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DAM-L LS: Pak Mun gates opened for one year (fwd)
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Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 10:50:46 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200112171850.fBHIokc19944@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Pak Mun gates opened for one year
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Dear Friends
The Pak Mun gates will remain open for one year, from June 2001-June 2002.
This was according to a cabinet resolution on Decmeber 11. The following
update comes from Southeast Asia Rivers Network. An article from the Nation
follows this update.
"The reason is the Government wanted the gates to be open for one full year
to complete the data collection. It is also as a result of the pressure
from the villagers who held the long march, the Ubon study team and the
committee
for social reparations.
The villagers at Pak Mun are very happy with this resolution. However, they
still demand that the gates be opened permanently. After the Government
made the
resolution, the villagers changed their route by not going to BKK but
walking within Isaan (NE Thailand) through the Mun-Chi-Songkam river basins
and will walk along the right bank of the Mekong river. It will take about
8-12 months and 2,000 kms long.
At Pak Mun, the water is going down, the rapids are recovering and fish are
migrating back to the Mekong. We found 130 fish species and hope will have
more. We are very busy with the data collection and we found that the
livelihood of the villagers is recovering. Most of them are able to catch
the fish for their food and income. Many of them return to their land along
the river, which once was submerged, for growing vegetable. In
January-February, the river bank will be covered with riverine vegetables.
The gates of Bang Pakong dam have also been opened. The Bang Pakong dam is
located in East
Thailand. After it was completed, it created many environmental problems
particularly the water pollution and riverbank erosion. The villagers
living downstream are campaigning for the dam to be decommissioned. The dam was
built by RID and the FS conducted by JICA.
Long march opens the gates
The Nation
Published on Dec 16, 2001
For Pak Mool villagers, the decision to leave open the sluice gates of Pak
Mool dam for one year was not an act of mercy by the government, but rather
the fruit of their prolonged 70-day street protest.
About 130 villagers effected by the Pak Mool and Rasi Salai dams were
walking along a small street in Nakhon Ratchasima on Tuesday when the
Cabinet announced that it had agreed with a proposal by the Prime
Minister's Office to keep the dams' gates open for one year. The villagers
were on the 64th day of their long march from the Pak Mool dam site in Ubon
Ratchathani to Government House in Bangkok to demand the gates of both Pak
Mool and Rasi Salai dams be kept open permanently.
Although, the Cabinet decision only concerned Pak Mool and not Rasi Salai
dam as the villagers had demanded, they nevertheless were satisfied with
the resolution and changed the destination of the march to the Northeast
region instead of heading to the capital.
On October 9, the villagers left the dam site which they had occupied and
turned into a protest site some months before. They believed this would
force politicians in the House, 730 km away from the dam site, to listen to
them after many months of voicing their demands.
Over the past eight years since the Pak Mool dam was built in 1993, the
villagers could not make a living from the Mool River since fish could not
swim up through the dam from the Mekong River to lay eggs. The "river of
life" for these Northeasterners became completely useless to them after the
Rasi Salai dam was finished in 1995.
The villagers have turned themselves from fresh water fishermen into road
warriors armed with banners. Through the streets they roamed on their
odyssey to Bangkok, staying overnight at temples along the way. At the
moment they are camping in a small temple in Nakhon Ratchasima.
In 69 days from Ubon Ratchathani they have passed through Yasothon, Si Sa
Ket, Roi-et, Surin, Buri Ram and now Nakhon Ratchasima, the villagers'
schedule is repeated day by day.
Getting up at about 4 am, they refresh themselves and rush into the street,
forming two lines as they prepare to start the day's journey.
Before the first light of day the march begins. With banners and flags
demanding the permanent opening of all sluice gates of Pak Mool and Rasi
Salai dams in their hands and plastic bottles of water hanging around their
waists, the villagers walk slowly in silence.
A cassette of a monk chanting is played through an old speaker mounted on a
pick-up truck loaded up with essentials which accompanies them.
"This is to show the public that our protest is not a violent action.
Dhamma is always in our minds," said Boonmee Khamruang , a Pak Mool
villager who is leading the rally. Normally, the parade continues for three
to four hours every day. The responsibility for searching for a temple in
which to stay overnight belongs to a group of leaders. They always look for
a destination that is not more than 15km away, otherwise it would beyond
the ability of the villagers to walk to it.
Breakfast is cooked when the rally reaches that day's destination.
To urban folk, the villagers might seem to be crazy people who are
torturing themselves just to lure public and government interest, but to
rural residents who have suffered a similar problem, the peaceful rally is
the best way.
Through about 500 km from Ubon Ratchathani to Nakhon Ratchasima, the rally
has received moral support from many people. Some give them small packets
of sticky rice, some provide dried fish, and some help them to distribute
leaflets to inform others of the objective of the rally.
Significantly, the protesters have received moral support from a friend in
India. Medha Patkar, one of the leaders of Indian protests against a series
of dams in the Narmada River, one of the country's holy rivers, visit them
when they were in Buri Ram.
After more than 16 years of fighting against the dams, Medha's Save Narmada
Movement was successful in halting the Sardar Sarovar dam, the largest of
165 dams designated to block the Narmada River. The dam was designed to be
139 metres high and would have required the relocation of about 300,000
villagers. Construction of the dam eventually stopped at about 90 metres.
"We [the movement] are here with you. Don't give up," she encouraged the
villagers.
Although the dam gates are now open and the rally's destination has
changed, the desire of the villagers remains.
"Take the dam out, return our river," one villager demanded.
So, the rally goes on around the Northeast. For how long, none of the
protesters could say, but they are determined that they will not give up
until the dams are completely knocked down.
Pennapa Hongthong
THE NATION
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