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Edited by the PICIS Newsletter Team
Published by the Policy and Information Center for International
Solidarity
Monday, 28th May, 2001
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Editor's Note : A few events took place during the last couple of weeks in Korea, that are to become milestones and a definite step forward for the workers movement. A union for the severely oppressed and exploited migrant workers took off, the first ever in Korean history, and also recording another 'first-ever', a democratic leader was elected as the president of the Korea National Railroad Workers Union. The two events not only mark an attempt by the workers to establish an autonomous union but they a e a manifestation of the essence of globalization and a prospect on the struggle that are to come. PICIS also brings to you an alert on the Malaysian activists who were arrested by the Internal Security Law, and news on the solidarity actions of Korean activists.
*****To All Readers of PICIS Newsletter***** As mentioned in the last newsletter, this will be the last newsletter to be sent out in the present form. PICIS has recently made a new English website and in the future will post all articles onto our web. Nevertheless, we will continue to send you briefings on our latest updates. Please visit our website at http://picis.jinbo.net for latest news from the Korean progressive sector as well as various articles and analyses on special issues such as 'Globalization and Women'. Please link up our address ont your websites, and let us know your addresses to be linked onto ours. Your comments are always welcome!
Headline
26th May was surely a day of jubilation - not just for the migrant workers of Korea, but for all who seek to put an end to inequalities of nationality, race and gender. The Migrant Workers Branch of the Seoul-Kyeonggi Region Equality Workers' Union finally had its inaugural ceremony, coloured by congratulatory messages from various organization from in and outside Korea and cultural performances by Nepalese, Bangladeshi and Philippino workers, just to name a few - to become the first migrant workers' uni n in Korean history. However, it was not just a day of joy, but also a day of stern determination on the part of the migrant workers, to terminate their lives as sub-humans, organize and join hands with Korean workers.
On the part of Korean workers and activists, it was an occasion for them to introspect and reflect upon the long history of exclusivist attitudes that they had towards migrant workers. Seoul-Kyeonggi Region Equality Workers' Union, a member organization of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU), is a regional union consisting of workers who are the most oppressed and exploited - women, migrants and the disabled. The Migrant Workers Branch was established last March, and already more than a hundred migrant workers have applied for membership. The workers made a definite mark at the Mayday demonstrations, where they gathered under the Equality Union flag shouting 'nodong ja neun anada!' ('Workers are one!' in Korean), made speeches and marched together with Korean workers and activists. A few migrant workers had come to other demonstrations prior to Mayday, but never before in such number, in such organized manner.
Transnational capital has brought about the transnationalization of workforce, in its consistent search for cheaper and more exploitable labour. Companies have moved their plant to Third World countries, made themselves at home in Export Processing Zones where they can attain an abundance of cheap labour. Or they remain in their home countries and 'import' cheap labour, oppressing and exploiting them through illegality and 'trainee systems'. Women workers, migrant workers and disabled workers, the majori y of whom are part-time or subcontract workers, are the most vulnerable in this masquerade of global capital. But the movements in Korea to organized these workers who are most severely attacked under globalization - beginning with women workers' unions that started to be formed two or three years ago, and now the founding of the Migrant Workers Branch - signify a major step forward in the struggle against globalization, and prospects of solidarity that crosses race, nationa! lity and gender. This, of course, means that sexism, racism and nationalism have to be overcome - a task that is urgently needed in the Korean labour movement. There are high hopes that the Equality Union, with its branches for migrants, women and disabled, will make a definite contribution to breaking the barriers and rise up to be the prominent forces in the struggle against globalization.
Global capital moves around from the northern to the southern hemisphere, from the west to the east, and destroys the lives of peoples and workers. Peoples and workers all around the world are hit by transnational capital instigated by institutions such as IMF, IBRD and WTO, and are driven into severe poverty and unemployment. Also, capital structures itself into trends that strengthen oppression and control of workers through the divisions of contract, specially employed, provisional, dispatched, subcon ract, day-based and migrant workers. Capital forces workers to be more submissive. Capital forces workers to draw out more blood and sweat. But capital does not merely stop at squeezing the bodies of workers. Capital seeks to split apart workers into full-time and part-time workers, national and migrant workers, men and women workers. It seeks to basically block the unity of workers which it sees as most threatening.
We cannot become engulfed in the divide-and-rule policies of capital. We know. That workers cannot stay alive, that we will not be able to protect our right to our lives without struggling. We cannot survive if the working class does not unite. There will otherwise be no choice but to continue the life of tiresome poverty and years of contempt. Therefore we will act out, struggle and unite. For the unity of the workers of the world, for emancipation and for our right to live!
The Migrants Branch of the Seoulˇ¤Gyeonggiˇ¤Incheon Region Equality Trade Union will standup as a watershed in the Korean workers movement. Not merely as a bond between migrant workers, between part-time workers or as a development of the Korean workers' movement, but it will become a small but strong echo for the unity and advancement of the working class of the entire world.
