https://m.blog.naver.com/PostView.naver?blogId=anarchistleague&logNo=223682568029
A post by the Korean Anarchist Organisation 아나키스트 연대 on the shortlived martial law earlier this month and the collaboration between trade unions and liberal politicans which had a dampening effect on the general strike called in response to it.
The night of December 3rd was noisy. I thought that the invocation of martial law was a concept that only appeared in history books and had not been experienced since the 5th Republic. I thought that if the next martial law occurred, it would only occur when something very serious and urgent happened to the system.
But it seems that Mr. President wanted to commit suicide. The only troops mobilized were some defense force troops and a small number of airborne troops, and even that did not prevent the National Assembly from passing a resolution to lift martial law. Neither the representative of the ruling party nor the mayor of Seoul, who was from the ruling party, knew that martial law had been declared. The martial law troops had to return home lonely on police buses.
This could be seen as a great civic victory. But at the same time, it appears to be a defeat for the working class movement.
After martial law was declared, the very small number of mobilized martial law soldiers attempted to make emergency arrests, not Yang Kyung-soo, chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, or the chairman of the Public Transport Workers’ Union, which is going on strike starting tomorrow. They tried to arrest Lee Jae-myeong, Han Dong-hoon, and Woo Won-sik. What does this mean? This may have been because, in the eyes of the President, the labor union would not pose any threat to the system nor would it cause any hindrance in any way. No matter how much a general strike is declared, there is no response on the ground, and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ general strike is It is being relegated to a weekend rally, and the workers who came out for the general strike are incited with slogans that are essentially the same as those of the Democratic Party, and in a way, it seems natural.
Let’s be a little ashamed of this. Let’s go back to the field and organize a new struggle again. Let’s organize the field and politicize the field. So that the workers’ struggle can really shake up the system, so that the coming martial law can be truly severe. So that they can be more afraid of our leadership rather than Lee Jae-myung and Han Dong-hoon.