lttuvix
Legacy Member
On september 10, 2003, at the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico wearing a sign that read, "WTO KILLS FARMERS." Korean farmer Lee Kyung Hae climbed the police fence set up to cordon off tens of thousands of protestors from reaching the WTO Convetion, miles away. From atop the fence he lead the crows in chants then turned to the direction of the WTO meetings and stabbed himself in the heart with a Swiss Army knife. After falling backwards into the arms of the crowd, he was rushed to the hospital where he died of wounds to his heart and lungs. A note found on him sais, "I am taking my life so others may live"
had er wel iets van gelezen, ma was toen niet duidelijk.
Ik snap niet waarom hij zichzelf heeft opgeofferd?
(bron Anti-flag cd for blood and empire)
But it is a more fitting tribute to let Lee tell his own story, from a statement he distributed in Geneva and later minutes before his death in Cancun:
I am 56 years old, a farmer from South Korea who has strived to solve our problems with the great hope in the ways to organize farmers' unions. But I have mostly failed, as many other farm leaders elsewhere have failed.
Soon after the Uruguay Round Agreement was sealed, we Korean farmers realized that our destinies are no longer in our own hands. We cannot seem to do anything to stop the waves that have destroyed our communities where we have been settled for hundreds of years. To make myself brave, I have tried to find the real reason and the force behind those waves. And I reached the conclusion, here in front of the gates of the WTO. I am crying out my words to you, that have for so long boiled in my body:
I ask: for whom do you negotiate now? For the people, or for yourselves?
Stop basing your WTO negotiations on flawed logic and mere diplomatic gestures.
Take agriculture out of the WTO system.
Since (massive importing) we small farmers have never been paid over our production costs. What would be your emotional reaction if your salary dropped to a half without understanding the reasons?
Farmers who gave up early have gone to urban slums. Others who have tried to escape from the vicious cycle have met bankruptcy due to accumulated debts. For me, I couldn't do anything but just look around at the vacant houses, old and eroding. Once I went to a house where a farmer abandoned his life by drinking a toxic chemical because of his uncontrollable debts. I could do nothing but listen to the howling of his wife. If you were me, how would you feel?
Widely paved roads lead to large apartments, buildings, and factories in Korea. Those lands paved now were mostly rice paddies built by generations over thousands of years. They provided the daily food and materials in the past. Now the ecological and hydrological functions of paddies are even more crucial. Who will protect our rural vitality, community traditions, amenities, and environment?
I believe that farmers' situation in many other developing countries is similar. We have in common the problem of dumping, import surges, lack of government budgets, and too many people. Tariff protection would be the practical solution.
I have been so worried watching TV and hearing the news that starvation is prevalent in many Less Developed Countries, although the international price of grain is so cheap. Earning money through trade should not be their means of securing food. They need access to land and water. Charity? No! Let them work again!
My warning goes out to all citizens that human beings are in an endangered situation. That uncontrolled multinational corporations and a small number of big WTO Members are leading an undesirable globalization that is inhumane, environmentally degrading, farmer-killing, and undemocratic. It should be stopped immediately. Otherwise the false logic of neoliberalism will wipe out the diversity of global agriculture and be disastrous to all human beings.
(bron http://www.countercurrents.org/glo-carlsen160903.htm)
voor nog meer gedetailleerdere info http://www.guardian.co.uk/wto/article/0,2763,1042865,00.html
laatste 3 strofes gaat ook over waarom hij zijn zelfmoord heeft gepleegd
Did he mean to kill himself? No one will ever know for sure, but critics have suggested that Lee may have been playing to the crowd - an accusation angrily denied by his family. "He didn't die to be a hero or to draw attention to himself," says his daughter Lee Ji-hye as she flew off to Mexico to collect her father's body. "He died to show the plight of Korean farmers - something he knew from personal experience."
In Jangsu, people are convinced that Lee's sacrifice was intended. Some cite the last scrawled memo found in the house after his death: "A sacrifice of one person for 10 is more valuable than a sacrifice of 10 people for one." Others say his devotion to Korean farmers was so passionate that he would willingly have laid down his life for them.
"Perhaps European and even urban South Koreans won't be able to understand why Lee killed himself, but that is because they don't understand the reality of Korean farmers," says Han Gyuha, an official of the Jangsu county office involved in preparations for the funeral on Thursday. "Lee knew the Korean countryside is slowly dying, that farmers are living lonely, miserable lives. He wanted to tell the world. That is why he sacrificed himself and that is why we call him a hero."
De vraag is eigenlijk, vind je zo een daden een teken van moed en opoffering, of gewoon zinloze zelfmoord?
