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The following articles have been collected through the justpeace mailing list and have been posted in this section to encourage further reflection and discussion. More articles can be found in the archive.

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Stories of Others 

Stories of others

Prepared by Ngamsuk Ruttanasatian (Impact of Globalization, Regionalism and Nationalism on Minority Peoples in Southeast Asia 17 November 2004, Chaing Mai, Thailand)


This paper I have developed from my thesis. The title of this paper came to me after the incident on the 25th of October at Tak Bai in Narathiwat province, Southern of Thailand. When I saw a video about the incident I began to wonder why the military and the police killed and mistreated the protestors on the 25th. I believe that the military and police saw those protesters as the “other,” so they do not feel that they have to treat these people well. If they thought of these people as their relatives they would have responded to them differently. Max Ediger, a coordinator at Center for Justpeace in Asia has said whatever the reason, the act of killing must surely first require the dehumanization of the “other.” If the other is my friend, my sister, my relative, then I cannot easily see them as a worthless object, or pull a trigger just because it is my duty. Dehumanizing the other person is to remove them from my definition of humanity or to conclude that they are not a part of God’s great creation.

The inspiration for my thesis research came from my 10 years experience with Burma Issues, a human rights and education organization based in Thailand. I have observed that most reports on Burma tend to focus on the conflict at the national level between the Burmese military and the ethnic groups, which has been going on for many decades. The most obvious and common solution to the conflict in Burma is the use of violence. Many people there are already used to dealing with conflict by violence. However, during my work at Burma Issues I also heard many positive stories from villagers in different places in Burma about the peoples’ tactics to overcome oppression. Unfortunately these tactics and the people who practice them are rarely recognized.

As I only found information about Burma’s conflict at the national level I often wondered what kind of conflict exists at the community level, what the ethnic people in Burma face and how they deal with the conflict in their communities. Therefore, I started this project on conflict in the refugee communities of Karen people from Tenasserim Division of Burma. These people had to abandon their landing Burma because of military operations and the activities of transnational corporations.

I started my field research in Tham Hin Refugee camp in Suan Phueng, Rachaburi province in Western Thailand in January 2004. I spent 2 months in the camp conducting interviews. I had been in this camp several times in my work with Burma Issues and to help the Thai academics in their research.

There are several reasons why I selected this camp. First, the policies of the Thai government in managing this camp have been extremely strict ever since people first arrived in 1997. Second, the people there have faced increased pressure from authorities over the last few years. Third, these people have been forced to leave their land because of development projects inside Burma, including a gas pipeline, deep seaport, highway and railway, all projects where foreign companies cooperate with the Burmese military.

Tenasserim division became an economic focus for the Burmese military government and foreign companies after 1988, when Burma changed to an open market economy. After gas pipeline construction began in 1991, villages in the region of the pipeline were relocated to make way for the pipeline project and to make the area secure. Due to the pipeline and other infrastructure projects in the area, the Burmese Army strength in the district built up steadily from four battalions in mid-1991 to 29 by 1997. The result of the military operations in this division has been an increase in human rights violation including forced displacement, and the mass exodus of displaced people. Many of the villagers in Tenasserim division fled to Thailand after the military offensive in 1997. From that time until the present, they have sought refuge on Thai soil.

These people have faced new conditions in their lives since they crossed the border and moved to the refugee camps. They have different lifestyles in terms of economy, culture, education, etc., compared with their original homes. They must also deal with severe limitations in the camp. Thai policies regulating the Burmese refugee camps place strong restrictions on house building and freedom of movement. Most of the people I spoke with raised the issue of space limitations in their conversations. Some people said they wanted a small piece of land to plant vegetables and flowers around their house, but they could not do it. These limitations have caused tension and stress for people in the camp, which often translate into interpersonal and social conflict.

The different living conditions in the camp cause acute stress and alienation among people who have been traumatized by violence, uprooted from their homes, separated from their families and denied access to adequate social services and gainful employment. All of these factors shape the interpersonal conflicts in Tham Hin camp. Thai policies and social interactions in the camp between the Thai authorities and the refugees have intensified the conflicts that exist in the camp.

For example, in the past the Karen people had strong morals but in the camp they have already lost this. One English teacher said that young people in the camp could not maintain their morals any more in this new environment, which has changed people’s lifestyles. The young people who have gone to work on fishing boats in Thailand have learned new behavior from Thai people. They have been to brothels and also intimate the negative behavior they see on television. Some of the young men have contracted HIV while working on the fishing boats. From life experiences and from movies, new behavior is learned and adopted by these young men who, when they come back to the camp to visit, carry with them their new practices and experience which they, of course, share with their colleagues.

One high school student told me about the Thai Volunteer Militia (OrSor) who punished several people in the camp by ordering them walk around the camp without clothes and while shouting that they will not make such mistakes in the future. This humiliated them. The Camp Committee members also said they did not like the fact that the Thai militia punished them in a way that is humiliating in Karen culture. But people in the camp feel they cannot do anything with the militia. Some of them have said that people in the camp will never forget for this event. They have lost their dignity, value, culture and customs. Children who were born in the camp do not have the skills for farming, weaving, raising animals and so on. One parent said their children do not know elephants. When children saw a buffalo they thought it was an elephant. These children will face difficulty when they return to their villages in the future.

