Week 9; When taste politics meet terror

….As The Critical Art Ensemble defense website points out, historically these laws- ‘Charges of mail and wire fraud’- have been used when the government could not prove other criminal charge… Joan Hawkins

There were restrictions to art created by the politicians in Korea during the period of military autocracy. South Korea is a democratic state that guarantees freedom of expression like America. In the article ‘When Taste Politics Meet Terror’, we knew that Steve Kurtz was arrested and released for bio-terrorism without evidence after 9/11. This incident was related with overreactions about the terror. It is not same situation-not the terror-, but Korea has undergone a preposterous period under dictatorship. In the period, there are many worse incidents than ‘the charge of mail and wire fraud’ of the critical Art Ensemble’.  If the people who serve dictatorship felt disobedient, they overreacted. That could be found anywhere that under autocracy in the earth.

For example, the novelist, Soosan Han, wrote a novel released daily in parts ‘The street of Desire’ in the Joong-Ang Daily News in 1980. After 300 days of writing, he wrote about a security officer who had a pride that he served in the army. However, Han’s expression about him was very cheap, a part of common pride among Korean males who served in the army. Everyone could notice that wasn’t indicate about rebellious power of the dictatorship. Yet, he was arrested by National Intelligence Agents, and tortured. Not only him but also his colleague, Jeongman Park, was arrested and tortured because he was Han’s friend. The writer, Soosan Han quit writing, and went Japan and Jeongman Park has passed away in 1988 because of the aftereffects. They were not North Korean spies, terrorists or politicians who opposed the dictatorship. They were innocent writers. The ridiculous thing was the action of the people who thought the novel was written for criticizing the military dictatorship. The more preposterous thing was the people who had brought up a problem.  They were staff sergeants, not the high-ranking officials.

Out of its mind, crazy. Schizophrenia. Schizoanalysis….

I think The critical Art ensemble members were fortuante, at least, they didn’t tortured and die.. and they have supported by many artists and scholars.