Peoplesg20action.seoul@gmail.com
PHOTO REPORTS FROM DEMOTIX
http://www.demotix.com/g20-summit
----------------------------------------
Ahead of the G20 Summit
Civil society not welcomed in G20 Seoul
International civil society organisations, members of Our World is not for Sale, trade unions and the international peasant movement La Via Campesina condemn the deportation by the Korean government of seven activists from the Philippines who had been granted visas. Furthermore, other progressive activists from Asian and African countries were unjustifiably denied visas.
The list of individuals, mostly civil society leaders from developing countries, prohibited from entry, was based not on concrete evidence of actual threat or histories of dangerous acts, but instead on the goal of preventing their participation in civil society events critical of the G20, particularly the International Conference organized by Put People First!-Korean People's G20 Response Action.
Member of Parliament from Malaysia, Charles Santiago, expressed “While activists, critical to the G20 and neoliberal economic policies have encountered an antagonistic reception by the Korean government, 100 global business executives, gathering for the G20 Business Summit, will be welcomed with a red carpet.”
Deported labour representative from the Philippines Josua Mata added “Nothing demonstrates better the true nature of the G20 than the fact that while it is detaining and deporting activists from the global south, it is busy preparing to have an intimate dialogue with the world’s top corporate leaders. This only confirms what we have been saying all along – the G20 is undemocratic and not interested in improving ordinary people’s lives.”
“The G20 which is a non-elected and non-representative body and excludes majority of developing and poor countries has no legitimacy to be deciding on the economic and political directions of the world.” declared Yoon Geum Soon, representative of the international movement of small farmers La Vía Campesina.
Tyotyo James from the Confederation of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU) concluded “Since 2008, the G20 has been nothing but a talk show and has failed to deliver any coordinated response to the economic and financial crisis. The future of global economic governance should be discussed, instead, at the United Nations”.
------------------------------------------
Arrest warrant for drawing rat on G20 promotion poster?
The prosecution sought an arrest warrant for a 40-year-old man who drew a picture of a rat on a G20 Seoul Summit promotion poster but the request was rejected by the court...
According to the Namdaemun Police Station, a 40-year-old university instructor identified only as Park and his friend were apprehended Sunday for drawing a black rat on seven of such posters with spray paint near Lotte Department Stores in central Seoul early in the morning.
The added image to the poster gave people the impression that a huge rat was holding the lantern symbolizing the G20 Summit with the words, “The world is watching Korea.”
The image of a rat is often used to mock President Lee Myung-bak by liberals.
Police asked the prosecution to file arrest warrants for the two for violence and damaging public assets.
However, the Seoul Central District Court rejected the request saying that there was no risk of them fleeing...
Park reportedly said, “I thought the government was making too much of a fuss about a trifling matter. Any G20 country can host the Summit and it is not much of a big deal. I drew a rat because in Korean the pronunciation, ‘Jee (rat in Korean)’ is similar to that of the English letter ‘G.’ It was an act of humor.”
His lawyer, Park Ju-min said, “It seems that the police are trying to make an example out of Park.”
“The G20 is a very important event for the country and tarnishing its promotional poster is not acceptable,” Cho Chang-bae, who filed for the warrant, told a local daily. “We felt that he was trying to defame the global event.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/11/205_75731.html
http://blog.jinbo.net/CINA/?m=2006-02
main demo against G20 summit on Nov 11th will be held 2pm at Seoul Station
lun, 11/08/2010 - 12:50 — imc
Version imprimableEnvoyer à un amiPDF version
main demo against G20 summit on Nov 11th will be held 2pm at Seoul Station.
the heads from G20 countries will be attending a lunch party at Yongsan War Memorial.
so we will organize a big demo at Seoul Station and try to march toward Yongsan area,
http://korea.indymedia.org/drupal/?q=fr/content/main-demo-against-g20-summit-nov-11th-will-be-held-2pm-seoul-station
What is the Special Security Law for the G20?
dim, 11/07/2010 - 18:38 — imc
Version imprimableEnvoyer à un amiPDF version
G20 특별법이란?
What is the Special Security Law for the G20?
한국정부는 강력한 현행집시법이 있음에도 불구하고 G20특별경호법을 만들었다.
이 법의 요지는,
The Korean government has made a special law just for the G20.
To sum up the law,
1 G20의 경호를 위해 군대를 동원할 수 있다. G20을 위해 6만명의 군과 경찰 병력이 동원될 예정이다.
군의 동원은 흡사 계엄령과 같은 상황을 만들어 군인과 시민이 대치하는 상황이 벌어질 수도 있는 것.
1. The security chief can mobilize the millitary. It might lead to the confrontation between soldiers and citizens as if under martial law.
2.G20 기간동안 집회와 시위의 자유를 원천적으로 봉쇄할 수 있다. 경호단장의 자의적 판단으로 특정 장소를 경호안전구역으로 지정하고 모든 행위를 제재하고 모든 집회를 금지할 수 있다.
게다가 어떤 장소가 경호안전구역인지 공지할 의무도 없기 때문에 모든 지역에서 집회와 시유의 자유가 원천 봉쇄되는 것과 마찬가지이다.
2. The freedom of speech and assembly can be thoroughly trampled down. The security chief can designate some area as a security zone and ban any activity or gatherings that they think are dangerous to the G20 summit. Furthermore, no information of the security zone is easily accessable to people, that means, the police can do anything everywhere.
참고로 한국 법이 정한 현행 집시법은 다음과 같다.
The Korean Law of Assembly and Demonstration is as below.
**현행집시법
현행 집시법은 집단적인 폭행․협박․손괴․방화 등으로 공공의 안녕질서에 직접적인 위협을 끼칠 것이 명백한 집회 또는 시위를 금지하고(제5조),
모든 옥외집회를 48시간 전에 신고하게 하며(제6조), 옥외집회가 신고된 경우에 공공의 질서유지를 위하여 필요한 경우에는 질서 유지선을 설정할 수 있도록 하고(제13조),
집회의 주최자나 참가자가 타인에게 심각한 피해를 줄 수 있는 소음을 발생시키는 것을 금지하면서 이를 위반할 경우 관할경찰서장이 확성기 사용 중지 등 필요한 조치를 할 수 있도록(제14조)
규정하고 있다.
Article 5 : Gatherings and demonstrations where the government has a clear expectation of violence, threats, property destruction, or arson may be banned from being held.
Article 6 : All outdoor gatherings must be reported forty-eight hours before they take place.
Article 13 : During any outdoor gatherings, the boundaries of the assembly can be designated and enforced by the police.
Article 14 : The police may take action to stop any noise if the organizers or participants of an assembly cause serious harm to non-participants.
http://korea.indymedia.org/drupal/?q=fr/content/what-special-security-law-g20
from http://blog.peoplepower21.org/English/20958
-------------------------------------------
The Denial of Entry and Repatriation of 6 Filipino Activists is based on Political Bias and a Manifestation of Racism
Activities/Statements : 2010/11/07 17:26
Progressive international activists who had been granted visas denied entry into South Korea and expelled without explanation.
-Participants to the Seoul International People's Conference condemned indiscriminately as a dangerous force; exaggerated blacklist.
-Most individuals denied visas or entry progressive activists from Asian or African developing countries.
After turning Paul L. Quintos, the Policy and Outreach Director for IBON International, away at the border, the Ministry of Justice has moved on to deny entry to 5 more people from the Philippines. These individuals, union officers and civil society activists, had arrived at 5:30pm on November 6 in order to participate in the International People's Conference organized by Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action. As soon as they landed, however, they were told their names were on a list of people prohibited from entering South Korea and immediately expelled without being given a chance to plead their case. All 5 individuals had been granted visas from the South Korean Embassy in the Philippines.
The list of the 5 individuals is as follows:
- Joseph Puruganan, Focus on the Global South
- Josua Fred Tolentino Mata, Secretary General, Alliance of Progressive Labor (ALP)
- Rogelio Maliwat Soluta, Secretary General, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)
- Jesus Mannuel Santiago, progressive Filipino singer
- Tatcee Macabuang, Migrant Forum on Asia (MFA)
When looking into the reason Director Paul Quintos was refused entry, the Korean People's G20 Response Action discovered that the list of individuals prohibited from entry was based, not on concrete evidence of actual threat or histories of dangerous acts, but instead on the goal of preventing participation in civil society events critical of the G20, and that most names were of civil society leaders from developing countries. Without knowing about or even considering the work these people have done in the past, the South Korean government is denouncing them all as impure elements or dangerous individuals. The government is using the need to protect foreign heads of state and national security as an excuse, but in fact, it is misusing the blacklist for the political purposes of preventing activists from developing countries from participating in the Seoul International People's Conference. This is nothing more than an act of violence--state violence--far more severe than the 'state of mass protest' the government has been worrying about.
We want particularly to point out that the individuals turned away at the border had all received South Korean government-issued visas. All had submitted the various documents required, including invitation letters from institutions in South Korea and proof of identification, and gone through the tedious process of applying for and receiving visas. There are many cases where individuals from countries that have agreements of visa exception with South Korea and therefore do not go through such a process are turned way. Putting the names of individuals who have gone through the process to secure visas on a blacklist with out any basis or room for discussion, however, goes against all reason and common sense.
The government's actions demonstrated a racist bias worthy of severe criticism from the international community. Most of those denied visas or turned away at the border have been civil society leaders from developing countries in Asia or Africa. Of the 5 G20 Summits, the one to take place in Seoul on November 11-12 is the first to be chaired by a country in an Asian, rather than European or North American, country. Yet civil society leaders from Asian countries are being discriminated against and excluded the most during the Seoul Summit. The South Korean government has been claiming that, as the first developing country to host the G20, South Korea will represent the interests of other developing countries, and yet it is refusing to listen to the voices of the peoples of developing counties and ignoring the criticisms of the neoliberal order being put forth by the peoples of the Global South. Even worse, the government is nakedly and shamelessly excluding and repressing these voices.
