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Tiffany & Yasemin

Dinner with Tiffany Flowers and Yasemin Zahra

Words: Laicie Heeley
Pictures: Holson House
Date:

After a long flight and an even longer delay, Tiffany Flowers and Yasemin Zahra touched down in South Korea, bleary-eyed and well beyond the point of exhaustion. They were part of a delegation of 20 unionist and community activists to visit South Korea in May of last year. And, at this point, they didn’t know quite what to expect.

It was an unprecedented time in history. On April 27, the leaders of South and North Korea shook hands and walked over the military demarcation line, declaring “a new age of peace.”

But, Tiffany and Yasemin didn’t have much time to think about Moon and Kim — let alone the inviting pillow that might be waiting for them at the end of the day. Not three hours in, ears still underwater from the flight, Tiffany and Yasemin were in the middle of a rally, surrounded by thousands of workers shouting, “tujaeng” — “in struggle.”

Over the course of a week, they participated in the International Workers’ Day Rally on May Day, visited Han Sang-gyun, former President of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), and Lee Young-joo, former General Secretary of the KCTU, in prison, and visited the residents of Soseongri and Gimcheon, who’ve fought for the removal of the THAAD missile defense system.

Tiffany and Yasemin told me that in the villages, they were greeted by a group of very old women who are the “dedicated THAAD protestors.” The older women protest because younger people have to leave the village each day for work. They said, “kids gotta work, we gotta fight.”

And if there’s one thing Tiffany and Yasemin brought home from their trip. It’s that fight. We had a lot of fun during this interview (you might be able to tell) but these women are the definition of strength. And their work to build bridges across borders and disciplines is an example of person-to-person diplomacy at its best.

I was honored to have the chance to sit down and hear more about their trip. Click through the photos below for our interview.

 

Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: Our flight was canceled, and we were waiting 15 hours before we got on the next one. When we landed in Korea, we had maybe 3 hours before we dove right into May Day. It was unlike anything I’ve seen in my entire life. There were tens of thousands of workers. They were so militant and intersectional in their message – solidarity fists were everywhere.
Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: During the May Day rally, every speaker would chant “tujaeng” somewhere in their speech. It was a call and follow. The workers would raise their solidarity fist in response and say it back. It was powerful.
Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: I thought I had a good solidarity fist before Korea, but then I realized it needed work.
Tiffany & Yasemin
L: What was your favorite thing you ate? Y: The Korean barbecue. T: I really liked the dumplings and ice cream cone with the honey. Y: It’s this delicious cone that’s shaped like a fish. Inside there’s honey, a fried Oreo, and the most delicious vanilla ice cream to top it off. L: Wait there’s a fried Oreo inside? T: Yes! So first on the bottom, the fish tail, you have a big heaping scoop of honey straight from honeycomb. Then he drops a fried Oreo into the honey. And then he puts vanilla ice cream into it. I don’t even like sweets but it was amazeballs!
Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: When we went to see General Lee, there was a 7-11 inside the building that you could easily walk into. It took us all of five minutes to check in and go see her. There were flowers and greenery outside – it’s a complete 180 compared to the facilities in the United States.
Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: We thought she’d be tired and exhausted, you know, a bit worn out. But when she came out to greet us, she was simply radiant and carried a powerful presence. I’ve never come across someone where I felt this instant, genuine connection. Even in her prison outfit, she still smiled warmly and projected a fighter persona. General Lee was a former kindergarten teacher, and it was really nice to tell her about the teacher strikes here in the US. She was eager to hear more about that.
Tiffany & Yasemin
T: My favorite thing to tell people is that as an organizer I can only guarantee one thing – if you don’t do anything, nothing will change.
Tiffany & Yasemin
T: President Han is an amazing soul. Our meeting was in the prison and started with his long handshakes and bows. He walked into the room in his jumpsuit and I was struck by his energy and light. The language barrier kept us from communicating directly but I felt his words through his expressions. Before the visit, the union staff told us that he’s not into formalities and he hates to talk about himself. They said he wants to talk to you about Trump, why this trip is important to you, and probably eradicating capitalism. He doesn't want pity — he wants to talk to comrades from the states. It was a thirty-minute visit and it felt so short. Although I’d never met him before, it felt wrong to leave him in the jail. His parting words were to keep fighting.
Tiffany & Yasemin
T: I think for me, more than the union activism, it was a personal development. This trip had me thinking about sacrifice and intentionality, and the traits of great leadership.
Tiffany & Yasemin
T: These times demand us to take a courageous stance to fight back. President Han and General Lee inspire me to be more brave.
Tiffany & Yasemin
Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: That’s precisely why unions need to a have a global perspective and that’s something the Koreans understand very well. Capital is global. If labor wants to be serious about taking on capital, we need to have an international view of the working class that goes across borders. Our struggle is all connected.
Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: One of the reasons we went on this trip is to start building these relationships. The masses of the US working class are not our governments. We did not choose to engage in wars that have devastated international working class communities. We must challenge capital globally, and a first step is by building these relationships with trade unionists in other countries.
Tiffany & Yasemin
Y: THAAD has devastated their village – they said the US has brought war into their village, disrupted their daily livelihoods, and contaminated their land. They felt like they’re in a target zone now. The villagers asked us to go back and tell Trump to take his THAAD back. The missile defense system has completely upturned their daily lives.
Tiffany & Yasemin
T: Oftentimes they say they get gently dragged away or picked up and carried away by the cops. They say “the boys” treat them with respect and in turn they feed them. The woman said they weren’t upset with the police… they know the boys have to do this, and someone sent them there to do this job…. just like they sent their grandkids off to do their job.
Author bio

Laicie Heeley

Editor in Chief

Laicie Heeley is the founding CEO of Inkstick Media, where she serves as Editor in Chief of the foreign policy magazine Inkstick and Executive Producer and Host of the PRX- and Inkstick-produced podcast, Things That Go Boom. Heeley’s reporting has appeared on public radio stations across America and the BBC, where she’s explored global security issues including domestic terrorism, disinformation, nuclear weapons, and climate change. Prior to launching Inkstick, Heeley was a Fellow with the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program and Policy Director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Her publications include work on sanctions, diplomacy, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, along with the first full accounting of US counterterrorism spending after 9/11.

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