I think that many young people growing up in the camp with limited possibilities for dealing with problems may choose to deal with problems in a negative way. Many men turn to alcohol when they do not see a solution for this problem. Domestic violence has been increasing in the camp. The story about the boy who says he wants to kill his mother when he grows up is one example of this problem. I was told this story by a Burmese Muslim. His mother left him and his siblings in the camp after his father went to work in Thailand. She found a new husband in the camp and moved with him to live outside the camp. When his father came back he got angry with his wife but he could not do anything because she was already gone, so he turned his anger towards his children. He told his children that he wanted to kill them, but an elder from nearby came to intervene. He calmed down after he listened the instructions from the older man, but his elder son now says when he grows up he will kill his mother and his stepfather. He is just ten years old.

The Karen in the camps often talked about life in the refugee camps in a similar way to Meas Nee, a former Cambodia refugee in Thailand: “Eat if you are fed, stop if you are told to stop, move if you are told to move, do not move out one small allocated area”. For the refugees, this life also has a high price: loss of dignity, of identity, of value and power. People do not know what to do for their future and their children’s future, because they have to struggle day by day to survive in the camp. The Karen people struggle with boredom. They used to be in places that had a good environment: fresh air, water and food, and they had jobs and could move around their villages. They explained the situation before the SPDC arrived in their villages was very peaceful and they did not have to worry about their basic needs. Their life styles were so simple that they were self-reliant. They could remain independent in their villages.

The interpersonal and social conflicts that occur in the camp, like quarrels over animal raising, humiliation, arranged marriages to Thai officials against the daughter’s will, conflicts over money, land use, adultery, space constraints, etc. might seem small-scale, but if one looks at them deeply and carefully, these conflicts are deep rooted among the refugees. It is as if the refugees are stepping over landmines, waiting for the explosion that will occur any day.

The civil war and life in tightly controlled camps affects people psychologically, especially children and youth. Children and youth who are constantly looked down upon, or face humiliation from soldiers and camp guards have developed feelings of inferiority which result in depression or even anger and hatred. This will affect the way they grow up and how they live their lives. These psychological problems will also determine how they deal with conflicts in the future. It makes violent solutions to conflicts more acceptable to them as they grow up surrounded with so much humiliation and violence.

Even though most of the people do not yet resort to violence, the situation has the potential to become more violent in the future as long as people do not have appropriate tools to use in their community, and also if conflict at the community level is not addressed.

When I was in the Tham Hin refugee camp during my field study people there often asked me to help them with the issues that concerned them. I explained that I was in the camp as a student who wanted to learn about their stories. Though I did not think that I could help them to deal with their problems, I told them that my paper could be a voice for them, and that it will be helpful for outsiders to understand more about their situation. I also wish that the stories from the people in the camp that I have tell you will inspire some of you to learn more. Max Ediger says, “when somebody has lost everything - family, home, land, worldly possessions, faith, and identity, the only thing left that nobody can take away is a story. And the telling of these stories can be a healing experience for people. The act of telling the story is an act of peacemaking. Peacemakers are the recipients and the tellers these stories. Yet to receive a story is not the end. There is a call to act on the story”.

I think it is important for researchers to learn how others think and feel. As Max Ediger says, “when we truly learn to listen to others, especially those most marginalized, exploited, angry and frustrated, we can begin to know how to build new economic, political and social systems that respect justice, freedom and human rights”.

If I look back to the situation of the ethnic people in Burma and the relationship between the Thai authorities and the refugees in the camps, I see people who are often viewed as “others,” as “worthless objects” in the view of majority people or the state because of differences in culture, languages, beliefs, customs and so on. According to my observation of the situation in Burma, the Burmese military see the ethnic people in their country as worthless objects and this may be why human rights violations there are not taken seriously. I think this quotation is a good example of how “the other” thinks and feels in response:

“We feel that the Burmese Army treats us as their enemy…May be this is because we are Karen, one of the ethnic nationalities in this country which is different from the Burmans.” (by Saw Paw Mai from Pa Saw Oot village, Tenessarim division)

::: posted by max : 11/24/2004

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Thai villagers doing their own research 

Village researchers show the way
Published on November 24, 2004
The Nation (Bangkok English-language newspaper)

Research initiatives by Thai villagers could serve as an example to other countries in their quest for sustainable development, a senior officer with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) said yesterday.

Villagers affected by development projects here are conducting their own research into the impact of development projects on their communities and livelihoods – known as Tai Baan, meaning villagers in northeastern dialect – while non-governmental organisations provide consultants and financial supports.

Their experience would soon be applied in the Mekong countries of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, said Richard Friend, an IUCN Mekong programme manager.

Citing the example of Tai Baan research in the Songkram river basin, Friend said villagers had been engaged from the beginning.

“Villagers will participate from the research design stage. We provide consultants and financial support as necessary,” he said. “We are learning together, and it’s quite successful.”

Beginning with research into the impact of the controversial Pak Mool dam a few years ago, villagers also conducted their own research in four other areas – the Songkram river basin in Sakhon Nakhon, Sa-iab district in Phrae, Chiang Rai’s Chiang Khong area, and the Rasi Salai dam area in the Northeast.

Pak Mool villagers conducted a study to show how the dam would hurt their traditional fishery as part of a mechanism to fight for compensation.
According to Friend, the strength of Tai Baan research is that it is rooted in the local community.

Since researchers are the very villagers affected by government development programmes, their research benefits from their intimate knowledge of their communities, he said.

“These strengths should be keys for sustainable development,” Friend said. “The process creates various types of activities through which villagers taking part in the research learn a great deal.”

“We never thought it would get to the point where our research can be applied to other countries,” said Surachai Narongsilpa, 52, a villager from the Songkram river basin.

However, Laothai Nilnuan, a coordinator for the Songkram River Conservation Project, slammed what he called the IUCN’s cash-centred approach in luring local communities to its project.

He said the practice undermined existing local initiatives to empower communities and achieve sustainable development.

