EDITORIAL
Korea's passion
At a recent anti-war teach-in in New York organized by
ANSWER, a South Korean woman told, with intense pride, how the
people in her country are finally able to stand up to the U.S.
by the millions and demand an end to military occupation. But
her pride was mixed with unbearable pain. Tears ran down her
face and her voice broke as she recalled the tens of thousands
of her compatriots who were jailed and tortured, especially
during the long years of military dictatorship, because they
spoke out for Korea's sovereignty and self-determination.
It was a moment that should have been shown by every
television network in North America. If ordinary people here
could see her honest passion, they would begin to get a sense
of what is really happening right now in Korea.
Instead, they hear the same old lies over and over again.
The same tired phrases are repeated from network to network,
newspaper to newspaper, by people who know nothing about Korea.
But they do know what their job is: to sell the public on the
righteousness of a bloody war that killed millions of Koreans,
and to justify the 50 years of U.S. military occupation of the
south that have followed.
Nothing seems to outrage the right wing in this country more
than the idea that the U.S. should get out of Korea. When there
was talk for a brief period during the Carter administration
about reducing the number of U.S. troops there, the Army brass
almost mutinied. Gen. John Singlaub, who led this right-wing
revolt and was relieved of his command, went on to become a
darling of the "World Anti-Communist League," set up by the
notorious Rev. Sun Myong Moon, himself a creation of the
CIA.
Even though Singlaub was forcibly retired, however, the
militarists won. The U.S. force in Korea was not reduced, not
even by one soldier, and it is this that is provoking yet
another crisis in the world today.
If the Vietnam War had ended in the division of that
country, there would undoubtedly be the same lobby in the U.S.
to keep that occupation going indefinitely. U.S. military
occupation anywhere provides lucrative business for all kinds
of profiteers. Fortunately, that didn't happen. The U.S. "lost"
all of Vietnam. But it was no loss for the people here. It was
the beginning of a new phase in the struggle that will only
grow as the billionaire class tries to push the people into new
military adventures.
The anti-war movement of the 1960s and 1970s was no mere
"syndrome." It took a while before the people became conscious
of Vietnam's history, its long struggle against colonial
occupation, and the deep desire of the people there for
self-determination. But eventually the masses of people here
saw through the "domino theory" and all the other
justifications being given for the war. By the millions, they
passionately rejected the role of being killers and cannon
fodder for billionaire corporations and banks. Now the movement
is back bigger than ever, and if the next target of aggression
is Korea, it will educate itself on this subject, too.
Reprinted from the Feb. 27, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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