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dam-l LS: Joint Declaration of Thai demonstrators

Joint Declaration Number Two

“The problems of the poor must be resolved by the government.”

We, the Assembly of the Poor, the Assembly of People of the Mun river, the 
Assembly of the Northern Community Forest, the Northern Farmer Network and 
the Assembly of the Hill Tribes of Thailand, have been demonstrating in 
order to demand that the government resolve the problems that have been 
caused by their traditional top-down style of development. Even though we 
have been demonstrating for almost two months, there seems to be no 
representative from the government willing to negotiate with the 
demonstrators. In a few cases, negotiations have been initiated, but there 
has been no attempts at sincere resolutions. The following are some examples 
of this trend.

The demonstration in Ubon Ratchathani province. Even though thousands of 
people were affected by the four completed dams, the two planned dams, 
the land and forest management policy as well as the Dan Chong Mek Thai-Laos 
boarder Development Project; as indicated by their demonstrations from
March 23 to 
the present, there has not been any representative from the government 
appearing to negotiate.

The demonstration in Si Sa Ket province. Since April 20, 1999, 2,300 village 
families affected by Rasi Salai dam and Hua-na dams’ construction have been 
demonstrating at the Rasi Salai dam site. Again, no representatives from the 
government have appeared to negotiate.

The demonstration in Sakonnakorn province. Thousands of villagers affected 
by the land and forest management policy of the government have been 
demonstrating since early April, without any response from government 
representatives.

The demonstration in Chiangmai province. Thousands of families of villagers 
affected by forest management policies, Mekok dam construction, the public 
land issue and the government's lack of recognition of their citizenship
have been demonstrating since 
April 25, 1998. The demonstrators had negotiated with a representative from 
the government on May 9, 1999, the representative then said those agreements 
would be taken to the meeting of the cabinet on May 11, 1999. However, there 
is nothing guaranteed that these agreements will be taken to the meeting of 
the cabinet due to the fact that there is now an official group which has 
formed and convinced some villagers to protest against taking the agreement 
to the meeting of the cabinet.

Moreover; there are some politicians and some groups of officers who have 
put a negative twist on the demonstrations. They have alleged that the 
demonstrators are paid to demonstrate, with the ultimate aim of ending the 
government currently in power. Another method they have used is to threaten 
the families of the representatives who join the demonstrations. For 
example, national park officers threatened villagers in Kwang Pao village, 
Jom Thong district, Chiang Mai province on May 9.

We jointly declare that our demonstrations in Ubon Ratchathani, Sri sa gate, 
Chiang Mai and Sakonnakorn provinces, in the name of: the Assembly of the 
Poor, the Assembly of the People of the Mun River, the Assembly of Northern 
Community Forest, the Northern Farmer Network and the Assembly of the Hill 
Tribe of Thailand have no hidden political agenda, but in fact aim to get 
the sincere resolutions from the government.

We declare that we have to demonstrate because the government always refuses
to put an effort towards resolving our problems. We have been making this 
request to the last five governments in power. We see their accusations of 
political agendas on our part as an attempt to put a negative twist on our 
demonstrations, and thereby avoid the responsibility of negotiations.

We see it is urgent that:

a. The government must send powerful representatives to negotiate 
resolutions for problems of the poor who have been demonstrating at the Pak 
Mun dam site, Ubon Ratchathani province, Rasisalai, Si Sa Ket province, and 
in Sakonnakorn province.

b. The government must take the agreements that were negotiated in Chiang 
Mai on May 9 to the meeting of the cabinet on May 11 to be considered 
without condition.

c. The government and its officers must halt putting a negative twist on our
demonstrations as well as all forms of violence and intimidation against us.

Declared at Chiang Mai city hall.
May 10, 1999

Assembly of the Poor
Assembly of People of the Mun River
Assembly of the Northern Community Forest
Northern Farmer Network
Assembly of the Hill tribes of Thailand



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Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigner
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
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