“Moreover, the IUCN takes credit for everything they do,” said Laothai, who has been working in the Songkram basin for nine years.

“Its logos are all over the place. It’s like the IUCN is trying to build monuments to itself wherever it goes,” he said. “This is in contrast to the way we do things here – everything is a communal initiative. We don’t promote the hero-style of working in communities.”

Kamol Sukin
The Nation, Thailand

::: posted by max : 11/24/2004

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Hong Kong Peoples Alliance Against WTO (HKPAAWTO) 

In response to the upcoming 6th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in Hong Kong on the 13th to 18th December 2005, we, grassroots organizations, Trade Union, Migrant Organizations, local and regional NGO's in Hong Kong are proud to announce the formation of the Hong Kong People's Alliance Against the World Trade Organization (HKPAAWTO)! The alliance was formally established last 22 September 2004.

The HKPAAWTO is also organizing an international consultation meeting for the formation of the International Coordinating Network or ICN. In connection to this, we are inviting all major global, regional and national formations and networks working against the unjust neo-liberal policies of the World Trade Organization to come to Hong Kong and attend the international consultation. The international consultation meeting will be held from 26 to 27 February 2005 at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon.

The ICN formation is part of the process of coordinating all forces in many countries that challenges the legitimacy of the WTO and wish to participate in a coordinated global and national protest action against the upcoming 6th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO. Your active participation in the international consultation meeting for the formation of the ICN is highly important in order to ensure a successful WTO campaign on December 2005.

Please refer to the website for more information: http://daga.dhs.org/hkpaawto/

**Update**
HKPA has changed their name to the Hong Kong People's Alliance on WTO, and the updated website address is: http://www.hkpa-wto.org/

::: posted by Sharon : 11/12/2004

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VATICAN MESSAGE FOR THE END OF RAMADAN 

'Id al-Fitr 1425 A.H . / 2004 A.D.

Children, Gift of God for the Future of Humanity


Dear Friends,

1. This year again, at the time when you are preparing to celebrate 'Id al-Fitr at the end of the month of Ramadan, I wish to offer you very best wishes on behalf of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the office of His Holiness the Pope for relations with people of other religions. In their prayers many Christians have been thinking about you and accompanying you during this month of fasting, a month which occupies such an important place in the life of your community. At the earliest age possible you teach your children to observe this month of fasting, thus developing in them a sense of God a! nd a spirit of religious obedience, at the same time helping them to train their will and to acquire self-discipline. In this way the family is, par excellence, the place where your children receive their first religious education.

2. Today I would like to call attention to children in general and to the welcome they should receive, at different moments of their life, from their parents, their family and from society. Every child has an inalienable right to life and, in so far as this is possible, to be welcomed within a natural, stable family. All children have moreover the right to nourishment, clothing and protection, and furthermore to be educated so that there may develop in them, and that later they may develop in themselves, all their capacities. In this perspective the child, when sick or victim of an accident, has the right to receive all necessary care. The life of the child, just as the life of every human person, is sacred.

3. You consider the child to be a blessing from God, in particular for the parents. As Christians we share with you this religious attitude, but our Christian faith teaches us also to discover in the child a model for our relationship with God. Jesus has given us as an example the child's simplicity and trust, docility and liveliness, showing us in this way how we should live in trusting submission to God.

4. On several occasions these last years representatives of the Holy See and of countries with a Muslim majority have defended together in international fora fundamental human values. It was often a matter of defending the rights of those who are the weakest, and notably the family as the natural environment in which children are nurtured and their rights are better preserved.

5. Although the child has benefited, at least in certain parts of the world and in certain areas of life, from progress in respect for human rights, there are still many evils which cause suffering. Too many children are forced to engage in heavy work that endangers their physical and psychological development, prevents them from attending school and thus deprives them of the instruction to which they have a right. Many others are conscripted or involved in wars and conflicts. Children have also been the first victims of the increase in sexual abuse and in prostitution over these last years.

Above all children are victims of certain changes in society. When families break up it is the children who are the first to suffer. The increase in the use of drugs and in drug trafficking, especially in poor countries, often involves children, to their great harm. Again, the despicable trafficking in organs concerns children in a particular way, and the tragedy of AIDS often means that they are infected from birth.

6. Faced with these evils that affect our children, dear friends, we should unite our efforts, reminding people of the dignity of every human being whose existence is willed by God Himself. We should denounce untiringly everything that degrades the child, combatting with all the force we can muster the "structures of sin", to use an expression taken up by Pope John Paul II. We are conscious that on the future of children depends the future of humanity. I hope therefore that our common endeavours in favour of children will continue and may in fact increase. In this way we shall give further proof of the benefit that can come from religion for the whole human community.

7. During this month of Ramadan, may your children be strong in accomplishing good works. May they, at the same time, learn to resist illusory promises of happiness and passing pleasures, thus acquiring greater inner freedom and becoming more perfect in their submission to God. May their lives in this way bear witness to the importance of religious values. Once more, I wish to assure you of my prayers to the Almighty and Merciful God for you and for your children. May God pour down on you His blessings. May He strengthen your families and instil in them a spirit of generous service to the glory of His name. May he grant each one of you His peace.

Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald
President

::: posted by cbs : 11/11/2004

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VATICAN MESSAGE TO THE HINDUS ON THE FEAST OF DIWALI 2004 

MESSAGE OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL
FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
TO THE HINDUS ON THE FEAST OF DIWALI 2004

Dear Hindu friends,

1. Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is one of the oldest and most important feasts which you celebrate in your religious tradition. During these festive days you recall the victory of good over evil. This is symbolized when your homes are lit up by lamps to chase away the darkness of the night. Renewed hope can be seen on many faces; there are signs of great joy in the hearts of many Hindus; and in those who have been weighed down by the preoccupations and worries of daily life there is a renewed determination to begin afresh. On behalf of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, entrusted by His Holiness Pope John Paul II with the task of promoting harmonious and friendly relations with people of all religions, I wish you happy Diwali.