This is just the beginning. Our members might be fired merely by the fact that they are involved in union activities. Or even cuffed, arrested and deported. Our struggle which seeks basic labour rights will not be a smooth one, blocked by the barriers of exclusive nationalism of Korean society and the refusal to be recognized as workers. This is correct. At the moment we have nothing. But because we have nothing, because we were completely alienated legally and socially, we are able to stand up this way.
But we have a lot. We have self-pride as workers. We have Korean comrades who are together with us as workers. We have the democratic union workers of Korea who have developed the democratic union movement through struggles. Just as many comrades are congratulating our start, we believe that Korean comrades will unite strongly with us until the day we seize 'remission of all illegal migrants, abolishment of the trainee system, complete application of labour laws'. Until now we were lonely but from now we will have comrades in unity. In the name of the Worker, with the union as a weapon :
26th May, 2001
The Migrants Branch, Seoul
Incheon Region Trade Union
For more information on the situation of migrant workers in Korea, refer to PICIS Newsletter Issue 82 (30th March, 2001) "In Depth Look : The Migrant Workers of Korea"
International Solidarity
On 28th May, 2001, PICIS, Korean House for International Solidarity(KHIS) and Solidarity for the Abolishment of the National Security Law (an umbrella organization of 232 social organizations) held a demonstration at the Malaysian Embassy in Seoul, Korea, to demand the abolishment of the Internal Security Act and the release of the 10 detainees who were recently arrested. Although small in number, the demonstrators gathered together in Dankuk University (which shares a wall with the Malaysian Embassy) wi h pickets and demanded the Malaysian government to abolish the ISA, release all detainees and abide by international human rights principles. The demonstrators also recognized the importance of international solidarity for the abolishment of security laws that are used as tools of political oppression in all Asian countries, including Korea. Recently, several activists were arrested in Korea on charges of violating the NSL. After the demonstration, the activists then handed ! a letter to be forwarded to the Ambassador. PICIS also carried out a campaign during the Seoul Human Rights Film Festival, about the present situation in Malaysia. PICIS handed out leaflets to be signed and collected more than 500 signatures to be sent to Malaysia, in solidarity to their struggle against the Internal Security Act and the deprivation of basic human rights.
For more information on the Internal Security Act of Malaysia, visit Suaram, a human rights organization in Malaysia http://www.suaram.org
The Malaysian Government Must Abolish the Internal Security Act and Release All Detainees!
We have come together here today to demand the immediate release of Malaysian activists arrested by the Internal Security Act (ISA), and the abolishment of the anti-human rights Security Act.
Through series of arrests that started on 10th April, 10 'Reformasi' activists have been detained and have been denied visits by their lawyers and families. The Malaysian government gave an illogical reason to the arrests saying that the activists 'had planned a violent demonstration, imported molotov cocktails and thus threatened the wellbeing of the state'. But the democratic citizens of Malaysia and the conscientious international community who are watching the situation closely definitely know that t e arrested activists are not those trying to overthrow the state, but rather, progressive forces that are trying to abolish and reform the age-long anti-democratic, anti-people laws and policies.
The ISA of Malaysia, when it judges a person to be 'threatening the national security', can arrest and investigate the person for 6 months without trial, and is an anti-human rights law that can extend the length to 2 years merely through the government's arbitrary interpretation. Ever since its enactment in 1960, more than 10,000 Malaysians have been 'bestowed' with this law, and there is even a prisoner of conscience who has been imprisoned for 32 years. Also, the ISA is interrelated with other 'evil' aws such as the Police Act, Societies Act and the University and College Act and are used as tools in thoroughly blocking and suppressing the voices and actions of those yearning for reform and democracy.
However, what is more deploring is the fact that such anti-human rights security laws, like the National Security Law of South Korea or the Anti-Subversion Act of Indonesia, are still prevalent in most Asian countries. There is no doubt to the fact that the security laws, that were introduced by the imperialists of France, Japan, Portugal, US and Great Britain to maintain their economic hegemony in the colonized nations, are now acting to maintain the power of the military dictatorships that have settled in Asian nations after liberation from the imperial forces. The national security laws, that in the past were consistently used to sustain the national system (anti-communism, or in the case of China, communism) and justify development, are today, in the post Cold War period, used as an ideology to suppress the demands of the citizens and workers who are against 'globalization' and the 'neo-liberal economic order'.
These national security laws severely contradict the human rights principles that were already conferred internationally decades ago (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, agreements on civil and political rights etc.) such as the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly and Association, and are accompanied by appalling anti-human rights activities such as torture. After 1998 which marked the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and also the 50th anniversary of the Korean N tional Security Law, the movement by activists in each Asian country is speeding up and is expanding to international solidarity and actions.
The 10 arrested activists have been working for progress and democracy not only in Malaysia but also in Asia and all around the world. Their activities are beneficial to all except for those who arrested them. The demonstration that the activists were organizing to commemorate the second anniversary of the former deputy prime minister Anwar's trial (on allegations of homosexuality and abuse of power) was indeed a peaceful one. But if Mahatir's government does not immediately release the detainees, it wil not be able to avoid criticisms that the government is oppressing the forces that are resisting against economic crisis and corrupt dictatorship just as it did to Anwar through political purge. The Malaysian government must realize that the conscientious civil societies of Asia and the entire world are watching this situation, and if it does not accept our demands it will face a wave of resistance that crosses national borders.
