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STORIES OF PEACEMAKING
#1. Anlong Chrey Village
#1. Anlong Chrey Village Anlong Chrey is a small village in one of the central provinces of Cambodia. The village is located in an area that floods every year during the rainy season. After 1979 people came back to live in their village, and the government encouraged them to farm and settle the area, so that it would become more secure. Throughout the 1970s and 1980's people were allowed to fish wherever they wanted to. In 1988, the government began auctioning off the fishing lots across the country as businesses. A businessman bought the concession for one pond. There were still 3 other ponds which villagers could fish in, so there wasn't an immediate problem. But eventually the lot owner claimed and took over these three community ponds as well. In 1992 people complained. There had been a letter from provincial officials recognizing that the other 3 ponds were not fishing lot ponds, rather they belonged to the community. The commune chief borrowed the letter and lost it. Over time the situation got worse. A new lot owner employed guards with guns to keep people from fishing in the 4 ponds. An even bigger problem was that the new fishing lot owner destroyed the irrigation dikes in rice fields, claiming they interrupted the flow of the fish into his ponds. He also kept people from pumping water from the lot ponds into their fields. Community members were arrested for fishing anywhere within the village, even just behind their homes, and were forced to work for the lot for 5-10 days without compensation. They were also arrested for clearing the annual regrowth from their rice fields, and charged with cutting flooded forest. The lot owner also illegally pumped ponds dry to catch every last fish. The community wrote several letters and petitions between 1992 and 1999, but the government adequately addressed none of them. Finally in 1999 villagers met fisheries officials who said any ponds that were supposed to belong to the community would go back to the community. That gave the villagers the confidence to go on and try to get the ponds back. In late 1999 when the floodwaters had receded, the community organized its first "fish-in." When the lot owner (illegally) pumped out one of the three ponds he had taken from them, to catch the fish, community members descended on the pond and caught the fish with baskets. The lot guards tried to stop them. One guard started shooting in the air and people ran off, until one person suggested they run towards the gun so they could see who was shooting. Everyone turned around and ran towards the guard, who was frightened and ran off. The lot owner took one of the community leaders to court, charging that he had destroyed his fish. The leader informed the court that as soon as the owner pumped the other community ponds empty, the people would again catch the fish. When the lot owner pumped another pond, about 400 people from 4 villages descended on the pond to fish with baskets. Lot guards pointed guns at the villagers to try to scare them off One woman said, "Sorry, but you should know that the government in Phnom Penh doesn't let people use guns anymore, so you should put your guns away, they are not to be used again." The guards couldn't do anything. They had a set of handcuffs, and said they would take her away. She said, "Then you'll need 400 handcuffs." Eventually the lot guards knocked down a dike and water flowed back into the pond so the people stopped fishing. Seven people were called to court. Seventy people went. The district chief tried to get the people to agree to an in-absentia trial. He said, "It's so much trouble for you to go there, and they won't find you guilty." But the people decided to all go and they found a lawyer to represent them. The court found them innocent. Actions like this were happening around the country. Finally in October 2000, Prime Minister Hun Sen made a speech calling for reform of the fishing lot concession system. He called for the reduction in size of fishing lots, and the elimination of any lots sold for less than 30 million riels per year. A delegation of Fisheries officials visited Kanleng Phe to determine what areas would be cut out of the fishing lot. They determined that the three ponds that the community had been trying to get back were to be returned immediately to the community, and the entire lot would be cancelled at the end of the fishing season. Shortly thereafter a villager was fishing in one of these ponds, and the lot guards arrested him. The village chief came and the guards asked him, "Are you the chief here?" and started to beat him up. They tried to take him away, and shot their guns into the water to keep villagers from coming near. But the villagers surrounded them and brought the village chief back to the village. At one point one of the lot guards was pointing his gun accidentally at the lot owner, and a villager tipped up the gun so that he wouldn't shoot the lot owner. A lot guard also fell into the water, and the villagers helped him out. At the end of the fishing season, the entire lot was erased and people in Kanleng Phe helped the communities around the former lot organize a community fisheries association to manage the area. They have done this quite effectively, in part because they had already organized while the lot was still in place. In a number of other places in Cambodia where fishing lots have been erased, there is chaos now because the villagers try to take as much advantage of the resource as they can, and they end up fighting against each other. But not in this village. This may be because they had to struggle together for control of the resource, and now they are organized and motivated to protect it together.
