through europe

 

Aerial protests

 

Only two generations ago Korean people were so poor that starvation was a frequent and widespread experience. Today, Koreans have reached the same level of wealth and consumption of the most advanced countries in the West. The minimum wage is 4.800 won per hour, more or less 3.5 Euros, and the majority of workers manage to cash around 1500 Euros per month. Teachers are paid better than in Italy or England, around 2000 Euros per month.

 

But for the youngest generation the prospects are not as rosy. Renting a house has become impossible for the majority of young people, who cannot afford to pay advances of fifty thousand dollars.

 

 

Proteste aeree

 

Solo due generazioni fa i coreani erano così poveri che la fame era un’esperienza frequente e largamente diffusa. Nello spazio di due generazioni hanno raggiunto lo stesso livello di ricchezza e di consumo dei paesi più avanzati dell’occidente. Il salario minimo è di circa 3.5 orari e la maggioranza degli operai industriali guadagna intorno a 1500 euro al mese. Gli insegnanti sono pagati meglio che in Italia o in Inghilterra. Ma le prospettive sono difficili per l’ultima generazione. La precarietà si diffonde, il costo dell’educazione cresce mentre si sta realizzando la riforma neoliberista dell’università. Affittare una casa è impossibile per la maggioranza dei giovani che non possono pagare anticipi di cinquantamila dollari. Sempre più i giovani sono costretti a fare debiti bancari per pagarsi l’affitto o gli studi.

 

Incheon Airport

 

I had been hesitant for weeks.  After accepting the invitation I had a second thought and tried to call off my early availability. I was scared by the distance, and the humid hot weather of the summer of Seoul. So I declined the invitation of the Korean publisher of some of my books.

 

I sent him an email: “I’m too sick for this journey. I suffer from asthma, the long flight and the sultry moisture would be bad for my health.”

 

But my publisher, who is a very nice guy, kindly insisted: “Do you really believe that the Northern Koreans will launch a nuclear bomb while you stay here?”

 

The sarcasm of his message made me hit the roof.

Avevo esitato per settimane. Dopo avere accettato l’invito ci avevo ripensato e avevo cercato di cancellare la mia iniziale disponibilità. Ero spaventato dalla distanza, dal tempo caldo e umido dell’estate di Seoul, perciò declinai l’invito del mio editore coreano. Gli ho mandato un’email: “Sono troppo stanco per fare questo viaggio. Soffro di asma, e temo che il lungo viaggio e il clima umido e afoso mi possa fare male alla salute.”

 

Ma il mio editore, che è un tipo molto simpatico, ha insistito con gentilezza: “Davvero credi che i nord-coreani ci lanceranno una bomba nucleare mentre tu sei qui?”

 

Il sarcasmo delle sue parole mi fece incazzare di brutto.

I never met Aaron Swartz, but he was my brother, although much younger than me.

I cannot interpret his suicide. Suicide is never the effect of a single cause, and it is always impossible to “explain” death.

Nevertheless.

Nevertheless I know something about the causes that pushed Aaron to do what he did.

He was a computer programmer, creator and developer of the web feed format RSS, and a writer, an activist and also a Harvard researcher. Recently he played a prominent role in the SOPA campaign (Stop online piracy act) which had a successful outcome.

Aaron was known – by his friends and by FBI as well - for a history of downloading massive data sets, both to use in research and to release public domain documents from behind paywalls.

In 2008, Swartz downloaded, and released, approximately 20% of the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) database of United States federal court documents managed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

According to federal authorities, over the course of a few weeks in late 2010 and early 2011 Swartz, having a JSTOR personal account as a research fellow at Harvard University, downloaded a large number of academic journal articles via JSTOR.