AROUND THE WORLD
AROUND
THE
WORLD
SOUTHKOREA The latest strike wave IN OUR last issue we published an article by Enzo Traverso on the new union movements in South Korea. No sooner had we gone to press than new massive protests
On April 25, a new strike sparked off by the arrest of many union militants broke out in the Hyundai naval shipyards at Ulsan, which are the biggest in the world — of the city's 700,000 inhabitants, some 100,000 work for Hyundai. The factory, Which was occupied by the workers, was cleared out the following day by 12,000 police. In the course of the week, the clashes became more and more violent With battles in which 20,000 workers armed with molotov cocktails fought with police who were unsparing in their use of
The clashes resulted in the arrest of 600 strikers, 24 wounded (including 10 police) and the burning of 22 police vehicles according to the Financial Times, May 1, 1990). The seriousness of the situation is shown by the sacrifice of Lee Yung Ik, a young union leader from the Hyundai car factories. Aged 28, Lee Yung Ik set fire to himself on May 3 after several days of strikes and fighting. The following day, the South Korean information minister, Choe Byung Ul, explained the government's attitude in the clearest possible way: "The use of force is inevitable. We cannot tolerate a situation which is seriously damaging our industry and our economy." (Financial Times, May 2, 1990)
This time, the Ulsan workers' struggle has not stayed isolated, but has set off a wave of mobilizations, involving not only workers, but also other wage earners and students, which culminated in a general strike on May 1. The independent union organizations, notably Chonohyop, played a key role in the preparation of these actions. Their political character showed itself in several ways - through the demand for union rights and in the denunciation of the democratic methods of the government, which increasingly resemble the period of the military dictatorships.
Even before the start of the Hyundai naval shipyard strike, the personnel of the main state television channel, the Korea International Viewpoint #185 • May 21, 1990 strike to demand the resignation of the director, a government appointee, who had restored censorship to what it had been in the period of the dictator Chun Doo Wan. The workers occupying the TV company's buildings were evicted by the police, sparking off a protest strike in the country's second, privately owned TV channel, the Munhwa Broadcasting
The state of the country's economy, which is still flourishing, allows the bosses and the government to maintain an intransigent line. They have refused to negotiate and have instead gone for head on confrontation with the various social movements. However, with a worsening of economic perspectives — a fall of rates of growth and exports - the fusion of workers strikes, the student radicalization and the broad democratic movements could lead South Korea towards a and major social explosions. According to police estimates, betwen 80,000 and 90,000 people participated in anti-government demonstrations on the night of May 9-10.
At the present time, the workers movement and union organizations have called for urgent and concrete international solidarity with the South Korean workers They are calling on us to:
• Organize meetings and send motions of protest against police repression;
• Demand the release of all the arrested workers and union militants and the recognition of union rights;
• Denounce the censorship and lack of
• Journalists and media professionals must show solidarity with their South Korean colleagues;
• The independent unions at the centre of the present struggles must be supported, not only by making their activities known, but through concrete material President Roh Tae Woo The Blue House 1, Sejong-No, Chongno-gu Chun No Hyup 142-77 Kuro 6-dong South Korea *
SOVIET UNION Oil and gas workers threaten strike ON MARCH 10, 1990, Tjumenska Pravda, the Communist Party daily in the Tjumen region (which produces 60% of Soviet gas and petrol and a good proportion of its exports), published an open letter to the Soviet Prime Minister, Ryzhkov, and the president of the Central Council of Soviet trade unions, Shalayev, in which the president of the regional committee of trade unions threatened to call a strike of 700,000 gas and petrol workers if their demands were not satisfied. The demands centred around grave delays in the building of housing, a freeze of prices of consu mer goods and wage increases.
The workers added: "If the government is not able to satisfy these demands in full, it should put at the disposition of the extractive enterprises 10 to 15% of gas and petrol extracted, for sale inside the country or abroad, at contractual prices, without deductions for the state budget, so that the region can deal with urgent problems through its own means"
The indignation of the workers is understandable if it is borne in mind that 200,000 amongst them do not have adequate housing, that one in five does not receive normal medical assistance, and that there are schools where, because of the lack of premises, children must attend in relays of three teams each day. * ISRAELI STATE New attack on Palestinlans FOR THE second year running, the Israeli military has launched an indiscriminate attack on Palestinian Moslems celebrating the religious feast of 'Id al-Fitr. In the early morning of April 26, thousands of residents of the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip who were going to the local cemetery to pay their respects to the dead were pelted with CS-gas canisters by the military. When the crowd responded by throwing stones, soldiers immediately opened fire, killing a 35 year old man. In the violence which followed as the crowd attempted to fight back against the attack, three more Palestinians were killed and dozens injured. Further violence followed through the day as the military attempted to impose a curfew through indiscriminate violence. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, at least 214 Palestinians were injured, 46 of them seriously.
Meanwhile, right wing settler leader Rabbi Moshe Levinger has been sentenced to five months in prison for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank town of Hebron in September 1988. Passing sentence, the Israeli judge declared that the severity of the punishment "had to reflect the value of a human life". *