The Shining Star of Korea

 
 by New Worker correspondent

Michael Chant speaking

FRIENDS of the Korean revolution marked the 73^rd anniversary of dear leader Kim Jong Il at the John Buckle Centre in London on Monday.

  Andy Brooks, the chair of the Friends of Korea committee that organised the meeting, welcomed everyone to the event to honour the memory of the Korean communist leader who died at his post in December 2011.

In his opening the New Communist Party leader said Kim Jong Il had made an immense contribution to the arts as well as the theory and practice of the world communist movement. This was followed by other tributes from Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), Dermot Hudson of the Korean Friendship Association and  DPRK Ambassador Hyong Hak Bong

Kim Jong Il steered the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea through the difficult times that followed the death of great leader Kim Il Sung in 1994.  He devoted his entire life to serving the Korean people in the cause of building a human-centred society, a cause that is espoused by the democratic and anti-imperialist forces the world over.

Following Kim Il Sung’s footsteps, Kim Jong Il led the Workers Party of Korea into the 21^st century to build a strong and prosperous democratic republic. Kim Jong Il was a leading Marxist thinker who made an important contribution to the modern communist theory as well as an astute statesman who led the Korean people through thick and thin to overcome natural disasters, the imperialist blockade and diplomatic isolation.

This was followed by a full-length DPRK film about the achievements of the Korean people under its new young leader, Kim Jong Un.

In Democratic Korea Kim Jong Il’s birthday has long been known as the Day of the Shining Star. This year it is being celebrated at a time when the Korean people are racing ahead at a new fast speed of socialist construction led by Kim Jong Un who is faithfully following the footsteps of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at the helm of the Workers Party of Korea.

The Co-ordinating Committee of the Friends of Korea brings together all the major movements active in Korean friendship and solidarity work in Britain today. It is chaired by Andy Brooks and the secretary is Michael Chant. The committee organises meetings throughout the year, which are publicised by the supporting movements and on the Friends of Korea blog.

Friends from Nepal

Andy Brooks and Theo Russell with Nepalese comrades

by New Worker correspondent

 

COMRADES from the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) met New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks and Central Committee member Theo Russell at the Party Centre in London last week.

Dr Vijay Poudel, Politburo Member of the CPN (UML) and two other comrades from his party talked about the current situation in Nepal and about their party’s work within the growing Nepalese community in Britain.

Though the CPN (UML) opposed the armed struggle of the CPN (Maoists) it supported the mass movement , which together with the guerrilla forces, compelled the hated king to abdicate in 2008.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified, Marxist-Leninist) remains one of the biggest communist parties in the Himalayan republic and second largest party in the Constituent Assembly with 175 seats in the 575 strong parliament.

In 1994 the CPN (UML) formed a minority government which lasted for nine months and it took part in a coalition government in 1998. In February 2011 Party Chair Jhala Nath Khanal briefly held the premiership with Maoist support.

Down with oppression in south Korea!

Andy Brooks with other comrades at the picket

by New Worker correspondent

DESPITE sub-zero temperatures and a bit of snow Korean solidarity activists picketed the south Korean puppet embassy in London last week to denounce the suppression of a leading opposition party and the arrest of pro-reunification activists.

New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks joined comrades and friends from the Korean Friendship Association to protest at the banning of the Unified Progressive Party and demand the release of Ro Su Hui, the jailed veteran peace campaigner, and other south Korean political prisoners.

Dermot Hudson of the KFA opened the picket by condemning the repression of fascist puppet Park Geun Hye regime, which is dragging south Korea back to the era of the Yushin fascist dictatorship of her father Park Chung Hee. General Park came to power in a military coup in 1961 and ruled with an iron fist until he was assassinated by the head of his own intelligence service during a power struggle in 1979.

Dermot took the microphone to denounce the dissolution of the Unified Progressive Party in south Korea, which is the third largest party in south Korea with elected representatives and a 100,000 members.

Picketers took turns in reading statements supporting the campaign while others gave out a new KFA info leaflet during the two-hour picket. One passer-by joined the KFA on the spot – showing activism and campaigning works.

 The picketers, fortified by hot soup, coffee and a little drop of Scotch, ended their protest at 5.30, vowing to return in the near future if the prisoners are not released.

The UK Korean Friendship Association (KFA) regularly organises solidarity meetings and protest pickets in London throughout the year. The KFA also works side by side with the Friends of Korea committee which also holds regular events in London.

Londoners demand homes

 By New Worker correspondent

THOUSANDS of Londoners gathered last Saturday – half in Shoreditch east London and the other half at the Elephant and Castle in south London – in spite of freezing wind, rain and sleet to demand affordable homes for Londoners.

“Cap rents, not benefits!” “Social housing not social cleansing!” and “Housing is a human right!” were among the slogans shouted as local residents, trade unionists and a wide spectrum of campaigning groups marched carrying hundreds of colourful banners and placards.

