S. Korean Man Kills Himself at WTO Protests

[Character Assassin]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030910/ts_nm/trade_wto_death_dc_1

S. Korean Man Kills Himself at WTO Protests

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - A South Korean activist stabbed himself and died on Wednesday in violent anti-capitalism protests at a World Trade Organization (news - web sites) meeting in Mexico's Caribbean beach resort of Cancun.

Reporters saw the man climb up onto a high security fence and wave a banner that read "WTO Kills Farmers." He then stabbed himself in the chest.

The South Korean man, in his 50s, was carried away and treated for his injuries but later died in hospital. One of his friends said it was an "act of sacrifice" to show his disgust at the WTO and its policies.

Mexico's foreign minister Luis Ernesto Derbez, who is hosting the WTO meeting, said the man had died from a self-inflicted wound.

The anti-globalization protests turned violent when a group of about two dozen activists broke through a metal barrier and attacked Mexican riot police.

[NekoChris]

1. I don't know about anyone else...

..but that's a PRETTY STRONG MESSAGE and needs to be heeded!

I'm not religious, at all, but I hope that brave man finds whatever blessings his beliefs entitle in the hereafter.

[Brucey]

2. Sad

Globalization is a fancy concept for corporations stealing the things people need to survive. Coca Cola goes to India, takes the water, bottles it, then charges people for it. The WTO isn't some nice internatioinal community of nations, it's rules are made by mega-corporations. Some people are so pissed and depressed about what's happening that they feel hopeless. Hence, today we witness a very sad suicide. When will we take our country (world) back away from the greedy, war-mongering corporate leaders?

[Occulus]

3. When we revolve.

Take it as you will.

[Maple]

4. Nutbars

are everywhere.

[Pert_UK]

5. Nice, Maple....really nice. The compassionate face of DU once more.

A man has killed himself to draw attention to what he sees as a corrupt global organisation exploiting the poorer nations of the Earth.

If he was sane and well-balanced then it represents the supreme sacrifice in the fight for his beliefs.

If he was unbalanced, then he clearly still had motives and beliefs that he was willing to die for.

Even if he was completely insane, the suicide of someone who should have been helped is still a tragedy.

Basically, whatever the case it is still a tragedy.

Nice way to write-off a life there - did you really need to log in and make that comment?

P.

[Maple]

7. A man who is a nutbar

killed himself for no good reason.

Do not make this some noble gesture

It was simple stupidity.

[Pert_UK]

23. I didn't make it a noble gesture.....

I questioned how appropriate it was to label someone who has just committed suicide as a "nutbar".

I'm not saying it was a noble gesture. I'm not saying he didn't have mental problems. I'm not praising his act or suggesting that it was an appropriate means of protest that should be encouraged.

I am saying that it is almost unbelievably callous to label this guy as a "nutbar" and put his suicide down to "stupidity".

There are a lot of people with mental health problems who will commit suicide if they aren't helped - shall we just let all these stupid nutbars kill themselvs and save ourselves some trouble?

It's not as if this guy physically hurt anybody except himself (he may have destroyed his family, we don't know), so I find it bizarre that you take the time and effort to write-off a human life so cheaply.

That guy who stood in front of the tank in Tianneman Square - nutbar?

The monks who set themselves on fire to protest Vietnam? - nutbars?

Is it really that simple for you?

P.

[Maple]

28. Yes, it's that simple

This is not Tiannaman square, nor is it Viet Nam

It's a meeting.

And stupidity.

[mbperrin]

31. Odds?

Or do you concede that nothing will be done in this "discussion" in Cancun?

[Maple]

36. I don't know what will or won't

be done in Cancun.

I do know it is the height of stupidity to kill yourself over it.

[Pert_UK]

41. Thanks for setting me straight.

I apologise.

I totally forgot that you are always 100% right about everything.

There's no need to wait for any further information or even consider the vague possibility that this man just COULD have been mentally ill and in need of help.

I overlooked your infallible fact hotline once again. Of course, this man was "just" a nutbar and we are so much better off now that we won't be troubled with his stupidity again.

We should definitely write-off all suicides as "stupid" behaviour and ignore any contribution that the person may have made to the world, or the impact on their family. It's far better all round if we just label them as stupid nutbars and forget about them.

:eyes:

Maple, you have strong views and I can respect that.