2. In all religions, the ones who particularly long to see feast days arrive are the little children. Their enthusiasm for taking part in the celebration of a feast is truly striking. It is they who bring boundless joy to the celebration because they enliven the spirit of the adults. Children bring shape and colour, taste and flavour, inspiration and aspiration, hope and promise of perseverance to the celebration. Indeed no celebration truly deserves this name unless a central place is given to children, the more so since the festive spirit requires everyone to acquire a childlike heart. Is this not true also of the festival of Diwali?

3. During this year's celebration of Diwali, my thoughts turn to children, for whom Jesus had a particular love because of "their simplicity, their joy of life, their spontaneity, and their faith filled with wonder" as the Holy Father reminds us (Angelus Message, 18 December 1994). One day when his disciples were discussing who was the greatest, Jesus called to himself a child and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Gospel of Matthew, 18:3-6).

4. You will agree with me in recognizing that one of the purposes of religious feasts is to make us better human persons. During this season of Diwali, as you strive to overcome darkness through light, evil through goodness and hatred through love, I would like to propose to you, as one of your Christian friends, that we focus our attention on the evils in our society that afflict children: forced labour, forced conscription, breakdown of the family, trafficking in organs and persons, sexual abuse, forced prostitution, AIDS, the sale and use of drugs, etc. What have children done to merit such suffering? Could not the dialogue between Hindus and Christians take concrete form by working together in support of underprivileged children, who are often the innocent victims of war and violence, inadequate food and water, forced immigration and the many forms of injustice present in today's world? I! am fully aware that such cooperation between the followers of our two religious traditions already exists, but we could and should do more, as the problem is serious, indeed it is tragic. Your suggestions as to what could be done to give children their rightful place in society would be most welcome. Our children are our future; they are the future of humanity.

5. Dear Hindu friends, the celebration of Diwali is inconceivable for you without the joy brought to it by children. Could you not give added meaning to this year's Diwali by highlighting the plight of children, in your own neighbourhood, in your town, in society in general and, more broadly, throughout the whole world? Imagining myself surrounded by these children, I wish you again: Happy Deepavali!

Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald,
President

::: posted by cbs : 11/11/2004

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Free Trade � A war against Dalits & Adivasis 

By Goldy M. George

Introduction:
Dalits and Adivasis (Indigenous people) have never been the part of the conventional trade systems in India. Today they are faced with the horrible hostility of trade and market policies. In recent times trade entered the scene on mass scale through the principles of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. Mega industrial production still plays the key role in all trade deal not only at the national level but also at the international level.

Industrialisation, which made a colourful and dreamy entry, is turning out to be the worst form of human development. The steady economic growth of industries with active support from the state machinery is directly proportional to the unchecked exploitation of masses. Most of them belong to marginalized communities such as Dalits, Adivasis, women, working class, etc. Though during the independence struggle �land to the tillers� and �factory to the workers� prominently came on to the national agenda, nowhere in India had we witnessed the later one being implemented in the post independence era. Resultant displacement, migration, repercussion of workers, loss of land and livelihood, pilfering state revenue, forest resources, etc. has outgrown to monstrous level.

This has amplified particularly with WTO taking the centre stage of all sorts of trade related agreements and transactions at the international level. Trade is no longer buying and selling of goods and services but it encompasses issues like Intellectual Property Rights. With this the global market has wide open for exploration and exploitation of resources under the aegis of free trade. Industrialised nations found their tools to maintain supremacy on world trade. Prophets of trade and commerce argue that free trade maximises world economic output. This is what is considered to be progress. But what we have been witnessing with the Dalits and Adivasis in India is diametrically opposite to these claims.

Decline of people�s rights on Natural Resources:
The symbiotic relationship between the forest-dwelling communities, especially the Adivasis and the forest Eco-system is an eternal truth. They had traditional system of preserving the forest and wild life. Many of the indigenous communities worship the forest; give offerings to the forest-gods, forest-goddess and even the wild animals. Their life cannot be segregated into watertight compartments such as social, economic, political, religious, cultural, administrative, intellectual, spiritual, etc. Life is a single organic whole. Because of the fast changing socio-economic trends, social values and traditional life style is vastly being diverted. The degrees of change vary from rural to urban, urban to metropolitan, poverty to affluence etc. Today industrialisation, urbanisation induced with the modern education had adversely affected the integrity of mankind. Spread of the modern education, effect of media and expansion of rural bureaucracy has induced an element of elitism in rural areas.

Undoubtedly Adivasis, live in close relationship with the forest and have the greater dependency on it. There are many Dalit communities who are also quite dependent on forests and natural resources for their survival. Artisan and craftsman Dalit communities like Kurava in Kerala, Mala communities in Andhra Pradesh, Basod in Madhya Pradesh are to greater extent dependent on the forest resources. Various projects have already ousted them from land and property on many occasions in order to eke out a marginal living. Due to their emotional attachment with the forest, they always search for resembling locality. So whenever they are victimised in the name of progress and development they settle down in a similar environment. It is because of this past that the Adivasis and Dalits in many parts of the country are branded as encroachers. Apparently their customary and traditional rights were either curtailed or ignored by every ruler � both by the Colonial and National ruler.

