Arsenic, Abhisit and Hope

I recently spent a couples of days in Na Nong Bong village, a village whose surrounding land of rice paddies and dramatic mountain peaks is being increasingly turned in to a toxic dump by a local gold mine. It's incredible, the amount of suffering we'd impose on a group of people just for a rock that serves no basic human need.

I rode back to the village with the youth group who were returning from a trip to Bangkok. At Bangkok the sat down with the Prime Minister, Mr. Abhisit to share the problems being caused by the gold mine. When I inquired about how the meeting went Mook, a 16 year girl responded, "He told us to write a letter of our grievances and send it to him, then he can help." She paused, "He is a lair." It was clear from her stoic tone that any trust that she had left in the government to help her community had dissipated. What a powerful and direct lesson. I don't think any of the youth in that group will rely on the government to solve their problems in the future. At least not with heavy organizing on their part.

It was also on this trip that I saw what was the embodiment of what I currently see social change to be. Most of my day in the village was spent walking down the main road that led up to the village and posting up signs with anti-mine slogans. They used plastic poster board which is quite expensive. Having been told of their strategy, a slum community in Khon Kaen (which is fighting its own battle with the government) collected and sent then hundreds of sheets of plastic poster that they scavenged from the city. In return, villagers in Na Nong Bong sent them a truck load of
fresh papayas, squashes and bananas. Despite three hours of distance they managed this simple yet impressive display of solidarity and mutual exchange.

Note the emoticon









Something worth fighting to keep


Truckload of fresh yum

One more thing. Its holiday season in Loei Province. Villagers are currently ron grat tone (praying to sky gods). Fireworks are being sent up to the sky to initiate rain for the growing season. There was flooding in Korat Province so I think they may have sent up too many rockets.