You also have a habit of making inflammatory comments and deliberately misinterpreting other people in order to start an argument. You then ignore the rules of rational debate or politeness and simply re-state your original dogmatic assertion in the face of any criticism, regardless of how reasonable that criticism is.

As it goes, I happen to agree that this is a wasted life, that the person was probably mentally ill and that yes, the death was not the rational act of a sane person. Characterising it as the "stupid" act of a "nutbar" is not the same thing. I don't respect that at all.

[Maple]

42. You're welcome

The man could have been a lot of things....however sane and sensible he was not.

Anymore than the French kook who attacks MacDonald restaurants.

Or the Black Block who riot at these things.

They are people who are totally...and willfully ....ignorant of what is being discussed....because goodness knows the agenda is available.

He did something showy...before he even knew what the outcome was.

Utter stupidity.

PS...I have no concern whatever about your 'respect'

You are still sore over what I said about the English and Ireland no doubt. LOL

[Pert_UK]

43. Heh heh heh......

That's right.

I was angry that you deliberately misinterpreted me and accused me of being ignorant of the suffering of the Irish over the centuries at the hands of the British, just to start an argument.

I was frustrated that you descended to the level of abuse when I questioned your comments.

I was unsurprised that you declined my invitation to a reasonable and polite discussion of the matter.

Maple, I have been polite, logical and reasonable in all my dealings with you. It doesn't surprise me that you have no interest in whether or not I 'respect' you.

What does surprise me is that for someone who seems to have strong views on many subjects, you are uniquely unwilling to actually debate any of them, preferring instead to state and re-state your dogma.

Democratic Underground is supposed to be a place where progressives can share ideas and debate in an atmosphere of mutual respect. IMHO you repeatedly REFUSE to enter into genuine debate, have no respect for other members or their arguments, and no interest in whether anyone respects your views. You treat DU as a playground where you can shout about something and then run off when challenged.

I'm not going to rise to the bait anymore.

[NashVegas]

45. This One's for You

Based on a similar incident from the 1980s

It was no personal defeat,
That suicide on Downing Street,
They found him burning in his car,
He paid the price for what we are.

A stroke of luck, a trick of fate,
The life I build, the mess I make,
Too young to retire, too old to live,
This message all he had to give,

Derek Bainbridge did not die in vain,
And I will sing his sad luck story,
Desparation is a warning flame,
Now we stand or fall with Derek Bainbridge.

He came 160 miles,
To wipe away all those smug smiles,
The empty hours dragging by,
His spirit withered up inside.

He felt the man that he could be,
Was only wasted potential.
He went swimming in the deep forbidden sea,
Looking for that extra dimension,
In a selfish blue nation.

It was no personal defeat,
That suicide on Downing Street,
You cannot call us civilized,
As long as one life is denied.

Swinging on a one-way pendulum,
Driving down a dead end highway,
Desparation is a warning flame,
Now we stand or fall,
Do we stand or fall.

- Tim Finn

[Spentastic]

56. Brilliant

If we're allowed to characterise people on the basis of little information I'd say on the basis of your postings here you're a very shallow, callous idiotic individual. If I'm allowed to extrapoltae further I'd probably guess that you're lonely and that you didn't really get on with your father. I'd say you have a definite ego problem and serious problems with empathy bordering on a psychosis.

[mike_c]

6. so are callous creeps....

If the shoe fits....

[Maple]

8. So are hypocrites

with hocus pocus ideology.

Wear your own shoes

[mbperrin]

10. Hocus-pocus?

The agricultural industry is the most heavily subsidized and protected industry in the US. With hundreds of billions of dollars to help them dominate foreign markets, "free-market" farmers in those countries, mostly individuals, unlike the corporate giants here, are run out of business.

In a country with few options, run out of business is run out of life.

It seems to me that this man knows what he speaks: small farmers are being run out. He went to a place where his trouble-makers are meeting, performed a dramatic gesture with message intact. Seems sane, on message, on target to me. He, being nicer than me, would opt suicide as a gesture.

On the other hand, I'd have to guess in his place, for me, homicide. But that's selfish me wearing my own shoes.

[Maple]

12. It seems to me

that he could have waited until the conference ended before he did something that stupid...since this is what is being discussed.

Sorry...this guy had other problems.

Don't enoble stupidity for your ideology.