We cannot hide our deep disgust and anger at the backward attitude and actions of the South Korean government. While the government has been telling the Korean people to be proud of hosting the G20, it has in fact conjured in us a deep shame. The base and irrational actions of the Lee Myung-bak government are greatly tarnishing the image of the Korean in Asia and in the entire international community. To be boasting of South Korea's position as an international leader and at the same time trampling on the human rights of people from developing countries is self-contradictory and completely deceitful. The fact that the South Korean government has absolutely no right to call itself the chair of the G20 and the representative of developing nations has become clear throughout the world.
The 6 international activists from the Philippines were forced onto a plane and expelled from this so-called "Global Korea" at 9:30pm on the same evening they arrived. The fact that they were deported will not have a noticeable impact on the progress of the G20 Summit. From now on, however, the focus of international society, and especially international civil society, will be on, not the content of the G20 Summit, but the despicable anti-human rights nature of this act. The South Korean government will be denied entry into international society for its racist attitude. It will expelled from the hearts of the South Korean people, whose pride and honor have been greatly damaged by its disgraceful acts.
Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action
http://www.putpeoplefirst.kr, peoplesg20action.Seoul@gmail.com
http://korea.indymedia.org/drupal/?q=fr/content/denial-entry-and-repatriation-6-filipino-activists
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Monday, 8 November 2010
SOUTH KOREA ACTIVISTS USE G20 TO HIGHLIGHT MOON BEAR FARMS
7 November 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11705543?asid=e219bf9d
South Korea gets to parade its credentials as an emerging world power this week with its hosting of the G20 summit meeting in Seoul.
But animal rights campaigners hope to use the occasion to highlight something that they say undermines the country's modern image - the farming of bears for their bile.
Asiatic black bears, native to much of Asia, are sometimes called moon bears because of the crescent shaped markings on their chests.
They find themselves in cages because of the demand for their gall bladders, the bile from which is thought to alleviate a range of illnesses.
Used in traditional Chinese medicine, the bile is an expensive commodity and from the 1980s onwards farming became a cheaper and easier way to harvest it than the hunting of wild bears.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Our national image is being harmed and we are trying to resolve the situation”
End Quote
Choi Jong-won
Environment ministry official
Farmers I have spoken to here in Korea say all farmed bears are now bred in captivity and are well looked after.
But animal rights campaigners disagree, saying that as South Korea prepares to host the G20 summit its status as one of very few countries to allow the practice is becoming a national embarrassment.
"Keeping bears in cages gives them a large amount of stress because they are wild animals by nature," Kim Mi-young, an activist at Green Korea United, tells me.
"There is an enormous amount of suffering. You can see them showing signs of mental stress, with repetitive movements. The cramped conditions make them aggressive and they fight each other and get injured."
Lax enforcement
Moon bears are on the endangered species list, international trade is banned and other major centres for the industry are being forced to act.
Vietnam, for example, has banned it - although enforcement is still lax - and China has introduced some monitoring of its bear farms.
Campaigners have taken their protest to the streets of Seoul But South Korea continues to allow farming for the domestic market and has even relaxed certain restrictions in recent years.
The practice of extracting bile using syringes or catheters from live, sedated bears has been banned.
But secretly filmed footage broadcast recently by one of South Korea's leading broadcasters shows that it continues, at least to some extent.
Connecting the issue of bear farming to Korea's international image during the G20 is not the first time campaigners have exploited the uncomfortable tension between traditional and modern Korea.
The trade in dog meat made unfavourable global headlines during this country's hosting of the Olympics and the World Cup.
For the South Korean government, its hosting of the G20 summit is a highly significant moment, the crowning glory of this country's transition from poverty to prosperity.
And it is uneasy about the moon-bear issue.
"Our national image is being harmed and we are trying to resolve the situation," Choi Jong-won, an official at the environment ministry, tells me.
"But the bears are private property and it is difficult to abolish the practice overnight."
Campaigners, though, sense an opportunity.
They hope to use the current international attention to persuade the government to find the millions of dollars needed to compensate farmers for the closure of their farms.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11705543?asid=e219bf9d
South Korea gets to parade its credentials as an emerging world power this week with its hosting of the G20 summit meeting in Seoul.
But animal rights campaigners hope to use the occasion to highlight something that they say undermines the country's modern image - the farming of bears for their bile.
Asiatic black bears, native to much of Asia, are sometimes called moon bears because of the crescent shaped markings on their chests.
They find themselves in cages because of the demand for their gall bladders, the bile from which is thought to alleviate a range of illnesses.
Used in traditional Chinese medicine, the bile is an expensive commodity and from the 1980s onwards farming became a cheaper and easier way to harvest it than the hunting of wild bears.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Our national image is being harmed and we are trying to resolve the situation”
End Quote
Choi Jong-won
Environment ministry official
Farmers I have spoken to here in Korea say all farmed bears are now bred in captivity and are well looked after.
But animal rights campaigners disagree, saying that as South Korea prepares to host the G20 summit its status as one of very few countries to allow the practice is becoming a national embarrassment.
"Keeping bears in cages gives them a large amount of stress because they are wild animals by nature," Kim Mi-young, an activist at Green Korea United, tells me.
"There is an enormous amount of suffering. You can see them showing signs of mental stress, with repetitive movements. The cramped conditions make them aggressive and they fight each other and get injured."
Lax enforcement
Moon bears are on the endangered species list, international trade is banned and other major centres for the industry are being forced to act.
Vietnam, for example, has banned it - although enforcement is still lax - and China has introduced some monitoring of its bear farms.
Campaigners have taken their protest to the streets of Seoul But South Korea continues to allow farming for the domestic market and has even relaxed certain restrictions in recent years.
The practice of extracting bile using syringes or catheters from live, sedated bears has been banned.
But secretly filmed footage broadcast recently by one of South Korea's leading broadcasters shows that it continues, at least to some extent.
Connecting the issue of bear farming to Korea's international image during the G20 is not the first time campaigners have exploited the uncomfortable tension between traditional and modern Korea.
The trade in dog meat made unfavourable global headlines during this country's hosting of the Olympics and the World Cup.
For the South Korean government, its hosting of the G20 summit is a highly significant moment, the crowning glory of this country's transition from poverty to prosperity.
And it is uneasy about the moon-bear issue.
"Our national image is being harmed and we are trying to resolve the situation," Choi Jong-won, an official at the environment ministry, tells me.
"But the bears are private property and it is difficult to abolish the practice overnight."
Campaigners, though, sense an opportunity.
They hope to use the current international attention to persuade the government to find the millions of dollars needed to compensate farmers for the closure of their farms.
South Korean police fire pepper spray at protestors
Tens of thousands rally in S.Korea against G20 summit
(AFP) – 10 hours ago
SEOUL — Tens of thousands of activists protested in Seoul on Sunday against the Group of 20 summit to be held this week, with hundreds clashing with police who used pepper spray to disperse an angry crowd.
Labour campaigners and other activists -- numbered by police at 20,000 and by organisers at 40,000 -- chanted slogans and songs at Seoul Plaza outside the city hall, surrounded by thousands of riot police.
"We will never allow only 20 elite countries to decide the whole world's future," leaders chanted from the stage, as they also protested over the state of workers' rights in South Korea and a proposed free trade deal with the US.
Hundreds of protesters tried to march towards the city centre against police warnings, pushing and shoving against police riot shields. Police used pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators.
Thousands of others staged a candlelight rally at Seoul Plaza, surrounded by buildings draped with huge banners heralding the November 11-12 summit -- the nation's biggest appearance on the world stage since the 1988 Olympics.
Some activists wore vests with slogans reading: "Against the G20 that hampers labour rights and creates unstable jobs" and "Against the G20 that cuts social welfare and destroys public service".
Others held up mock traffic signs saying "Stop G20", while campaigners distributed leaflets urging people to "rise up against neoliberalism and globalisation".
"We will continue the struggle to raise the minimum wage, solve the youth unemployment issue," organisers -- who included the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, a major workers' rights group -- chanted from the stage.
They also protested against a sweeping free trade agreement that US President Barack Obama wants his country and South Korea to sign before next week's summit, the Yonhap news agency reported.
More than 8,000 police were deployed around the city centre, the city police spokesman told AFP, adding that the force had expected violence.
Seoul will host world leaders including US President Barack Obama for the G20 gathering from November 11-12.
The country's police chief Cho Hyun-Oh said last month that police would be on high alert for demonstrators rallying around the summit venue, cautioning that South Korean protests "tend to be very violent and intense".
In addition to some 50,000 police officers, tens of thousands of troops will be deployed to key public facilities and mountain areas overlooking the summit venue, while naval forces and the coastguard will monitor vessels at sea.
Cho also raised the possibility that North Korea might try to disrupt the summit, though South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak dismissed that possibility, saying he was "confident in the safety and success of the Seoul summit".
Police have already drawn up strict security measures, creating a special unit to protect the G20 leaders and surrounding the venue with security fences over two metres (seven feet) high.
A special law came into force this month giving police greater power to break up street rallies and allowing a military presence in public place
Comment -this was normal for SK in the past to have armed troops on the street
and curfews and in the 1950s and 1960s even US troops patrolling
see photos
http://www.wgntv.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-skorea-g20-protests,0,5066268.story
http://www.demotix.com/
(AFP) – 10 hours ago
SEOUL — Tens of thousands of activists protested in Seoul on Sunday against the Group of 20 summit to be held this week, with hundreds clashing with police who used pepper spray to disperse an angry crowd.
