Troops, Meth, and Off Roading in Thailand
Akha Weekly Journal
June 18, 2002
Dear Friends:
Lots of updating to do, some good reading,
cautions, contacts, overall a long Journal Post.
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Make a donation to our work here with the
Akha, as donors you make the projects and vision come true, and
for that we thank you all.
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Our revelation of the Akha Killings has made
it to Amnesty International's most recent Human Rights press release
on Thailand, see it at the bottom of this email.
1. Press bill not paid. Our account with
Paypal is still not working properly so send donations to the
Salem address instead please.
2. New discussion and posting groups related
to Akha on web.
3. For expats interested in the goings on
around maesai send:
maesai-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
an open forum and for those of you working or married into the
maesai area, doing visas at the border, it will all be on here.
4. Since there is a lot of info on the Akha
that I don't like to stuff in everyone's already overloaded mail
box I add it at a new site "Akha Hill Tribe Thailand"
on at http://www.akha.blogspot.com
There you can read the web log posts, opinion,
events, analysis.
5. Also related to the Akha work here is
a new web site that is related to theology and the mission events
effecting the Akha, but with the emphasis on the teachings of
Jesus Christ and who He was compared to what christianity is and
what it has done with that message, a matter that is at the root
of a lot of problems effecting the human rights of the Akha.
http://www.jesusvschristianity.blogspot.com
6. similar but open discussion at yahoo by
sending:
jesusvschristianity-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
7. We have gotten more work done on the Pah
Nmm road thanks to a volunteer named John.
The road to the highest fields is now done,
though a large section of the middle part of the road below it
is unfinished from the village due to the Lahu dispute etc. At
any rate, John was able to contribute a number of days and we
worked on this section as well to clear brush and start widening
the trail at least. More volunteers needed for this.
8. Remember to use the email address akha@akha.org,
most others don't go through.
9. The maesai area border remains closed,
the Burmese have shut of the power coming to their side in spite,
and you can find a parking space in maesai now. But will have
to go to Laos to do your visa. Must get visa for Laos first which
can cost you 1200 to 1400 baht in Chiangrai and take a couple
of days.
10. A Swiss expat was arrested on trumped
up charges in Maesai, attacked in the Maesai Jail and beaten,
then transferred to the Chiangrai prison where he is now told
he must pay hundreds of thousands of baht to get out for the crime
of defending himself. Watch yourselves out there, keep your accounts
short, and keep in mind what can be under the smile.
11. Coffee, Akha Coffee. We are now working
on coffee roasting. If you would be potentially intersted in buying
Akha Coffee, $28 per kilo, roasted, delivered to your door, then
contact me, checking out the interest on this before we go ahead
with setting up a bigger roasting and packing process. What we
have roasted so far is pleasant and smoothe.
12. The Shan and Burmese Troops still having
exchanges in the mountains with artillery.
Meth pills flow as much as ever with use
on the increase.
13. 4x4 off roading for the adventurists
at heart. If any of you are interested to do a little off road
4x4 rallying then come drop us a line cause we have some of the
toughest off roading in north Thailand.
14. Infomekong in association with OMF and
ACT (mission groups networked in Thailand) have put together this
page that has extremely inaccurate and prejudiced information
set against the traditional Akha. We would ask you to look at
this page since it is so classic in its racial prejudice and then
write a letter of protest to this web hoster and organization.
The Akha are poor, the missions are rich,
no one can explain this, but we do know that the Akha do not offer
sacrifices to demons.
http://www.infomekong.com/p_group_Akha_1.htm
15. A japanese study on Hep B and Hep C infections
in the hill groups of thailand shows higher rates for other groups
than Akha. Could this be due to assimilation and abandonment of
their traditional culture in these groups? The traditional Akha,
still going strong, have strict community rules for sexual behavior.
Hooking and then returning to the village is not allowed. Neither
are unwed mothers. If a man causes a girl to become pregnant and
will not marry her, he must pay a fine to the girl and to the
elders of the village. Christian villages have no such restrictions
as is demonstrated by the number of christian Akha girls who can
be found prostituting in Chiangrai.
16. Deep Ecology, Akha, Animism, Jesus Christ,
Christianity:
How does it sort out?
Well, seems the teachings of Jesus Christ
have a lot in common with Animism while Christianity takes the
view that it does not.
Who are the "destroyers of the earth"?
David Orton, whom some of you know, has some
comments on this below.
Deep
ecology, animism and land ethics
This post is about what kind of relationship
there can be between "traditional" aboriginal thinking
and deep ecology, and how this becomes reflected in land use practices.
It is something that I have written on in the past (see for example
the article in Wild Earth, Fall 1995, "The Wild Path Forward:
Left Biocentrism, Park Issues and Forestry, A Canadian View",
Green Web Bulletin #44), but it is really for me a continuing
concern. I believe that this is quite important philosophically.
If we can understand this, then one can attempt to deal with various
practical questions and dilemmas in the environmental movement
regarding aboriginal- related issues, from a consistent philosophical
basis.
In a nutshell, I find a traditionalist world
view extremely attractive and progressive from the perspective
of all I hold dear. But this view, although it is rooted in an
animistic spirituality, remains in the end human-centered. Because
of this, it seems to me, the "use" of Nature in a modern
industrial context can ultimately be justified: for example, human
usage of parks or natural areas, and support for commercial hunting
and trapping.
The following quote from the Royal Commission
on Aboriginal Peoples, shows one example of this human-centered
and religious position, which one finds over and over again in
traditional aboriginal writings:
Elders believe there is only one solution:
living life according to the Creator's instructions. The Creator's
guidance ensured that the land, sea and sky, and all creatures
dwelling there, would remain for future generations. The Creator's
instructions provided for maintenance and care of the earth. Long
before government imposed its rules and regulations, Aboriginal
peoples had their own systems of territorial use and maintenance.
Vol.4, pp. 140-141
Yet just underneath the above, the text goes
on to show that Nature becomes ultimately a "resource":
Most elders want to see co-management of natural resources such
as wildlife, oil and gas, forests, water and minerals. p. 141
snip-
17. Amnesty Press Release emphasizes brutality
and killings of Akha which we made public in the first of this
year.
THAILAND
Widespread abuses in the administration of justice
I. INTRODUCTION The practice of torture,
and the existence of conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment have persisted in Thai detention centres and
prisons for many years. Torture has been used by the police as
a means to extract confessions from criminal suspects during pre-trial
detention in both police stations and in other places after arrest.
Torture of convicted criminals by prison guards and ''trusties''(1)
also occurs, particularly of prisoners from Myanmar or Africa,
although Thai nationals are also at risk. Punishment for infraction
of prison rules appears to be the main reason for these incidents
of torture in prisons.
snip-
Thankyou for your continued support,
Matthew McDaniel
The Akha Heritage Foundation
Maesai, Chiangrai, Thailand
check or money order may be sent to:
The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO BOX 6073
Salem OR 97304 USA