The past policies of the state had seriously disturbed the close and lively relationship between people and natural resources � leading to the unrestricted destruction of forest wealth, affecting their wholesome life style and stuck at their very survival. The rule of globalisation added extra intensity on the question of natural resources.

These policies were directly or indirectly related to capture the resources throughout the world, which includes the natural resources too. One of the greatest failures of this period was the scantiness of unified attempts from the third world to resist this move. The segmentation of the third world and their internal fighting to established power ensured enthusiasm and enriched the exploiter camp to manipulate the situation. Nevertheless, this reduced People�s control over Natural Resources.

People�s control over Natural Resources was further reduced with the direct intervention of IMF, World Bank, WTO, etc. Several World Bank funded projects have already deteriorated the condition of the forests and forest dwelling communities. The capitalistic nation foresaw the treasure of wealth in forest, the rich biodiversity, bionetwork genealogy, natural knowledge systems, medicinal value of herbs in Indian forests, etc. Accordingly modifying the operative formula of globalisation, liberalisation, privatisation and open market economy were the inevitable innovation of these agencies, even in forest-based regions. The major intention was not just to capture the resources from the indigenous people, but also to establish an unquestionable political and social control over the world.

For the indigenous communities like the Adivasis and Dalits their dependency on land and forest is not just as a productive asset but as a symbol of their self-determination, co-existence, community feeling and dignity. Now this became a tradable commodity.

Corporate property YES! People�s rights NO!
Forests, the nurturer of thousands of Adivasis and other forest workers, are well under inspection of the corporate investors. This is what the principle of open market economy and international trade policies demands. The government along with the forest department has been engaged in dispossessing the forest-based communities under the pretext of forest conservation and wildlife protection. On the contrary it is opened for industrial purpose like mining, power, dams, etc., defence projects, so-called wilflife management, botanical gardens, bio-experiments, eco-tourism and so on.

For example in Chhattisgarh itself almost 17 lakh acres of land has been demarcated as protected area for the sake of wildlife conservation, where people face the threat of eviction. According to government sources there are more than 250 villages with a population above 35 thousand. The majority of them are Adivasis and Dalits. Adivasis and Dalits living in forest regions are almost bonded labourers of the forest department.

Let me present the example of Chhattisgarh. This zone has high potential in terms of forest resources. In fact it covered nearly 45% of the total forests in the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh. Baster alone can serve at least 10% of the national requirement of forest. But in the last two decades due to irresponsible approach of the government it is on the downslide; the forest have gradually degraded.

In Chhattisgarh 10 major projects have already been completed, for which 257032.585 acres of land have been lost. In all 238 villages have been affected by these dams and their rehabilitation has not yet been done. In addition to this there are 30 medium projects affecting 123 villages, for which 32745.13 acres of land have been acquired. Further there are 8 projects pending and 6 medium projects have been proposed affecting 150 villages for which 261314.59 acres of land is to be occupied. Majority of the land lost is either forests land or fueled the destruction of forests. These are the statistics in 2000 when the state was about to be created. This chart has probably grown much higher.

Another major reason of forest destruction is the mass felling of trees for commercial purpose. In many areas of Chhattisgarh there are cases of coop felling of trees and this happens through the forest department. A powerful lobby of timber contractors, politicians, bureaucrats are actively operating the illegal felling. One major case of similar character was exposed in Bastar. This case drew a lot of attention and the Supreme Court ordered a CBI investigation.

There already exists an unfair line created by the unjust socio-political divide. Under this circumstance what it would be meant by free trade?

Free Trade-A war against indigenous people!
War because the indigenous people are thrown out of their resource zones and livelihoods. Forceful change in life style, culture and eco-friendly ethos is reversed through this process. Land and forests turned to be a commodity of consumption, with concentration on private and individual (corporate) capital; it is not meant for the welfare of all.

War because their right to land, water and forests are yet to be defined by the nation state. Although there are sufficient facts to realise the symbiotic relationship of Adivasis and Dalits with forest environment and the eco-system at large � they are systematically and strategically bypassed, excluded and isolated. They are not recognised as the original inhabitants and owners of land. Many so-called development projects resulted in mass displacement and migration creating an army of domestic refugees. And let us not forget free trade is also considered to be a part of economic growth and development. Hence the historical omission of the already betrayed and battered continues in higher degree and magnitude.

War because their skills and knowledge are patented under the newly coined phenomenon of IPRs. The wealth of Indian natural zones and skills and knowledge of indigenous communities are immense. Once this is transferred it could easily brought under the IPRs.

War because everything is now in the market. But the Dalits and Adivasis are nowhere in the market. Other production-based communities have a minimum right to enter the market, but the indigenous people have no right to market. Is it not really silly that the inherited ones are out of livelihood, profession, trade and even market? Rank of Dalits & Adivasis in Trade process is nothing more than a big cipher.

War because the exploitation of non-renewable resources is diametrically opposite to the man-resource relationship. This at large disturbs eco-system and erupts major ecological problems, which threatens the life of the mother earth to unpredictable magnitude. In other words life on earth is and will be at stake if the present process continues. This is particularly related to the question of mining. In fact the communities have no right to mining on their own. The mining and mineral policy has contributed a lot to this process in tune with the principles of market and trade for the MNCs.

War because the jargons like ecological democracy and ecological equity won�t go hand in hand with globalisation and market. Both are wholly opposite to each other.

War because the corporate house needs resources whereas people need their livelihood. It is a war between surplus vs. survival. Thus the subsistent economy is transferred into market economy.

War because in an age of free trade and market the life values sustained through the community life and love are constantly diffusing and substituted with competition.

