Walking the walk, one step at a time

I have said for years that I refuse to be the little liberal leprechaun jumping around screaming for change. I like the imagery. What I mean is this: I am weary of criticizing the current system without envisioning an alternative. The problems we are seeing are very real. Globally, the income gap is widening; 358 billionaires control a total net worth of $760 billion—equal to the combined net worth of the poorest 2.5 billion of the world’s people. The planet’s resources are being consumed at an alarming rate without thought to environmental limits. Traditional livelihoods are being destroyed in the name of economic and industrial development. Cultures are being clear cut and paved over to build a consumer monoculture superhighway. These problems—and countless others that keep me awake at night—are not isolated incidents of carelessness but the product of a ideology generally accepted as the solution to the world’s ills. The credo of economists, politicians, corporate leaders, and anyone deemed to be credible by the world’s elite is growth, free trade, and no regulation. Say it three times. To denounce neoliberal ideology, free trade, is heresy in the circles of people who run the world.

The people who realize the lethal fallacy in this way of thinking can’t afford to lose. The majority of the world’s population is not benefiting from development policies; in fact we are spiraling into a world very different than the one we envision. In order to slow—if not stop—a global system that doesn’t work for the majority of its inhabitants, it is imperative that we not only speak out but also act. We must work to create the world we envision. We must work together to enact a positive form of development.

Many communities that we’ve visited in Thailand are doing just this. They are protesting destructive forms of development in which they are denied a voice, and working to develop the people and culture in their communities while working sustainably with the land. In Yasothorn, villagers are organizing under the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) to support organic sustainable agriculture. They are creating innovative and creative ways to support the people in their communities in the difficult transition to organic agriculture. Villagers are provided with hands-on, community based training, learning new techniques from each other. Rather than the establishment’s view that these forms of agriculture are antiquated, they are looking at new technology and integration systems to enrich their soil and increase yields sustainably. They are educating community youth about traditional practices and positive ways of living, using intergenerational pass-ons and interactive methods.
The focus on developing the potential of community youth is integral to this positive development. In Udorn Thani, the Youth Group of the Conservation Club is organizing to protect their way of life against the development of a potash mine. Two young people we spoke with from this group are getting their university degrees in agricultural science and business in order to form a company that sells organic fertilizer after graduation. The Iron Ladies of the Conservation Club train community members in sustainable livelihoods. This group has networked with other villagers across the Northeast and in other countries in order to form a coalition of people working to preserve and progress sustainable development. These networks that form out of collective struggle are an innovative and modern method of social organization that will be essential in the future.

Working and living with these communities has offered me an alternative view of development. Villagers are not anti-progress nor anti-development. They foresee a productive future based on the development of human potential and social values. Where before I had only books and theories to fall back on in my opposition to destructive development, I now have a foundation of knowledge that will inform my future struggle for positive change. I am intent on working to perfect my vision of positive development and to fight to further this vision. I will continue speaking out in my opposition to injustices, but I will also speak out about the solutions I see. These solutions are grassroots, building the strength of communities from the ground up. We can enact change together.

Hannah D. Clark - University of Michigan

Collective Coffee, Collective Problems

I'm an American-born college student who is privileged to spend a semester abroad in Thailand studying development issues. My apartments in Thailand and in the U.S. have electricity, air conditioning, and running water. In the mornings, I like to stop in the local mini-mart and buy a box of chocolate milk. The electricity powering the computer I'm typing on may have been generated from one of the many gigantic hydropower dams along the Mekong river and it's tributaries. Those dams may have destroyed the fishing livelihoods of villages living downstream from the dam. I'm not sure. Sixty-six different types of minerals (and thousands of tons of soil and rock) have been extracted from the earth to make the computer I'm using to type this blog. The chemicals used in the mining process may or may not leach into the groundwater and affect nearby communities; again, I'm not sure. My chocolate milk box says Thai-Danish on it, but I'm not entirely sure what that even means or even where it came from. My current understanding of my role in development is as a consumer, more confused than not.

I know that when I go back to Tulsa, Oklahoma where I go to school, I will opt to support local businesses, as opposed to giant, mega, box stores. Here too, my role is to use my dollars to vote for small, local development. But in the back of my head I'm still torn: is voting with my wallet still buying into the current system? Is there another way to opt out?

I think that the world is at a critical threshold. World trade is plummeting, shareholders are ousting corporate board members, and tax dollars are propping up corporations that would otherwise fail. In short, the economy is headed for the crapper. A lot of people are suffering because of short sighted policies made by the perverted wedding between corporate America and the government. Wallets are shrinking, and banks are more hesitant to give out small business loans. So how does this affect my role in development? My theory in a nutshell: A world plagued by global problems would do well not to pursue "global solutions". Development that centers on the locality of a place is becoming more, and more important.