#2. Villagers use active nonviolence to support the Abbot of their Wat Commune officials tried to drive away the abbot from Wat Beng Borei in Prey Pon Commune, Kompong Trabek District, Prey Veng Province. They falsely charged the abbot with violating monks' precepts, including having affairs with women. They arranged for witnesses to give false testimony and did not follow the legal and religious procedures used in disciplining monks. But the villagers in nearby villages banded together in acts of nonviolence to support and bring back the abbot. The abbot, Ven. Chhun Khoun, has been a monk for 14 years already, and became the abbot of Wat Beng Borei in 1990. His accomplishments are many, and both Cambodian and international organizations have supported and encouraged him. He has led numerous construction projects for the development of the Wat. In 1997, he participated in a training program on community development, and since then has led a variety of development projects, including planting trees; creating an environmental association (samakom parithan), funeral association, rice bank, and savings associations; building roads and a pre-school; and promoting peace education. In much of this work he has had the support of Chet-Thor, a Cambodian NGO. On 26 May 2000, the chief monk (anukuon srok) of Kompong Trabek District wrote a statement calling for the abbot of Wat Beng Borei to leave the monkshood. The abbot left the Wat to live in a forest area which he had started replanting three years ago, about one kilometer from the Wat. All of the other monks in the Wat, seeing the injustice that had been done, left the Wat. On 30 May 2000, a total of 431 members of the Wat community, supporting the abbot, demanded that justice be found according to the laws governing monks. In the forest where the abbot was staying, hundreds of community members remained with him every day; to demand that he be allowed to return to the Wat. The conflict between Ven Chhun Khuon and the commune officials started many years ago. High-ranking leaders in the province have acknowledged the good work of the abbot and liked what he was doing, and presented large contributions through Buddhist ceremonies for construction in the Wat. This appeared to make the commune officials jealous. The commune officials discredited the monk's work verbally, but provincial leaders continued to praise his work, both religious and development work, and to make contributions to the abbot. Jealousy, accusation, and animosity became more extreme. Then one of the lay leaders of the temple (achar) started embezzling Wat money, which the abbot investigated. The achar conspired with commune officials to get rid of the abbot. Together they created a fictional and slanderous story, and got women to claim that the abbot had had affairs with them. Commune officials "investigated" the claims without talking to those who might be able to corroborate or disprove them. There was no effort at mediation. There was no attempt to discipline the abbot through the, proper methods for Buddhist monks. It was like a witch-hunt. Two former abbots of Wat Beng Borei had been driven out of the Wat in the past. Because of lack of awareness and fear of those in power, no complaints or demands for justice were ever made. But in this case, Ven. Chhun Khuon who understands rights and democratic processes and has had a lot of interaction with NGOs stood up and asked for justice. Initially, neither the abbot nor the lay community knew what to do to solve their problem, and they felt that only people from outside, With greater influence than they, could help. They asked the partner organization, Chet Thor, for help. As they lacked experience in addressing problems like this, the staff of Chet Thor turned to AFSC, its "partner in peace." At the request of the abbot and lay community, on 4 June 2000, a staff member of AFSC's Local Capacities for Non-Violence (LCN) project visited Chet Thor and together they investigated the conflict. They met people from both sides in an effort to learn the truth. When it became clear that the charges had been concocted, the LCN and Chet-Thor staff members went to meet the group of people who were staying in the forest with the abbot to protect him, and encouraged them to find solutions to the problem facing them. Most importantly, they helped the community members recognize the great resource they had a large number of people actively supporting the abbot and think about how they could use it. The staff members helped them recognize that they, not NGOs, have the power to make demands and to solve their problem. Community leaders and the abbot prepared a complaint letter, report, and request letter, and got letters of support from the community, all to ask for help in finding justice for the abbot. They presented them to the provincial Department of Religion, the Ministry of Religion, the member of parliament, provincial governor, human rights organizations, newspapers (the Phnom Penh Post and Cambodia Daily), and the District and Provincial police offices. Chet Thor helped them make contact with these institutions. The Phnom Penh Post published an article (attached) on 9 June. Nothing seemed to happen. Those trying to drive out the abbot continued, and increased their threats, until the abbot didn't dare stay near the Wat any more and moved to another Wat. The community became even more worried. Seeing the situation becoming even tenser, the LCN staff person helped make contact with high ranking monks and the Ministry of Religion, to let them know what was happening and ask them to intervene