[mbperrin]

16. Lay me the odds that the WTO will make

the US end its agricultural protectionism at this session.

I need to make a whole buncha money offa fool.

[demdave]

Well that didn't take long to answer my question below.

No time at all before people willing to take their own lives are willing to take others with them becase of their beliefs. Are yo in the 77 virgins buffet line or ordering off of the saving unborn babies
menu?

Fanatics are fanatics regardless of the cause dejour.

[mbperrin]

18. No,

I am in the "threaten my family and I will do my best to kill you" line.

Let's face it - if there was a God, we could sue him for malpractice on this fuc*ed up planet.

Now which line are you in - cool clothes and the corner table? Or just wanna be?

[demdave]

21. Spoken like a true "victim". Sue God. lololololol It's His fault.

Where do you draw the line in "threaten my family and I will do my best to kill you". Loss of your job? Are you in the postal service? Maybe loss of your home. Have you told your landlord or mortgage company?

When you start lowering the bar for killing yourself and others, you might as well lay it on the ground. Someones idea of where it should be will always be lower and they will justify it by being only a little below yours.

[mbperrin]

26. Maybe you believe in God.

I thought I made it plain that I don't. I don't. If there were an all powerful all seeing all knowing being, he would be pretty fuc*ked up to let all this shit happen.

Metaphor.

I thought I made it clear where I draw the line. Threaten my family and I will do very best to get rid of you.

Now what's YOUR story?

[G_j]

57. how about offering

a constructive view on what can be done to save all the small farmers who are starving with no hope for the future because of WTO policies?

Are you content to just call them wackos and trouble makers?

[DrWeird]

13. Just like Jesus?

that nutbar gave his life for our sins.

[demdave]

15. Now this man was Jesus?

Keep your hyperbole to yourself.

[DrWeird]

33. Jesus was just stupid.

Don't make him some noble martyr.

[demdave]

35. Ahhhh...religious tolerence. Gotta love it.

[NekoChris]

29. ROBOT JESUS

[0007]

22. I don't believe you said that!

....I...better stop right there.

[Maple]

27. Believe

it.

[demdave]

9. Misguided soul who is being used as propaganda.

No more ...no less. I seem to reember another misguided fool who gleefuly gave his life after taking the life of an abortion doctor.

Killing yourself over the WTO is foolish idealism. Killing someone else because of your beliefs and then seeing yourself as a sacrifice is just the sick cousin of the same foolishness. If you have people willing to die for a cause, how long before they will kill others?

[mbperrin]

11. So which is it?

Foolishness or future threat?

So glad you comfortable sorts have never actually been on the street!

[Maple]

14. Sheer stupidity

And don't make your comfy assumptions.

[demdave]

17. You know my life?? How? From where?

Baseless accusations. Now I understand your reasoning behind your support for this type of thing. There is none. Just point and scream and think you have made a point.

[mbperrin]

19. Nope, I neither

pointed nor screamed.

I pointed out that your obvious lack of empathy for this man stems from lack of knowledge of his situation or of mine. Now tell your story, since you insist I don't know it.

I HAVE lived on the street, and if you have, and if all you have is contempt for those who have lost all hope, then you are not ignorant as I have supposed, giving you the benefit of the doubt, you would just be mean and unable to learn from your own experiences.

By all means, don't just point and run. Please share your story.

[demdave]

25. I have done my far share of "urban camping".

But I don't see a need to show you my pedigree. But please continue to personalise.

[mbperrin]

30. Yeah, that's

what I thought -demand details and then provide none.

Sly comments and sneak away.

Like all bullies and name-callers.

And absolutely no one wants to deal with the hugely subsidized agribusinesses in this country who are wiping out small farmers across the globe with the help of the WTO! That's what this man's act was all about!

No one wants to lay me odds on the WTO changing that policy!

Relevance, please.

[demdave]

39. I replied, what;s the matter? I can't be a real Democrat if I

manage to keep a job and pay my bills? I only have street creds if I have screwed up my life? I work hard, save money and try to teach my children respect and responsibility. If you want to live on the street in order to be more in touch, be my guest. If your are going to sleep in my ackyard though, you are going to have to do yard work.


If you want anymore of my bio, you will have to be a paid member of the book club like anyone else. No we don't take aluminum cans.

