We came to Nanonbong to learn how these villagers
connected their struggle for a clean environment with human rights to stop the
mining. This trip fit into our studies as we are a group of students studying
human rights at Mahidol University. While
we drove all night through the countryside, we couldn’t see in the dark, but as
the van swerved around curves we were aware that we were in the hills and
forest of Northeast Thailand. We arrived
in the village at the meeting space just after sunrise. We started learning right
away about the villagers’ struggles with an unresponsive business and a
repressive government that ignored peoples’ needs, neither of which thought they had any environmental
responsibility, and both lacked recognition of human rights. This story grabbed
our attention for the next several days.
During the first meet and great it became clear women have
strong leadership roles that form images
They host groups like ours to share their story which continues building
a movement to protect villagers throughout Thailand. We stayed in the homes of
people who each have their own story in this struggle against the mine,
reminding me of trips I have done with Habitat for Humanity to build houses. There is nothing more rewarding than living
with people and listening to them tell their own story; these are the stories
that one always remembers.
of fighting Goliath, a Goliath made up
of the mining company and government authorities that supported the gold mine,
with some wins, but some loses as well. We learned later that over 200 women
were part of “People Who Love Their Hometown" forming a strong foundation
for the organization. It hasn’t just been the women, but they have been the
leaders and the strength behind this fight.
We were taken on a tour around the land as villagers
continued to tell their stories, we saw dried up rice fields that could no
longer be cultivated, standing contaminated waters just below the gold mine
where plants were dying, and at the top we saw the actual mine. The only thing
left was remnants of a mountain that once was forested and was left bare after
the mining company left. One remembrance of Ms. Hongchai brought her to tears
as she recounted the night that men in black masks attacked her and the other
villagers as they blocked access to the mine by building a wall and setting up
human shields. What these men in black
masks didn’t realize and the people who hired them to attack failed to plan fo,r
was how this incident gave solidarity and strength to those fighting against the
mine.
After the villagers fought off the men in black masks, the
media picked up their story and a young woman from the village, Wanpen Khunna age 14, student in
Loei, [S1] participated
in a broadcast on the Thai Public Broadcasting System (PBS). In this broadcast Wanpen reported that Thung Kham Ltd polluted the Huai River in her
community, ruining their drinking water and a major food source. We first met her on a tour of the land around
the mine just downhill from the holding pond that leaks contaminated water. She was accompanied by other youth from the
village and they were all introduced as youth leaders that run environmental youth
camps. The story about her PBS broadcast
came out later and we were told that the broadcast led to Thung Kham Ltd filing
a criminal deformation suite against Wanpen.
She was not alone; Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation
(SLAPP) have been filed against other villagers and activist all over Thailand as
an intimidation tactic to get activist to cease their protests against
controversial development projects.
The mine, even though it has stopped operations, has left a
village in distress not only in destroying the land but also health issues
continue to plague the villagers. According to analysis by the Loei Provincial
Office of Public Health and Wang Saphung Hospital, tests show about 100 people
living around the mines have levels of cyanide, arsenic and mercury in their blood
that exceed safety standards. Unfortunately,
this contamination, the government claims, cannot be linked to the mining
operation. The villagers experienced
with the contaminated waters from the mine disagree with this conclusion. As students of human rights, we interviewed
several villagers who were having health problems. One was Pa Pun
Khangchampa, age 85, who rolled out of her house in what I would call a
wheel chair platform because she can’t walk. Her house is in the village of
Bang Kok Sathon “City of Canals,” down the hill from the mine’s holding pond,
where it has been documented to contain contaminated water which still stands
and is seeping chemicals into the communities’ water source. Bang Kok Sathon village has 36 houses with
120 people. Pa Pun Khangchampa talked
about how she has lost most of her muscle strength in her legs and has
recurring rashes. This all started four years after the gold mining operations commenced
and many villagers have experienced similar health issues.
We also interviewed Mae Boon Ma, 52 years old, the wife of
Kenchaporn who is 57 years old and lives around the corner from Pa Pun Khangchampa. Mae Boon Ma spends her days taking care
of her husband, because his kidneys are failing, and she has to perform a home
style dialysis five times a day because there is no healthcare facility in the
village. Mae Boon Ma is also having health problems because she has high levels
of arsenic in her blood. When we
interviewed her, she was at home surrounded by members of her family and we
learned that the people in these villages are a close-knit group of people that
look out for each other. We saw that women are more affected by this
contamination because they not only suffer from health issues, but they become
care givers even when they themselves have health issues.
Ms. Hongchai and Wanpen Khunna, leaders in the village,
continue their activism because even though the mining operations have been
shut down the villagers are in the process of healing. These two women and the community
organization “People Who Love Their Hometown" share their stories and
encourage people to speak up against injustice all over Thailand. The last
night on our trip we celebrated our new friendships, eating together and singing
songs, we were all so glad that we shared this experience. There is no doubt
that the villagers will go on fighting and telling their stories to inspire
people like me and my fellow students from all over the world to carry the
message of how villagers can fight Goliath and win, a story so important to our
future human rights work. My hope is
that sometime in the future all who travel get to experience local villages like
Nanonbong hearing their stories and passing them on to make the world a better
place for all of us.
