South Korea showed Americans how to defend democracy
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/south-korea-martial-law-president-democracy-trump-rcna182732
South Korea showed Americans how to defend democracy
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/south-korea-martial-law-president-democracy-trump-rcna182732
35 comments
Sure, I’m worried about right wing fascism too but I don’t know what we can learn from that absolute fiasco in South Korea. That entire saga was bizarre nonsense.
From James Downie, writer and editor for MSNBC Daily:
Within three hours, lawmakers and protesters gathered outside the National Assembly, as [soldiers tried to bar the entrances](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/03/world/south-korea-martial-law/c16f44d7-e977-5b14-b017-73ccccb0bf9b?smid=url-share). Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, [livestreamed himself clambering over a wall](https://bsky.app/profile/adamjschwarz.bsky.social/post/3lcg46lagl22d) to enter the building. Within five hours, [190 legislators unanimously overturned Yoon’s decree](https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/south-korean-lawmakers-seek-president-s-impeachment-after-6-hour-martial-law-declaration-226131525549). And within six hours of the president announcing his power grab, Yoon made a second television address ending his declaration of martial law. By Wednesday afternoon, the opposition had [introduced articles of impeachment](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-korea-yoon-suk-yeol-lawmakers-call-impeachment-martial-law-rcna182769) against Yoon, with a vote possible as early as Thursday.
The heroics of South Korea’s Democratic-led opposition were a welcome and riveting sight for supporters of democracy around the world. And they provided a lesson for Democrats and other Trump opponents in America.
Read more: [https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/south-korea-martial-law-president-democracy-trump-rcna182732](https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/south-korea-martial-law-president-democracy-trump-rcna182732)
The guy didn’t even have the backing of his own party leaders. It’s pretty clear he had no support from the rank and file of the military either. That was the most half assed attempt at “storming” an assembly that I have ever seen. J6 rioters used more force than that.
It’s nothing like what is happening here.
When this guy declared martial law, the entire parliament immediately stood up to oppose him, unequivocally and unanimously.
I can say with confidence that would not happen in the USA. When Trump declares martial law, the majority of Republicans in Congress will either support it or they’ll be too scared to oppose it. Hell, there will even be some democrats in Congress who will fall into line.
Note they began drafting articles of impeachment immediately. Brazil also went after Bolsonaro very hard in the aftermath of his shenanigans.
You need to clamp down on these people hard and fast, not just let them go and hope they don’t try it again out of some misplaced “we need to take the high road” bullshit.
If he had had the support of the military, voting to lift martial law wouldn’t have done shit. South Korea is lucky they are politically stable enough that a simple vote defused the situation. If they hadn’t been, the vote would have been worthless and no one would be using it as an example of “how to defend democracy.”
Awww that’s cute. But that only works if your checks-and-balance system isn’t totally rigged.
The question becomes, when a tank/armored vehicle is driving down the street in an American city, will a civilian stand in the way, daring them to run them over?
I don’t have any faith in the American people.
… but Americans were not interested.
US: “Best I can do is an orderly transition into a dictatorship.”
He declared martial law because he was about to face consequences for corrupt actions. Unfortunately it seems we cannot defend democracy in the US without political and judicial reform enabling us to hold people accountable.
Yeah that’s not going to happen in the US. We don’t have a functional checks and balances system. Trump owns the Republican party and none of them will cross him when it matters and the high court is in his pocket.
Actually that is a bit backwards. The Republican Party in the United States reaffirmed the steps for eroding a democracy.
The South Korean president didn’t do any of the ground work for the declaration of martial law. His own party had no idea wtf was going on and was against the declaration. He is OVERWHELMINGLY unpopular among the general populace.
Meanwhile Trump and the Republicans at large did the opposite. He started saying that the system was rigged way back in 2016. In 2020 he went even further and a significant portion of the American electorate actually believed that the election was stolen. He cozied up to a billionaire class that was willing to fund and assist in the creation of a completely alternate media landscape to craft a narrative about how immigrants were destroying the country and how he was going to tear down the establishment that was screwing over the everyday American. There is an ENORMOUS independent and social media machine now to support the populist right wing movement.
Very powerful video of a woman grabbing a soldier’s gun and he does nothing. He could have killed her.
That is important. Need a military that is afraid of firing upon the people they are supposed to protect.
Defend what? They elected the fucker who tried to overthrow the government
Yes and they have done that before.
Americans just think they have to wait for an election and just accept the results whatever they are, even if the majority is unhappy. And these are the people who need their guns just in case. Koreans don’t even have guns and they get shit done.
I have little faith the US will pass this test
Well sure, but the American representatives in the federal government aren’t really interested in the preservation of democracy.
Its debatable whether or not America will ever get Democracy back.
sounds like that yoon guy is going to be impeached soon
wonder what happens next. but yeah SK has had a ugly history in the past with dictatorships and politics post-1945, including the last Martial Law run in 1979-80. That one led to the Gwangju Uprising, violently suppressed by the government. There is a good movie about this called A Taxi Driver about the taxi drivers who helped carry victims to the hospital (and get the news footage of the soldiers firing on people out, to the outside world)
I applaud South Korea for fighting back full force, but America is a very different animal. Police and certain National Guards have no qualms about gunning down the “other” and anyone designated as criminals. Their trained and encouraged to do so. Doubly so, Americans are conditioned to have zero sympathy for anyone deemed criminals even when the charges are boogus.
If the U.S. were half as serious about defending democracy as we pretend to be, Trump would have been impeached on Jan 7 2021, convicted and removed Jan 8, and in prison before 2022 hit.
Problem is, it would take the GOP standing up to Trump, which they have proven they will never do.
Americans be watching this with ambivalence and gratitude
“have a legislature that isn’t glazing the executive branch”
In other words, we’re fucked.
Too bad all republicans would vote for side of their president
How not to be bitches you mean ?
Koreans don’t know our Republicans.
Let’s hope they can actually impeach the guy who attempted a coup. So far, they still need votes from his party and they aren’t getting them
Useless website, it said something about my ad blocker before I clicked away
America was never and will never be ready to defend democracy. And the irony is that America is the foundation of a functional democracy (insert rhetorical expiration date of your liking).
Plutocracy, oligarchy… these terms are more closely associated with what we’ve been living under for the past 40+ years (maybe more, but for my entire life for sure). Stop second-guessing yourselves. Even local elections have been infiltrated with bullshit. There used to be a time when even local elections mattered (not anymore, and by design too).
The ill-hearted people we warned everyone about forever have infiltrated the government, are running the government, are making laws against society, are running the Supreme Court and every branch of government. .. what do you do? Protesting doesn’t do shit (even if you argue that this was the way we got rights— like civil rights, voting rights). I’m now convinced these rights were granted only to shut us up. And from the very beginning, those fascists were looking for the right idiot to make a comeback… and here were are
What do you do? I’ll start with ending citizens united. Corporations are NOT PEOPLE and they do NOT deserve the same God dam right
South Korea is about the size of New York state. Weather permitting you can get people to show up within hours from across the country to protest.
The US takes over a day for people to reach DC.
They had another branch of government who gave a shit to enforce the checks and balances.
3/3 of our branches failed the test.
LMAO, if SK is a real democracy then the US is a democratic utopia and a beacon example to the rest of world.
The only way we could do something like SK is to have every single American mob Washington DC and make J6 look like a block party.
Comments are closed.