2005.

Meanwhile, much controversy has so far centred around an anti-APEC video made by the Korean national teacher’s union which parodies world leaders in the style of Baywatch. GNP lawmakers are getting their knickers in a major twist as the teachers intend to use the video in their classroom teaching over the couple of weeks leading up to the summit. As the teachers point out, the government and Pusan city have both produced material putting their view of the APEC summit, so they are providing some balance (like it).

Well, that’s some of the background, I hope to provide some more coverage of this as events unfold.