My case in point: my favorite coffee shop in Tulsa, The Collective, had to close on April 06, despite "struggling against the downturn in the economy." (www.thecollectivetulsa.com) It was some of the saddest news I've heard since my time in Thailand. It's so frustrating because local businesses are exactly what we need, but we're caught in a catch-22 of sorts. The Collective was only one of the few coffee shops in Tulsa that used local, organic products as much as possible, as well as Fair Trade coffee and teas. Now I have to bike the extra two miles to the Coffee House on Cherry Street to get my dose of Fair Trade coffee; but what about the people who don't or can't? What about the demographic that's opting out of Fair Trade because of the same downturn that closed the Collective?

As much as development needs to be specific to a locality, it's also connected to the larger world. My biggest fear is that in this "economic downturn" people of different localities may be pitted against each other. Like the Tulsan buying free trade coffee to save a few cents, and the Fair Trade coffee bean grower in Guatemala who has seen sales drop. Development needs to foster that solidarity between localities. And so, community ties must be strong in the coming years. As a student, I will work to develop and maintain those ties within and between the university and the city of Tulsa.

Jenny Hardy - University of Tulsa

Fighting the Mega Project

“There is no justice at all,” said a grey haired member at a recent exchange with electricity-grid villagers. He is referring to EGATs plans to create a new mega power line, which will run through Mae Non community. “The government didn’t talk to me, they just informed the headman and then began to mark our trees,” he continues fervently. This is not a unique situation. Many of the villagers feel they are lacking participation in this situation. They express deep worry that the government takes advantage of them because of their lack of information. They complain, rightfully, that their suggestions are never considered. “We had to go to EGAT to ask about what they would do with our land,” says a young female community leader. “The government didn’t talk to us; they tried to hide the project from us. They didn’t give us details because they were afraid that we would resist.”

The government was not wrong in this assumption. After seeking out their own information, from other communities, like NGOs and village organizations, the villagers of Mae Non show strong resistance to the building of a new power line across their land. “[The government] tried to corrupt us with money and to divide us. They told us that we needed to sacrifice for the ‘greater good’ of the country,” the community leader continues. As loyal Thai citizens, and as Buddhists, the notion of the ‘greater good’ has created a sense of moral defiance within villagers. However, they are aware that the government is asking them to sacrifice too much. “A majority of the people who will benefit [from this power line] are the investors. Those who will benefit least have to sacrifice the most,” shouts an older woman from the back.

The woman is not wrong. The Mae Non community will not reap benefits from building a new power line. There is already a power line on their property, created in the early 1970’s, from which they receive electricity. The new line would contribute to Thailand’s reserved energy sources through bringing down electricity bought from Laos.

Upon completion, the mega power line will infringe deeply on the livelihoods of Mae Non villagers. Plots of land containing power lines have many limits. “There are restrictions on the things you can do to land around the power lines,” explains the headwoman. “[V]illagers are required to ask the government for permission before growing or building on land with a power line.” The presence of lines on a property also restricts any planting directly under the power line and prohibits growing tall trees 15m on either side of a line. For a village such as Mae Non that already is home to one power line, the presence of another could make much of the land unusable due to regulations. Furthermore, the land is nearly impossible to sell because the government owns the area directly beneath the line. The man with grey hair adds, “We feel our rights are taken away because we are constantly controlled by others.”

Cultural rituals are also at risk. In the coming months this village, like many other rice producing communities, will partake in the rocket festival. During this centuries old tradition, farming communities congregate to set off sacrificial rockets into the sky to ask the gods for rain. In the years since EGAT built the first power line, Mae Non villagers have had to practice extreme caution setting off rockets on their land. In the creation of another line, the community will be unable to set off the traditional rockets safely.

The government, although they have not out rightly stated it, knows the repercussions of building power lines. The power line is mapped to avoid rubber plantations—because the costs to build on them are very high—and land owned by investors. Instead, the line will cut across the rice fields of small communities.

Offering preemptive compensation also alludes to the government’s awareness of the consequences of creating a power line. Some villagers have signed up for the government compensation plan, but have not yet received their share. Many others feel that monetary compensation will not make up for their loses. “Even though they give out compensation—that is a one time thing—after that we have lost our rights forever,” says the headwoman. The grey haired man chimes in, “we depend mostly on the land. When our children grow up they will still need the land—no matter how they chose to live the land will finance it.” With the sentiment that the situation would be irreparable, many villagers—with the help of a local conservation club—have submitted court cases, suing EGAT. The villagers say that they hope to close down the project and do not want monetary compensation from the government. “We are not fighting for lots of money or for our community only. But we are fighting for other communities in the future to be able to fight back too,” says the headwoman. The community is not only fighting for other electricity grid communities, but the many communities, which will suffer from the mega projects that will be fueled by the electricity of the power line.

“If we can stop the power line then the potash mine Non Nom Boon will probably stop too. All of us, we are fighting the same big project.”