Labour campaigners and other activists -- numbered by police at 20,000 and by organisers at 40,000 -- chanted slogans and songs at Seoul Plaza outside the city hall, surrounded by thousands of riot police.
"We will never allow only 20 elite countries to decide the whole world's future," leaders chanted from the stage, as they also protested over the state of workers' rights in South Korea and a proposed free trade deal with the US.
Hundreds of protesters tried to march towards the city centre against police warnings, pushing and shoving against police riot shields. Police used pepper spray to disperse the demonstrators.
Thousands of others staged a candlelight rally at Seoul Plaza, surrounded by buildings draped with huge banners heralding the November 11-12 summit -- the nation's biggest appearance on the world stage since the 1988 Olympics.
Some activists wore vests with slogans reading: "Against the G20 that hampers labour rights and creates unstable jobs" and "Against the G20 that cuts social welfare and destroys public service".
Others held up mock traffic signs saying "Stop G20", while campaigners distributed leaflets urging people to "rise up against neoliberalism and globalisation".
"We will continue the struggle to raise the minimum wage, solve the youth unemployment issue," organisers -- who included the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions, a major workers' rights group -- chanted from the stage.
They also protested against a sweeping free trade agreement that US President Barack Obama wants his country and South Korea to sign before next week's summit, the Yonhap news agency reported.
More than 8,000 police were deployed around the city centre, the city police spokesman told AFP, adding that the force had expected violence.
Seoul will host world leaders including US President Barack Obama for the G20 gathering from November 11-12.
The country's police chief Cho Hyun-Oh said last month that police would be on high alert for demonstrators rallying around the summit venue, cautioning that South Korean protests "tend to be very violent and intense".
In addition to some 50,000 police officers, tens of thousands of troops will be deployed to key public facilities and mountain areas overlooking the summit venue, while naval forces and the coastguard will monitor vessels at sea.
Cho also raised the possibility that North Korea might try to disrupt the summit, though South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak dismissed that possibility, saying he was "confident in the safety and success of the Seoul summit".
Police have already drawn up strict security measures, creating a special unit to protect the G20 leaders and surrounding the venue with security fences over two metres (seven feet) high.
A special law came into force this month giving police greater power to break up street rallies and allowing a military presence in public place
Comment -this was normal for SK in the past to have armed troops on the street
and curfews and in the 1950s and 1960s even US troops patrolling
see photos
http://www.wgntv.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-skorea-g20-protests,0,5066268.story
http://www.demotix.com/
South Korea Bars Foreign Activists From G20 Summit
Sunday, November 07 2010 @ 07:32 AM UTC
Contributed by: WeiLai
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20101107073223682
Views: 239
After turning Paul L. Quintos, the Policy and Outreach Director for IBON International, away at the border, the Ministry of Justice has moved on to deny entry to 5 more people from the Philippines. These individuals, union officers and civil society activists, had arrived at 5:30pm on November 6 in order to participate in the International People's Conference organized by Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action.
South Korea Bars Foreign Activists From G20 Summit
The Denial of Entry and Repatriation of 6 Filipino Activists is based on Political Bias and a Manifestation of Racism
Progressive international activists who had been granted visas denied entry into South Korea and expelled without explanation.
Participants to the Seoul International People's Conference condemned indiscriminately as a dangerous force; exaggerated blacklist.
Most individuals denied visas or entry progressive activists from Asian or African developing countries.
1. After turning Paul L. Quintos, the Policy and Outreach Director for IBON International, away at the border, the Ministry of Justice has moved on to deny entry to 5 more people from the Philippines. These individuals, union officers and civil society activists, had arrived at 5:30pm on November 6 in order to participate in the International People's Conference organized by Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action. As soon as they landed, however, they were told their names were on a list of people prohibited from entering South Korea and immediately expelled without being given a chance to plead their case. All 5 individuals had been granted visas from the South Korean Embassy in the Philippines.
2. The list of the 5 individuals is as follows:
Joseph Puruganan, Focus on the Global South
Josua Fred Tolentino Mata, Secretary General, Alliance of Progressive Labor (ALP)
Rogelio Maliwat Soluta, Secretary General, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)
Jesus Mannuel Santiago, progressive Filipino singer
Tatcee Macabuang, Migrant Forum on Asia (MFA)
3. When looking into the reason Director Paul Quintos was refused entry, the Korean People's G20 Response Action discovered that the list of individuals prohibited from entry was based, not on concrete evidence of actual threat or histories of dangerous acts, but instead on the goal of preventing participation in civil society events critical of the G20, and that most names were of civil society leaders from developing countries. Without knowing about or even considering the work these people have done in the past, the South Korean government is denouncing them all as impure elements or dangerous individuals. The government is using the need to protect foreign heads of state and national security as an excuse, but in fact, it is misusing the blacklist for the political purposes of preventing activists from developing countries from participating in the Seoul International People's Conference. This is nothing more than an act of violence--state violence--far more severe than the 'state of mass protest' the government has been worrying about.
4. We want particularly to point out that the individuals turned away at the border had all received South Korean government-issued visas. All had submitted the various documents required, including invitation letters from institutions in South Korea and proof of identification, and gone through the tedious process of applying for and receiving visas. There are many cases where individuals from countries that have agreements of visa exception with South Korea and therefore do not go through such a process are turned way. Putting the names of individuals who have gone through the process to secure visas on a blacklist with out any basis or room for discussion, however, goes against all reason and common sense.
5. The government's actions demonstrated a racist bias worthy of severe criticism from the international community. Most of those denied visas or turned away at the border have been civil society leaders from developing countries in Asia or Africa. Of the 5 G20 Summits, the one to take place in Seoul on November 11-12 is the first to be chaired by a country in an Asian, rather than European or North American, country. Yet civil society leaders from Asian countries are being discriminated against and excluded the most during the Seoul Summit. The South Korean government has been claiming that, as the first developing country to host the G20, South Korea will represent the interests of other developing countries, and yet it is refusing to listen to the voices of the peoples of developing counties and ignoring the criticisms of the neoliberal order being put forth by the peoples of the Global South. Even worse, the government is nakedly and shamelessly excluding and repressing these voices.
6. We cannot hide our deep disgust and anger at the backward attitude and actions of the South Korean government. While the government has been telling the Korean people to be proud of hosting the G20, it has in fact conjured in us a deep shame. The base and irrational actions of the Lee Myung-bak government are greatly tarnishing the image of the Korean in Asia and in the entire international community. To be boasting of South Korea's position as an international leader and at the same time trampling on the human rights of people from developing countries is self-contradictory and completely deceitful. The fact that the South Korean government has absolutely no right to call itself the chair of the G20 and the representative of developing nations has become clear throughout the world.
7. The 6 international activists from the Philippines were forced onto a plane and expelled from this so-called "Global Korea" at 9:30pm on the same evening they arrived. The fact that they were deported will not have a noticeable impact on the progress of the G20 Summit. From now on, however, the focus of international society, and especially international civil society, will be on, not the content of the G20 Summit, but the despicable anti-human rights nature of this act. The South Korean government will be denied entry into international society for its racist attitude. It will expelled from the hearts of the South Korean people, whose pride and honor have been greatly damaged by its disgraceful acts.
Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action
http://www.putpeoplefirst.kr, peoplesg20action.Seoul@gmail.com
From: http://en.putpeoplefirst.kr/102920#0
Contributed by: WeiLai
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20101107073223682
Views: 239
After turning Paul L. Quintos, the Policy and Outreach Director for IBON International, away at the border, the Ministry of Justice has moved on to deny entry to 5 more people from the Philippines. These individuals, union officers and civil society activists, had arrived at 5:30pm on November 6 in order to participate in the International People's Conference organized by Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action.
South Korea Bars Foreign Activists From G20 Summit
The Denial of Entry and Repatriation of 6 Filipino Activists is based on Political Bias and a Manifestation of Racism
Progressive international activists who had been granted visas denied entry into South Korea and expelled without explanation.
Participants to the Seoul International People's Conference condemned indiscriminately as a dangerous force; exaggerated blacklist.
Most individuals denied visas or entry progressive activists from Asian or African developing countries.
1. After turning Paul L. Quintos, the Policy and Outreach Director for IBON International, away at the border, the Ministry of Justice has moved on to deny entry to 5 more people from the Philippines. These individuals, union officers and civil society activists, had arrived at 5:30pm on November 6 in order to participate in the International People's Conference organized by Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action. As soon as they landed, however, they were told their names were on a list of people prohibited from entering South Korea and immediately expelled without being given a chance to plead their case. All 5 individuals had been granted visas from the South Korean Embassy in the Philippines.
2. The list of the 5 individuals is as follows:
Joseph Puruganan, Focus on the Global South
Josua Fred Tolentino Mata, Secretary General, Alliance of Progressive Labor (ALP)
Rogelio Maliwat Soluta, Secretary General, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)
Jesus Mannuel Santiago, progressive Filipino singer
Tatcee Macabuang, Migrant Forum on Asia (MFA)
3. When looking into the reason Director Paul Quintos was refused entry, the Korean People's G20 Response Action discovered that the list of individuals prohibited from entry was based, not on concrete evidence of actual threat or histories of dangerous acts, but instead on the goal of preventing participation in civil society events critical of the G20, and that most names were of civil society leaders from developing countries. Without knowing about or even considering the work these people have done in the past, the South Korean government is denouncing them all as impure elements or dangerous individuals. The government is using the need to protect foreign heads of state and national security as an excuse, but in fact, it is misusing the blacklist for the political purposes of preventing activists from developing countries from participating in the Seoul International People's Conference. This is nothing more than an act of violence--state violence--far more severe than the 'state of mass protest' the government has been worrying about.
