A speech at the Yoon's impeachment rally: A World Where Questions Are Not Feared

Hello,

 
I’d like to share a speech I gave recently at the Resign Yoon Suk-yeol rally during the open-mic session.
The theme that day was “The World We Will Reunite With Beyond Resignation,” and this is what I wrote.
To summarize, the world I long for is one where asking questions is not something to fear.
 
Hello, my name is XXX, and I am an activist at XXX organization. Until now, I’ve mostly been moved by listening to others speak, but today, for the first time, I decided to take the mic myself.
 
First, I’d like to say this: Even if it weren’t for this moment, we would have eventually found a way to come together. But still, I’d like to extend my gratitude to the Yoon Suk-yeol administration for so rapidly creating a space of solidarity among women, farmers, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and immigrants. Two days ago, Representative Kim Min-jeon of the ruling People Power Party further strengthened our unity by hosting the inaugural press conference of the Anti-Communist Youth Corps, which includes the Baekgoldan (White Skull Unit) as a sub-organization.
 
Before this administration, we were all fighting our own individual battles, and it was hard to truly feel just how many people were out there fighting for our dignity, our rights, and our survival. But now, ironically, I find myself both exhausted and grateful—because we’ve been brought together, we’ve connected, and every protest teaches me something new.
 
Many people today have spoken about the world we hope to reunite with after Yoon Suk-yeol steps down. But that world won’t come simply because one person leaves. That world will only come when we remove not just Yoon himself, but everything he represents—capitalism, elitism, the ideology of the “normal family,” familism, heteronormativity, lookism, ageism, Seoul-centrism, and anthropocentrism, along with all those who perpetuate these oppressive structures. It is a world where everyone is free to dream, where there is true equality, and where discrimination does not exist.
I, too, dream of such a world.
 
Right now, in this society full of prejudice—where we can’t expect that others will accept us as we are—there are certain questions we dread hearing:

• “What company do you work for?”
• “How much is your salary?”
• “What university did you graduate from?”
• “Did you only finish high school?”
• “Who do you live with?”
• “Why aren’t you married?”
• “Why don’t you have kids?”
• “Do you have a [boy/girl]friend?”
• “What is your gender?”
• “How much do you weigh? How tall are you?”
• “How old are you?”
• “Where do you live? Is it an apartment?”

To be honest, I don’t hear these as much anymore. Just as our public squares have evolved, people’s awareness has grown, and as we learn, we realize there are fewer things we should ask each other.
But strangely enough, I actually want to hear these questions. I want to ask them, too—not in a society where answers are used to judge people, but in a society where we can ask them without prejudice.
 
If asking certain questions gives us an opportunity to look after one another, then I want to do just that. In a world without capitalism or elitism, who would care where we went to school, what company we work for, or how much we earn? There would be countless things more valuable than money or degrees. In a world without the ideology of the “normal family,” wouldn’t questions about singlehood, child-free couples, cohabiting partners, divorced families, orphaned siblings, adopted children, children born out of wedlock, or independent parents be seen not as offensive intrusions, but as expressions of genuine care?
 
I want a world where revealing personal details about ourselves is no big deal—where asking questions becomes just as natural. A world where some questions can be brushed off like small talk, while others help us better understand and support each other, tending to our friends’ needs with greater kindness.
Until the day we not only remove Yoon Suk-yeol but also dismantle every force that makes our lives unbearable—let’s keep fighting, together!