[p2p-research] reporting on korea

[Michel Bauwens]

*
Hi Jussi,

Could you inform the author I'm interested in reporting on this topic for
the p2p blog?

many thanks,

Michel


Yenn Lee: Korean Candlelight Protests 2008: The Curious Birth of

a Consumer Activist Network in the Web 2.0 Era
*

On 2nd May 2008, a wave of candlelight demonstrations broke out in South

Korea, which lasted more than 100 days. Starting as a protest against the

American beef imports deal agreed to in April, the demonstrations

represented criticism directed at the newly elected conservative government,

for having hastened the deal in order to please Washington despite the

declining credibility of US food regulation. As the wave of protests
developed,

the target expanded to include the conservative media troika Chosun Ilbo,

JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo (more commonly referred to by an acronym

Chojoongdong), which were vigorously supportive of the government’s

actions. Protesters were angered by the fact that these national dailies had

earlier warned their readerships of the dangers of mad cow disease from

American beef and attacked the previous liberal government when it

considered lifting the ban.

Anti-Chojoongdong movements had been around before this incident, but

what has to be noted here is the change in *modus operandi*. Media reform

activists in earlier days concentrated on raising public awareness on the

country’s distorted media environment and the nexus between these media

houses and right-wing politicians and business conglomerates. The attempt

had not, however, led to a concrete outcome principally because the
activists

could not match up to Chojoongdong’s resources and circulation. The socalled

Web 2.0 Generation took a different approach on this occasion.

A list of companies that placed adverts in the three dailies was
collectively

maintained on a bulletin board. Individual members then would phone these

companies, whenever it was convenient for each of them, and warn that they

would boycott their products unless the adverts were withdrawn. As more and

more companies began to withdraw their adverts, the media troika

pressurised lawmakers and law enforcement, as a result of which most of the

postings on the bulletin board were permanently deleted by the Korea

Communications Commission (KCC), and foreign travel bans were imposed

on 20 members holding the administrative responsibilities of the community.

As their bulletin board could no longer serve them, members created a

publicly accessible Google document instead so as to try and circumvent

restrictions in the Korean cyberspace. Eventually, given the legal hassles
the

community had been winding up in, it decided to register officially as a
civic

organisation.

By examining the ways in which an event engendered an informal consumer

network, which in turn developed into a formal civic organisation, the
present

article aims to set this unique event in context and discuss its political

implications to Korean society and, as Bello (in Eom, 2008) also points out,
to

other Asian states. The recent series of protests against American beef
imports

in Taiwan at the beginning of this year, eventually resulting in the
overturn of

the deal, is perhaps an indication. The article also pays attention to

institutional conflicts observed in the Korean case and how a movement

against globalising forces appropriated a global service in order to
circumvent

domestic laws – a phenomenon that gave birth to a term “cyber-exile”.

Reference

G. Eom (2008). Interview with Professor Walden Bello of the Philippines on

the beef imports deal between South Korea and the US: “The Candlelight

is a fight for the health of Asia.” *Hankyoreh 21*. Retrieved on 7 June

2008 from < h21.hani.co.kr/section-

021037000/2008/05/021037000200805260712038.html>.


-- 
Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think thank:
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

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