hankyoreh

Chang Seok-june

By Chang Seok-june, planning committee member at the Institute of Societal Transitions

There have been many different analyses and conclusions about the “Lee Jun-seok phenomenon.” Those who look upon it with concern focus on two particular currents: the “meritocracy” aspect and the “anti-feminist” aspect.

In my opinion, the real threat between the two is the latter. When it comes to meritocracy, that sort of argument can be a call for justice or the exact opposite, depending on whether the attack is directed toward the top of the “power pyramid” or the bottom.

But even that can’t be said for the anti-feminism part. That attitude is an example of the politics of hate, meant to fan and exaggerate a vague sort of jealousy or fear over women’s economic advancement to win political points. It’s of a piece with the far-right populism that began emerging all over the world in the 2010s.

Perhaps even the newly minted People Power Party (PPP) leader is aware of this, because he hasn’t been making explicitly misogynistic remarks since being elected. Whatever the case, he did open up Pandora’s box — offering proof that the use of the politics of hate to make inroads toward power is an approach that works even in Korea.

Lee has offered an illustration of how to politically exploit the feelings of hatred toward women, LGBTQ persons, migrants, and others that are already widespread in our society. The prospects of another “fresh” political face — even one not affiliated with the PPP — building a career by inciting even more powerful feelings of hatred has now become a societal constant.

What needs to be done to prevent this politics of hate from growing further?

Throughout the 2010s, Koreans lived through very different times politically from other countries. But that gap has been rendered meaningless, thanks to ruling liberals who failed at — or sabotaged — any translation of the candlelight revolution into actual reforms.

Korea has now entered the same historical moment as the rest of the world. And it’s a bad moment.

Many people had a hunch that things would turn out like this. The direction they were discussing was “left-wing populism.”

In the US and Europe, the strength to fend off far-right populism came from an emerging radical left. Their popular politics proved more vigorous than the far-right populism, and they managed to overcome feelings of hatred with an awakening of solidarity.

If Korea is belatedly following in the rest of the world’s footsteps, then we will unquestionably need efforts in this direction.

But if we simply approach it in terms of “left-wing populism,” it could end up viewed as a narrow political tactic or a matter of rhetoric. Indeed, that’s exactly the way many of Korea’s progressive party movements seem to be understood.

What we need right now is a far more fundamental examination — a return to square one in terms of practice.

If we hope to build a new majority alliance by putting back together social groups that have been torn apart by competition and envy, we will need to pursue two approaches simultaneously.

One of them is the sharing of a powerful common ideal. In the past, we had universal names for those ideals, with terms like “grassroots” and “working class.” Those names were tied in with social critiques of capitalism and alternative visions.

The same is true for the currents that are described as “success stories” of left-wing populism. They have been ushering in a new wave by once again playing up these elements, in contrast with the social democratic establishment.

Korea’s progressive party movements need to start by diligently working to satisfy these central elements.

The other thing that needs to be done is to use this universal ideal to overcome the “economic-corporate” tendency among various groups in this society. Antonio Gramsci used the term “economic-corporate” to refer to activities that assert only one’s own short-term, factional interests, in contrast with “ethical-political” efforts to liberate oneself through the construction of a new society.

As long as it remains in this economic-corporate stage, any group or movement will only contribute to undoing society. It’s the situation faced by the labor movement and other social movements in Korean society.

For solidarity to take shape against the politics of hate, there first needs to be an effort within social movements to overcome the economic-corporate stage.

All of these are difficult tasks. But they are also ones that cannot be avoided or abstained from in the universal political era we find ourselves facing in the 21st century.

The people on the left are the ones who are supposed to want to tackle these sorts of things.

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]