MSSC STRUGGLE REPORT (서울 6.25/26/27)

Last Friday, June 25, we wanted to protest against the abduction of one comrade who joined the Myeong-dong Sit-in Struggle Collective (MSSC) for long time. The day before immigration officers arrested and abducted him. Since Thursday night we joined the struggle rally - actually it was a kind of culture festival - for higher minimum wages (from 560,000 Won to 770,000 Won/$ 676) - 1,500 workers, organized in KCTU and KFTU, participated in front of Seoul’s Regional Labor Relations Commission (LRC) Gangnam-gu. Here the negotiations between the representatives of the two trade unions and the LRC took place.

Friday at noon the result of the negotiations was published: just 641,840 Won ($ 563). So, many workers, still there from the night before, got really angry about the scanty result and left the scene under strange abuses. Even short before in a final speech on the stage the audience was called to join our following protest rally – no one took care, everyone just wanted to leave the place of defeat – and we had to go alone to Mokdong Immigration Office. On the way to there we got the information that only few supporters were there to join our protest, but many immigration officers and riot police were waiting for us. So, instead to held our protest we joined later the protest of several hundred construction workers in front of the Central Court. The rally here was directed against the massive oppression of trade union activities. After all – not a real good result for our struggle, not at all and just caused by our incompetence to organize the solidarity with our struggle properly. Saturday evening, while some of our comrades went to Uijeongbu to screen documentary movies about our struggle for other migrant workers, some comrades joined the anti troop dispatch rally near Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul. First of all the approximately 10,000 protesters (according to the internet news magazine Voice of the People) wanted to express their outrage about the government’s policy of ignorance in the case of Kim Seong-il, beheaded Tuesday night in Iraq by “resistance fighters” (we wrote already here). Of course we also demanded the canceling of troop dispatch plans and the end of the occupation of Iraq. Ten thousand protesters – a comrade said “A great victory” – sounds much, but remind that Seoul has at least 10 million inhabitants. So it means that 0,1 % of the citizens joined the protest. If this would be just a beginning of a mass movement, it would be not bad, if this number will be stagnating… By the way, yesterday at least 50,000 people demonstrated against the NATO summit in Istanbul/Turkey under the slogan “NATO: Istanbul will be your grave!” (first pictures you can see here). So, let’s make June 30 demonstration a massive development of our struggle here! (6pm Jongmyo Park)

Yesterday we, MSSC, organized a struggle rally in Uijeongbu against deportation, mass manhunt, for legalization – just for our demands… The approximately 50 participants displayed the current weakness of the migrant workers “movement”. Just the same like the anti troop dispatch struggle: if we cannot organize a majority of the opponents of government’s policy – never we’ll achieve something! Sources of pictures: KCTU, Voice of the People, Jinbonet

RELEASE ALL MIGRANT WORKERS FROM DETENTION CENTERS!
FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS IN S. KOREA!
LET’S FIGHT TOGETHER FOR A WORLD WITHOUT EXPLOITATION AND OPPRESSION!
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE, ONLY IF YOU WANT AND FIGHT FOR IT!
WE’VE NOTHING TO LOSE EXCEPT OUR CHAINS!
한국의 모든 양심수들의 석방을 위해 투쟁
착취와 억압이 없는 그날을 위해 투쟁
다른 세상은 가능하다, 당신이 그걸 원하고 그것을 위해 투쟁한다면! 투쟁!
우리가 잃을 건 쇠사슬밖에 없다구!