War because those who resist and "refuse to disappear," as the Zapatistas say, are routinely arrested, beaten and even killed.

War because when this kind of low-intensity repression fails to clear the path to corporate liberation, the real wars begin. This is the war being witnessed in Kashipur, Nagarnar, Mehendikheda, Koelkaro, Umbergoan and many other places. Perhaps free trade flows from the barrel of gun and tip of lathis in India.

What next?
Many pundits state it as TINA meaning �There Is No Alternative�. This is not true, nor it is the right approach. Our approach should begin from two primary viewpoints. One is that globalisation is not development. Second is that trade and financial liberalisation does not raise social and labour standards. Once again globalisation continues to colonise the poor, women, ecosystem and environment as an integral part of this development. The greatest enemies of terror never lose sight of the economic interests served by violence, or the violence of capitalism itself. If trade is really free?

To identify viable alternatives, one must understand that the root causes of today�s predicament lie in the devastating development based on industrialism and wasteful growth, development packages, spread by colonialism � capitalism. Developing countries must be allowed the policy flexibility and the political space to create national development strategies that increase incomes and secure livelihoods. Policies, which create employment and raise productivity � especially in the agricultural and natural resources, and informal sector � linked with a progressive taxation system, land reform and equitable access to assets such as education, health, credit and technology, are the best means of raising social and labour standards.

Essentially one has to campaign for to recognise and support the identity, culture and rights of Indigenous Peoples; and promote appropriate conditions for Indigenous Peoples so they can benefit from forest use, maintain their cultural identity, and achieve adequate levels of livelihood through, inter alia, land tenure arrangements which serve as incentives for the sustainable management of forests.

Right to land when not recognised leads to land alienation. In case of the indigenous communities it at large leads to depeasantisation. Since land alienation is the crux of the depeasantisation of the indigenous people, the concept assumes utmost importance in the analysis of their rights as a part of human rights discourse. The problem of land alienation is a much deeply connected phenomenon with full of contradictions related to the existing socio-economic order. The separation of land from the indigenous communities can be understood in a more scientific way with the assistance of the theoretical formulations of the concept of alienation.

Come lets� build a campaign:
It is vital that the Dalit and Adivasi communities build a campaign against the politics of free-trade and market economy. However this needs to come as a bottom-top model other than the top-bottom model that we had been witnessing for the past many years. This is essential not only to protect the Dalits and Adivasis in India but also the indigenous and ethnic minorities as well as the aboriginals across the world.

No one is going to escape this trap in any way. This one should understand from the historical viewpoint of the functioning of capitalism. By all means it is the re-establishment of the capitalistic regime through the imperialist formula of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. Attaining absoluteness of capitalism is the primary intention of open market and free trade in the current phase. Essentially this needs to be blocked at all levels with urgency. To start with one need to think in terms of building a campaign against trade, trade related policies and market economy at large.

What could be the core of the campaign?
- Reorienting our economies from the emphasis on production for export to production for the local market.
- Strengthening the local market and its mechanisms through appropriate interventions.
- Strengthening community�s base on natural resources ensuring rights over land, water and forest.
- Reinforcing the traditional systems of community life in an organic manner with rights over resources.
- In cases of exploration of minerals, the Adivasi & Dalit communities should be actively involved in it. Free trade won�t take place without taking the local community into serious consideration. Since the land belongs or belonged to them they have a legitimate right on these resources.
- Transfer of mining lease without Adivasis has been prohibited with the Samata Judgment. Basically banned the mining! Such verdict needs to be upheld.
- Drawing most of our financial resources for development from within rather than becoming dependent on foreign investment and foreign financial markets.
- Carrying out the long-postponed measures of income redistribution and land redistribution to create a vibrant internal market that would be the anchor of the economy.
- De-emphasising growth and maximising equity in order to radically reduce environmental disequilibrium.
- Not leaving strategic economic decisions to the market but making them subject to democratic choice.
- Subjecting the private sector and the state to constant monitoring by civil society.
- Creating a new production and exchange complex that includes community cooperatives, private enterprises, and state enterprises, and excludes TNCs.
- Enshrining the principle of subsidiary in economic life by encouraging production of goods to take place at the community and national level if it can be done so at reasonable cost in order to preserve community.

::: posted by Goldy : 11/11/2004

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Halt Attack on Fallujah 

URGENT ACTION: HALT ATTACK ON FALLUJAH

November 6, 2004

Baghdad, Iraq -- Today, jets roar overhead as U.S. Army troops
encircle the city of Fallujah. A full-scale assault designed to end
the insurgency in Fallujah will erupt at any moment.

Just a few days ago, a delegation of civil, religious and
humanitarian leaders from the city of Fallujah came to an emergency
meeting with a UN official in Baghdad. They begged the UN to
mediate a non-military solution to the security problems in the
city.

CPT Iraq urges you to contact one of the following officials. Ask
them to respect the desires of the civic, religious and humanitarian
leaders of the city of Fallujah, halt the attack, and work with the
United Nations to create a non-military solution to the security
concerns of that city. Options for a tangible plan include: UN
peacekeeping troops, an arms buyout, or direct negotiations with
city leaders by representatives of the Iraqi provisional government
and officials of the MNF with UN mediation assistance.


BACKGROUND:

Officials estimate that up to 100,000 civilians remain Fallujah and
could suffer high casualties. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
recently sent an appeal regarding Fallujah to Iraqi Prime Minister
Allawi and U.S. President George Bush. Annan wrote, "The threat or
actual use of force not only risks deepening the sense of alienation
of certain communities, but would also reinforce perceptions among
the Iraqi population of a continued military occupation" (Washington
Times, Nov 5, 2004).

