Expect Resistance & Library Autonomous Zone

The 6th round of the South Korea / U.S. free trade agreement will be held in Shilla Hotel from Jan 15 to Jan 19 in Korea. In the past, there have been mass protests in Korea against unfair Kor/U.S. FTA and a massive protest is expected during this round as well.
Last year, the U.S. pressured the Korean government to open various korean markets including rice, film, auto, beef etc.
After lifting the ban on beef imports caused by a case of mad cow disease , South Korea has since sent back three shipments of U.S. beef after finding bone fragments in the meat. U.S. officials protested that South Korea employed excessively strict rules to block U.S. imports.

Various Korean activist communities have strongly advocated against the FTA saying that this unilateral method of trade agreement has been detrimental to Korean culture, economy and public health. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, 15,000 riot police will be on the street to “protect” the meeting venue.

More articles on Korea FTA issues please check:

• bilaterals.org

• Korean Alliance against the Korean and US. FTA

David Berman, Archives & Museum Informatics, wrote an article in D Lib magazine (Decemeber 2006) recapping Jean-Noël Jeanneney’s Critique on Google. I think all librarians need to read and think about those 5 critiques that Berman addresses.

For the last 3 weeks, James and I have been in Korea visiting family. My long absence made me a stranger in my own land. Serendipitously, on my way to the airport, I was listening to Alice Walker’s interview on KPFA who said that Korea was a defacto U.S. colony. I thought it was an interesting perspective and sadly within a few days in Korea I understood what she meant.

Walking though Seoul I found that Starbucks and misspelled English signs were all over the place (James thought he could make $$ correcting signage ). I can see that the desire to be like “U.S”. has permeated the Korean culture; consumerism has become the primary force in the society. and plastic surgery to make eyes more “western” has become an everyday occurrence — Alice Walker told an anecdote about an entire graduating high school class being given eye surgery by their parents! It seems like plastic surgery is seen as something like going to a movie or shopping. Using whatever possible means parents are dying to send their kids to the U.S or other western countries for “better education.” Many of my relatives told me that they were ever grateful for U.S.’s help during Korean War.

I’ve been longing for home — familiarity, hustle and bustle of family gatherings, and was happy to be there. For a few weeks, at least I didn’t need to worry about communicating with others and making mistakes or being misunderstood by others because of my lack of language or cultural reasons. However, it hurts to see my people are losing a sense of history of struggle for democracy and freedom. It doesn’t require the presence of a military force to be colonized (although there is a large US military presence in Korea!); rather, it takes annihilation of history, culture and normalizing the history of oppressors.

Despite the grim reality, I try to believe that no matter how massive the oppression is there is always resistance taking place. In a bitter cold winter, I saw in a crowded shopping area of Taegu a group of middle aged-women holding signs saying “fight against sexual assault” and medical students holding signs informing citizens about the negative affects of the free trade agreement (FTA) on Korean traditional medicine (we also saw these students in Seoul and Taejon!). Maybe the reality is not as grim as I thought