ELL: Akha Weekly Journal: You Bet The Akha Are Scared! Genocide

[Matthew McDaniel]

Genocide In Thailand


Dear Friends:

People often ask me why the Akha don't do more to fight for their land
rights?
And everything else.

Well,  the secret lies in the fact that Thailand avoids any problems by
never giving these people legal status as either refugees or citizens
and the UN could give a rats ass what they do.

You wouldn't want to be Hill Tribe at a police check point here in
Thailand, when the forestry, police or army come visiting, nor if you
have to go to the hospital with your child and no money.

Right now the Thai Forestry Department, in violation of about every rule
in the international books are intentionally endangering the nutritional
safety of the Akha by taking their rice lands.

What are the Akha to do?

What happens when the government takes away what you have for raising
food, as a race?

Is it not genocide?

Let us call it that, because the continuous efforts on the part of the
Thai government to ignore or actually implement the events which are
taking away the food system of the Akha is nothing less than Genocide.

Repeated forced moves of villages, Forestry continuously taking away the
most basic lands needed to grow rice on with no suggested alternative
where these people are to get food.

How shall they not all die?

What shall they eat?

Now the Hmong are catching the brunt along with the Akha.

Years of planted fruit trees, then the government rules that their land
will be included in the boundaries of a park, and then the Thai
villagers come and cut down more than 30,000 fruit trees as in THIRTY
THOUSAND fruit trees.  Ten and fifteen years old.

It is time to raise a little hell folks, call  your embassies, call your
foreign ministers, enough is enough.

CC copies to me here, and lets rap on any ideas that anyone has, like I
say, the UN is totally useless.

These people are suffering already incredibly at the hands of wars
between the bullheaded nations, and suffer from not enough nutrition due
to forced relocations, and there just ain't no way to say GENOCIDE.

Matthew McDaniel



Thailand Terrorizes The Hill Tribe Peoples

Today's Bankok Post Article Following Raid On Hmong Village
BORDER / PLA KANG ORCHARD RAID

Hmong dignity 'crushed'

Bangkok Post, Tuesday 29 August 2000

 Highlanders seek legal assistance after violent attack

 By: Ploenpote Atthakor, Wuttipong Srisilp
 Nan, Thailand

 Hmong villagers in Pa Klang will file a legal complaint against
lowlanders who destroyed
 their lychee orchards during a violent raid last week, NGOs workers
said yesterday.

 Seewigaa Kitiyoungkul, a member of Conto, a Chiang Mai-based NGOs
co-ordinating
 agency for highland development, said the highlanders have approached
the Law Society of
 Thailand for legal assistance.

 No complaints have been lodged with local police as yet. The
highlanders had been reluctant
 to take action because they were told that they, in return, would face
the charge of forest
 encroachment since their orchards, covering some 1,800 rai, was located
in a national park.
 The area was made part of Doi Phu Kha National Park last year.

 It was not clear whether the charge would be laid against local
government officers who failed
 to prevent the raid which took place right before their eyes. The raid
was carried out with the
 blessing of local leaders and village headmen.

 While forestry chief Plodprasop Suraswadi denied any involvement in the
attack, some
 villagers said they saw armed men in forestry camouflage outfits taking
gallons of oil to the
 area shortly before the raid.

 Ms Seewigaa said the highlanders deserved justice, urging the
government to step in to
 restore their faith and trust. She said damage to property was not an
issue in this case. "Now
 the Hmong have totally lost faith in the system. They have attempted to
make their voice heard
 over the past two years but no action has ever been taken by the
government."According to
 local NGOs, before this raid, there was a similar violence which
destroyed 2,500 trees. This
 time, it was estimated that some 30,000 trees were lost. "And no state
agencies have stepped
 forward to accept responsibility." Ms Seewigaa said the Hmong are
considering whether they
 should bring their case before the UN as the world body has a
declaration that gives
 protection to minorities. "They feel lost amid intimidation and
discrimination. Their dignity
 has been crushed. They don't know where to go. Their trees are their
life. To cut the trees is
 just like destroying their souls. It is hurting them so much."
--


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