A-Infos (en) The Internet Anti-Fascist: Wed, 29 April 98--2:25 (#106)

[Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net>]

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            The Internet Anti-Fascist: Wednesday, 29 April 98 
                        Vol. 2, Number 25 (#106) 
______________________________________________________________________ 
 
                         DEFEND YOUNG-JOON HA! 
 
Korean student Young-joon Ha, a supporter of the International 
Socialist tendency, was recently arrested in Korea for political 
material he posted to a computer bulletin board. 
 
The case summary below is from Professor Jie-Hyun Lim, of Kanyang 
University, and is reprinted with his permission. 
 
Young-joon Ha deserves our support. 
 
For too long social activists on the net have inadvertently limited 
their free-speech activities to issues defined by the more 
conservative-libertarian forces. Certainly the CDA should have been 
defeated. Libertarian opposition to government intervention on the net 
did not make governmental efforts a good thing. Cyberpunks published 
workarounds to help German CompuServe users access news groups when the
provider killed them and those actions were perfectly supportable. Our 
opposition to governmental controls on these and similar issues 
proceeded independently and parallel to the conservative-libertarian 
protest. 
 
Things were far more controversial when some anti-fascists supported E.
Zundel's "right of free speech" when his web site for "Holocaust 
Revisionism" was challenged. Equally today some activists are 
supporting Bernard Klatt's "Fairview Technology" site in Canada 
currently under attack by the Canadian branch of the Simon Weisenthal 
Center. 
 
More sadly, many of these anti-fascist remained silent when the XS4ALL 
provider in the Netherlands was attacked. They did nothing to defend 
Angela Marquardt when she arrested in Germany for linking the censored 
web sites to her home page. Nor did they speak out in defense of Shel 
Epstein when he challenged Holocaust-Revisionist A. Butz at 
Northwestern University. They failed to assist the Institute For Global
Communications when it was mailbombed to force them to remove pro- 
Basque material from the server there. Nor are they publicizing the 
similarly-destructive attacks on the GreenNet/LabourNet site. 
 
We must stop letting the conservative-libertarian forces define the 
free speech agenda. We must start setting our own priority list for 
those people and groups on the net who are the targets of government 
crackdowns. 
 
We can start by defending Young-joon Ha. 
 
  --  tallpaul 
 
                               - - - - - 
 
[15 Apr 98] 
 
Dear Friends, 
 
I am in need of your help. The day before yesterday (April 13) South  
Korean authority arrested my student (Senior year / Dept. of History / 
Hanyang Univ. Seoul, Korea) whose name is Youngjoon Ha. He is  one of 
the most intelligent and promising students. The authority issued  a 
warrant for the arrest of Mr. Ha on the ground that he sent a series  
of summarized reports of the published articles in some Korean  
progressive journals and British Trotskist journals to the discussion  
group in the computer net. 
 
He was sentenced to eighteen months in prison with a stay of execution 
for three years in 1996, November for being a member of International  
Socialist-Korean Trotskite group. It means that he has been placed on  
probation. In recent past he stopped being an political activist and  
studied very hard for the graduate school. I cannot endorse that former
democratic dissident Kim Daejung's government did that nasty thing. As 
a  way of fighting against the anti-humanitarian oppression of the 
freedom  of thought, I am appealing to friends who understand the human
rights  and social justice. How on earth does any democratic government
arrest a  person who expressed his opinion by citing and summarizing 
the legally  published materials? Please inform the political 
oppression and the  violation of human rights of the so-called 
democratic South Korean  government to the National Committees of 
Amnesty and Human Right's  Movement Group in your countries. Please 
organize the protest movement  against the South Korean government. 
 
For the freedom of thought and international solidarity! 
 
Fraternally, 
Jie-Hyun Lim 
 
                               - - - - - 
 
[1 May 98] 
 
Dear Paul Kniesel, 
 
Many thanks for your kind concern. I am sorry that I couldn't keep in 
touch because of the conference in Poland. Just this morning I came 
back. 
 
I will be very glad that you will republish the message about Young- 
joon Ha in your internet journal. As for the e-mail address for the 
protest, I will write you back. 
 
Fraternally, 
Jie-Hyun Lim. 
 
