Back in the past

I’m sorry that I haven’t written a blog entry for quite some time now, but my schedule has been pretty hectic. I know that this is going back more than a week from today, but I really want to tell all of you about my experience on October 19^th. I, along with many other CIEE students left the office at 7 AM to go to a trial in support of the Kon San villagers. Kon San is a protest village that was created a little more than 3 months ago, and it is to keep logging companies from planting eucalyptus trees, which suck up all of the water from the surrounding area and kill nearly all other vegetation around them. The logging companies invaded the villagers’ agricultural land nearly 30 years ago because the villagers’ land is optimal for planting and then cutting down eucalyptus trees in order to make paper.

The villagers of Kon San used to have land titles, but a couple of years ago, the logging company paid a neighbor chief to tell Kon San that he was willing to help the villagers in their fight to oppose the logging company, but that in doing so he needed to have copies of their land titles. So, the villagers gave this chief their land titles, and as was directed by the logging company, he then threw all of the titles into a fire so as to destroy all proof that that land truly belongs to the villagers.

Furthermore, the logging company hires men dressed in black shirts to monitor the villagers at all time. They have stations set up at every entry point, and normally take photos of the villagers in a menacing way. The black shirts, as they’re referred to, also use violent and scare tactics to try and get the villagers to disband the protest village. In order to deal with the black shirts, the villagers have created wooden platforms on trees that are used to monitor the movements of the black shirts, and if one comes too close to entering the village, an alert goes out to every single villager.

After 30 years, the villagers decided to sue the logging company (law suits are a pretty new thing in Thailand) for trespassing, loss of land/sustenance/and livelihood. Yet as a result, the logging company chose 36 people, at random, who are being tried for supposedly trespassing on the logging companies’ land, and if it is brought to a criminal court, those 36 people have the possibility of being sent to jail. Hopefully that won’t happen, and the case will simply stop at the civil court. Yet to further prove our solidarity with the villagers, all of the CIEE students had shirts made that had a quote from the leader of Kon San, which read (in Thai): “The logging companies must leave. We want our land back now.” I’m so glad that we were wearing them because the villagers really seemed to like and appreciate them.

Two of my friends were gracious enough to let me go into the courthouse even though we all wanted to attend, but unfortunately, no one but those being tried (the villagers and logging company officials) were able to enter the courtroom. I waited outside with everyone else for the villagers to emerge from the courthouse, and while it may not seem like we did much of anything rather than simply show up, it still made a huge difference. Not only did we show the villagers that we care for and support them, but the legal team defending the logging company backed out because the 2 lawyers didn’t want to be attached to a case that was being given so much attention from international students. I think that was a huge success!

Afterwards, the villagers invited us to their protest village, which was like nothing I had ever seen before. Their shelters reminded me of the pictures I had seen that showed the “housing” in refugee camps. They were made with wood and tarps, and were extremely minimalistic. We were given a tour of the village, and although small, it was obvious that the people who live there are dedicate, passionate individuals. It was actually stunning to see how many eucalyptus trees surrounded the village because they were literally everywhere! They still had a really small amount of land where they plant rice, but it’s sad because the logging company has destroyed most of their land. However, the people there seemed to be in good moods, and it was truly awe-inspiring to see people dedicating their lives and leaving their homes to fight for a cause.