4. We want particularly to point out that the individuals turned away at the border had all received South Korean government-issued visas. All had submitted the various documents required, including invitation letters from institutions in South Korea and proof of identification, and gone through the tedious process of applying for and receiving visas. There are many cases where individuals from countries that have agreements of visa exception with South Korea and therefore do not go through such a process are turned way. Putting the names of individuals who have gone through the process to secure visas on a blacklist with out any basis or room for discussion, however, goes against all reason and common sense.
5. The government's actions demonstrated a racist bias worthy of severe criticism from the international community. Most of those denied visas or turned away at the border have been civil society leaders from developing countries in Asia or Africa. Of the 5 G20 Summits, the one to take place in Seoul on November 11-12 is the first to be chaired by a country in an Asian, rather than European or North American, country. Yet civil society leaders from Asian countries are being discriminated against and excluded the most during the Seoul Summit. The South Korean government has been claiming that, as the first developing country to host the G20, South Korea will represent the interests of other developing countries, and yet it is refusing to listen to the voices of the peoples of developing counties and ignoring the criticisms of the neoliberal order being put forth by the peoples of the Global South. Even worse, the government is nakedly and shamelessly excluding and repressing these voices.
6. We cannot hide our deep disgust and anger at the backward attitude and actions of the South Korean government. While the government has been telling the Korean people to be proud of hosting the G20, it has in fact conjured in us a deep shame. The base and irrational actions of the Lee Myung-bak government are greatly tarnishing the image of the Korean in Asia and in the entire international community. To be boasting of South Korea's position as an international leader and at the same time trampling on the human rights of people from developing countries is self-contradictory and completely deceitful. The fact that the South Korean government has absolutely no right to call itself the chair of the G20 and the representative of developing nations has become clear throughout the world.
7. The 6 international activists from the Philippines were forced onto a plane and expelled from this so-called "Global Korea" at 9:30pm on the same evening they arrived. The fact that they were deported will not have a noticeable impact on the progress of the G20 Summit. From now on, however, the focus of international society, and especially international civil society, will be on, not the content of the G20 Summit, but the despicable anti-human rights nature of this act. The South Korean government will be denied entry into international society for its racist attitude. It will expelled from the hearts of the South Korean people, whose pride and honor have been greatly damaged by its disgraceful acts.
Put People First! Korean People's G20 Response Action
http://www.putpeoplefirst.kr, peoplesg20action.Seoul@gmail.com
From: http://en.putpeoplefirst.kr/102920#0
Thursday, 4 November 2010
MASS PROTEST FRIDAY 12th NOVEMBER
SMASH SEOUL
SMASH THE G20!
MASS PROTEST FRIDAY 12th NOVEMBER, SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY. G20 SOLIDARITY
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTH KOREAN WORKERS, G20 PROTESTORS, PRISONERS AND ALL ANTI-G20 ACTIVISTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE WHO ARE TAKING PART IN THE G20-PROTESTS IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA ON 11-12 NOVEMBER
TIME: 2pm – 6pm
DATE: FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2010
PLACE: EMBASSY OF SOUTH KOREA, 60 Buckingham Gate, London, SW1E 6AJ, if coming from Victoria station, 10 min walk down Victoria Street, Buckingham Gate is on left, or if coming from Parliament Sq (Westminster Tube St) 10 min walk down Victoria Street, Buckingham Gate on the right.
smashg20.blogspot.com
tel. 07913765074
sov_rus@yahoo.co.uk
-----------------------------
People’s G20 Response Preparation Committee, South Korea Newsletter July, 2010
Original Publication Date:
1 July, 2010
Source:
People's G-20 Preparation Committee
Attachment Size
Newletter_People's_G20_preparationCommittee_July_FINAL.pdf 43.29 KB
Dear Colleagues,
The fifth G20 Summit will be held in Seoul on November 11th to 12th. This meeting has grave consequences for the people of Korea and the entire world. The G20 has appointed itself the principal body responsible for finding a solution to the global economic crisis and managing the world economy. Yet it excludes the majority of poor and developing nations from decision-making. It also seeks to make common people shoulder the burden of the crisis and to promote neoliberal policies, which have already created vast poverty and increased inequality. In addition, the South Korean government is using the upcoming summit as an excuse to severely restrict democratic rights and carry out a crackdown on migrants, street vendors and homeless people.
Recognizing the huge impacts posed by the G20 on the rights of people in Korea and around the world, labor unions, social movement organizations and progressive NGOs in South Korea formed a People’s G20 Response Preparation Committee (hereafter People’s Preparation Committee) on June 18th in order to respond to the G20 Seoul Summit. The People’s Preparation Committee will take full responsibility for organising various activities and actions protesting the G20 summit as the representative of South Korean people’s, social and civil movements.
We would like to share with you developments in our preparation for the G20 Summit.
Four Main Action Principles of People’s Preparation Committee
The People’s Preparation Committee agreed to the following four main principles:
1) We are committed to organising various activities and actions to denounce the G20 Summit for making people and developing countries pay for the crisis and criticise the structural problems of neo-liberal financial globalization.
2) We are committed to organise various activities to denounce the South Korean government for using the G20 Summit as an excuse to repress democracy and human rights and ignoring internationally-recognised labour and human rights standards.
3) We are to maintain political, organisational and financial independence from the South Korean government and capital, so that we can truly represent the alternative voices of labour, people’s and civil society movements about/against the G20.
4) We will contribute to strengthening solidarity with local and international labour, social and civil society movements to build a labour-and-environment-friendly alternative economy, and to introduce capital controls and contribute to strengthening the capacity of international movements against neo-liberal globlaisation.
Points of Action (provisional)
Agenda 1. Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Agenda 2. Decent work
Agenda 3. Basic Labour rights
Agenda 4. Environment and climate change
Agenda 5. Alternative trade agreement to FTAs and TNCs
Agenda 6. Food security and agriculture
Agenda 7. Democracy and human rights
Agenda 8. Poverty and development
Agenda.9. Forced migration
Agenda 10. Peace and security
Agenda 11. Gender and G20
Agenda 12. Cultural diversity and IPRs
Agenda 13. Public services
Main Role of People’s Preparation Committee
People’s Preparation Committee will take full responsibility to organise the following activities and actions.
1) We are committed to organising a People’s Week of Collective Action from November 6th to 12th including:
* A rally and march on November 11th.
* A People’s Summit
* Opening and closing ceremonies for the People’s Joint Action Week
2) We will organise all possible activities and actions concerning current, future and emerging issues related to the G20 Summit based on general consensus among participating organizations, including:
* Protesting the crackdown against migrant workers, homeless people and street vendors in the name of a successful G20 Summit.
* Responding to the G20 Finance (Vice) Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings
* Protesting the government’s repression of democracy and universal human rights under the excuse of successful G20 Summit.
3) We are encouraging and supporting thematic activities based on the proposed points of action so as to expand and strengthen our response to the G20.
4) We are committed to making every effort to encourage social forces to join the people’s G20 actions and strengthen their participation, as well as to create and build people’s alternative positions on the global economic crisis.
5) We are committed to organising various publicity and public consciousness-raising activities to expose the fundamental problems of G20 summit.
People’s Summit(provisional title), Seoul
South Korean people’s, social and civil society organisations are calling upon international social movements to jointly organise a People’s Summit protesting the G20 Summit. The Peoples’ Summit will be organised as part of the People’s Week of Collective Action programmes, and it will be based on equal participation of all people to develop people’s alternative solutions for responding to the global economic and social crisis.
Korean people’s, social and civil society organisations will host the Peoples’ Summit (provisional title) in solidarity with international social and civil movements to develop peoples’ alternatives. The main goal is to develop a solution to the current crisis and to shield poor people who are suffering from the impact of the crisis.
The format of the People’s Summit will be a forum consisting of several creative workshops held directly before the G20 Summit. During the People’s Summit people from G20 and non-G20 countries will assess the impact of current economic and social policies promoted by the G20, and demand alternative global economic reform and the social change necessary to create a better world.
Calendar for People’s Week of Collective Action
- Date: November 6th to 12th
- General Picture of People’s Week of Collective Action
* Opening (November 6th)
* National Workers Rally (November 7th)
* People’s Summit( November 7th to 9th )
* Press Conference – Seoul Declaration
* Mass Rally and March (November 11th)
* Closing v(November 12th)
Participating Organisations
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU)
National Association of Professors for Democratic Society(NAPDS)
Citizen’s Movement for Environmental Justice
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights
Korean Women's Association United(KWAU)
Global Call to Action Against Poverty Korea(GCAP-Korea)
Korean Peasants’ League(KPL)
Civil Society Network for Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Civil Society Organisation Network in Korea
People’s Solidarity for Social Progress(PSSP)
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy(PSPD)
Korean Progressive Solidarity
National Students March
Korean Women Peasant Association
Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK)
All Together
Green Korea United
Korean Urban Poor Association
Alternative Forum of University Students
National Democratic Association of Street Vendors
Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice
Institute for Global Political Economy
Imagine Institute
Corea Institute for New Society
New Community Institute
Institute for New World
SpecWatch Korea
Korean Clerical and Financial Workers Association
NANUMMUNHWA_ Global Peace Activities
Solidarity for Ending Poverty
Energy & Climate Policy Institute for Just Transition (ECPI)
Action for Energy Justice
Migrant Workers Rights Watch, Korea
Solidarity for Street Vendors and Informal Workers
Joint Preparation Committee for Building Socialist Workers Party
Korea Progressive Academy Council
Progressive Strategy Council
Center for Energy Politics(CEP)
Contacts for the People’s Preparation Committee
- Joint Secretariat Team will be established shortly.
- Official E-mail : peoplesg20action.Seoul@gmail.com
- Thematic working group and/or networks based on each point of action will also be established.