Persoonlijk begrijp ik het wel; maar ik snap niet waarom zelfmoord te plegen. Hij zal wel een blijvende status hebben, maar uiteindelijk zal hij toch niet veel meer kunnen veranderen...
had er wel iets van gelezen, ma was toen niet duidelijk.
Ik snap niet waarom hij zichzelf heeft opgeofferd?
(bron Anti-flag cd for blood and empire)
But it is a more fitting tribute to let Lee tell his own story, from a statement he distributed in Geneva and later minutes before his death in Cancun:
I am 56 years old, a farmer from South Korea who has strived to solve our problems with the great hope in the ways to organize farmers' unions. But I have mostly failed, as many other farm leaders elsewhere have failed.
Soon after the Uruguay Round Agreement was sealed, we Korean farmers realized that our destinies are no longer in our own hands. We cannot seem to do anything to stop the waves that have destroyed our communities where we have been settled for hundreds of years. To make myself brave, I have tried to find the real reason and the force behind those waves. And I reached the conclusion, here in front of the gates of the WTO. I am crying out my words to you, that have for so long boiled in my body:
I ask: for whom do you negotiate now? For the people, or for yourselves?
Stop basing your WTO negotiations on flawed logic and mere diplomatic gestures.
Take agriculture out of the WTO system.
Since (massive importing) we small farmers have never been paid over our production costs. What would be your emotional reaction if your salary dropped to a half without understanding the reasons?
Farmers who gave up early have gone to urban slums. Others who have tried to escape from the vicious cycle have met bankruptcy due to accumulated debts. For me, I couldn't do anything but just look around at the vacant houses, old and eroding. Once I went to a house where a farmer abandoned his life by drinking a toxic chemical because of his uncontrollable debts. I could do nothing but listen to the howling of his wife. If you were me, how would you feel?
Widely paved roads lead to large apartments, buildings, and factories in Korea. Those lands paved now were mostly rice paddies built by generations over thousands of years. They provided the daily food and materials in the past. Now the ecological and hydrological functions of paddies are even more crucial. Who will protect our rural vitality, community traditions, amenities, and environment?
I believe that farmers' situation in many other developing countries is similar. We have in common the problem of dumping, import surges, lack of government budgets, and too many people. Tariff protection would be the practical solution.
I have been so worried watching TV and hearing the news that starvation is prevalent in many Less Developed Countries, although the international price of grain is so cheap. Earning money through trade should not be their means of securing food. They need access to land and water. Charity? No! Let them work again!
My warning goes out to all citizens that human beings are in an endangered situation. That uncontrolled multinational corporations and a small number of big WTO Members are leading an undesirable globalization that is inhumane, environmentally degrading, farmer-killing, and undemocratic. It should be stopped immediately. Otherwise the false logic of neoliberalism will wipe out the diversity of global agriculture and be disastrous to all human beings.
(bron http://www.countercurrents.org/glo-carlsen160903.htm)
voor nog meer gedetailleerdere info http://www.guardian.co.uk/wto/article/0,2763,1042865,00.html
laatste 3 strofes gaat ook over waarom hij zijn zelfmoord heeft gepleegd
Did he mean to kill himself? No one will ever know for sure, but critics have suggested that Lee may have been playing to the crowd - an accusation angrily denied by his family. "He didn't die to be a hero or to draw attention to himself," says his daughter Lee Ji-hye as she flew off to Mexico to collect her father's body. "He died to show the plight of Korean farmers - something he knew from personal experience."
In Jangsu, people are convinced that Lee's sacrifice was intended. Some cite the last scrawled memo found in the house after his death: "A sacrifice of one person for 10 is more valuable than a sacrifice of 10 people for one." Others say his devotion to Korean farmers was so passionate that he would willingly have laid down his life for them.
"Perhaps European and even urban South Koreans won't be able to understand why Lee killed himself, but that is because they don't understand the reality of Korean farmers," says Han Gyuha, an official of the Jangsu county office involved in preparations for the funeral on Thursday. "Lee knew the Korean countryside is slowly dying, that farmers are living lonely, miserable lives. He wanted to tell the world. That is why he sacrificed himself and that is why we call him a hero."
De vraag is eigenlijk, vind je zo een daden een teken van moed en opoffering, of gewoon zinloze zelfmoord?
Persoonlijk begrijp ik het wel; maar ik snap niet waarom zelfmoord te plegen. Hij zal wel een blijvende status hebben, maar uiteindelijk zal hij toch niet veel meer kunnen veranderen...
precies of ze gaan het hun aantrekken 