to stop persecution by those with power and this serious affront to Buddhism. Taking an interest in the case, two well-known and respected monks, Ven. Nhem Kim-Teng of Svay Rieng and Ven. Yuos Hut of Phnom Penh met and discussed the need to intervene in the conflict in order to protect Buddhism. Ven. Yuos Hut went to meet the provincial governor of Prey Veng to ask him to help. In mid-June the Governor sent provincial police to investigate. They concluded that the abbot had not committed anything wrong and should not be driven from the pagoda. Provincial officials made a report rejecting the charges and sent it to the district and commune authorities, informing them that the local-level decision had been overridden, and gave authorization for the abbot to go back to the Wat. Lay community members and the abbot waited for permission for the abbot to return to the pagoda, but nothing happened. They became very concerned. Then on 13 July the district chief, an officer of the District Religion Office, and military police from Kompong Trabek visited Wat Beng Borei. In a meeting they announced that the abbot could not return to the Wat and that the chief monk of the district (amukuon srok) had made a statement to that effect. The abbot's supporters were furious and all walked out of the meeting. At the same time, a community leader took the abbot to meet the provincial governor and provincial police. The provincial governor wasn't there, and the police told them that the documents had already been sent to the district, and that they should go and inquire there. As still there was no solution in sight, on 14 July, other achars and the abbot went to meet Ven. Yuos Hut and the LCN staff person The LCN staff person helped them identify possible strategies, while providing moral support. She reminded them that "those with virtuous hearts will always win." One strategy was to go to the Ministry of Religion, another to meet the Supreme Patriarch, Ven. Tep Vong to ask him to intervene. The third strategy was to lead a procession of the abbot's supports to escort him back into the Wat. This would have to happen before the beginning of the Buddhist Lent, 16 July, when all monks must stay in one temple for the next 3 months. It was agreed that this solution would be the most effective, but would require effective leadership, and would have to be implemented non-violently and extremely carefully, in a way which would lead to reconciliation. The leaders would need training. There was no time to spare, so the LCN staff person invited the community leaders to stay overnight at her house so she could teach them about active non-violence. The next day was Saturday, a government holiday, and it was possible to meet Ministry of Religion officials by telephone only. The Ministry could not intervene immediately. The group tried to meet the Supreme Patriarch, but he had gone to Siem Reap. They wrote a letter informing the Supreme Patriarch of their decision. That morning, they returned home to Kompong Trabaek. They had decided to use active non-violence and bring the abbot back into the Wat. When they got back to the forest area where the abbot had been staying, the achar leading the community explained active non-violence to the abbot's supporters. At 3:00 PM on Sunday, 16 July, approximately one thousand people, from Chrey, Prey Pon, Cheang Dek, and Chain communes, and monks from Wat Sarnraong and Wat Prey Pon, participated in a procession along a road from the forest to the Wat to bring the abbot back. They walked in silence; there was no use of harsh or angry language, no cursing or defamation. No one carried knives, axes, or canes, and old people even left their walking sticks behind. Commune officials ordered police to arrest the marchers, but instead the police chose to protect them. At that time, district clerical officials and district Office of Religion officials also came; perhaps because there were so many people, they said they came to help out. Commune officials asked their staff to infiltrate the procession, curse along the way and try to stop it, but they didn't dare to do so. They reached the pagoda, and everyone walked together to the ceremonial hail, paid respects to the Buddha and to the monks, including Ven. Chhun Khuon. Although the procession had achieved its objective, in the coming days people remained vigilant. In shifts they stayed with the abbot in the Wat to protect him-at least twenty people every night. In addition, they still continued to demand formal rejection of the charges against the abbot. Earlier, in another context (on the occasion of the opening of the ninth meeting of the monk's council, amusamvaccarmahasnnibat, for the year 2000), the Supreme Patriarch, Ven. Tep Vong, had talked about the need for monks who face untrue charges to make official statements denying them. The abbot and community representatives received this advice, and they made a letter of denial and sent it to the relevant agencies in order to bring the conflict to a close. The local authorities were surprised and awakened by all of the efforts of the community challenging their decision, including rounding up support, filing complaints, and finally active non-violence. They had never thought the people would be so daring. One local official commented, "I never thought it would be so drawn out. I thought it would be over soon. Local authorities continue to try to frighten the community using the same words they used earlier. However, the community has learned a lesson from their struggle. They are no longer afraid. And they will stand up a second time if necessary. The community's efforts to resolve this conflict have had the following positive effects:
The community is hopeful that local authorities won't take any more action, that their threats are just part of a strategy to regain some of the power they have lost. There have also been the following negative effects:
Prey Pon, 14 September, 2000
#3. Koki Village After Khmer Rouge rule ended in 1979, people across the country returned to the land they had occupied prior to 1975, or settled any unoccupied land they could find. The latter was the case for eighty families living in Koki Village. They cleared the land themselves and settled on it. As was the case in much of the country, the Government tacitly recognized their right to occupy the land, but they were never given official title. In 1996, the Provincial Governor sent armed police and military police to evict them from the land, saying the land belonged to a rich businessman. They plowed down houses and fruit trees and other crops, and arrested two people who were incarcerated for 11 days. After various efforts by the eighty families to complain, including sleeping in front of the National Assembly, in 1998 the Provincial Governor's office found other land for 56 of the families. No one understood why there was no settlement for the other 24 families. The 24 families continued to maintain contact with each other, and continued to file complaint letters in Phnom Penh, and even tried to get to the Prime Minister's house. The 24 families had seen examples of people from another village who had successfully reoccupied their own land, and got together to discuss doing something similar. They decided to move back onto their land, which was now vacant except for a military police guardhouse (the military police were protecting the land for the businessman). Everyone helped to pull out hundreds of concrete border posts that had been put up all around their land. The next day the families borrowed 200,000 to buy a small house and everyone helped to carry it onto their land. They also tied up a tarpaulin, and put up signs in Khmer, "Villagers ask for their own land back again." A few hours later, two truckloads of military police came and asked them to move their house off the land. The villagers refused, though the military police all had guns. The military police asked who had pulled out the border posts, and villagers replied, "If you put posts on our land, we will pull them out." Later, while most people were busy preparing lunch, five military police kicked down the house. The police tried to put the remains of the house in their truck, and the families pulled them out of the truck and loaded them onto a truck they hired. Everyone got in the truck and went to the Provincial Governor's office. The Governor wasn't there, so they left the remains of the house with a guard and asked him to watch over it. The next day, the 24 families came back to their land, and put up a tarpaulin. The military police came when people were putting up the tarpaulin. They tried to keep people from putting up support poles, but they persisted. They ordered people to take down the tarp. They refused. The military police said, "If you want peace, get off this land." Villagers said, "Who ordered you to move us off of our land?" The military police said, "If they won't move, throw them in the truck." Villagers asked, "Who ordered you to arrest us?" and "Where is the warrant asking you to arrest us?" The military police said, "What right do you have to ask to see a warrant? Just look at my uniform." Villagers said, "Don't you support the villagers?" They said, "We don't stand by the villagers, we stand by the businessman. We can get money from them, not from you." The military police were unable to take down the tarp because the villagers where holding onto it. At night, the villagers took the tarp down and went home. The next morning, the poles used to hold up the tarpaulin had been cut down. The one tree in the middle of the land had also been cut down. People found other poles to put up the tarp. After awhile, the Military Police came again, and there was a standoff for several hours before things quieted down. At night the people took the tarp down. The next day, the poles had been chopped up. After putting up the tarp for four days in a row, and having the poles chopped up every night, people decided to guard at night. Every day, the military police came with guns. For the first ten days, two truckloads of military police came every day. After ten days, only a few came, to watch what people were doing. Several weeks later, people started to plant cassava, bananas, and other crops. After a while, when people had planted quite a bit, the military police forbid them from planting any more. The villagers complained, and the situation became very tense. They continued to plant, and the military police continued to forbid them. People from the Governor's office told them, "What you're doing doesn't look good. If you want to complain, you should go to the National Assembly." But the people believed they were more effective staying on their land. Currently the families continue to live on their land. They have planted fruit trees and other crops; they have vegetables to sell or offer to visitors. Two families have built real houses (despite the military police forbidding them) and two have built huts. The other families come by regularly, and if anything happens, everyone comes. The families have never yet been taken to court; they have neither been given permission to stay on their land nor been permanently evicted.
