south korean rioters

[cameron222]

I was looking for black block , riot , and antifa videos on youtube the other day and I started picking up on how incredibly violent the rioters in every s. korea video i viewed were. has anyone noticed anything like that? I'm seeing riots with people carrying giant crowbars, even swords, all drawn up in ranks.

thought that was strange and wondered why

[scarletghoul]

The class struggle in South Korea is pretty deep, and the working class has a lot of rage. The counterrevolutionary forces is also pretty harsh, and intense oppression leads to intense counter-oppression.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

I think they are union organized hence why they are all armed with metal poles and seem to have a high level of organization when confronting the police.

[ls]

I think they are union organized hence why they are all armed with metal poles and seem to have a high level of organization when confronting the police.

This is a consequence of the deep unrest in south korea thanks to a seriously repressive regime, as well of course, as good self-organisation by the workers.

Even though the unions in S. Korea are more militant, they are by no means perfect, as unionism should only be considered for temporary gains for workers and a propellor to launch them into truly militant action which must spread.

Ssangyong's failure is detailed in the latest copy of the anarchist publication Resistance:


THE SIEGE OF SSANGYONG

The 77 day occupation of the Ssangyong factory in South Korea came to an end on the 6th
August following a sustained campaign of violence on the part of the state and the company
against the occupying workers. The persistence of the occupiers managed to save the jobs
of approximately 320 workers.

Ssangyong Motors is 51% owned by China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. In
February the company filed for bankruptcy, proposing a restructuring and offering the
Pyeongtaek plant as collateral for further loans to re-emerge from bankruptcy. The court
approved the bankruptcy plan, pending adequate layoffs to make the company profitable again.

Following workplace actions throughout the spring in anticipation of the layoffs, strike
action began on May 27 when the company announced layoffs and forced retirement of 1700
out of 7000 workers, with immediate additional firings of 300 casuals. The workers slated
for layoff immediately occupied the plant, demanding no layoffs, no casualization and no
outsourcing. The KMWU (Korean Metal Workers Union) supported the occupation but tried to
limit negotiations stricly to the question of layoffs.

As of mid-June, about 1000 workers were continuing the occupation, with their wives and
families providing food. The government and the company bided their time, in part because
of a broader political crisis of the hard-right Lee government which prevented any
immediate massive police and thug attack. But two weeks later, they felt confident enough
to go on the offensive. The workers, for their part, had armed themselves with iron
crowbars and Molotov cocktails.

On June 26th-27th a serious government and employer attack began, as hired thugs, scabs
recruited from the workers not slated for firing and riot police tried to enter the
factory. They secured the main building after violent fighting in which many people were
injured. The occupying workers retreated to the paint sector, which was part of a
defensive plan based on the belief that police would not fire tear gas canisters into the
highly flammable area. (In January, five people in Seoul died in another fire set off
during a confrontation with police, sparking weeks of outrage.)

The following day, the company issued a statement saying that there had been enough
violence, clearly a result of the tenacious worker resistance, and police and thugs were
withdrawn. The company urged the government to involve itself directly in negations. All
water in the plant was nonetheless illegally cut off at the end of June.

July 20th saw the start of a nine day assault by police in an attempt to evict the
occupiers. The cops and the strikebreaking gangsters (“kkang-pae”) resorted to using taser
guns on individual strikers, in addition to using helicopters to spray a thinner-based
teargas liquid directly onto the strikers on the roof of the occupied paint department.
With no water in the occupied factory to wash off the toxins, this became a severe health
problem for the occupiers. Medical workers and other community solidarity supporters were
continually blocked from delivering water and aid to the factory.

Negotiations resumed briefly, only to be followed by another outbreak of violent
repression from August 4th-5th. A special division of 2,500 police engaged in the assault,
supported by 3 helicopters. Hand-to-hand battles between workers and riot police occurred
at flashpoints with many sustaining serious injuries. Once the fierce fighting ended
around 100 strikers left the occupation (many out of disgust at the ruthlessness of the
state and company’s violence).

While the state clearly played a decisive role in breaking the occupation, the sabotage of
the KMWU should also not be ignored. While the workers displayed immense courage and
determination, the unions restricted opposition to partial strikes and limited protest
actions. The four-day union-management talks that broke down also undermined the
possibility of wider support for the besieged workers. As the negotiations dragged on,
major workplaces employing tens of thousands of union members were in the process of
breaking for summer holidays, lessening the chance of an organised response. The
government, in the meantime, used the time to beef up the police presence in and around
the plant to prepare an all-out assault. The union has also failed to comment on the fate
of the workers who have been charged with serious offences during the occupation.
According to one media report, police plan to detain at least 21 strike leaders and have
begun questioning around 100 workers who allegedly attacked police during the siege.

The Ssangyong occupation was the first large-scale action of its type by workers in South
Korea since the global crisis erupted last year. It was also a test case for President Lee
Myung-bak, who came to power in 2007 pledging to crack down on “excessive labour disputes”
and make the country “investment friendly”. Moreover, this should not be seen as an
isolated episode, governments across the globe are bracing for the backlash from failing
industries, shrinking public sectors and increasing levels of unemployment. When labour
disputes, even for relatively small companies such at Ssangyong, threaten the smooth
running of the economy we should hold no doubt that the state will do everything it can to
break working class solidarity.

[Durruti's Ghost]

I was looking for black block , riot , and antifa videos on youtube the other day and I started picking up on how incredibly violent the rioters in every s. korea video i viewed were. has anyone noticed anything like that? I'm seeing riots with people carrying giant crowbars, even swords, all drawn up in ranks.

thought that was strange and wondered why

If you were going up against a highly repressive regime likely to use very brutal measures against you, wouldn't you want to be armed too?

[Dimentio]

Were they explicitly leftist?

I know that there are a subculture in South Korea which is glorifying riots just for the sake of riots as well. Was a movie recently which was somewhat of a blockbuster there, showing angry young men attacking gasoline stations with baseball bats.

[Absolut]

Funny thing about South Korea. I work in an antiquarian bookstore, and we have a couple of costumers from South Korea, that only seemed to be interesting in books on the social democracy in Sweden, from the beginning up until today. They buy everything, from how the social democratic party operated in a small rural town in northern Sweden to the protocols of some congress in the middle of the 50s or so. All the books are in Swedish as well. Naturally, I got curious, and asked my boss, why a bunch of Koreans are interested in this. The answer I got was, due to the class struggle being so intense over there right now, theyre looking for "alternatives", so to speak, and theyre looking to the Swedish model as a possible system to implement to appease the workers and at the same time let the capitalists keep their privilige. I cant verify any of this of course, as its just the words of my boss, but I would assume that hes been talking to the Koreans that order the books and gotten this information from there. Sounds plausible to me, I dont really see any other reason why a number of Koreans would learn Swedish and read these kind of books.