Peace Again, But Will It Last?   2008-06-05 04:02

Thankfully, over the last couple of days, police violence has subsided in Seoul. Candlelight protests continue as usual, but the government seems to have decided to respond in a more civilized manner. On the other hand, protests have evolved, too. Our young men and women have found several new ways in which to voice their concerns without giving the police an excuse to arrest them. Most noteworthy are the crosswalk protests (pictured below). Two groups of people start off at opposite ends of a crosswalk. When they meet in the middle of the street, they greet each other and shout slogans together. A few seconds later, they part and continue across the street in time for the signal to turn red. This is repeated at every crosswalk in their paths, and there's no way the police can lay charges against the protesters. It's not illegal to cross the street at a green light, is it?

While the police has been successful in keeping the crowd of 40,000 away from the Blue House (the President's office and residence), some of us have found another way to get there without raising too much suspicion. They just take a walk along the road in front of the Blue House, wearing and/or carrying stuff with their slogans on them. It's not illegal to take a walk, especially if only a few people are involved.

Candlelight vigils/protests have never been carefully organized by anyone, after all. They all happened spontaneously. While the police has been trying hard to find out who's pulling the strings from behind all this (those who had been arrested report that this same question was asked of everyone), the truth is that nobody is behind our protests. We are just concerned citizens -- high school students, college students, businesspeople, and mothers with children -- who have learned about the issue on the Internet. Old folks at the Blue House will never understand how a hoard of loosely connected Internet forums can have so much power. Somebody somewhere has suggested that one million people across the country get together for a massive protest tomorrow (June 6), which is Memorial Day in Korea. Will the government ever find out who made the proposal? Can the police track down all those little hyperlinks? No way. Candlelight protests are all about spontaneity. Anyone can buy a candlestick at a local grocery store and join us. This isn't some left-wing plot to take over the country, as some have said. Actually, concerned citizens have been trying hard to keep left-wing politicians out of the crowd, in order not to give the government an excuse to say what isn't true. We, the People, are just concerned about the way our government -- our servant -- has been treating ourselves and our brothers and sisters.

Meanwhile, several dozen municipalities in Korea held by-elections yesterday (June 4). The turn-out rate was exceedingly low (18%), as most people have had their attention focused on the candlelight protests. Many people probably didn't even know that they were about to choose a new mayor, especially with political parties staying low and quiet not to provoke anger at this critical moment in Korea's history. Nonetheless, the results are clear. President Lee's right-wing Hannara Party, which had won a landslide victory in the general election only eight weeks ago, lost this time almost everywhere. This despite the fact that the left-wing Minju ("Democratic") Party has yet to recover from all the internal strife they've been through since last year.

I hope this election helps get the message across to 2MB's gang in Hannara Party: their victory in the last general election will become nothing but a distant memory unless they listen to the People's voice. No election gives the winner total freedom to do whatever they want to do once and for all; election victories are not blank checks. If politicians want to last until the next election (let alone win it), they will have to acknowledge the fact that we, the People, reserve the right to pick and choose among their agenda. We helped Lee Myung-Bak become President last December, because he promised a strong economy. Beating up and arresting peaceful protesters, however, was not part of the package we bought. The last president, Roh Moo-Hyun, complained once that the People don't leave him free to pursue the agenda they themselves voted for. I suspect that President Lee is going to make a very similar comment in the near future, despite the stark contrast between the two presidents' ideological background. But what can they say? It's only to be expected. No politician so far has been able to come up the perfect package deal, and I doubt anyone will. So we keep protesting. Extra ketchup, no onions, add some hot sauce, and drop the pickles, please!

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