Declaration of Human Rights to Dignity and Safety
존엄과 안전에 관한 4.16 인권 선언
No one will be able to survive. The sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16, 2014, was not only an incident symbolically demonstrating that the South Korean society itself had already begun to sink but also a disaster that followed numerous other similar ones. Despite the calamity that horrendously revealed the contradictions and absurdities of this society, the South Korean government is trampling on justice, and South Korean presses and media are distorting the truth. Spitting on human dignity and covering up the truth, they say: "Do nothing and stay where you are!" But if we do nothing and stay where we are, no one on this land will eventually be left alive.
We could not stop resisting in solidarity just to live again as human beings. Standing at the Paengmok Port, in Ansan City, at Gwanghwamun Square, and on all the other streets covered with sadness, we were anxious and agonizing. We shed tears, talked with one another, came out to squares, and marched together. While faltering under persecution, we nevertheless have been struggling together and recovering our dignity. Darkness can never overcome the light, and insult can never drive dignity away.
All human beings are free and equal in themselves. Everyone has the right to safe life. Safety is not to be secured through controls and repressions. Nor is it to be bought with money. Human dignity realized in liberty, equality, and solidarity is the cornerstone of safety. We will fight against any unjust force that threatens our rights and safety by trying to reduce our beings to a mere means to earn profits and maintain privileges.
Rights never come to us by themselves. They can only be conquered and preserved through our organized struggles. Such practices for rights are the very way to democracy and the only way that we, the people, can affirm that we are the democratic sovereign. We will wear the yellow ribbon and raise candles against the forces menacing us, depriving us of our dignity and safety. This struggle that already began in the pain over the Sewol ferry tragedy will overcome any obstacles to protecting the dignity of each and every one so as to continue to march to our new world of solidarity. With such pledges, we declare our rights as follows.
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