The Constitutional Court in South Korea has confirmed the impeachment and removal of the President, Park Geun-hye, as a result of her corrupt dealings with big business. This has been the result of a protracted and sometimes violently repressed series of mass protests, with the citizenry of the Republic of South Korea forcing the impeachment hearings who were confronted with pretty clear evidence of preferential treatment of those who fed the personal and party coffers of the outgoing administration. Does this have a vaguely familiar ring to it? While the multiple donations by lobbyists of funds originating from other donors may be the only legal line crossed, that can only be as a result of the current administration having kept the legal bar so low that it wouldn’t interfere with strawberry pickers, let alone cotton-pickin’ donors looking to circumvent the one person one vote system of elections.
One also might wonder what it was that mobilized so many Koreans to get out in the streets in what might seem like an overwhelmingly difficult task. Could it be the simple knowledge that their system of government was corrupt to the point that it no longer operated in the interests of the general population? Is this part of why people in Canada and, in particular in B.C., stay cozy in their beds and ensconced on their couches with a bowl of popcorn and the latest version of Survivor? The outrage that powered the Korean impeachment, like the movements of the original Arab Spring, the Maidan protests in Kiev. the Velvet Revolution in Prague and a host of other movements was based on knowledge of the corrupt nature and the lack of fairness and voice in the affairs of the various jurisdictions concerned, something that is sadly lacking in Canada for those who haven’t yet had that tingling sensation. that political spidey-sense that tells them that they have to branch out in their quest for what’s bothering them and who are unafraid enough to tumble into the maelstrom of on-line political discourse, armed, hopefully, with a fully-deployed and fine-tuned BS filter, considerable patience and massive doses of discernment.
The fate of Park Geun-hye should also be the fate of Christy Clark and of any person charged with the public well-being who turns instead to the perpetuation of personal aggrandizement and political power.