Thus we, Korean activists, demand the following from the Malaysian government :
28th May, 2001
Solidarity for the Abolishment of the National Security Law Policy and Information Center for International Solidarity Korean House for International Solidarity
In-Depth Look
21st May was a big day for the Korean labour movement, an event that will definitely become a milestone in history. Korea Railroad Workers' Union took off in 1948 as one of the most 'conservative' trade unions in Korea, and it was the first time ever that the leader of the trade union was democratically elected by direct vote of the union members. 714 ballots were set up all around the country, and Kim Jae-Gil of the democratic sector attained more than 60% of the near 25,000 votes of the Korea Railroad orkers. It signalled the end to the rule by authoritarian revisionist union of the past 54 years.
The past 54 years of the Korea Railroad trade union was indeed a history of submission and disgrace, and at the same time a history of a struggle to build an autonomous and democratic union by and for the workers. After the liberation of the Korean peninsula from the Japanese rule in 1945, Korean workers built the National Council of Chosun Trade Unions, of which the Railroad union was one of the main unions. But it survived less than a year, with President Lee Seung-Man's regime establishing the Daehan ederation of Trade Unions, a pro-government union and the mother organization of the present Federation of Korean Trade Unions(FKTU), and destroying the National Council. The Railroad Union was taken over by puppets of the Lee's government, and became a partner in developing capitalism with Japanese and US capital while keeping strict control of the workers. And this cooperation with the government carried on through military dictatorships, and right onto this day. The presi! dent of the union was elected indirectly - the workers electing district representatives, the latter then electing board members, who finally elect the president of the union. The workers hardly had the chance to even see the face or hear the voice of their to-be leader. However, while union leaders and bureaucrats collaborated with the government, the workers refused submission and struggled for union democracy. After the workers' struggles and the general strike of 1987, the Railroad workers have const ntly fought against the raise of union membership fees and for direct election of the union president. In 1994, engine drivers all around the country went on strike for the first time in history and 54 of them were fired in the process. Afterwards, the 'democratic sector' of the workers established the 'Korea Democracy Railroad Labour(KDRL)' to be the center of the struggle for the democracy of the union. Last year, the Struggle Headquarters fought for direct elections - for! something that is so obvious and fundamental, but yet deprived. After decades of struggle while withstanding threats from the reactionary union as well as the management, the workers were awarded victory at the first-ever direct elections in May of 2001. In a statement issued after the victory, Kim Jae-Gil commented that "This presidential election was a fight between democracy and reactionism, a fight between truth and lies, and a fight between a small number of labour aristocrats and the 25,000 workers of Korea Railroad. Thus our victory today is a victory of the 2 ,000 workers who yearned for a democratic union, and a result of a stern judgement on the part of the workers who have declared that an union which sells off the lives of workers can no longer be leaders."
However, the road ahead of Kim Jae-Gil will not be a smooth one. First of all, although the rank-and-file workers gave their support to the democratic sector, majority of the district and council representatives are still very much sympathetic to the conservative line of former leaders. This conflict could lead to a hindrance of the foremost goal of Kim, which is making reforms to the structure of the union and restraining the hierarchical power that the bureaucrats previously had, but most importantly, esisting the plans to privatize Korea Railroads - a plan that the company, government and former union had agreed to. Tension on a broader scale is also expected, since the union under Kim could break away from the reactionary FKTU and join KCTU, which had given support to Kim throughout his struggles with the union of the last few years. With 25,000 members, the Korea Railroad Workers' Union played a prominent part in FKTU, and in turn with the collaboration with the govern! ment. Although there has been no definite gesture towards a secession from FKTU, FKTU cannot help but keep a sharp eye towards possible moves by Kim in favour of KCTU. But despite the difficulties that Kim face, the new union has sworn an all-out struggle against privatization and the neo-liberal Kim Dae-Jung government. In February, the government announced in its preliminary 'Railroad Industry Structural Reform Act', plans to merge Korea National Railroad and Korea Train Express (KTX) to from a private joint stock company by 2003, close unprofitable routes, raise fees and lay off workers. Kim Dae-Jung's government, under the prescription by the IMF and pressure from apital to implement extensive economic restructuring, is in the midst of privatizing public services such as electricity, telecommunications, gas and rail. It is also one of the major requirements of the Korea-US Bilateral Investment Treaty - to open the public services 'market' to US investors. We have already seen what privatization of water resources has done to the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and we are now witnessing the lay-off of 7,000 workers of the Korea Telecom. Privatization merely bloats the profit of multinational companies in sacrifice of lives and welfare of the people. Bringing about a definite cleavage in the submissive and reactionary history of the past 54 years, the new Korea National Railroad Workers' Union is now expected to join the lines, and hopefully head the struggl against privatization and neo-liberalism.
Policy & Information Center for International Solidarity
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