OUCHY! - PART 1A Riot Over Beef Hurt My Face
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY ROBERT JOHNSON
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This photo was taken by my half-brother Benjamin Caldwell Acree. He was looting a police bus as I was getting beaten.
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Hello. This is me in the In Jae University Hospital in South Korea.
There is a puncture wound on my cheek, seven stitches on the inside of my mouth, and another seven on the outside. I also have a dislocated shoulder with ligament damage and a concussion. I got these injuries when I was blindsided by a riot shield while changing a roll of film in my camera.
The protests all started a few months ago. On February 25, the people of South Korea elected Lee Myung-bak as president. Mr. Lee had previously been mayor of Seoul and on the board of Hyundai, and before the election he had been prosecuted multiple times for charges of corruption, embezzlement, land speculation, and campaign-finance infringement. He was elected with the lowest voter turn-out in South Korean history. One of his first political moves was to approve the KORUS FTA, a free-trade agreement with the US. This included the reintroduction of US beef to South Korean markets, which had been banned since the outbreak of mad cow disease in 2003.
After this his approval rating dropped to an average of 28 percent, hitting its lowest point at around 12 percent. Then the protests began. The protests centered on the import of US beef, but that’s more of a jumping-off point for general complaints about President Lee’s social and economic policies. The protests have been happening pretty much every night since the FTA was signed.
I went to one of the first protests out of curiosity and have been going ever since. These shots are a selection from the last two months.
Initially the protests were candlelit vigils. I think I was there the first time they actually marched. They wanted to go to the president’s house and directly voice their disapproval. The government set up roadblocks with buses and riot police. The protesters sat down on the street. The police declared it illegal and rushed the sitters. The pictures of the old woman are from that night. So I guess it was violent right at the beginning.
I got hurt about a month and a half into the protests. The mood had grown really bad: The protesters were angry that nothing was changing in spite of their efforts, and the police were tired of being out all night, every night. Earlier in the day demonstrators wrecked three water cannons the police had foolishly left right next to the main gathering place without any real guards. They smashed and looted them. That night, when the police shot at them with water cannons, the protesters had the ability to fire back. There was a stand-off for some time while tempers worsened.
TO BE CONTINUED
OUCHY! | 1 | 2 |
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Sep 14, 2008 wrote:
"I traveled around the world last year, and you know what I learned? It hates each other." I can’t recall where I read this very old quote, but it is very true. | | Anonymous, on Sep 8, 2008 wrote:
Great job! | | Anonymous, on Sep 6, 2008 wrote:
A recent article in the Korea Times (I can’t be bothered to look it up now) cited a government official as estimating $6 billion in damages, taking into account physical damage, security costs, and economic ramifications. True dude has an agenda, but no doubt there was a lotta cheese lost.
As has also been reported in local newspapers, leaders of various leftist political parties are being arrested for emailing false information to people about the dangers of U.S. beef and encouraging people to use increasingly violent tactics (at an early rally one of the leaders stood on a stage and urged everyone to march to the President’s house (the Korean White House)). A half-dozen guys from these parties just got busted for throwing hydrochloric acid at cops. Those thousands of middle school girls who came out with candles some of whom were quoted as saying they thought U.S. beef would kill them didn’t know about trade concessions. The people here behaved like idiots and the funny/ironic thing is now U.S. beef shipments can’t keep up with demand. | | Anonymous, on Sep 6, 2008 wrote:
The interesting aspect of Paglen’s work is that the covert nature of his photographs act as a metaphor for the act of making art in general. Art is a nonfunctional functioning element in society in as far as the mere act of making art serves as a cathartic voice in a culture tuned in to much more practical structures (think TV-advertising). His photographs are not merely blurry redo’s, but meditations on what it means to take part in the culture itself. This is obvious when you think about the cultural apparatus that supports an environment that sustains art at all. Or rather, the dialog of art. Don’t get it? Try googling "Pol Pot" and get a glimpse of latter 70’s Cambodian art/culture/etc...
Basically, this guy is obfuscating the obvious which is obfuscated. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
I don’t like it when artists justify work by citing some trendy code shits like vocabulary and the limits of seeing. It just seems like smoke and mirrors. What kind of new vocabulary is this bringing? what does it really have to do with seeing when its commenting on light capture technology, not perception? It just looks like a lot of other fuzzy photos of shit. The artists method is pretty fucking sweet though, giving people the ability to spy on the military. He should definitely publish some technical instructions. It feels good to masturbate all over the internet. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
It’s art dick wad. If you don’t see the point, you’re not having any fun... obviously. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
ooh, black chopper! How ’bout some chopper? | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
This is so lame! Here are some phucked up photos of hangers and aircraft. WOW! I hope they "accidentally" drop a 500lb bomb on this guy while he sneaks around our military installations with high power optics.
What the heck is the point? | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
yeah me too. good piece, by the way. secret places will always be interesting. | | Anonymous, on Sep 5, 2008 wrote:
I am sure that your experience with the protests is somewhat valid, but false on a number of fronts.
The protests were a clearly nationalistic bid to counter the president’s concessions to Washington. Even if it were true, why would it be strange for political parties to take part in such a purely political event? Also, organization is too strong of a term for what happened. I would say that the protests would have been much better off with even minimal organization by politcal parties. It would have certainly cut down on the damage.
Billions of dollars in damage, though? Really? That sounds kind of dubious. . . | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
I live in Korea and saw what jackasses these protesters were. Don’t even make them out to be some kind of freedom fighters. These riots were organized by professional political parties trying to advance their own causes by spreading lies. Imagine thousands of people causing billions of dollars in damage for some cause that has lead to ZERO deaths. There are real problems in the world. These guys deserved more than water guns. | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
Excellent work, very real photos. | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
yeah show us the black helicopter | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
and as always, you people’s comments are properly retarded | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
I want to see the black helicopter. I like cliches. | | Anonymous, on Sep 4, 2008 wrote:
that’ll teach you for still using film you old school fuck | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
It mght be xenophobic to describe Korea and Koreans as xenophobic, but it’s also true. | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
adjective verb preposition xenophobia xenophobia 2nd preposition xenophobia. | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
I know that mother fucker, he still goes. he has no splitting head aches. dont talk shit vice . . . | |
| A Taipan, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
Impressive employment of xenophobia, while decrying xenophobia. Awesome. Though I can agree that people are getting soft, all of these "safety measures" are in fact weakening the gene pool. I mean it’s survival of the fittest. | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
LOLOLOLOL SO IRONIC!1!!1one! XD you should write for vice | | Anonymous, on Sep 3, 2008 wrote:
Stupid gooks. I want them to bring US beef back - the Korean stuff is so expensive. No-one even died! Loads of people died in England, and we kept munchin’ our salmonella burgers. This kind of xenophobic, point-missing overreaction is typical of this stupid country. | | |
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