Автобус надежды: как волонтеры поддерживают одиноких протестующих рабочих в Южной Корее

By Jeon Jong-hwi, staff reporter The Hope Bus, a movement that started at Hanjin Heavy Industries in Busan in June 2011, hit the road for the 11th time bound for Star Chemical in Chilgok County, North Gyeongsang Province. On Aug. 24, 1,500 “passengers” on the Hope Bus - including activists and ordinary citizens - visited a worker at Star Chemical named Cha Gwang-ho who lost his job when the company was sold off in separate units. Cha climbed a chimney at the factory and is now in the 89th day of an aerial protest. The Hope Bus is thought to have initiated a new trend in labor activism, enlisting the help of numerous ordinary individuals. This is completely different from traditional labor efforts, which have been confrontational in nature and often led to clashes between union members and the police. By taking a milder approach of having ordinary people bring hope to isolated workers and by relying on social media for organization and publicity, the Hope Bus has achieved broad social solidarity. The event that triggered the establishment of the Hope Bus was the aerial protest of Kim Jin-suk, leader of the Busan office of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), on Crane No. 85 at Hanjin Heavy Industries, in the summer of 2011. In 2003, Kim Ju-ik, former union chapter head, had climbed a crane to protest labor oppression and the merciless use of provisional seizure of private property in the name of compensation for damage caused by the workers’ strike. After 129 days in the air, Kim ended his life. In order to prevent Kim Jin-suk from making the extreme decision that Kim Ju-ik had made, poet Song Kyung-dong and other cultural leaders and labor activists proposed launching the first Hope Bus before Kim Jin-suk’s aerial protest reached its 129th day. Around 700 activists and other people were on the 17 buses that departed from all around the country on June 11, 2011. Around 10,000 people joined the second and third Hope Buses, which took place on July 9 and July 30. The participants gathered in front of the crane and prayed for Hanjin Heavy Industries to recall the workers it had laid off and for Kim to return home safely. Ultimately, the five Hope Bus events forced Hanjin Heavy Industries to give in, bringing Kim safely back to earth. Since then, the Hope Bus visited the Hyundai Motor factory in Ulsan and Miryang on two occasions each. The Hyundai Motor factory in Ulsan is where Choe Byeong-seung and Cheon Ui-bong carried out an aerial protest for 296 days on a 30m electricity pylon to demand that the company acknowledge its use of illegal dispatch labor and to convert subcontract workers to regular workers. Miryang is where residents opposed the construction of electricity transmission towers. Later, the movement came to the aid of Lee Jeong-hun, head of the Yoosung Enterprise Yeongdong chapter, who was carrying out an aerial protest on a billboard in Okcheon County, North Chungcheong Province, calling for the company to stop oppressing workers and demanding that the employers be punished. The workers who carried out the protests say that they received encouragement from the Hope Bus. “The Hope Bus is a source of energy for protestors. When the buses that had come drove away, I felt sorry, wondering when I would be able to see them again,” said Cheon Ui-bong with the irregular worker chapter for the Hyundai Motor Ulsan Factory in a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Aug. 24. “When I realized that there were a lot of people in solidarity with me, I felt like I was on top of the world. After the Hope Bus left, I had a lot of new Facebook friends, and total strangers even sent me money to carry on my fight,” said Lee Jeong-hun. It is remarkable that the Hope Bus movement was successful - mobilizing activists and ordinary people for the equivalent total of 50,000 working days - despite not being led by a large labor organization. “There were virtually no examples in Korean history of ordinary people taking part in labor campaigns until the Hope Bus. I think people got involved because they became aware of the problems with the neo-liberal system,” said Park Seong-sik, spokesperson for the KCTU. “Whereas earlier labor movements called for fixed and standardized emotions, the Hope Bus succeeded by achieving a consensus of flexible and gentler emotions such as longing and compassion,” Park said. However, a new problem that the Hope Bus must overcome is the fact that ordinary citizens’ initial passion about participating has faded and the focus has shifted to organized union members. Please direct questions or comments to [[email protected]]