The two marches met, with a loud cheer, at the south end of Tower Bridge and turned long Tooley Street a few yards to surround City Hall, the headquarters of the Greater London Assembly and Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson.

As the marchers approached the glass structure and the wind from the river added another dimension of cold to the air as it was filled with ever louder chanting of “Boris Out! Boris Out!”

Marchers hold Johnson responsible for the policy of allowing the vast council housing estates that once gave decent housing to London’s working class to be swept away to be replaced by new developments of luxury flats.

These flats are way beyond the reach of most London workers. Many are bought by wealthy foreigners purely as an investment. Housing costs in London are rising so fast they only have to buy a property, hold it empty for a few years to be able to resell it at double what they paid for it.

So while more and more Londoners are being forced on to the streets they are surrounded by new beautiful homes that are just standing empty. Those that are let command rents that are higher than many workers’ total pay packet.

As the marchers passed through the working class areas of east and south London – ethnically very diverse areas – the local residents of every colour, race and nationality waved and cheered from balconies and windows or stood in a line outside shops to clap and cheer in spite of the weather.

They were the same streets that have seen many housing campaigns, against landlordism, against evictions and for fair rents, waged by previous generations.

An estimated 5,000 encircled City Hall and urged Johnson tackle the rising housing crisis by building more council homes, controlling private rents and calling off the proposed demolition of properties on up to 70 London estates.

If Tory plans to reduce the total household benefit cap to £23,000 as promised large families would be forced to move away from London and the out of the south-east.

Leading the march as it crossed Tower Bridge in driving rain was Jasmin Stone, from Newham in east London.

The young single mother said skyrocketing rents and unscrupulous landlords had already forced a number of her friends from the capital they can no longer afford.

She said: “I’ve already lost quite a few of them; it’s extremely unfair that young people cannot afford to stay in the city they love and grew up in.”

 The Focus E15 young mothers who are successfully fighting plans to force them out of London took pride of place on the march.

Immediately after the march a group of young activists broke away and succeeded in occupying part of what is left of the giant Aylesbury Estate near the Elephant and Castle.

Houses on the Chartridge House block have been opened and were occupied overnight. The occupiers held an assembly on Sunday and asked for neighbours, squatters, and everyone who wants to, to join them. There are homes here for hundreds, lying empty because of the greed of developers and bribed politicians.

The Aylesbury Estate is one of the largest “social housing” complexes in Europe. It was built in the 1960s-70s with 2700 homes. Because it sits on prime inner London real estate, it is being socially cleansed of its working class inhabitants, in a saga that has gone on for over 15 years now.

Tenants have been evicted, often moved out miles from central London. A rash of ugly identikit yuppy blocks have been built on part of the site.

There was a big police presence at the start of the occupation yesterday, including a helicopter and photographers, but not TSG riot police. But after a few hours all the police left, saying that they were treating this as a legal protest and would not try to storm the building.

Dedicated to the Korean people

 

Dermot Hudson and Yu Kwang Song

By New Worker correspondent

NEW COMMUNIST Party leader Andy Brooks joined Juché supporters and Korean solidarity activists in paying tribute to the life-time achievements of dear leader Kim Jong Il at a solidarity meeting in London last weekend.

The meeting, at the Marchmont Centre in central London, was organised by the Juché Idea Study Group as part of a round of events in February to mark the birthday of Kim Jong Il who led Democratic Korea through the turbulent times that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.

Dermot Hudson opened the meeting, saying that Kim Jong Il was a true son of the people who was never apart from them and this was the theme that ran through all the contributions, which included a tribute from a member of the DPRK embassy in London.

Kim Jong Il said: “Reality is a fine school and the masses are teachers,” Dermot said pointing out that the whole raison d’etre of the Juché Idea is the people are the masters of everything and everything should be done for them.

            Andy Brooks spotlighted Kim Jong Il’s early work in the reborn Korean film industry and his efforts to raise the standards of proletarian culture in literature and the arts. Kim Jong Il also led the Workers Party of Korea’s efforts in developing the non-aligned movement and strengthening the international communist and workers’ movement.

Working side-by-side with great leader Kim Il Sung he then made significant contributions to the development of the Juché Idea. Kim Jong Il asserted that, in understanding the relationship between the Juché idea and Marxism-Leninism, the originality of the former should be viewed as fundamental in combination with its inheritance of the latter. 

            This was taken up by Shaun Pickford who spoke about the revolutionary activities of the new leader, Kim Jong Un, who is following the footsteps of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to face the challenges of the 21^st century.

Yu Kwang Song from the DPRK embassy said that Kim Jong Il is alive in the hearts and minds of the Korean people and the peoples of the world and the work started by the dear leader continues today. Comrade Yu denounced the slanders against the DPRK and the imperialists’ bogus “human rights” campaign against the DPRK and thanked the audience and all the friends of the Korean revolution in Britain for their efforts in setting the record straight.

The Korean comrade then took questions from the audience which developed into a wide ranging discussion which continued over refreshments until the session ended.