- Provisionally you can contact the People’s Preparation Committee through the following persons/organizations:
? Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
Contact : Mr. Lee Changgeun(bulnavi@gmail.com), / Ms. Ryu Mikyung(inter@kctu.org)
? CSO Network in Korea
Contact: Mr. Sungkyu Oh(ohskks@gmail.com), / Ms Youngmi Yang,( pspdint@hotmail.com)
? CS Network for Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Contact: Mr. Lee Hanjin (hanjin444@hanmail.net )
? Regional Southeast-east Asia Office, La Via Campesina
Contact: Ms Kim, Haesook(rupina72@gmail.com )
? Energy & Climate Policy Institute for Just Transition(ECPI)
Contact : Mr. Lee Jinwoo(purevil@naver.com)
http://ourworldisnotforsale.org/en/article/people-s-g20-response-preparation-committee-south-korea-newsletter-july-2010
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CALL FOR ACTION - The G20 Summit is NO EXCUSE for Repression!KCTU
The G20 Summit is NO EXCUSE for Repression!
October 1st, International Day of Action against the pre-Summit attack on Democratic and Human Rights in South Korea
Dear Friends and Allies,
You have already received an email urging you to join protests against the G20 Summit, which will be held in Seoul, South Korea from November 11 to 12. As you know, the G20, originally formed to respond to the global financial crisis, is attempting to set itself up as the authority responsible for directing the world economy and defining world governance. While completely excluding most nations from decision-making, the G20 is attempting to make the world ‘safe’ for neoliberal capitalism by forcing emerging economies to shoulder part of the burden of the crisis, promoting trade and investment liberalization dressed up 'in new robes', negotiating weak financial reforms that largely allow financial speculation to go on unchecked, and reviving the ailing IMF and other IFIs. This agenda is being pursued despite the fact that neoliberal capitalism is clearly a failed model, which only increases poverty and inequality around the globe.
As if this was not enough, the Lee Myeong-bak administration is using the upcoming Summit as an excuse to strengthen repression of common people and social movements in South Korea. To fight this attack we need your support, even before November.
On October 1st tell the South Korean government and the world that the G20 Summit is NO EXCUSE for Repression by participating in the International Day of Action against the pre-Summit attack on Democratic and Human Rights in South Korea.
Background
The government is carrying out its attack on democratic and human rights on many fronts.
Claiming they are “establishing public order to support the successful opening of the G20 Summit,” the Immigration Service and other government agencies have been conducting a massive crackdown on undocumented migrants, during which migrants are brutally arrested, imprisoned and then deported. Proclaiming to be “preemptively responding to foreigner crime,” the Seoul Metropolitan Police Department has been carrying out blatantly illegal and racist stop and search procedures, questioning anyone they think looks ‘suspicious’, which generally means anyone who looks foreign and dark-skinned.
The government has also formed a “special road maintenance crew” to “clean up the streets” before the G20 by cracking down on street vendors. The police have been patrolling areas where homeless people usually spend time, such as subway stations and neighborhoods where service organizations and temporary boarding houses are located. These measures are brutally destroying the livelihoods and wiping out the resting places of South Korea’s poor.
At the same time, the government has been carrying out a devastating attack against South Korean workers and labour unions, even going so far as to ignore commitments made at previous G20 meetings. At the 3rd G20 Summit held in Pittsburgh in September 2009, national leaders agreed that, "the current challenges [posed by the crisis] do not provide an excuse to disregard or weaken internationally recognized labour standards.” Despite this fact, the government has repeatedly defied ILO Committee of Freedom Association recommendations by repressing unionization by teachers and public employees, applying the Article 314(Obstruction of Business) of Penal Code to prosecute union officers, and attempting to control union activities through implementation of the ‘time-off’ system, which drastically limits the number of union staff that can paid on company salaries. The government is also violating the G20’s stated principle of putting the creation of ‘decent jobs’ at the center of economic recovery by pursuing labour flexiblisation policies including the weaken of restrictions on mass lay-offs and expansion of the industries in which agency workers can be legally employed.
To top all of this off, in May the ruling conservative Grand National Party forced the passage of a “Special Law on the Safe Escort of the G20 Summit,” which legalizes tools for the repression of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. This law, which goes into effect on October 1, allows the government to mobilize the army “if necessary” to maintain public order. It also established ‘Safe Escort Zones’ around the G20 meeting site, the hotels where representatives will stay, the routes they will travel to the Summit, and other G20 related areas. Public officials are authorized to stop people from entering these zones and to carry out indiscriminate stop and search procedures within them. What is more, they are not required to publically announce which areas during what times are designated ‘Safe Escort Zones’. This law is clearly meant to squash all forms of criticism and protest against the G20.
On October 1st tell the South Korean government that the G20 is NO Excuse for Repression!
If we do not resist these measures, repression in South Korea will only grow stronger. This will have a devastating effect on the lives of common people and the people’s movement’s ability to fight for more equitable alternatives to the G20’s neoliberal agenda. We need your support and solidarity now more than ever.
This is way we have proclaimed October 1st, the very day the “Special Law on the Safe Escort of the G20 Summit” goes into effect, an International Day of Action against the pre-Summit attack on Democratic and Human Rights in South Korea.
We are asking allies around the world to organize solidarity actions on this day and deliver the following demands to the South Korean government.
The G20 Summit is NO excuse! Stop the crackdown on migrants, street vendors and homeless people!
Honour international labour standards and ILO recommendations! Stop labour repression and labour flexibilisation policies!
Repeal the “Special Law on the Safe Escort of the G20 Summit” and end repression of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly!
Solidarity actions may take the following forms:
Rallies or other actions in front of South Korean consulates and embassies
Meetings with consulate and embassy representatives to deliver protest statements
Press conferences
Rallies or other actions in public areas
Any creative action you wish to organize
Attached is a sample protest statement, which can be used in meetings with embassy and consulate representatives and/or as the basis for press statements.
Please let us know about actions you have planned and send reports of completed actions.
News about solidarity actions, as well as any questions or requests for additional materials may be sent to: Peoplesg20action.seoul@gmail.com
Endorsed by
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU)
National Association of Professors for Democratic Society (NAPDS)
Citizen’s Movement for Environmental Justice
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights
Korean Women's Association United (KWAU)
Global Call to Action against Poverty Korea (GCAP-Korea)
Korean Peasants’ League (KPL)
Civil Society Network for Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Civil Society Organisation Network in Korea
People’s Solidarity for Social Progress (PSSP)
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
Korea Alliance of Progressive Movements
National Students March
Korean Women Peasant Association
Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK)
All Together
Green Korea United
Korean Urban Poor Association
Alternative Forum of University Students
National Democratic Association of Street Vendors
Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice
Institute for Global Political Economy
Imagine Institute
Corea Institute for New Society
New Community Institute
Institute for New World
SpecWatch Korea
Korean Clerical and Financial Workers Association
NANUMMUNHWA_ Global Peace Activities
Korean People's Solidarity against Poverty
Energy & Climate Policy Institute for Just Transition (ECPI)
Action for Energy Justice
Migrant Workers Rights Watch, Korea
Solidarity for Street Vendors and Informal Workers
Korea Progressive Academy Council
Progressive Strategy Council
Center for Energy Politics (CEP)
Korea Federation for Environment Movement (KFEM) / FOE Korea
The Committee for a Socialist Workers' party (CSWP)
Democratic Labor Party-Korea (DLP-Korea)
New Progressive Party-Korea (NPP-Korea)
Socialist Party-Korea (SP-Korea)
Transparency International_Korea
People not Profit
Workers Institute of Social Science, South Korea
Korea Labor&Social Network on Energy
Korea NGO's Energy Network
Revolutionary Workers' Front
Students' Alliance against G20
http://kctu.org/9842
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G20 Seoul: There Will Be a Storm
Thursday, August 12 2010 @ 04:01 PM UTC
Contributed by: AnnaKey
Views: 1,692
On August 3rd, the Korea Times reported that the National Police Agency will be mobilizing more than 400,000 police around the G-20 Summit in Seoul, November 11th & 12th, 2010. Multinational CEO's and leaders of the worlds twenty richest nations will meet during the G-20 on three islands, which have a price-tag of around 83 million(USD) to build...That's right, build.
G20 Seoul: There Will Be a Storm
by Barb Dwyer
Chicago Indymedia
On August 3rd, the Korea Times reported that the National Police Agency will be mobilizing more than 400,000 police around the G-20 Summit in Seoul, November 11th & 12th, 2010. Multinational CEO's and leaders of the worlds twenty richest nations will meet during the G-20 on three islands, which have a price-tag of around 83 million(USD) to build...That's right, build. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, a total of three manmade “floating islands” are being built on the Han River between the Banpo and Dongjak bridges, and will be secured by anchors.
While thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets during past G-20 Summits in North America and Europe, South Korean workers and activists have a long history of being even more militant in their struggle against the destructive policies of globalization than their counterparts in the Northwest hemisphere. In December of 1996, the South Korean parliament passed a new labor law which began a "structural adjustment" austerity program on behalf of the IMF and World Bank. These programs require countries to make debt repayment a priority, and as a consequence forces them to cut essential social services such as health, education, and development, thus lowering their standard of living. These programs also open the door to the privatization of natural resources, such as ancient forests and public water supplies, to be exploited by multinational corporations.
In the days that followed, 12 million South Korean workers went on strike to counter the new undemocratic labor law. In the years that followed, South Korean's continued to protest against the destructive policies of neoliberalism, most notably the WTO in 2003, World Economic Forum in 2004, APEC in 2005, and numerous other occasions. As the G20 approaches, the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has announced it is planning to hold a rally and march on November 11th, the first day of the Summit. According to their website, “...the KCTU will do everything in our power to stage a massive anti-neoliberalism struggle that will gain attention of people and workers around the globe. To this end, we will prepare to hold People’s Action and be a leader of a great transformation.”