Perla Bernstein - University of Wisconsin-Madison

On Roles, Consciousness, and Activism

In the sweltering sala within the village wat, P’Suvit attempts to shed light on issues of social responsibility and consciousness building that students have been struggling with throughout the progression of the program.

Prior to meeting him, certain key items about him were made known to us. One, he had shot a man. Two, he can expel rant upon rant on the pitfalls of capitalism. And lastly, we have been advised that to truly comprehend his responses sometimes we must trust that his tendency to speak on divergent topics is his way of helping students to understand the complexity of the issue.

For any individual, the task of providing the answers to questions surrounding these issues is an overwhelming one. Our questions are far-ranging: What exactly constitutes as positive and equitable social change? And what is our role in this world of carefully placed and volatile power lines, structural adjustment programs, and dog-eat-dog neoliberalist ideology? Furthermore, how do you adequately address the expansive needs of students from diverse backgrounds, the majority of whom have had few to no levels of previous organizing experience and some whom may not readily identify as activists?

In considering this, I believe P’Suvit chose to address social consciousness in terms of a constantly developing process that is as much internal as it is focused on observing the external. “The first step is to develop an inner-consciousness,” says P’Suvit. “The next step is to act on that consciousness”.

Understandably, this can be frustrating for students who wonder, “Well, exactly what kind of consciousness are we striving to develop?” In this sense, it is not clear whether P’Suvit was talking about a political or moral consciousness, but presumably, it could mean that the two are inherent to one another. According to P’Suvit, the concept of right and wrong becomes obvious if one observes the way power is structured. One only has to look at the way decisions are made by authorities to see where their favoritism lies, and as this is a persistent trend on a global scale, what kind of conclusion can we draw from this? The evidence is there. We only need to keep interrogating it.

How this consciousness is to look like is no finite idea. It is dynamic and constantly evolving. When I think of this and what P’Suvit has said, I can’t help but remember my friend’s (and fellow activist) advice from back home: “Consider the challenges before you as a way for you to perfect your personal methodology for dealing”. I can’t help to think how true this is, especially now.

Muriel Leung - Sarah Lawrence College

Learning the Word Enough

“You can’t call it development, it’s damage!” an Iron Lady passionately voiced. Her words of honesty linger through my mind, leaving me with one question. What is development?
This unit we have been studying various development schemes, such as potash mining in Udon Thani in the North East of Thailand. Meh Boon, my mom during our home-stay, is an Iron Lady. The Iron Ladies is a group that united in protest to the potential development of a potash mine under their villages. This mine would be the first potash mine in Thailand, as well as the third largest potash mine in the world.
Potash is a mineral widely used to make chemical fertilizer. As of right now, Thailand imports all of their potash to supply farmers with this destructive and expensive chemical fertilizer.
“For people who join our group, we do organic farming and support people to stop using chemical fertilizers and return to organic fertilizer” an Iron lady explained one of their methods of protesting the potash mine. Self-sufficiency is crucial in fighting the government and large companies.
However, this potash mine, according to the Thai-Italian company is considered to be, “risky, but a better life for all.” The Thai-Italian company is a lucrative company that supports large development schemes in Thailand. Thai-Italian has never built potash mines before, but ensured CIEE students in their extensive presentation, that they have created a well thought out design for the mine.
Would it really be a better life for all? These villagers have been asked to sacrifice their quality of life to support the quality of life of the wealthy. This mine would only benefit the investors who are directly developing the mine. It would also increase the dependency of local farmer’s use of chemical fertilizer, as one of the main ingredients would now not need to be imported.
The increased use of chemical fertilizers would be disastrous. The chemical affects on the remaining fertile land would potentially destroy the eco-system.
“This issue may not seem big for people who are looking down at the issue, but for people who live off of nature, it’s a huge issue.” P-aew.
Throughout this semester, I have been exposed to the affects of big development schemes that support my life back in America. Up to this day, the way I have lived my life has been unconsciously supporting destruction, rather than development.
At first, with this newfound awareness, I questioned myself among others, how we could stop this kind of development, but I soon realized that the real problem was over-development. So how can we slow it down?
Suvit Gulapwong, an NGO who works closely with the Iron ladies, among many other activists enlightened me from a Buddhist perspective, “The word enough”. In a culture that values more as better, I easily forget to practice such a simple concept. Every individual’s “enough” will be different, so it has to be determined by the individual practicing this way of life. It can’t be pre-determined or written as a set prescription. It needs to have honesty and commitment.
To me, development should be looked at as development of people, not development for people. I think education should encourage personal growth by providing students the tools needed for growth. It should support the process of becoming self-aware so humans can eventually become socially conscious. Ultimately, if we can rely on ourselves, we can reduce the needs of technology and infrastructure.
Sometimes, we have to step outside of our environment to actually see ourselves. Learning about development in Thailand has been a lens to see the way I live my life and my role in development.


--Piper Harrington, Lesley College '11, Holistic Psychology