"If he gives me a tangible plan, a real plan, of course I'll give
him time," the Iraqi Prime Minister responded (ABC News Update, Nov
6, 2004).


CONTACTS

United States: Secretary of State Colin Powell
State Department
Phone: 202.647.4000
http://contact-us.state.gov/ask_form_cat/ask_form_secretary.html


United Kingdom: Rt Hon Edward Chaplin
British Consul, Baghdad, Iraq
(964) (0) 790.192.6280
britishconsulbaghdad@gtnet.gov.uk

::: posted by max : 11/08/2004

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Arafat and Palestine 

The Importance of being �Irrelevant�
By Uri Avnery
(NOTE: Uri Avnery is an Israeli citizen.)

I remember standing on the roof of a warehouse near Beirut harbor and observing the armed and uniformed PLO fighters, headed by Yasser Arafat, getting on the ships that took them westwards. �End of the Arafat era!� rejoiced the newspapers in Israel the next day. �Arafat is politically a dead horse!� said the radio commentators. �Thank God we are rid of him once and for all!� TV talk-show hosts announced.

When I came back to Tel-Aviv, I was invited to a radio debate. For the sake of balance, a right-wing journalist was also invited. It was Tommy Lapid, the present Minister of Justice. Before entering the studio, we chatted. I wonder if he remembers now what I told him then: �You have buried him a hundred times, and you a going to bury him a hundred times more.� 22 years later, the same announcements fill the media again: �End of the Arafat era! Arafat is politically a dead horse! Thank God we are rid of him once and for all!�

The man who years ago was officially declared by the Israeli government to be �irrelevant�, was headline news all over the world this week. There are very few leaders around whose state of health would command similar attention.

I don�t know how serious his medical condition really is. I only hope that he will recover fully. And I know that if, God forbid, he should pass away, Israelis will learn to appreciate him in his absence.
In the days of the first Camp David conference, a noted Egyptian thinker, Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, told me: �If Arafat didn�t exist, you would have to invent him. With Arafat around, you have a single address to negotiate with and make peace. If he were not there, the Palestinian people might split into a hundred splinters, and you would have to talk with each of them.�

If one does not want peace and prefers a Greater Israel, one does not need Arafat. On the contrary. But if one thinks that peace is essential for Israel to develop and flourish, one needs him very much.

�My hand,� Arafat once said, �is the only hand that can sign a peace agreement with Israel.�
Since this is so, there is no substitute for Arafat: he is the only Palestinian leader with the towering moral authority that is needed not only to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but � which is even more important � to carry his people with him. Any peace agreement will demand from the Palestinians concessions that will tear their hearts, such as giving up the right to unlimited return of the refugees to the territory of Israel. No other Palestinian leader would have the courage to stand up and ask his people to do this.

Where does his authority come from? I have seen him many times in the company of other Palestinian leaders. Each time I was impressed by the power of authority that he radiates, without any manifestations of power. It is difficult to explain its source. Unlike Fidel Castro, for example, who appeared on the world stage at the same time as Arafat, the Palestinian leader has no army, no vast secret police apparatus and no prisons for his opponents. His power emanates solely from the respect his compatriots accord him as the �Father of the Nation�, the Palestinian George Washington.

Already at our first meeting in besieged Beirut, in July 1982, I was struck by the total absence of ceremonial around him. During meetings, his people interrupt him and debate with him. His authority is clear without the need for any outward signs.

A European reporter once asked me about his hobbies. What does he do when he is not busy with the Palestinian cause? I answered that he has no hobbies, that there is not a single moment when he is not busy with the Palestinian cause. His identification with the Palestinian struggle is total. He has no other life.

Everyone who sees him for the first time in the flesh is amazed by the huge difference between the media personality and the man. On TV he looks fanatical, aggressive. In real life he is a warm person, considerate, radiating emotions. Even a person meeting him for the first time needs only a few minutes to feel like an old acquaintance. He loves to pamper his guests at meals, offering them choice morsels with his fingers. He likes to touch the people he talks with, to take them by the hand and conduct them along the corridors, to offer them small presents.

He is no intellectual, not a man of books and theories. He is all intuition. He grasps things with incredible speed and never forgets details. Once, talking with him, I made a mistake about the number of Agudat Israel members of the Knesset. He corrected me at once. Another time, I got the date of one of the Oslo agreements wrong. He corrected me then, too. �I am an engineer by profession,� he said and laughed. �I never forget a number.�

Like all Arab heroes in history, he is a man of gestures. One gesture is worth a thousand words. On the day of his return to Palestine he invited me in, just when he was about to give a press conference to the media of the Arab world. He entered the hall, went straight up to me, and after the usual embrace he took my hand and drew me, almost forcibly, towards the tribune. He led me up the stairs, asked his spokesman to get up and seated me next to him. For an hour he spoke in Arabic to the media people, turning to me from time to time for confirmation.

I sat there and racked my brains: What was this whole exhibition about? Suddenly I got it. In this simple way he was showing to the entire Arab world: This is it. I am sitting with the Israelis. I am going to make peace with them.

He flourishes in situations of great stress. I have seen him more than once in such a situation, when he was at his best, focused, eyes glittering, joking. He is used to this: his whole life consists of ups and downs, successes and failures. He has, of course, made many mistakes (his support of Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War springs to mind), but they pale in comparison to his huge achievement. It was he who created the modern Palestinian national movement when the Palestinian people had almost vanished from the map, and he has brought them to the threshold of national independence. Like Moses, he has led his people from slavery to the gates of the Promised Land. I hope that it will not be said about him that, like Moses, he saw the Promised Land from afar but did not enter it.

