International Forum in Korea:

Over 10 million people have mobilised in 10 consecutive weekend protests

The last day of 2016 witnessed another historic moment: once again, a huge mobilisation of 1 million-strong crowd, which added to over 10 million participation in 10 occasions of the nation day of candlelight action. The historical mobilisations of People Power had tremendous impacts on every sphere of South Korean society, as well as politics.

On the first day of the new year, however, Park Geun-hye, impeached president, gave a surprise present for South Koreans. She invited journalists for an informal meeting and had rather a long talk, in which she still denied any wrong doings and attributed all faults to media’s manipulative sensationalism and popular misunderstanding. However, her shameless excuses are interpreted as a maneuvre to respond to the Constitutional Court’s proceedings and the extensive investigation by the Special Prosecution.

 Political crisis goes deeper

Since the impeachment on December 9^th, prime minister Hwang Gyo-an had led the government as acting president, but he showed no intention to change Park’s conservative policies, invoking wide criticisms. At the moment, Hwang’s government seems to barely survive.

Eventually, the ruling Saenuri Party split. After the defeat in the election of parliament leader, the dissident anti-Park faction formed a new party, Reform Conservative New Party, with 30 MPs, claiming that any reform within the party was impossible. However, as the unrepentant pro-Park faction refused to give up the control over the party apparatus, new leadership of Saenuri Party is now in civil war-like dispute over the so-called reform plan.

Thus, with the government barely functioning and the ruling party in deep crisis, the hearings of the National Assembly failed to call up key witnesses like Choi Soon-shil, and many of witnesses refused to tell the truth, fueling popular indignation even further.

The extensive investigation by the Special Prosecution touches every aspect of the charges of Choi-Park Gate. The investigators and prosecutors work all around the clock, revealing new evidences of horrendous crimes every day, garnering popular support. Though the final results of the investigation are still too early to come, thorough and strict investigation is expected to reveal further truth of the ugly crimes.

 Candlelight protests are still robust

Nearly 1 million protesters gathered in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square New Year’s Eve, demanding the immediate stepdown of impeached President Park Geun-hye. In this huge candlelight rally, protesters carried various signs, chanting slogans like “Arrest Park Geun-Hye, and “Say Goodbye to Park, and welcome the New Year.”

Since the National Assembly’s impeachment vote for 234 to 56, the scale of protests was expected to dwindle. However, consecutive weekend protest went on: on December 10^th, one day after the impeachment, 1,040,000 gathered, on Deceember 17^th, 770,000, and on December 24^th, Christmans Eve, 700,000. Finally, on December 31^st, again 1,000,000 protested and celebrated.

The historic protest movement was culminated in the 1.9 million mobilisation on November 26^th and 2.32 million strong protest on December 3^rd, which put a tremendous pressure toward Park and National Assembly. After impeachment, a new demand was added: the Constitutional Court should carry on swift and fair procedures.

According to a recent poll, 74.2 percent support impeachment against 18.2 percent. Another poll shows that 70.2 percent of the respondents want Park to resign immediately regardless of the Constitutional Court’s verdict, while 29.0 percent prefer to wait for the verdict.

 Counter-mobilisation of pro-Park forces

Though in a lot smaller numbers, the pro-Park forces have also mobilised couple of tens of thousand. Especially, since the impeachment, anti-impeachment protest was organised as a counter-mobilisation. The so-called protesters were mostly old people and far right extremists.

In contrast to candle lights, the symbol of pro-Park counter-mobilisation is the national flag. Their signs say that they love Park and the candle light protests are controlled by North Korea. Some urged the military to step in and initiate a miliatary coup d’etat. These groundless smear campaigns are ignored by media and ridiculed by popular opinions.

However, this reactionary activism has strong links with the government, especially the security and intelligence institutions. Some documents from the presidency showed the president and her advisors were keen to ultra-right protests, which are notorious for attacking social movements as pro-North Korean stooges. The government frequently used them as a mean to manipulate public opinion.

Thus, the counter-mobilisation attempted to create an image of left-right confrontation, but their exaggeration and falsification operation has hardly any appeal. Instead, ugly reactionary over-actions and foul languages invoke utter abhorrence and revulsion among the public mind.

 Practice precedes theory – Meaning of candlelight protests

As Park refuses to resign and makes shameful excuses, the institutional process of impeachment prevails the moment, as it is the only way to remove her from the office at the moment. This might be the limitation of grassroots mobilisations, but the dynamics of candlelight protests still has strength and influence, as well as more profound significance.

This is a highly unique experience, even for the South Koreans who have experienced periodic occurrence of political upheaval: April Revolution in 1960, Gwangju Uprising in 1980, June Uprising in 1987, and Candlelight Protest in 2008. In each conjuncture, popular participation expanded dramatically, but the 2006 mobilisation is ever the largest and the most prolonged protest.

Candle vigils began in 2002 as a new form of popular struggle, when people protested the death of two middle school girls by a U.S. tank. In 2004, when president Noh Moohyun was impeached by conservative politicians, the candlelight protest repeated and punished the pro-impeachment forces. And in 2008, 6 month long candle light protests hit hard the Lee Myungbak government’s policy of importing contaminated U.S. beef, but in a much more diverse and creative forms. In 2016, the candle light protests re-emerged in a huge scale, even bigger than any of previous mobilisations.

Technically, June Uprising in 1987 ushered in the era of democratisation. However, the institutional democracy was not complete, and failed to live up to the popular expectation for real democracy. The turn to authoritarian neoliberalism under the conservative governments has destroyed fragile root of democracy, as well as economic life of popular classes. Hence, the repetition of popular struggle to expand and deepen democracy, and for humane and decent life.

Many pundits and activitsts are at a loss, because the candle light protest looks like a de facto revolution, but the fruit of the revolution is expected to be put into the hands of another faction of the ruling elite. Even some old minds demand not to exaggerate the less militant protests, while others praise the revolution as a perfect model of peaceful protest. However, either side fails to explain what this candle light revolution/protest is. Still, the exact meaning and influence of this phenomena is not yet to come, either.

The coalition of the social movements, which have organised the national day of candle light protest in 10 consecutive weekends, declared January 2017 as the month for popular debate. It is an attempt to vitalise popular discussion on the political direction of candlelight struggle, by further deepening direct, participatory democracy or politics of square.

 Need for new perspectives on revolution

Theoretically, the classic Marxist explanation of bourgeois and proletarian revolutions needs to be revised. Through the 20^th century after the Russian Revolution in 1917, and after the cold war, the revolutions we actually witnessed were divergent from the classic model of social and political revolution. For instance, the 1989 revolution was both the revolution and counter-revolution.

Despite the proclamation of the end of the history, the de facto democratic revolutions broke out in Eastern Europe, North Africa and Middle East, even Europe and U.S., and the meaning of democracy runs deeper and deeper. Thus, considering that the failure of the project for the 2oth century socialism was due to insufficient understanding of capitalism and deficiency of democracy, the broadening of popular struggles for profound, thorough democratisation opens ways for a new project for the 21^st century socialism.

As capitalism in neoliberal version proved a total failure, the crisis of multiple dimensions dominate the globe. Crisis after crisis drives grassroots into a revolution, and they are travelling with compass, or blue print for future. However, 99 percent on the globe are getting smarter and smarter, stronger and stronger.

So far what is certain is that popular struggle for democracy and emancipation grows everyday, and that the democratic revolution repeats itself to its completion, beyond the conventional conception of linear historical development. And this is a huge achievement that any political and social movements in history could reach.

Won Youngsu
(Coordinator, International Forum in Korea)