[mbperrin]

40. I didn't "choose" anything!

The company I worked for seven years went under due to fraud at the top; I was a middle-manager who had just bought a new house with our accumulated savings the year before. With a pretty good job, two college degrees and seven years in, things looked pretty OK. They weren't.

Both my parents were dead, no aunts, uncles or other living relatives, living 600 miles from where I grew up - beginning of the big oil bust in Texas - no jobs to be had.

Sure wouldn't have gone in anybody's backyard - lived on a vacant lot in the Gulfton area of Houston for nearly a year, finally got a job cleaning apartments, which is hard work.

Ten years later, I'll be finishing my third degree in December, with the same firm eight years now, and so on.

Be any kind of Dem you want. My point was that you had no personal reference for this kind of stress and therefore had no firsthand knowledge. As I said, you are comfortable, fine! Glad! Wish the rest could be! Will try to make it so!

See, that's all I wanted to show. Thanks.

[NekoChris]

20. The way I see it...

...perhaps he was a little off his rocker.

But he was only doing it to himself.

Unlike the abortion clinic anology, he didn't take someone else's life and then have no qualms with losing his own.

We don't know this man's story. Perhaps he's afraid he's going to lose the only thing he has to provide his family. Perhaps he has no family and is just a lunatic.

Perhaps he thought there was no other way. Maybe if this passes his life was doomed anyway so he decided to make a message out of it.

I also seem to recall an image of a certain monk who set himself aflame in protest. Or that may just be a funny image that I'm misunderstanding the origin of.

I'm in admiration of his bravery to get up and martyr himself, and only himself, to get his message across. He didn't kill himself and five others. He didn't convince a multitude of people. He just got up and said 'This is wrong. This is what I'm going to do. Hopefully you will listen.'

The sad part is that noone will listen I fear. They're all going to go 'It was just some freako. Profit profit profit profit profit profit MONKEY profit profit profit cake profit profit profit.'

...or maybe he was really a robot and will just be repaired instead of buried.

...damn robots...

[Brucey]

24. Why?

We don't know why people kill themselves... we don't even know what the word "why" means in this case. Usually "why" refers to a reason (the person's thinking or feeling), while there is a "cause" that is the physical things that led to the behavior. Usually people who commit suicide are depressed. An assessment of spinal fluid can detect who will commit suicide, regardless of what they say. There is no relationship between intelligence and suicide. This man may or may not have been stupid. We don't even know what was going on in his personal life... perhaps his suicide had other motivations. Still, the WTO enrages many people who feel very hopeless. This is of serious concern.

[0007]

34. ......and there are those that are islands

nuff' said.

[Maple]

32. This is what happens

when ideology replaces knowledge.

People do nutbar things.

And accomplish nothing.

[mbperrin]

37. And trying to get you to post anything besides a slogan

that tickles you is useless, so see ya around!

[Maple]

38. None of my remarks

are slogans.

Yours are however.

I mean exactly what I say.

Apparently you're just browsing.

[rman]

51. so there's nothing wrong with WTO?

at least nothing more important to talk about then the nuttiness of this man taking his own life?

"act of sacrifice to show his disgust at the WTO"

and all you do is point at the corpse.

[T_i_B]

52. Even if there are problems with the WTO

They do not warrant topping yourself.

[ProudGerman]

44. woah

Stabbing oneself in the chest ranks right up there with igniting oneself in terms of taking yourself out. Sends a very powerful message. He would have been ignored if he was just waving a placard around, now no one will forget what he wanted to say.

Before we go and denigrate this man, and his culture at the same time, let's remember not to project our own values onto someone else. Might I suggest you research Hara-Kiri. Yeah, its Japanese ritual suicide, but it only appeared in Japan until after the introduction of Buddhism from Korea. One of the reasons for committing this ultimate act of protest is this:

Protest against injustice, as a mean to get their lord to reconsider an unwise or unworthy action and as a mean to save others. from this page - http://www.indiana.edu/~ealc100/Group19/seppuku.htm

Calling him a nutbar is an insult to a man you have never met, and an entire belief system he may have followed. Not to mention remarkably cold hearted.

[Pert_UK]

46. Unbelievably well said.......

Thank you. I agree 100%.

Hey...that's what happens when you THINK before posting and have a heart.

Thanks PG.

Pert.

