Hello Everyone Under Neoliberal Garbage (H.E.U.N.G.‪)‬ Heung Coalition

Hello everyone under neoliberal garbage!

In this follow-up to the previous episode discussing the novel, Nuclear Family, Heung members Chloe, Kris, Justin and Young Oh are joined by the author, Joseph Han (@hanjoseph). They discuss Korean(ness) as it pertains to the Korean diaspora and stories of war and re(union), share grandma memories, talk about relationships to ancestors and the non-living, and get a preview of Joseph’s upcoming projects.



Thank you for listening to Hello Everyone Under Neoliberal Garbage, the podcasting arm of the Heung Coalition. Please follow and reach out to the show @heungcoalition on IG and Contact the podcast at: heungcoalitionpodcast@gmail.com

Music by Hellking

Art by @grime_ninja

Edited by James Hillmer @jdhillmer

Heung members Chloe, Kris, and Justin talk about Joseph Han’s novel, Nuclear Family (2022). They discuss the novel’s use of ghosts, memory, and diasporic narratives in relation to histories of imperialism, colonialism, and Korea’s ongoing Cold War. The novel follows the story of the Cho family, members of the Korean diaspora living in the Hawaiian Islands. The novel takes place during the days leading up to the 2018 false missile alert when the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency erroneously issued a warning for a nuclear ballistic missile inbound for Hawai’i amidst heightened tensions between the DPRK and United States. Jacob, one of the central members of the Cho family, experiences a haunting and turns to Korean shamanistic practices to understand and deal with the ghost of his grandfather, Taewoo. Living in Hawai’i, the Cho family is also confronted with their role as settlers on indigenous land. The three Heung members relay some of the moments and themes from the book that resonated with their own experience. They discuss what the novel and its themes have to do with Heung’s mission of (re)defining Korea(ness) from a leftist, transnational perspective.

Follow @heungcoalition on IG and @HeungCoalition on Twitter

Contact the podcast at: heungcoalitionpodcast@gmail.com

Music by Hellking

Art by @grime_ninja

CW: discussions of racialized and sexual violence. 

Julie, Justin, Hahye, and Youngkyun discuss the complexities of existence as Korean from their differing vantage points in diaspora. They touch upon how they found their respective ways to Heung and what their experiences have looked like so far. They also talk about how Heung differs from other social and political spaces they have been a part of, as well as their hopes for the collective going forward. CW: discussions of racialized and sexual violence. 

Follow @heungcoalition on IG and @HeungCoalition on Twitter

Contact the podcast at: heungcoalitionpodcast@gmail.com

Music by Hellking

Art by @grime_ninja

Pensions to Pipelines? You may have seen recent headlines or images from the ongoing struggle of the Wet'suwet'en, a First Nations people located in the area known by settlers as British Columbia, Canada, and their resistance to the invasion of their territory by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The RCMP has been enforcing the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, a means to bring fracked natural gas from further inland to the coast. In this episode we learn from Heung member and law student, HyunGu Kang about the revival of the pipeline through South Korean capital and investment by its national pension system. We also hear other Heung members in conversation with Hyun Gu thinking through how South Koreans, members of the diaspora, and non-Korean allies are implicated in this struggle.

The second segment of this episode is framed by five questions asked of anyone looking to enter Wet'suwet'en land:

1. Who are you?

2. Where are you from?

3. What is your purpose in coming here?

4. Do you work for industry or government that is destroying our lands?

5. How will your visit benefit the Wet'suwet'en people?

Heung’s Solidary Statement with the Wet’suwet’en people:

https://www.heungcoalition.com/writings/wetsuweten-solidarity-statement

Music by Hellking

Art by @grime_ninja

Follow @heungcoalition on IG and @HeungCoalition on Twitter

Contact the podcast at: heungcoalitionpodcast@gmail.com

Heung members HyunGu, Grayson, Youngkyun and James discuss what Squid Game has to do with Heung's mission of (re)defining Korea(nness) from a critical left perspective. What does it say about Korean identity in diasporic communities? What does it mean that this cultural product bringing so much attention to South Korea and its social issues is extremely violent? What potential does it have for building transnational solidarity? 

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Heung (흥) Coalition is committed to the ongoing struggle of (re)defining Korea(nness) with the goal of generating and sharing multiple narratives and perspectives on Korea. We take our name from the Korean character  흥 | 興 | “Heung” to reference the animate quality of movements—not only the pain and suffering, but the joy, excitement, anger, and the possibilities engendered by collectivizing and fighting for change.

Learn more at heungcoalition.com

In the first episode of Hello Everyone Under Neoliberal Garbage, Heung Coalition members Kris, Alex Jung, Youngoh Jung and James Hillmer talk about ways to bridge the growing conversation around prison abolition with Heung's mission of redefining Korea(nness). We discuss ways that our individual engagement with Korea must account for calls for prison abolition in our local contexts. We end the podcast by discussing the ways embedded militarism and carceral thinking manifest in recent South Korean dramas.

Kris (Twt: @nhsrk) is an LA-based unrepentant dilettante who works and on occasion writes.

Alex Jung (Twt: @dotorithoughts) is based in Toronto and nudges group dynamics in and out of his 9-5 grind.

Youngoh Jung (Twt: @YoungohJung) is a PhD candidate at UCSD studying and writing on the history of alternative community formations and notions of belonging in the Korean American diaspora.

James Hillmer (IG: @jdhillmer) is a PhD candidate in Korean history at UCLA writing a dissertation about the development of the South Korean carceral system under U.S. occupation and the early Cold War.

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Heung (흥) Coalition is committed to the ongoing struggle of (re)defining Korea(nness) with the goal of generating and sharing multiple narratives and perspectives on Korea. We take our name from the Korean character  흥 | 興 | “Heung” to reference the animate quality of movements—not only the pain and suffering, but the joy, excitement, anger, and the possibilities engendered by collectivizing and fighting for change. 

Learn more at heungcoalition.com