(I ain't a unionist, but as a student, I fully support labor justice.)
For more than 6 decades, the law of South Korea celebrated "Day of the Employees [근로자의 날]" and not "Workers' Day". It was a deliberate attempt to suppress the spirit of resistance and struggle.
Today was the first time we celebrate Workers' Day. It's also the second time May Day is celebrated after laissez-faire, pro-austerity Yoon Suck-Yeol [윤석열] was ousted, and the first time after the liberal Minjoo government was established.
And yet, how much has it changed? Where's the slogan the people chanted: "Purge the Coup, the Great Social Reformation [내란청산, 사회대개혁]"?
In March, the car factory fire in Daejeon murdered 14 workers. The factory already was being investigated for storing excessive sodium inside the factory without safety verifications.
Merely a week ago, a unionist of CU was rammed to death by a truck during the strike.
The cops even arrested and rounded up the protesters from Sejong Hotel, who were occupying the hotel to protest the massive layoff.
In the capitalist system whether it be neoliberal "inclusive" system or MAGA corporatist system, workers can never become the owners of the world.
What makes it worse is the neofascist movement "Yoon Again", directly copied from MAGA. Even now, they are on the streets denying that what happened on December 3rd was a clear-cut insurrection. The People's Power Party, despite pretending to distance, de facto embraced Yoon Again as their key base. Far-right politicians like Chang Tong-Hyeok [장동혁] or Kim Min-Su [김민수] scapegoat the Chinese in South Korea (including ethnic Koreans with Chinese citizenship [조선족] and KMT ethnic Han Chinese with Taiwanese citizenship [재한화교]). Waving American, Japanese, and Israeli flags, thousands are chanting and asking for Donte Trumpavelić (that's how I call him) to send battleships to here and do what-happened-to-Maduro to Lee Jae-Myung, installing Yoon Suck-Yeol again as prez.
This makes the ultimate battle inevitable.
In the municipal election this June, we should have left-wing city lawmakers and county governors from Labor [노동당], Green [녹색당], Progressives [진보당], or Justice [정의당]. Or, at least we need progressive liberal leaders like those from Social Democrats [사회민주당], Basic Income [기본소득당], or Cho Kuk [조국혁신당] (those three are like, say, imagine if Ilhan Omar or Elizabeth Warren went out of Dem and created new parties). Of course, electoral methods can never become the tool of revolution. However, we can't stand this landscape where the two right-wing parties compete and one alt-right antifeminist party (Lee Jun-Seok) bring up some Mileista economics as the alternative. At least people should be informed that they have more than two options.
But more importantly, we need more protests, strikes, and occupations. Especially, in South Korea, the main three newspapers - Chosun Ilbo, DongA Ilbo, and Joongang Ilbo - are all owned by the chaebol establishment. They have the pens. So the only place where we can make our voice, is the square, the plaza. Not only labor justice, but there are countless issues, such as environmentalism, women's rights, migrant rights, refugee rights (both North Koreans and refugees from the Muslim world are heavily marginalized), queer rights. They should be addressed, even more.
Furthermore, more people should pay attention to pacifism and anti-imperialism. We need to escape the unrealistic optimism. The "deep state (NIS, military black ops, police, prosecutors, president bodyguards, etc)" bureaucrats of South Korea have the potentiality to become the worst warmongers of this region. Just like how Japanese militarism was smoothly incorporated into American imperialism, the collaborators (chinilpa) also rebranded themselves into "anti-communist patriots" and became the founders of this bureaucracy. Such deep-state bureaucrats want this country to cooperate with American imperialism and Japanese militarism to fight and possibly attack first North Korea and China. They literally sent army to Vietnam. They also aided War for Terror (so-called War on Terror). In Park Geun-Hye administration, they made a list of liberal artists. Even merely less than two years ago, they literally tried to start a war with North Korea. In this time, we have to make clear: No military deployment to Hormuz (send Barron there), and no American military base in this peninsula.
Lastly, I hope my people are more committed to internationalism. I find it happy that I can find Palestinian flags on most of the protests. But it goes further. Remember imperial boomerang? Park Geun-Hye administration showed support to the Thai junta and the Khmer Hun Sen regime, both autocracy. Park urged them to protect the South Korean capitalists there from the pro-democracy protesters. Yoon Suck-Yeol further sold tanks to Burmese junta. (I hope I just was kidding) So, the union breakers who break the strike here learn the tactics from Thailand and the Philippines, and we were so close to the weapons that slaughtered the Burmese aiming at us. Whether it be the Egyptians being oppressed by Sisi, or the Sudanese massacred by UAE-RSF, we should remember that we can be next. We should fully support our comrades, in Japan, Germany, Brazil, or anywhere.
In this battle, I pray for revolutionary, just, free South Korea. Happy May Day to other comrades.
들어라! 최후 결전, 투쟁의 외침을!
Listen! In this final battle, to the shout of struggle!
민중이여, 해방의 깃발 아래 서자!
The popular masses, stand under the flag of liberation!
역사의 참된 주인 승리를 위하여
As the true owner of the history, for the victory,
인터내셔널 깃발 아래, 전진, 또 전진!
Under the banner of international, march, and again, march!