Korea: The Commune of Kwangju Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - ats-l@burn.ucsd.edu Sat Jun 5 22:14:49 1999 The Commune Of Kwangju: May 18 - May 27, 1980 by Park Sang-Chul Volunteer of PICIS, http://picis.jinbo.net/ All around the world people often speak about the Paris Commune of 1871 and its glorious tragedy. Yet not so many people know another severe struggle of the Kwangju citizens and their Commune. When dictator Park Jung-hee was suddenly shot to death by his right-hand man, the Korean people expected to replace the long history of suppression and exploitation with their own history of liberation. Nevertheless, the so-called the 'Neo-Military' thoroughly betrayed the people's expectations, assuming the reins of government through another coup d'etat. The anachronistic violence of the military, however, couldn't interrupt the Korean people's great history of struggle, which found its seismic center in Kwangju, the largest city in Honam. The people of the Honam plain, the breadbasket of Korea, were mostly peasants and have been subject to severe exploitation; thus the rich soil of the Honam plain has always been wet with struggling people's blood all throughout history. Especially in the 19th century, namely in the era of imperialistic invasions, the Honam plain was also the stage of the Donghak Peasants' Revolution against feudal landholders and imperialist Powers. Even independence from Japan didn't change the status of the Honam people; dictator Park in particular carried out one-sided policies that developed the industrial sectors at the sacrifice of agriculture, enforcing low cereal prices to preserve low wages. Under such harsh discriminations, the Honam people were thoroughly denied any benefits of the authoritarian economic development. On May 18, when the neo-military dispatched airlift troops to suppress the students' struggle, Kwangju citizens' smoldering resentment burst into flame at last. Though placed under martial law, Kwangju citizens started to gather in front of the Provincial Office and bravely confronted armed troops with their bare hands. Several ranger-commando forces were additionally dispatched and cruelly quelled the demonstration. Especially airlift troops, who were accustomed to brutality through their participation in the Vietnam War, were so cruel as to fire on citizens with flame throwers, to mangle a student's head, and to gouge out a 19-year girl's breasts with a long sword. At 16:50 on May 17, the first firing took place, in this course troops used lead bullets, which are prohibited even in wartime. Furious citizens were determined not to retreat but to fight to the last drop of their blood. Even inactive citizens cooperated with demonstrators: Shopkeepers provided water, pushcart holders carried stones, taxi drivers blocked the roads, and women provided handkerchiefs or toothpaste. At last, the citizens seized broadcasting centers to prevent distorted reports. Finally, at 13:00 on May 22, citizens had no choice but to arm themselves. As they seized police offices and armories to capture guns and bullets, so the violence of troops got more and more brutal. In spite of continual massacres and indiscriminate firings, the militia fought so severely that they succeeded in partly driving troops away on May 22. We now call the five days of May 22-26 "Kwangju Liberated". Citizens organized their own committee and autonomously administered Kwangju. Surprising is the fact that there were no crimes at all in Kwangju during the five days. Just as the Commune de Paris didn't seize banks and rather protected them, so Kwangju citizens were so naive as not to capture banks. The vanguard militia positioned themselves at the Provincial Office of Kwangju, determined themselves to fight to the last and sent guides to citizens with composure. At the briefing room of the Office they finally got connected with the briefing room of the government at 23:50 on May 26: "Here we are in the District Office. Shall the troops get in downtown this night?" "For all I know they may not." "If the troops enter downtown, we will blow ourselves up with dynamite." From 04:30 to 04:55 on May 27, the 3rd brigade of airlift troops captured the Office at last. At 04:00 on May 28, the final militia in Mokpo Station were arrested by the army. At 11:15 on May 29, scavengers' carts sent corpses of citizens to a cemetery. The militia were tortured, slaughtered, or sentenced to long prison terms. After the neo-military lost power to the people's struggle, these militiamen were set free and reinstated, whereas the neo-military criminals, comprising ex-presidents Chun Du-whan and Roh Tae-woo, were sentenced for rebellion and homicide in 1995. Yet President Kim Dae-jung granted a amnesty to every 'Neo-Military' criminal and is even casting an amorous glance at the unforgivable criminals to gain the support of silly right-wing voters. While the 19th Anniversary of the Kwangju Struggle took place in front of the historic Provincial Office under the motto of "forgiveness" and "harmony", the murder criminals are still behaving unforgettably and disharmoniously without any repentance. They are even trying organizing their own party to restore their political status with the economic power generated by the ex-presidents' misappropriated funds, which have not yet been confiscated in spite of legal sentences. It is too early to forget; reminded that Kwangju Struggle is an unfinished revolution, we should never allow us to suspend the sublime stream of the Kwangju citizens' will. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Arm The Spirit E-mail: ats@etext.org WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-06.06.99-03:58:45-2572