                               - - - - - 
 
[no date, rec'd 1 May 98] 
 
Dear friends and comrades, 
 
I'd like to thank all of you for your kind and humanitarian concern. 
And I am very sorry that I could't update you for last ten days because

I been to Poland for the conference. 
 
Mr. Young-joon Ha is a senior student in the Dept. of History at 
Hanynag Univ., Seoul Korea. I am sure that he is one of the most 
excellent students who combined the warm heart with the cool intellect.

He was arrested for being a member of International Socialist group in 
Korea in 1996. He was sentenced to one and half year in jail for that 
because being a socialist is supposed to violate the infamous National 
Security law. But he was released in 1997 because the execution was 
suspended for three years. After his release, he stopped being an 
political activist and decided to go to the graduate school for more 
study. As his tutor and professor, I can guarantee that. 
 
But suddenly he was arrested by the Second Security Police team of the 
Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on April 13, 1998. After the 
interrogation by that Police team, he is now in Songdong Detention 
House. He had not been indicted yet, but the public prosecutor Doo-hee 
Lee of the Northern Branch Office of the Seoul District Public 
Prosecutor's Office, is supposed to inspect his case. 
 
The warrant of his arrest says that Mr. Ha sent summarized works of 
Tony Cliff, Callinicos and some other Korean progressive scholars to 
the homepage of the computer discussion group. It is very probable that

public prosecutor Lee will indict my student Ha for the violation of 
the article 7 of the National Security Law. As I wrote in my first 
message, the fact that he sent summarized reports of the published 
articles from some Korean progressive and British Trotskist journals to
the discussion group in the computer net would be interpreted as an act
to encourage and praise the enemies. 
 
Young-joon Ha was born in Taegu, on September, 5, 1971. He entered 
Hanyang University in 1991 and had to stop his study because he had to 
serve the Army from January of 1993 to March of 1995. In the academic 
year of 1996 he returned to the Univ. and is now a senior student. 
 
Please send your protest to the Korean embassy in your country, and to 
the Korean ruling party and the Korea presidential office. The e-mail 
address of the Korean ruling party and Presidential office is as 
follows;  http://www.new97.or.kr and http://www.cwd.go.kr 
 
Many thanks for your international solidarity. 
 
Fraternally, 
Jie-hyun Lim. 
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
          Paul Robeson Centennial Protest Stamps and Buttons 
 
Beautiful Four color, union made 
 
Buttons: 
$2 each 
3 for $5 
25 or more - $1 each 
 
Self adhesive stamps: 
1 sheet of 12 stamps - $1.50 
5 sheets - $6 
20 sheets or more - $1 each 
 
Add 20% for shipping and handling 
 
Send checks or money orders to: 
New York Friends of the People's Weekly World; 235 W. 23rd St., New 
York, NY 10011 
 
We demand! Honor Paul Robeson! 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 28 April 1998 
FTP Supplement #31 (#105): N.O.W. Wins Abortion-Issue RICO Suit 
 
1) N.O.W. (no author), "Question & Answers About 'N.O.W. v. 
   Scheidler'," 15 Apr 98 (updated)  
2) ProLifeAction (no author), "Questions & Answers: The case of NOW vs.
   SCHEIDLER in a nutshell -- where it belongs.," n.d. (accessed 22 Apr
   98)  
3) N.O.W. (press release), "N.O.W. Declares Victory Over Anti-Abortion
   Thugs!," 20 Apr 98  
4) BBC (dispatches), "Abortion Protesters 'Guilty Of Extortion'," 21
   Apr 98  
5) Mike Robinson (Associated Press), "Abortion foes are liable for 
   racketeering: A civil jury found that activists used threats and  
   violence. The class-action ruling opened the door for claims by   
   abortion centers across the country," 21 Apr 98  
6) Pro-Life Action League (press release), "Pro-Life Activists Look for
   Victory on Appeal," 20 Apr 98
<ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/tinaf105.txt>
 
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            ANOTHER UPDATE ON THE ANTI-FASCIST NEWS GROUPS 
 
internic, the company that handles the net's domain name registration 
finally switched our provide to New York Connect. This means that the 
web side for <anti-fascism.org> should be down for a few days while we 
make the changeover. 
 
_____________________________________________________________________ 
 
                               FASCISM: 
  We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget.  

      (No permission required for noncommercial reproduction) 
 
                               - - - - - 
 
                       back issues archived via: 
        <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/>

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