Everything he achieved was achieved in face of Israel�s colossal material superiority in all fields, the hostility of the Arab governments and the world-wide sympathy for Israel as the state of the Holocaust survivors.

And no less important: for decades he has kept the Palestinians together, in spite of huge internal differences. The Palestinian movement has had almost none of the kind of bloody internal confrontations that have been typical of most liberation movements.

During its first few years, the movement had to function in Arab countries that were afraid of it and tried to suppress it. All its leaders, Arafat included, have been held at one stage or another in Arab prisons. Every one of the Arab regimes has tried to use the Palestinian cause for its own advantage. Arafat needed all the stratagems that have since become his trade-mark. As a Palestinian diplomat once explained to me: �For the movement to survive and advance, Arafat had to use all tricks and ploys, use double-talk and half-truths, play one Arab leader against the other, all this in rapidly changing situations. He always had several balls in the air, never letting one fall to the ground. This way he led our movement forward and brought us to where we are.� Like every leader of a national liberation movement, he had to make the most of the few means at his disposal � shrewdness, violence, diplomacy, propaganda. His steps can be foreseen, if one enters his head and understands the constraints he is working under and the aims he has set himself. In the last 30 years I have not once been taken by surprise, not when he went to Oslo nor when he took charge of the intifada. If Israeli intelligence has so often been caught unawares, it is because they don�t understand Palestinian reality. �They know everything and understand nothing,� as Boutros Boutros-Ghali once said about Israeli Arabists.

For 45 years now, Arafat has lived in the shadow of death. There was not a moment when a plot to kill him was not being hatched somewhere or other. When I met him in 1982 in besieged Beirut, nobody believed he would get out alive. Since then, Ariel Sharon has been trying to kill him. Half a dozen secret services have been after him. Arafat has an uncanny ability to confound them. He believes that he lives under the protection of Allah. Proof? When his aircraft made a hard crash-landing in the Libyan desert and his bodyguards lost their lives, he walked out almost unscratched.

Once he was asked in my presence if he expected to see the day peace comes. �Both I and Uri Avnery will see this day in our lifetime,� he promised. For the sake of Israel�s future, I wish him a full recovery.

http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/article328.html

::: posted by max : 11/05/2004

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Commentary on Massacre in Southern Thailand 

Imagine your sons dead in a truck
Sanitsuda Ekachai
Bangkok Post, November 4, 2004

What if the Tak Bai protest had occurred in Bangkok and it was our children who were beaten black and blue before being suffocated and crushed to death in crammed trucks?

Do you think you would allow Thaksin Shinawatra to explain away your sons' death as just a regrettable accident?

If not, then we will have to probe deep into our hearts as to why we are letting Mr Thaksin and his government get away with the Tak Bai massacre.

Is what we are dealing with an evil government? Or is it the evil in our hearts that allows us to accept Mr Thaksin's justification of gross dehumanisation and violence which we would never allow in the matter of our own children?

Mr Thaksin's lack of repent is worrying. But of more concern is the public endorsement of his hardline policy towards the southern Muslims and his ultra-nationalistic pretext in whitewashing state crime.

Talk to taxi drivers or check the web-board postings on the Tak Bai crackdown and you will understand why Mr Thaksin does not feel he has to apologise to the southern Muslims nor resign to show responsibility.

Why would he when he knows that, given our society's deep prejudice against the Malay Muslims, he can easily turn the victims of his policy follies into the enemies of national sovereignty? Besides, creating an enemy of the state is always a good political gambit when a general election draws near.

The support for Mr Thaksin's crackdown raises the question of whether ours is truly the tolerant Buddhist society we like the world to believe.

Buddhism is not only about non-violence. It is also about the need to see through all forms of illusion of the ``self'' that condition our thoughts and spur our prejudices, constantly pitting ``us'' against ``them''.

An extension of self as a group identity based on race, religion, language, ethnicity or country may give us a reassuring sense of belonging. But it is also a breeding ground of divisiveness, violence and war. Hence the Buddhist emphasis that all are one and the same in the cycles of suffering, that though most of us are still mired in greed, anger and illusion, we all possess a similar potential to attain spiritual liberation.

This is why respect for our fellow human beings is fundamental to Buddhism. Anyone, regardless of their identity, can become the awakened one like the Buddha.

Yet, many of us decry human dignity and endorse state violence against rural folk protesting mega-projects as the enemies of economic development. And the Malay Muslims for being a threat to national sovereignty.

This shows that our religion is not really Buddhism, but ultra-nationalism and materialism.

Buddhism, however, does not seek to condemn, but to understand the causes of a phenomenon so we can produce change.

What causes our ethnic prejudice is glaringly evident: the fallacy that our society is racially homogenous; the ultra-nationalism that treats non-ethnic Thais as outsiders and as a threat to national security; the education system that denies cultural pluralism and destroys local roots; the national history that oppresses local memories and invokes racism; the political centralisation and economic policies that destroy local peoples' way of life and livelihoods; the entertainment industry which fans ethnic prejudice; and the media which perpetuate rather than undo state-construct fallacies that cause so much misery among the weak and poor whose rights the media are supposed to protect.

In short, it is not only the government to blame, but also ourselves for endorsing this oppressive system.

To heal the open wounds in the South, we have no choice but to confront our prejudices. If not, we will have to learn the Buddhist teachings on inter-connectedness the hard way _ that if there is no peace in the South, there will be no peace in our homes.

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post.sanitsudae

::: posted by max : 11/04/2004

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Arabisation of Islam in S-E Asia a danger 

::: posted by cbs : 11/02/2004

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