#4. Andong Svay Village Andong Svay is a village located on the coast of the South China Sea. The majority of the villagers there make their livelihood almost entirely from fishing in the ocean. The ocean has always been a community resource, open to use by all. However, in recent years three business developments have begun along the coast near the village: pushboats fishing in shallow waters, seaweed cultivation, and shrimp farming. Each of these enterprises has been harmful in several ways. They damage the environment, they block access to the ocean, and they reduce the fishing catch for the villagers and thus threaten their livelihood. Below is the story of how the village has tried to reclaim their community's use of the ocean. The problems began when pushboats started operating offshore from the village. When used in shallow water, pushboats scrape the bottom of the ocean. They capture and kill all the fish, including the little hatchlings at the bottom of the ocean, as well as destroy the habitat for fish to live and feed. Pushboats were destroying the villagers' livelihood. Pushboats are illegal to use in water less than 20 meters deep; these pushboats were fishing in shallow water, and the villagers wanted them to stop. Villagers made numerous efforts to complain to the authorities without success. Eventually, 5 or 6 villagers went out with the local police and stopped a pushboat, which was being used by four hired men, and confiscated the boat. When the owner of the boat went to the police to ask for it back, they said, "You'll have to talk with the villagers." He then met with a few of the villagers in a small private meeting, and promised he wouldn't go near the shallow areas again. And so they gave him the boat back. But he did not keep this promise and his pushboat and others continued to operate in the area. The community then tried to get the area officially recognized as a community fisheries area, which would give them control over who fishes there and how they fish. But there is a lot of bureaucracy in getting an area designated as a community fisheries area, and the community lost its momentum to act as they tried to muddle through the process. The destruction of the fishing grounds continued. By this time, the villagers had another problem to be concerned about: the cultivation of seaweed. A businessman had planted seaweed, putting up posts and tying ropes to them to support the seaweed. This blocked access to the ocean and the chemicals used in the cultivation killed fish in that area. Andong Svay villagers had seen people in a nearby village successfully stop a businessman from cultivating seaweed in front of their village, and decided to take action. They first had a meeting of all the villagers to decide what to do. The villagers decided they would go pull out the ropes that the seaweed was growing on. As the businessman wasn't there at the time, the local authorities who were present asked them to wait three days. If the businessman didn't come, they could pull the ropes out. So on the third day they went and pulled the ropes out. The businessman filed a case in court against the people in the community he presumed to be the leaders, charging that they had destroyed his property. He also threatened to kill three of the people in the village. And he put the ropes back out again. The villagers decided they would take the ropes out again. The police tried to stop them, but there were too many people in too many groups, and they managed to go to the ocean and begin taking the ropes out. Over 300 people went out and pulled out the ropes. They also pulled out about half the posts by tying the ropes around the posts and pulling out with the boats. They were originally planning to chop down all the posts, but they would have needed axes, and they did not want to have anything in their hands that could be considered to be weapons. The villagers waded out to the place the seaweed was planted, and they used the boats to haul the seaweed in. At one point police shot off 26 bullets to try to scare people away. But the people did not leave. They filled all the boats with the seaweed, then brought it to the local commune office, and a commune official promised to watch over it. The day people were scheduled to appear in court had arrived. The subpoena just had the names of five people, but the villagers hired trucks to bring all the villagers to the courthouse, and over 400 people went. The police shut the road down to prevent them from going, so the people just started to walk. The march was incredibly motivating. The ice cream seller stopped and joined them. People along the road were cheering them on; saying things like "Today is a victory for democracy." Police blocked the bridges, but the people pushed through the first block. Some high school students were trying to get across the second bridge to get to school, and they were also stopped. They said, "Let us through or we'll go to court with them, you can't stop them, they have a right to travel" Finally the police let them through. When the crowd got to court, the court officials didn't know what to do. They asked the people, who are you doing this for? They pointed to a baby, and said, "We're doing this for this baby". At the court the villagers asked to meet the governor. They called him on the telephone, and he agreed to go to the village to settle the dispute. He came and promised to investigate the effect of the seaweed on the environment. Shrimp farming is also destroying the environment because it requires clearing of mangrove forests where fish and other water life spawn, and the use of chemicals. When the Governor came to the village a second time, he promised to help the community eliminate shrimp farming in their village, as well as delineate the area where pushboats are allowed.
#5. Fishing Village Fights Back This case is about a fishing village in Krapong Province along the coastal area near to Thailand. The livelihood of the people here is based on marine fishing and charcoal making. They are always struggling against larger fishing companies with larger, modern equipment that often encroached into their fishing area. The fishing companies are supposed to fish in deeper waters. These encroachments have caused the villagers' catch to drop. The government did not do anything to protect the villagers from this illegal fishing by the companies because of corruption. The poverty of the villagers is directly related to this problem. One woman who attended a workshop on non-violent action started to organize the villagers. She organized about 200 people to blockade the fishing boats. This was a dangerous act because the fishing boats are armed with guns. The people managed to arrest two boats and the local authorities were surprised at this act and accused them of making illegal citizen's arrests. The illegal fishing continued and the villagers made another citizen's arrest. This time the people fined the illegal fishing boats and warned that the fine will be increased if they are arrested again. The cooperation and communication of the people with the government was a difficult point but the people were determined. The work is still going on and the people are learning more about the law and how to stop this illegal fishing. Some government officers are receiving benefit form this illegal fishing and hence not wanting to do anything to stop it. The issue is about fear. If you want to work for justice, you will need to confront the danger. The point is to empower the people how to deal with it by giving them more knowledge. Fear comes from powerlessness and lack of knowledge and information.
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