Calm before the Storm 2008-06-28 14:14
The next massive protest is planned for 2:00 p.m. today. In order to give people plenty of time to rest beforehand, the NGO's wrapped up last night's demonstration circa midnight. Perhaps because of the early break-up, there was considerably less conflict with the police last night than what we've witnessed lately. Occasionally, however, there was violence. A few citizens were beaten up and/or arrested, and a few on our side of the barricade also tried to get away with aggressive behavior.
Police tries to drag away a protester by her hair; peaceful demonstrators lit candles; volunteers prepare coffee for late-night participants; and a college student takes advantage of peaceful hours to study in the middle of the street. (Where did the desk come from?)
men in military uniforms surround a stray policeman in order to protect him from more violent individuals among the protesters. The uniformed men are not soldiers in active service; they are members of the reserve forces (which means they're civilians for most practical purposes) who have been participating in our protests of their own accord. As their uniforms confer them a significant moral authority, citizens usually heed their words. The stray policeman was allowed to return to his ranks, and no violence was inflicted upon him.
Chosun Ilbo, a pro-government national newspaper, ran a story today about Daum Agora, the mecca of online discussions regarding recent protests and other political issues. According to Chosun Ilbo (link to the story in Korean), nothing that goes on in Daum Agora can be trusted to represent the Will of the People. The reason is that all the forums are dominated by a few individuals, who pressure everyone else to agree with their rhetoric. Of the 746,993 articles that were posted on Daum Agora by its members since April, 21,810 were posted by just ten people. Some of them have been posting more than 50 articles per day. In addition, the top 1% posts 31% of the articles; the top 3% posts 50%; and the top 10% are responsible for 70% of the stuff that get posted on Daum Agora. This, according to Chosun Ilbo, shows that millions of young Koreans are at risk of being misled by a handful of radicals. These "radicals", of course, provoke innocent citizens to take part in panti-government protests.
Is there any truth in Chosun Ilbo's denunciation of Daum Agora? A vast majority of protesters out there had learned about recent events on the Internet. Were they all misled and brainwashed by a handful of radicals? Well, at least Chosun Ilbo got the numbers right; I don't think we can question that. But numbers don't mean anything unless we're told what those top ten posters were trying to shove down their readers' throats. According to this story by Hankyoheh, and also according to a lot of folks who spend a lot of time reading stuff on Daum Agora, every one of the "top ten" have been posting pro-government arguments.The same is true of many of the top 1~10% that are mentioned in Chosun Ilbo's story; it's really easy in Daum Agora to find out who was written what. Most of their posts -- tens of thousands of them -- are nearly identical in form and content; they all denounce candlelight protesters as left-wing radicals, North Korean spies, and the like. So if Chosun Ilbo were right that these "trolls" have been misleading and brainwashing the majority, all the members of Daum Agora should have become pro-government by now. But the exact opposite is true. Members of Daum Agora are among the most passionate (and civilized/peaceful) anti-government protesters out there. Nice try, Chosun Ilbo; but you left out an important detail!
What went wrong with Chosun Ilbo's analysis? Two things must be noted. First, there is a voting system in Daum Agora. Articles must be voted up a large number of times in order to be displayed at the top of the list. Articles that have been repeatedly voted down will almost never show up in easily accessible pages. It doesn't matter how many times you post similar messages; other folks must vote you up in order for your opinion to be heard by many. And of course, trolls who post the same message of hatred over and over again are unlikely to be voted up. Second, unlike Western forums, most Korean forums enforce a strict distinction between posts and comments. Articles which catch a lot of people's attention will often receive hundreds if not thousands of comments, and discussions take place in the comments just as much as they do in the posts. Chosun Ilbo only counted the posts. Given that articles that are voted up the most are also the most likely to receive a large number of comments, they should have counted the comments as well in determining which posters were the most influential. As it stands, Chosun Ilbo's denunciation of Daum Agora is self-defeating. We aren't being brainwashed by a "handful of radicals"; we draw our own conclusions based on evidence and the relative strength of various arguments. If I get the opportunity, I'll try to introduce you to some of the most interesting discussions that have taken place on Daum Agora. They're really fascinating, and they point us towards a possibly revolutionary mode of political participation for the 21st century.
Meanwhile, however, the Korean government is quickly tightening its rein on the Internet. Many anti-government opinions on Daum Agora have been deleted without a trace, raising suspicions that Daum Communications, Inc. is under great pressure from the government. (Also see my June 6 post,"Web Portals Compromised".) Last night, wireless broadband (WiBro) suddenly became unavailable in the downtown area, just when various online TV stations (OhmyTV, ColorTV, and others that support the People) were setting up their live broadcast of the demonstrations. These young high-tech reporters have been carrying video cameras and WiBro-enabled laptops in order to broadcast to the whole world exactly what's happening at every moment. Without WiBro, they were forced to rely on recordings. Now, one of the reasons why members of Daum Agora have been so successful in keeping the peace is that thousands of Internet users monitored every street corner through live broadcasts, identified trouble spots, came up with recommendations, and informed those at the scene by IM and text messages. With live broadcasts now unavailable, it is no longer possible to do this. And the most likely explanation for the sudden loss of connectivity last night is that the police jammed the signal -- the service provider couldn't find any reason why WiBro should become unavailable in that region at that time!
Above: ballons rise above the Blue House (the President's office and residence), calling for the government to acknowledge its citizens' lives as the most important concern at hand.
The forecast calls for rain this afternoon. This might keep a lot of ordinary citizens from participating in today's protest. (There are rumors that the forecast is false, but we'll have to see; summer weather in Korea is highly unpredictable.) On the other hand, rain might make life easier for us if the police, as some high official has said, is planning to mix tear gas and fluorescent paint into its water cannons. Until now, water cannons have only fired heavy jets of H2O. Unless you're directly hit with such a jet, the wetness itself is not unbearable. But tear gas is a totally different issue, and no one knows what its effects will be if dissolved into water and fired with cannons. Fluorescent paint, on the other hand, is supposed to help the government arrest anti-government protesters. The police can mark those who look like leaders (by shooting a mix of water and paint at them) and easily reidentify them afterwards. But perhaps a heavy rain will make both tactics less effective -- or so we hope.
Just one clarification on what I wrote yesterday. I did not intend that to be a defense of those individuals who displayed excessive aggressiveness in yesterday's protests. I think they were wrong, and that the government -- even the current government -- has the right and duty to arrest and prosecute them. But the other argument I was trying to make is that we should be careful when we say that violence is never acceptable and that we should only ever protest peacefully. Like Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, most of us stress nonviolence. But that doesn't mean that we should only ever employ nonviolent tactics. Sometimes, when greater harm is foreseeable, it may be necessary at least for some of us to become more aggressive in our struggle for freedom and democracy. I sincerely hope that such an occasion does not arise, but we should be prepared for it. The police is a joke when compared to the military forces that guard the Blue House. What if they turn violent against us? What if the President continues to show no regard for our health and livelihood? Will we not protect ourselves and our children from such violence? But if the dreaded occasion does arise, no one should be forced to act against his/her conscience. No one should be blamed (though they may be legally convicted) for a necessary evil he/she commits. Likewise, no one should be blamed for keeping the peace till the end. The peaceful are not the cowardly; nobody thinks that Gandhi was a coward. Remaining peaceful in the face of brutality is just another honorable form of courage.