South Korean workers have often utilized the direct action tactics of resistance, such as strikes and factory takeovers, to large street demonstrations. It is not uncommon that the workers are also armed with slingshots, molotov cocktails, and sticks. Often times, in an act of more desperate resistance, workers commit suicide outside of their factories, sometimes through self-immolation. South Korean police on the other hand, much like their counterparts around the globe, have also demonstrated their willingness to continually brutalize their own citizens to quell public dissent of these policies. It is a well documented and common tactic for South Korean police to scrape the bottom of their metal shields on the concrete in order to sharpen the edges into a blade before they thrust their shields into the throats of protesters. Over the years, this brutal police tactic has led to the horrific deaths of many South Korean workers.
All this comes at a time when the fallout from past G-20's are still fresh in the air. During the 2009 G-20 Summit in London, Ian Tomlinson was beaten to death by police. On July 21st, 2010, his wife and nine children learned that the London police would not investigate his death, despite video and photographic evidence. None of the officers went to the aid of Tomlinson, who stumbled 100 yards down the road before collapsing and dying in front of thousands of demonstrators. In Canada, the police have begun an old-fashion witch hunt for the people they suspect are responsible for the property damage that occurred during the G-20 in Toronto. Up to 17 people are being charged with conspiracy and at least 4 individuals still remain in jail. In the wake of the Pittsburgh Summit, many cases still remain in court regarding criminal charges against activists, as well as the excessive use of force by police.
Whenever, and wherever, these large summits take place they are always preempted by a heavy campaign of psychological operations (PSYOPS) to prepare the population for the inevitable urban warfare and heavy handed police tactics that ensue. Authorities, for months ahead of time, tell local residents propaganda, such as “the rioters will threaten your lives” and “burn your city like Seattle in 1999” and that the “police are here to protect YOU, from THEM.” However, our collective experiences globally show us who the real violent faction is...In the past, we've seen all too often the police instigate violence, only to have the embedded corporate media twist the facts in their reporting later on. Given who they are protecting, and who pays their salary, it should be no surprise that the goal of both the police and corporate media is to delegitimize demonstrators and create pretexts to silence them. It is commonplace now that peaceful citizens are rounded up like sheep in “mass arrests” in order to create and/or expand their intelligence database of dissidents. The people who choose to resist and/or practice self-defenses are often labeled “terrorists” and face a multitude of oppressive weapons such as live-round and less-lethal ammunition, chemical weapons, and even newer oppressive directed energy technologies such as the LRAD sound cannon. Not only are the policies of neoliberalism destructive to human lives, the environment, and future of humanity in general, it could not be made possible without the collaborating authorities that protect these elite criminals through violence and deception.
As we've seen in other locations where these summits were held, South Korean police have already began their crackdown on immigrants, homeless, unions, students, and activists. Authorities there have launched large-scale deportations and raids against migrant workers and street vendors are slowly being moved out to prepare the battlefield. According to the Korean Times, “During a recent rally in front of Myeongdong Cathedral in downtown Seoul, Michel from the Philippines, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, condemned the ongoing crackdown, saying, '“The Korean government is using the G-20 Summit as an excuse to trouble minorities. We want the government to end their oppressive behavior. End the crackdown!”'
Amidst the growing state repression in the lead up to the G-20 in Seoul, the South Korean National Police Agency (NPA) has created a special police unit as part of its effort to enhance security around the summit. Police operations headquarters will be set up in Seoul September 1st and will bring in elite mobile field force units of "riot troops" from across the nation. All officers will continue to be on high alert until November when hundreds of finance/business CEO's and world leaders gather in Seoul, in an attempt to fix the crisis their policies created. This will undoubtedly become a milestone for the G-20 and within the anti-globalization movement, as South Korea becomes the first country in the Asian region, and from the "emerging world", to host a G-20 Summit.
Based on the outcome of previous G-20 Summits and the response of South Korean police to demonstrations in the past, it is almost guaranteed that the South Korean people can expect extreme police repression and increased erosion of their hard-won democracy, before, during, and after the summit. As in the past, the G-20 will almost certainly conclude in an undemocratic fashion, and will attempt to promote and solidify more of the same oppressive neoliberal policies the working people of the world struggle against every day. On the one side is neoliberalism, with all its repressive power and machinery of death; on the other side is humanity.
There will be a storm...
PARTICIPANTS OF G-20 SEOUL
***Please note this is an incomplete list of participants***
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
IMF
World Bank
WTO
United Nations
NEPAD
OECD
Africa Union
ASEAN
Financial Stability Forum
International Labour Organization
MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS:
(Over 100 CEOs will attend the Seoul G20)
Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann HSBC British Holdings Group Chairman Stephen Green U.K. Standard Chartered CEO Peter Sands Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit U.S. Black-stone Group Chairman Stephen Schwarzman VISA Chairman Joseph Saunders Japan’s Nomura Holdings CEO Kenichi Watanabe China Merchants Bank CEO Ma Weihua Luxembourg’s Arcelor Mittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal Switzerland’s Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe U.S. Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs French energy company Total CEO Christophe de Margerie Germany’s Bosch Group Chairman Franz Fehrenbach France’s AREVA CEO Anne Lauvergeon France’s Alstom Chairman Patrick Kron France’s Veolia CEO Antoine Frerot Spain’s Repsol Chairman Antonio Brufau India’s Infosys Technologies CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan CEOs of Denmark’s Vesta Wind Systems CEO Ditlev Engel Brazil’s Vale CEO Roger Agnelli Italy’s Eni Chairman Roberto Poli China’s Li & Fung Group Chairman Victor Fung Sweden’s SEB/SABB/AB Electrolux Chairman Marcus Wallenberg Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company CEO Yaschika Hasegawa China Southern Power Grid Chairman Zhao Jianguo
COUNTRIES:
Oceania: Australia
Eurasia: Russia Turkey
East Asia: China Japan South Korea
Europe: EU France Germany Italy UK
North America: Canada Mexico USA
South America: Argentina Brazil
Africa: South Africa
South Asia: India
Southeast Asia: Indonesia
Western Asia: Saudi Arabia
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100812160125263
SMASH THE G20!
MASS PROTEST FRIDAY 12th NOVEMBER, SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY. G20 SOLIDARITY
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTH KOREAN WORKERS, G20 PROTESTORS, PRISONERS AND ALL ANTI-G20 ACTIVISTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE WHO ARE TAKING PART IN THE G20-PROTESTS IN SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA ON 11-12 NOVEMBER
TIME: 2pm – 6pm
DATE: FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2010
PLACE: EMBASSY OF SOUTH KOREA, 60 Buckingham Gate, London, SW1E 6AJ, if coming from Victoria station, 10 min walk down Victoria Street, Buckingham Gate is on left, or if coming from Parliament Sq (Westminster Tube St) 10 min walk down Victoria Street, Buckingham Gate on the right.
smashg20.blogspot.com
tel. 07913765074
sov_rus@yahoo.co.uk
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People’s G20 Response Preparation Committee, South Korea Newsletter July, 2010
Original Publication Date:
1 July, 2010
Source:
People's G-20 Preparation Committee
Attachment Size
Newletter_People's_G20_preparationCommittee_July_FINAL.pdf 43.29 KB
Dear Colleagues,
The fifth G20 Summit will be held in Seoul on November 11th to 12th. This meeting has grave consequences for the people of Korea and the entire world. The G20 has appointed itself the principal body responsible for finding a solution to the global economic crisis and managing the world economy. Yet it excludes the majority of poor and developing nations from decision-making. It also seeks to make common people shoulder the burden of the crisis and to promote neoliberal policies, which have already created vast poverty and increased inequality. In addition, the South Korean government is using the upcoming summit as an excuse to severely restrict democratic rights and carry out a crackdown on migrants, street vendors and homeless people.
Recognizing the huge impacts posed by the G20 on the rights of people in Korea and around the world, labor unions, social movement organizations and progressive NGOs in South Korea formed a People’s G20 Response Preparation Committee (hereafter People’s Preparation Committee) on June 18th in order to respond to the G20 Seoul Summit. The People’s Preparation Committee will take full responsibility for organising various activities and actions protesting the G20 summit as the representative of South Korean people’s, social and civil movements.
We would like to share with you developments in our preparation for the G20 Summit.
Four Main Action Principles of People’s Preparation Committee
The People’s Preparation Committee agreed to the following four main principles:
1) We are committed to organising various activities and actions to denounce the G20 Summit for making people and developing countries pay for the crisis and criticise the structural problems of neo-liberal financial globalization.
2) We are committed to organise various activities to denounce the South Korean government for using the G20 Summit as an excuse to repress democracy and human rights and ignoring internationally-recognised labour and human rights standards.
3) We are to maintain political, organisational and financial independence from the South Korean government and capital, so that we can truly represent the alternative voices of labour, people’s and civil society movements about/against the G20.
4) We will contribute to strengthening solidarity with local and international labour, social and civil society movements to build a labour-and-environment-friendly alternative economy, and to introduce capital controls and contribute to strengthening the capacity of international movements against neo-liberal globlaisation.
Points of Action (provisional)
Agenda 1. Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Agenda 2. Decent work
Agenda 3. Basic Labour rights
Agenda 4. Environment and climate change
Agenda 5. Alternative trade agreement to FTAs and TNCs
Agenda 6. Food security and agriculture
Agenda 7. Democracy and human rights
Agenda 8. Poverty and development
Agenda.9. Forced migration
Agenda 10. Peace and security
Agenda 11. Gender and G20
Agenda 12. Cultural diversity and IPRs
Agenda 13. Public services
Main Role of People’s Preparation Committee
People’s Preparation Committee will take full responsibility to organise the following activities and actions.
1) We are committed to organising a People’s Week of Collective Action from November 6th to 12th including:
* A rally and march on November 11th.
