Whose History?

Progressives and Students Converge in Protests

Written By Ana Traynin and Jonathan Chiarella

 

The past year was hard on progressives. The Unified Progressive Party was forcibly disbanded. The China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement was finalized. The Sewol ferry still sat in the sea. And most recently, the word “history” took on a new significance and became a battlefield for the “New Right.”

On Oct. 12, President Park Geun-hye announced that beginning in 2017, all secondary schools would study history from government-issued textbooks. Since 2010, schools have chosen from approved private publishers, a practice the government seeks to stop. The textbook committee make-up is still shrouded in secrecy, but Hankyoreh reporters came across an alleged secret presidential task force in Seoul’s Hyehwa neighborhood drafting a plan for the new books.

In response, an organizing committee formed for the “General Rise to Action,” a catch-all rally to address various social and economic issues—the textbooks being the lightning rod. The event kicked off across central Seoul on Nov. 14. Demonstrators were chiefly the activist core: unions, farmer associations, and progressive parties (Justice, Green, and Labor). Across the country, students began protesting. The thought that the government would rewrite the history of democratic uprisings and workers’ struggles hit close to home. Student groups staged demonstrations on campuses and in cities.

The united march in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, started at 4:30 p.m., but various sub-protests started at noon. Mass media covered the Hyehwa University area, but the demonstrations there were less intense, more festive. Police presence was minimal. On the other hand, the Home Plus workers and the construction worker unions drew a much larger police presence. The South Jeolla chapters of construction workers started the union’s march, and a member from Yeosu began the speeches. He said their union’s goal was not to criticize any company in particular, but the economic system around chaebols as well as the lax enforcement of existing regulations—whereas Home Plus workers were targeting the closed-door negotiations of the sell-off of the chain in August. The police presence was heaviest near Gwanghwamun, where the protests converged in the afternoon. The night before, buses were prepped for barricades.

Protesters around Seoul Square formed the core of the march and would stay through the evening. The two largest groups were the All-National Peasants’ Association and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Chief rallying cries were demands for chaebol reform and opposition to free trade agreements and labor reform bills implementing “peak” payment and “flexible” hiring.

While Gyeonggi groups were large, Honam and Yeongnam came out in much stronger numbers relative to their populations.

The atmosphere soured as marchers reached the first police barricades. Some pushed on the buses and walls. Water cannons were turned on sporadically. Others began to pull on buses with rope and throw litter. Later, the water cannons added artificial capsaicin, the irritant found in chili peppers, in order to burn the eyes of protesters. When a mock funeral procession arrived later in the evening, old men carrying a paper palanquin were blasted. Baek Nam-gi, 68, leader of the Catholic Farmers Association in Boseong, was knocked down, fracturing his skull. He is still in critical care at Seoul National University Hospital as of this writing. Soon after, vandalism of police buses and increased use of water cannons erupted.

Baek’s plight was the concern of Jeolla residents, farmers, activists, and progressives around the world. The 50 wrecked police buses were the focus for the conservative press. The protests drew 130,000 people according to The Hanyoreh, or 68,000 according to police. Fifty-one protesters were arrested and 29 injured. Han Sang-gyun of the KCTU took refuge in a temple until Dec. 10.

In preparation for the second round of protests, the Twitter handle “student_minjung” (with more than 5,000 followers) spawned at least 15 other youth-led gatherings in other cities and towns. On Dec. 3, the Seoul District Court said there was no proof that the demonstrations would turn violent, and that the police ban was improper.

Out of protest—and for protection—many demonstrators adorned scarves and masks. Because of this, both the president and Saenuri Party leaders drew parallels between protestors and ISIS terrorists, further angering progressives.

Protests went off without clashes on Dec. 5. No clubbing, vandalism, water cannons, or barricades were reported. However, police allege that unions were planning violent acts, and the following day, 1,531 were put under investigation for sedition. A Gwangju leader in the Part-timers Union was arrested in Seoul before the protests began. Organizers put the attendance at 50,000 and police put it at 14,000—our witness put the number closer to the organizers’. There was a tighter focus in this demonstration, centering on the plights of working people.

In Gwangju, the Dec. 5 rally was coordinated between students and the Gwangju Citizens’ Mourners Group (Sewol mourners), who joined dozens of youth for a march at 2:00 p.m. from Geumnam Park to Democracy Square. There, several high school students from the city, Damyang, Hwasun, and as far as Jeonju gave speeches. The textbook issue was prominent, along with lingering effects of the Sewol ferry sinking, and “passion pay” — low wages for interns and young workers.

One of the demonstrators, Chosun University student Park Jeong-hoon, a member of the Gwangju Youth Social Participation Support Center, was at the first rally in Seoul on Nov. 14. Recalling the slogan after the Sewol ferry sinking—“One small movement can lead to big miracles”—Park believes that the fight against the history textbooks can also spur change in society. “History can judge that,” he added.

Chosun student, Yoo Ga-won, was also in Gwanghwamun on Nov. 14 and became one of the organizers of the Gwangju event. “The new history textbooks make fake history,” she said. “They will call the 5.18 Democratic Movement in Gwangju a ‘riot.’”

Han Shi-young, a Gwangju native and student of Busan’s Korea Maritime University, said, on the portrayal of Park Chung Hee (the president’s father), “The textbooks will say that he was a very, very great person.”