Haseeb Ahmed

ANATOMY OF OPPRESSION | No. 1 The tactic: imprison the leader Remove the person around whom opposition gathers, and the movement is meant to scatter. South Korea, August 1973. Opposition leader Kim Dae-jung is abducted from a Tokyo hotel by his own country's intelligence agency, bound, blindfolded and taken to sea with weights tied to his body. Intervention from Washington and Tokyo saves his life. Five days later he is home – under house arrest. What followed was 14 years of the same treatment, in rotation: – 1976: imprisoned for leading a declaration calling for democracy. Nearly three years behind bars, then house arrest – 1980: arrested again after a new military takeover, and sentenced to death for sedition – 1981–82: sentence commuted under international pressure, then pushed into exile in the US – 1985: returns home, is arrested at the airport, and placed straight back under house arrest Why it works – for a while: – The charge is framed as national security, not politics – A courtroom gives persecution the appearance of law – Rotating prison, house arrest and exile keeps the leader permanently out of reach of his people Why it failed: – Human rights groups and foreign governments never stopped campaigning – Each new arrest made him a bigger symbol of everything the regime denied – In 1987, mass protests forced the military-backed government to concede direct presidential elections He lost that first election when the opposition split its vote. He ran again, and again. In December 1997, the man once sentenced to death was elected President of South Korea. In 2000, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. A prison can hold a man. It has never held an idea for long.