* A People’s Summit
* Opening and closing ceremonies for the People’s Joint Action Week
2) We will organise all possible activities and actions concerning current, future and emerging issues related to the G20 Summit based on general consensus among participating organizations, including:
* Protesting the crackdown against migrant workers, homeless people and street vendors in the name of a successful G20 Summit.
* Responding to the G20 Finance (Vice) Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings
* Protesting the government’s repression of democracy and universal human rights under the excuse of successful G20 Summit.
3) We are encouraging and supporting thematic activities based on the proposed points of action so as to expand and strengthen our response to the G20.
4) We are committed to making every effort to encourage social forces to join the people’s G20 actions and strengthen their participation, as well as to create and build people’s alternative positions on the global economic crisis.
5) We are committed to organising various publicity and public consciousness-raising activities to expose the fundamental problems of G20 summit.
People’s Summit(provisional title), Seoul
South Korean people’s, social and civil society organisations are calling upon international social movements to jointly organise a People’s Summit protesting the G20 Summit. The Peoples’ Summit will be organised as part of the People’s Week of Collective Action programmes, and it will be based on equal participation of all people to develop people’s alternative solutions for responding to the global economic and social crisis.
Korean people’s, social and civil society organisations will host the Peoples’ Summit (provisional title) in solidarity with international social and civil movements to develop peoples’ alternatives. The main goal is to develop a solution to the current crisis and to shield poor people who are suffering from the impact of the crisis.
The format of the People’s Summit will be a forum consisting of several creative workshops held directly before the G20 Summit. During the People’s Summit people from G20 and non-G20 countries will assess the impact of current economic and social policies promoted by the G20, and demand alternative global economic reform and the social change necessary to create a better world.
Calendar for People’s Week of Collective Action
- Date: November 6th to 12th
- General Picture of People’s Week of Collective Action
* Opening (November 6th)
* National Workers Rally (November 7th)
* People’s Summit( November 7th to 9th )
* Press Conference – Seoul Declaration
* Mass Rally and March (November 11th)
* Closing v(November 12th)
Participating Organisations
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU)
National Association of Professors for Democratic Society(NAPDS)
Citizen’s Movement for Environmental Justice
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights
Korean Women's Association United(KWAU)
Global Call to Action Against Poverty Korea(GCAP-Korea)
Korean Peasants’ League(KPL)
Civil Society Network for Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Civil Society Organisation Network in Korea
People’s Solidarity for Social Progress(PSSP)
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy(PSPD)
Korean Progressive Solidarity
National Students March
Korean Women Peasant Association
Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK)
All Together
Green Korea United
Korean Urban Poor Association
Alternative Forum of University Students
National Democratic Association of Street Vendors
Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice
Institute for Global Political Economy
Imagine Institute
Corea Institute for New Society
New Community Institute
Institute for New World
SpecWatch Korea
Korean Clerical and Financial Workers Association
NANUMMUNHWA_ Global Peace Activities
Solidarity for Ending Poverty
Energy & Climate Policy Institute for Just Transition (ECPI)
Action for Energy Justice
Migrant Workers Rights Watch, Korea
Solidarity for Street Vendors and Informal Workers
Joint Preparation Committee for Building Socialist Workers Party
Korea Progressive Academy Council
Progressive Strategy Council
Center for Energy Politics(CEP)
Contacts for the People’s Preparation Committee
- Joint Secretariat Team will be established shortly.
- Official E-mail : peoplesg20action.Seoul@gmail.com
- Thematic working group and/or networks based on each point of action will also be established.
- Provisionally you can contact the People’s Preparation Committee through the following persons/organizations:
? Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
Contact : Mr. Lee Changgeun(bulnavi@gmail.com), / Ms. Ryu Mikyung(inter@kctu.org)
? CSO Network in Korea
Contact: Mr. Sungkyu Oh(ohskks@gmail.com), / Ms Youngmi Yang,( pspdint@hotmail.com)
? CS Network for Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Contact: Mr. Lee Hanjin (hanjin444@hanmail.net )
? Regional Southeast-east Asia Office, La Via Campesina
Contact: Ms Kim, Haesook(rupina72@gmail.com )
? Energy & Climate Policy Institute for Just Transition(ECPI)
Contact : Mr. Lee Jinwoo(purevil@naver.com)
http://ourworldisnotforsale.org/en/article/people-s-g20-response-preparation-committee-south-korea-newsletter-july-2010
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CALL FOR ACTION - The G20 Summit is NO EXCUSE for Repression!KCTU
The G20 Summit is NO EXCUSE for Repression!
October 1st, International Day of Action against the pre-Summit attack on Democratic and Human Rights in South Korea
Dear Friends and Allies,
You have already received an email urging you to join protests against the G20 Summit, which will be held in Seoul, South Korea from November 11 to 12. As you know, the G20, originally formed to respond to the global financial crisis, is attempting to set itself up as the authority responsible for directing the world economy and defining world governance. While completely excluding most nations from decision-making, the G20 is attempting to make the world ‘safe’ for neoliberal capitalism by forcing emerging economies to shoulder part of the burden of the crisis, promoting trade and investment liberalization dressed up 'in new robes', negotiating weak financial reforms that largely allow financial speculation to go on unchecked, and reviving the ailing IMF and other IFIs. This agenda is being pursued despite the fact that neoliberal capitalism is clearly a failed model, which only increases poverty and inequality around the globe.
As if this was not enough, the Lee Myeong-bak administration is using the upcoming Summit as an excuse to strengthen repression of common people and social movements in South Korea. To fight this attack we need your support, even before November.
On October 1st tell the South Korean government and the world that the G20 Summit is NO EXCUSE for Repression by participating in the International Day of Action against the pre-Summit attack on Democratic and Human Rights in South Korea.
Background
The government is carrying out its attack on democratic and human rights on many fronts.
Claiming they are “establishing public order to support the successful opening of the G20 Summit,” the Immigration Service and other government agencies have been conducting a massive crackdown on undocumented migrants, during which migrants are brutally arrested, imprisoned and then deported. Proclaiming to be “preemptively responding to foreigner crime,” the Seoul Metropolitan Police Department has been carrying out blatantly illegal and racist stop and search procedures, questioning anyone they think looks ‘suspicious’, which generally means anyone who looks foreign and dark-skinned.
The government has also formed a “special road maintenance crew” to “clean up the streets” before the G20 by cracking down on street vendors. The police have been patrolling areas where homeless people usually spend time, such as subway stations and neighborhoods where service organizations and temporary boarding houses are located. These measures are brutally destroying the livelihoods and wiping out the resting places of South Korea’s poor.
At the same time, the government has been carrying out a devastating attack against South Korean workers and labour unions, even going so far as to ignore commitments made at previous G20 meetings. At the 3rd G20 Summit held in Pittsburgh in September 2009, national leaders agreed that, "the current challenges [posed by the crisis] do not provide an excuse to disregard or weaken internationally recognized labour standards.” Despite this fact, the government has repeatedly defied ILO Committee of Freedom Association recommendations by repressing unionization by teachers and public employees, applying the Article 314(Obstruction of Business) of Penal Code to prosecute union officers, and attempting to control union activities through implementation of the ‘time-off’ system, which drastically limits the number of union staff that can paid on company salaries. The government is also violating the G20’s stated principle of putting the creation of ‘decent jobs’ at the center of economic recovery by pursuing labour flexiblisation policies including the weaken of restrictions on mass lay-offs and expansion of the industries in which agency workers can be legally employed.
To top all of this off, in May the ruling conservative Grand National Party forced the passage of a “Special Law on the Safe Escort of the G20 Summit,” which legalizes tools for the repression of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. This law, which goes into effect on October 1, allows the government to mobilize the army “if necessary” to maintain public order. It also established ‘Safe Escort Zones’ around the G20 meeting site, the hotels where representatives will stay, the routes they will travel to the Summit, and other G20 related areas. Public officials are authorized to stop people from entering these zones and to carry out indiscriminate stop and search procedures within them. What is more, they are not required to publically announce which areas during what times are designated ‘Safe Escort Zones’. This law is clearly meant to squash all forms of criticism and protest against the G20.
On October 1st tell the South Korean government that the G20 is NO Excuse for Repression!
If we do not resist these measures, repression in South Korea will only grow stronger. This will have a devastating effect on the lives of common people and the people’s movement’s ability to fight for more equitable alternatives to the G20’s neoliberal agenda. We need your support and solidarity now more than ever.
This is way we have proclaimed October 1st, the very day the “Special Law on the Safe Escort of the G20 Summit” goes into effect, an International Day of Action against the pre-Summit attack on Democratic and Human Rights in South Korea.
We are asking allies around the world to organize solidarity actions on this day and deliver the following demands to the South Korean government.
The G20 Summit is NO excuse! Stop the crackdown on migrants, street vendors and homeless people!
Honour international labour standards and ILO recommendations! Stop labour repression and labour flexibilisation policies!
Repeal the “Special Law on the Safe Escort of the G20 Summit” and end repression of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly!
Solidarity actions may take the following forms:
Rallies or other actions in front of South Korean consulates and embassies
Meetings with consulate and embassy representatives to deliver protest statements
Press conferences
Rallies or other actions in public areas
Any creative action you wish to organize
Attached is a sample protest statement, which can be used in meetings with embassy and consulate representatives and/or as the basis for press statements.
Please let us know about actions you have planned and send reports of completed actions.
