Welcome to BASE21

Q: Please, tell us the atmosphere of the first and second labor media conference
A: It was very hard for Korean activists and unions to prepare international conference at that time. They had hardly joined international solidarity affairs or events like this one. Only a few activists had contacts with international people. But the experiences from the 1997 general strike struggles in Korea brought about for workers a need for international solidarity. So many people proposed a global conference like Labor Tech in the US. At the first conference, lots of foreign activists from South Africa, Netherlands, Japan, UK, US and other countries participated. It was a great opportunity to enlarge our minds and thoughts. We could make connections to international progressive activists. We started to learn to use of newsletter and data base from them.
In the 1999 conference, there were somewhat different subjects something like independent media in the digital age and internet video streaming, but in the long run, both of the two conferences were very similar. And the participants who joined the first conference came to Korea again, which made our ideas and discussions very deep.

Q: What do you think about recent labor movements around the world?
A: For several years, the situation of ICTs has developed very much, and the complexions of labor movements also rapidly changed by using this technology. Workers had used the internet as for only communication. Now, workers have made their own strategies to use these ICTs as media tools for their struggle. But, it is still a difficult problem to acclimate themselves to a new technological environment.
World labor movements have also become very bureaucratized. Most notably, the American Federation of Labor and Congress Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is very conservative. This happened after World War II. Politically, labor's critics against the government and the rich have been weak. The same is also true in England. The struggle of the River Pool Harbors workers was a very famous all over the world, but it was not accepted by the central federation of trade unions in England. Recently, here and there, an increasing number of demands to reform these structure have been raised by common workers.

Q: What is the role of the labor media conference?
A: The labor media conference should focus on the role of media in the working class's struggle against Neo-liberalism. At the same time, they should help workers devise their own strategies to take advantage of this new tool.
Furthermore, There are another problems something like censorship and surveillance. And also other struggles fighting against Globalization, for example, people's actions from Seattle to Genoa are related to anti Neo-liberalism. They must be treated before media issues.
The labor media conference has to evaluate people's struggles very carefully because they are all linked together by media technology for international solidarity. We witnessed these activities in the video movements of Daewoo workers struggles and Independent Media Center actions.

Q: This conference seems like it is mainly focusing on the issue of technology. If this is so, the discussion is likely to concentrate on the situation of developed countries, not the Third World which does not have the infra-structure of the internet media yet.
A: I want people to know several points. It is right that there is a digital gap between nations, but media technology is now rapidly spreading all over the world. The struggles of Third World nations have become known to people by the internet media technology. And the corner stones of international solidarity have been established step by step. Although there are some gaps between each country, we need more vibrant and divers strategies to overcome these difficulties.
In this situation, the role of South Korean activists is very important. Roughly speaking, South Korea has aspects of both worlds. The first is the advanced technology and the second is the Third World's social problems. Korean activities should arrange their struggles and experiences very carefully and make it public theory and practice. Perhaps it will greatly influence struggles throughout the world. Already, Japanese activists have tried to learn from Korean movements, and they have looked upon our experiences as their guide.