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dam-l LS: Letter to Wolfensohn from Pak Mun Villagers



Dear All, 
Sender: owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk

The following message is a letter to Mr. James Wolfenson The President of
The  World Bank from Affected villagers by Pak Mun Dam and Assembly of the
Poor at  UNCTAD. 

February 14,  2000 

Mr. James Wolfenson 
President  
The World Bank 
1818 H Street, 
Washington, D.C. 


Dear Mr. Wolfensohn 

We, representatives of the villagers affected by the Pak Mun Dam and
Assembly  of the poor, write to you from Mae Mun Man Yuen 1 village on the
banks of the  Mun river next to the Pak Mun dam. Four thousand of us have
been living here in  protest for ten months to draw attention to the
problems we face as a result of  the Pak Mun dam and other destructive dams
in the Northeast of Thailand. 

Ten years ago the World Bank and EGAT destroyed our livelihoods through the
 construction of the Pak Mun dam. We were promised a better way of life but
 instead our fisheries were decimated and our communities destroyed. Over
the  past ten years we have learnt that compensation will not solve our
problems and  will only cause new problems. We believe that the only way
forward for our  communities is for the dam to be removed and the river
restored.  

For ten months we have waited here patiently for the Thai government and
the  World Bank to visit us, listen to us, and take steps to correct our
problems.  For ten months we have been ignored.  

When we learnt that the Director of the World Bank’s Thailand Country
Department was coming to visit we were excited. Many of us gathered to hear
Mr.  Shivakumar speak and tell him about our problems. We hoped he would
listen to  our stories, acknowledge the Bank’s responsibility for our lost
livelihoods, and  offer to help us in our mission to remove the dam. We
were wrong. 

Mr. Shivakumar came to tell us that he would like to deliver us
"development". That he would like to help us to "move forward", find new
occupations, build fish ponds. He told us to look to the future and forget
about  the past. He did not listen with an open heart and open mind.  

We cannot do as Mr. Shivakumar asks us because we cannot forget about the
past. The past is our lives, our culture, our heritage, our families, our
fisheries. The past is development as conceived of by the World Bank and
EGAT.  The past is what has led us today to protest so that we can reach a
future that  we can be happy with. 

We wish to inform you that we reject the World Bank’s concept of
development,  which has only brought us misery. We do not want the World
Bank’s money or your  development. We believe that the Bank is trying to
silence our protests and our  demands for restoration of the Mun River. We
will not be silenced. We will not  move until our demands have been met. 

Therefore, today, on the occasion of your visit to Thailand, we call on the
 World Bank to:   
* Take responsibility for the destruction you have caused to our lives and
  to the ecology and fisheries of the Mun River, acknowledge your mistakes
and    respect our demands.
*   
* Work with the Thai government to decommission Pak Mun and restore the Mun
   River, and 
* 

Restore the Mun River! Remove the dams! 

Your Sincerely, 

Affected villagers by Pak Mun Dam and Assembly of the Poor
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Chainarong  Sretthachau
Southeast Asia Rivers Network(SEARIN)
25/5 Moo 2 Soi  Sukhapibarn 27
Changkhien-Jed Yod Road
Chang Phuek
Muang
Chiang Mai  50300
Thailand
Tel/Fax: (66) 53-221157
Email: searin@chmai.loxinfo.co.th
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