Most LBO-talkers' opinions about North Korea, I expect, may be summed up in one short statement: "I condemn both the USG and the NKG," with some additional words of condemnation of the NKG's starving millions of people with a view to feeding its military first. I've mentioned Tim Shorrock's well-informed discussion of Korean affairs; I've seen a post by Marta about the NKG's egregious treatment of the disabled; I myself have posted some info about North Koreans in Japan, a documentary about North Korea, some excerpts from Bruce Cumings', Martin Hart-Landsberg's, and others works. Other than those, I have not seen any posts to LBO-talk that have anything to say about North Korea -- besides the aforementioned statement -- from anyone. I must conclude that most US leftists are on the whole not only ignorant of but also basically uninterested in North Korea, North Koreans, and US policy toward them.
At 9:00 PM -0800 3/10/03, Brian O. Sheppard wrote:
> > that the WWP is one of the few -- the only? -- US left-wing political
>> organization that has done something about US policy toward Koreas.
>
>Really? Then I suppose you're not familiar with many of the unions
>that have worked with the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade
>Unions) to oppose US trade policies in the Koreas and expose to the
>US public the effects these have had on the people there. The I-99
>conference in San Fran had delegates from the KCTU, for example.
By "left-wing" I meant anarchists, socialists, and other anti-capitalists. I don't think of US unions as left-wing except in the broadest sense. In any case, US unions' policy toward Korea are quite mixed -- some statements of solidarity in some cases, protectionism in other cases: Cf. <http://www.steel.org/policy/trade/st_981130_becker.asp> and <http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/times/200203/t2002030618091140110.htm>. I don't recall Korean unionists requesting that the USG slap protectionist tariffs on imported steel.
At 9:00 PM -0800 3/10/03, Brian O. Sheppard wrote:
> > For instance, WWP folks organized the Korea Truth Commission,
>> investigating "more than 160 instances of US-led military attacks on
>> more than 2.5 million Korean non-combatants (Washington Post, June
>> 13, 2000 ) during the Korean War"
>> <http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/kr-truth.htm>;
>
>I was subscribed to their paper when they conducted this "Truth
>Commission." (I've been to WWP meetings and have met people like La
>Riva, Richard Becker, etc., for what it's worth.) Of course, the
>paper didn't report it as organized by the WWP. It was a "broad
>coalition" of disparate groups that they happened to be one small
>part of. The WWP, like the RCP, is usually careful not to portray
>itself in its media releases as the main agent or organizing force
>of an event.
That's because it's been impossible, since the Red Purge, for US revolutionary socialists to get out of the political closet, speak an explicitly socialist language, and hope not to be cast aside as "beyond the pail." In other nations, folks who have positions comparable to the WWP's can function politically without closeting; some of them participate in electoral politics and occasionally get elected and in rare cases threaten to become successful even.
At 9:00 PM -0800 3/10/03, Brian O. Sheppard wrote:
>1) What the IWW (not nominally anarchist; some IWW members, for
>example, are CP-USA members, others are Greens, etc.) or anarchists
>are or aren't doing has nothing to do with the WWP's support of the
>N. Korean govt. and whether that support is defensible or not. It's
>a separate subject.
One would expect that critics of the WWP must believe that they have better policies toward the NKG than the WWP does and taken actions according to their own better positions.
>Also, let me ask you something: are we supposed to post our activist
>resumes before we're allowed the privilege of critical thought?
On the question of disability rights, for instance, I tend to think that Marta, because of her research and practice, should most likely know more about it than others here do.
>What is the criteria for being able to have an opinion on WWP's
>support of the N. Korean govt? Attendance at X number of demos,
>field work in X number of campaigns?
How about just _one_ action (be it organizing a demonstration, hosting an educational forum, writing a well-researched article, or whatever) about the US policy toward North Korea? That's a very low standard, no? I can lower the standard further for you. How about stating clearly (1) what you know about North Korea and US policy toward it and (2) what you think the USG or Americans or US leftists should do about North Korea? -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>