JS-56.3
The Organizational Evolution and Innovation of Korean Anti-Base Movement
- focused on the dynamics of multi-layered solidarity network
It is a main feature of Korean Anti-Base Movement(KABM) that it has been affected by the historical tradition and culture of democracy movement. First, KABM started in 1988, directly after the June democracy movement in 1987. Second, democracy movement organizations paid attention to local issues in the 1990s and built many local organizations of KABM as solidarity ones. Third, the activist networks of democracy movement was a main factor of the building of national solidarity network and massive nationwide mobilization. Some factors of successful Maehyang-ri struggle can be explained by these.
But in the early 2000s, there came into existence new innovations of KABM organization. Pacifist activists belonged to small organizations and Jikimi-activists made up by voluntary citizens played a critical role in the development of PyeongTaek struggle. Two organizational forms, centralized democracy movement and emerging pacifist peace movement sometimes have cooperated and sometimes competed with each other. And both were was combined through the medium of residents’ organization.
KABM has developed multi-layed ABM organizations composed in scale of village, city, and nation. The anti-base committees of city and nation scale have been composed of local and national organizations which experienced democracy movement. On the other hand, residents and Jikimi-activists lead village scale movement. The supplementation of three scale movements is important factor of the dynamics and extensive influence of KABM. But in case of Kangjung village of Jeju Island, the influence of city and nation scale organizations is weak. It is mainly caused by the geographical isolation and cultural factors, that is developmentalism and local conservatism. This implies that the objects of ABM has to be more than the mere change of aimed policy or institution.