News about solidarity actions, as well as any questions or requests for additional materials may be sent to: Peoplesg20action.seoul@gmail.com
Endorsed by
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU)
National Association of Professors for Democratic Society (NAPDS)
Citizen’s Movement for Environmental Justice
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights
Korean Women's Association United (KWAU)
Global Call to Action against Poverty Korea (GCAP-Korea)
Korean Peasants’ League (KPL)
Civil Society Network for Financial regulation and taxation on speculative capital
Civil Society Organisation Network in Korea
People’s Solidarity for Social Progress (PSSP)
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
Korea Alliance of Progressive Movements
National Students March
Korean Women Peasant Association
Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea (JCMK)
All Together
Green Korea United
Korean Urban Poor Association
Alternative Forum of University Students
National Democratic Association of Street Vendors
Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice
Institute for Global Political Economy
Imagine Institute
Corea Institute for New Society
New Community Institute
Institute for New World
SpecWatch Korea
Korean Clerical and Financial Workers Association
NANUMMUNHWA_ Global Peace Activities
Korean People's Solidarity against Poverty
Energy & Climate Policy Institute for Just Transition (ECPI)
Action for Energy Justice
Migrant Workers Rights Watch, Korea
Solidarity for Street Vendors and Informal Workers
Korea Progressive Academy Council
Progressive Strategy Council
Center for Energy Politics (CEP)
Korea Federation for Environment Movement (KFEM) / FOE Korea
The Committee for a Socialist Workers' party (CSWP)
Democratic Labor Party-Korea (DLP-Korea)
New Progressive Party-Korea (NPP-Korea)
Socialist Party-Korea (SP-Korea)
Transparency International_Korea
People not Profit
Workers Institute of Social Science, South Korea
Korea Labor&Social Network on Energy
Korea NGO's Energy Network
Revolutionary Workers' Front
Students' Alliance against G20
http://kctu.org/9842
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G20 Seoul: There Will Be a Storm
Thursday, August 12 2010 @ 04:01 PM UTC
Contributed by: AnnaKey
Views: 1,692
On August 3rd, the Korea Times reported that the National Police Agency will be mobilizing more than 400,000 police around the G-20 Summit in Seoul, November 11th & 12th, 2010. Multinational CEO's and leaders of the worlds twenty richest nations will meet during the G-20 on three islands, which have a price-tag of around 83 million(USD) to build...That's right, build.
G20 Seoul: There Will Be a Storm
by Barb Dwyer
Chicago Indymedia
On August 3rd, the Korea Times reported that the National Police Agency will be mobilizing more than 400,000 police around the G-20 Summit in Seoul, November 11th & 12th, 2010. Multinational CEO's and leaders of the worlds twenty richest nations will meet during the G-20 on three islands, which have a price-tag of around 83 million(USD) to build...That's right, build. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, a total of three manmade “floating islands” are being built on the Han River between the Banpo and Dongjak bridges, and will be secured by anchors.
While thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets during past G-20 Summits in North America and Europe, South Korean workers and activists have a long history of being even more militant in their struggle against the destructive policies of globalization than their counterparts in the Northwest hemisphere. In December of 1996, the South Korean parliament passed a new labor law which began a "structural adjustment" austerity program on behalf of the IMF and World Bank. These programs require countries to make debt repayment a priority, and as a consequence forces them to cut essential social services such as health, education, and development, thus lowering their standard of living. These programs also open the door to the privatization of natural resources, such as ancient forests and public water supplies, to be exploited by multinational corporations.
In the days that followed, 12 million South Korean workers went on strike to counter the new undemocratic labor law. In the years that followed, South Korean's continued to protest against the destructive policies of neoliberalism, most notably the WTO in 2003, World Economic Forum in 2004, APEC in 2005, and numerous other occasions. As the G20 approaches, the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has announced it is planning to hold a rally and march on November 11th, the first day of the Summit. According to their website, “...the KCTU will do everything in our power to stage a massive anti-neoliberalism struggle that will gain attention of people and workers around the globe. To this end, we will prepare to hold People’s Action and be a leader of a great transformation.”
South Korean workers have often utilized the direct action tactics of resistance, such as strikes and factory takeovers, to large street demonstrations. It is not uncommon that the workers are also armed with slingshots, molotov cocktails, and sticks. Often times, in an act of more desperate resistance, workers commit suicide outside of their factories, sometimes through self-immolation. South Korean police on the other hand, much like their counterparts around the globe, have also demonstrated their willingness to continually brutalize their own citizens to quell public dissent of these policies. It is a well documented and common tactic for South Korean police to scrape the bottom of their metal shields on the concrete in order to sharpen the edges into a blade before they thrust their shields into the throats of protesters. Over the years, this brutal police tactic has led to the horrific deaths of many South Korean workers.
All this comes at a time when the fallout from past G-20's are still fresh in the air. During the 2009 G-20 Summit in London, Ian Tomlinson was beaten to death by police. On July 21st, 2010, his wife and nine children learned that the London police would not investigate his death, despite video and photographic evidence. None of the officers went to the aid of Tomlinson, who stumbled 100 yards down the road before collapsing and dying in front of thousands of demonstrators. In Canada, the police have begun an old-fashion witch hunt for the people they suspect are responsible for the property damage that occurred during the G-20 in Toronto. Up to 17 people are being charged with conspiracy and at least 4 individuals still remain in jail. In the wake of the Pittsburgh Summit, many cases still remain in court regarding criminal charges against activists, as well as the excessive use of force by police.
Whenever, and wherever, these large summits take place they are always preempted by a heavy campaign of psychological operations (PSYOPS) to prepare the population for the inevitable urban warfare and heavy handed police tactics that ensue. Authorities, for months ahead of time, tell local residents propaganda, such as “the rioters will threaten your lives” and “burn your city like Seattle in 1999” and that the “police are here to protect YOU, from THEM.” However, our collective experiences globally show us who the real violent faction is...In the past, we've seen all too often the police instigate violence, only to have the embedded corporate media twist the facts in their reporting later on. Given who they are protecting, and who pays their salary, it should be no surprise that the goal of both the police and corporate media is to delegitimize demonstrators and create pretexts to silence them. It is commonplace now that peaceful citizens are rounded up like sheep in “mass arrests” in order to create and/or expand their intelligence database of dissidents. The people who choose to resist and/or practice self-defenses are often labeled “terrorists” and face a multitude of oppressive weapons such as live-round and less-lethal ammunition, chemical weapons, and even newer oppressive directed energy technologies such as the LRAD sound cannon. Not only are the policies of neoliberalism destructive to human lives, the environment, and future of humanity in general, it could not be made possible without the collaborating authorities that protect these elite criminals through violence and deception.
As we've seen in other locations where these summits were held, South Korean police have already began their crackdown on immigrants, homeless, unions, students, and activists. Authorities there have launched large-scale deportations and raids against migrant workers and street vendors are slowly being moved out to prepare the battlefield. According to the Korean Times, “During a recent rally in front of Myeongdong Cathedral in downtown Seoul, Michel from the Philippines, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, condemned the ongoing crackdown, saying, '“The Korean government is using the G-20 Summit as an excuse to trouble minorities. We want the government to end their oppressive behavior. End the crackdown!”'
Amidst the growing state repression in the lead up to the G-20 in Seoul, the South Korean National Police Agency (NPA) has created a special police unit as part of its effort to enhance security around the summit. Police operations headquarters will be set up in Seoul September 1st and will bring in elite mobile field force units of "riot troops" from across the nation. All officers will continue to be on high alert until November when hundreds of finance/business CEO's and world leaders gather in Seoul, in an attempt to fix the crisis their policies created. This will undoubtedly become a milestone for the G-20 and within the anti-globalization movement, as South Korea becomes the first country in the Asian region, and from the "emerging world", to host a G-20 Summit.
Based on the outcome of previous G-20 Summits and the response of South Korean police to demonstrations in the past, it is almost guaranteed that the South Korean people can expect extreme police repression and increased erosion of their hard-won democracy, before, during, and after the summit. As in the past, the G-20 will almost certainly conclude in an undemocratic fashion, and will attempt to promote and solidify more of the same oppressive neoliberal policies the working people of the world struggle against every day. On the one side is neoliberalism, with all its repressive power and machinery of death; on the other side is humanity.
There will be a storm...
PARTICIPANTS OF G-20 SEOUL
***Please note this is an incomplete list of participants***
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
IMF
World Bank
WTO
United Nations
NEPAD
OECD
Africa Union
ASEAN
Financial Stability Forum
International Labour Organization
MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS:
(Over 100 CEOs will attend the Seoul G20)
Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann HSBC British Holdings Group Chairman Stephen Green U.K. Standard Chartered CEO Peter Sands Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit U.S. Black-stone Group Chairman Stephen Schwarzman VISA Chairman Joseph Saunders Japan’s Nomura Holdings CEO Kenichi Watanabe China Merchants Bank CEO Ma Weihua Luxembourg’s Arcelor Mittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal Switzerland’s Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe U.S. Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs French energy company Total CEO Christophe de Margerie Germany’s Bosch Group Chairman Franz Fehrenbach France’s AREVA CEO Anne Lauvergeon France’s Alstom Chairman Patrick Kron France’s Veolia CEO Antoine Frerot Spain’s Repsol Chairman Antonio Brufau India’s Infosys Technologies CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan CEOs of Denmark’s Vesta Wind Systems CEO Ditlev Engel Brazil’s Vale CEO Roger Agnelli Italy’s Eni Chairman Roberto Poli China’s Li & Fung Group Chairman Victor Fung Sweden’s SEB/SABB/AB Electrolux Chairman Marcus Wallenberg Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company CEO Yaschika Hasegawa China Southern Power Grid Chairman Zhao Jianguo
COUNTRIES:
Oceania: Australia
Eurasia: Russia Turkey
East Asia: China Japan South Korea
Europe: EU France Germany Italy UK
North America: Canada Mexico USA
South America: Argentina Brazil
Africa: South Africa
South Asia: India
Southeast Asia: Indonesia
Western Asia: Saudi Arabia
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100812160125263
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