[TahitiNut]

47. It took me many years to even begin to comprehend ...

... a belief system that would impel Buddhists of Vietnam to commit self-immolation in the street as a form of protest against what they regarded as an evil. I'd be the very last to suggest they were crazy. (Such a viewpoint would seem to me to be very close-minded.)

[markses]

48. Another cooky palooky

When are the savages and crazies gonna start thinking rationally, like Lou Dobbs! Yowza Yowza Yowza.

[fujiyama]

54. I still remember

this as being one of endearing pictures from my high school history book...

I must say I'm a little surprised there are people mocking the man commiting suicide, as a protest against the WTO. It just seems cold, dismissing him as a "nutbar", considering he didn't kill anyone else. After all, it's not like this man is like a religious extremist of some sort (well maybe he was). Still he wasn't a suicide bomber, or some other fanatic (people whose idealogies should be shunned) killing civilians.

Now, people can argue about the morality of suicide, but what should concern us is that subsidies in the developed world (Europe, US, and Japan) are contributing greatly to poverty in the developing world. The WTO is used by US (and European to a lesser extent) corporations to reap maximum profits for a few wealthy people, consequences to others be damned.

Now, it very well is a possibility that this man simply was a nutbar, and wanted to go out with a bang, but considering his suicide over rural pover is not necessarily a isolated incident (I heard in India as well there are many farmers committing suicide because of severe poverty), this is cause for concern. There are probably many more untold cases of suicide and possibly even murder of one's own family because of poverty (this happened to be the case in North Korea) all over the developing world.

Free trade should be used to lift people's living standards, especially those in the developing world. I also believe it's the best hope of doing that. But free trade must be fair, and while I know there will be little attention paid to this man's death, leaders in western nations should realize what a disaster some of the policies they enact for their political benefit are causing undue harm on the rest of the world.

[Forkboy]

49. What a suprise to see who mocks this man

:eyes:

[w4rma]

50. WTO = Bush Sr.'s New World Order = Global Corporatism

When corporations override the policies of nations, that is corporatism.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt


Korean farmer commits suicide during the protests against the WTO

A Korean farmer took his own life in protest against the policies of the WTO and at least eight other protestors were seriously injured by police during the first massive march against the Fifth Ministerial of the WTO.

Fifty-year-old Lee Kyang Hae of the Korean Farmer’s Organization stabbed himself in front of the indifferent glare of police who were attempting to block passage of the march. The Korean farmer climbed the metal barricade, screamed something in Korean and jammed a knife into his stomach. His body fell from the top of the fence amid screams of help from the rest of his contingent who later reflected their sadness over the event.

Kannikar Kijtiwatchk, a Thai delegation that was near the Koreans said that the act speaks to the grave situation that farmers are facing in their countries and across the world as a result of the liberalization of commerce. “On this day Koreans usually pay homage to their ancestors, but today they decided to be here and protest instead,” replied a concerned Thai participant.
http://cancun.mediosindependientes.org/feature/display/350/index.php

[chenGOD]

53. Very sad that a man who should be celebrating a big holiday

is instead no longer among the living.

This is Korea's biggest holiday, it is the time when they honour their ancestors. The WTO is trying their best to make sure that no one will be able to afford a holiday soon.


And Maple, others have been nice and polite to you.

Fuck you. Don't care if you have street cred, are a republican, democrat or whatever. Your lack of respect for human life is despicable.

[canuck]

55. I'll second that.

I have never seen someone like this on DU. Like, these are the views of someone I would punch in the head, if they layed that on me in person.

But on DU???

and dont be fooled by "maple"; if he isn't just using an emblem of canada to alter perceptions of himself, he sure doesn't represent canadians. I'm a bit ashamed.

This was a man's desperate desire to have his voice heard, to regain control of his fate. And sadly it worked. That is not stupid, nor is it anything like suicide bombing except in the most superficial sense. (ie: its obviously not terror)

It strikes me that Maple is someone who has never had to work very hard to make his opinions heard, because these same opinions are held by those in the highest levels of government. And they have a voice already. So I can understand his contempt for this man.

[Muddleoftheroad]

58. Comments

I think the comments about the man were indeed sensitive. However, the guy who killed himself seems to have had the lowest regard for his own life. Comments here have no impact on his insane choice. Thankfully, he showed enough respect for others not to kill anyone but himself.