Isaan Student Activism

Education

For many university students in northeastern Thailand, life outside of class is often summed up in three words: “eat, play and sleep.” This is no different than many students in the U.S. Last week, however, I had the opportunity to join up with a network of student activist groups on the Mahasarakam University campus, including the Create Dreams Club and the People’s Farmhouse Organization. Both groups are engaged in the revival of the Student Federation of the Northeast, an organization long in existence, but which has faced membership challenges in recent years. In late August, Mahasarakam will be hosting the Federation’s Assembly, with student groups and activists from all over the region coming together for dreaming and strategizing.

On Wednesday the 15th, the Federation hosted a seminar titled “A History of Isaan Farmers’ Fight Since ‘Puu Mee Boon’ to the Present Time.” Students from Ubon Ratchatani and Khon Kaen University were also involved. The event was kicked-off with a musical performance and slideshow of rural people’s movements in Thailand, as well as La Via Campesina in Chile and the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico. I was impressed by the presenters’ knowledge of these movements as it shows their efforts to connect with peoples’ movements globally. The seminar was led by P’ Leuhn of the Assembly of Famers’ and Agriculturalists, along with Joy and Muon, a young NGO and a student-activist, respectively. Most of the discussion focused on the relationship between Isaan (northeastern Thailand) and the Thai state, which historically has been characterized by state pressure to control and exploit rural communities. Isaan people were not always viewed as Thai, but more so as forest people that needed to be brought into civilization. Via the expansion of state bureaucracy and infrastructure, the state was able to exert power and control over the hinterlands.

P’ Luehn pointed out that according to the government’s democratic growth, over the past 20 years power has been put into the hands of the people. But after spending time in a lot of rural communities, this power has yet to be seen with in the people. Villagers are unable to access the government offices of environment, natural resources or land reform. The Communist Party of Thailand (CPT), during it’s short life, was able to bring change for rural people, but the government only wanted to stop the party – destroying forest, building roads and cassava promotion meant people followed government policies.

But resistance has always characterized this historical landscape of environmental degradation. Beginning with the “Puu Mee Boon” movement in Phibun, Ubon Ratchatani during the formation of the Thai state, to movements beginning more than 25 years ago for community forest rights. By 1985, communities throughout southern Isaan formed a conservation network to resist the government’s Kor Jor Gor “forest management” policy of eucalyptus plantations and community forest destruction. By the end of Kor Jor Gor in the early 1990s, with a chaotic political situation and increasing militarization in the northeast, the Assembly of the Poor (AOP) formed around a number of important issues. Representing people’s movements against large-scale dams, for slum communities’ rights, alternative agriculture (AAN), and community forest management, the AOP continues to struggle to make the people’s voice heard. P’ Luehn concluded by again pointing out that power is still not the people’s, and asked simply, “where does exploitation come from? Why are villagers exploited?”

Muon, a student-activist from Mahasarakam, continued the discussion on the present day socio-political situation in the northeast. He pointed out, “Students don’t feel they have anything to do with farmers – these issues aren’t connected to them. But students can be a force for justice in society and work with their energy for farmers. Farms surround this university – I saw two older farmers working in the fields recently, while two students were flirting with each other right nearby. It made me think, what are these people thinking? Maybe they just see the farmers as low class, but they fail to see the importance of these farmers or respect them.”

Following up on this ignorance on the part of students, Joy described a conventional educational system in which students are supposed to study, go to class and once finished, get a good-paying job. But to young NGOs like Joy, there is still a lot to learn from traditional wisdom in society. Joy also put a request out to students to go and work with villagers and see how it makes them feel – does it bring happiness?

The exchange that followed the seminar was wide-ranging and lively. There was some consensus created that many students do care about social and environmental issues, but they need someone to help them approach these issues and help them begin to work for change. Further, the student-activist groups were told by a few professors they need to believe that they can have a role in future societal change. As Isaan farmers’ struggles are for their survival, students can have a role in expressing this struggle. Yet class self-awareness is a challenge, as youth no longer want to be farmers or even help their families in the fields anymore. This also prevents students from seeing the value in activism. Few students are like Muon, who pointed out that as the son of a farmer, he wants to complete his education and continue his father’s livelihood.

In the evening following the seminar, everyone gathered at the nearby evening market and hooked up the amps and speakers for a concert and campaign event. The night was filled with protest songs, folk songs and even a few pop hits. At one point, a student from Khon Kaen got on stage and made a call to students to join in and work for change, which was definitely the most moving part of the night. The market served as a great forum, as students sat and ate their noodle soup and listened (at least we hope) to what we had to say. After the show was over, we headed back to the People’s Farmhouse to plan out next steps for the Federation’s assembly in August and plenty of discussion late into the rainy night.


Action

The student-activist network in Mahasarakam isn’t all talk. When classes were over on Friday, six students, along with Udee and P’ Breeo from the AAN came here to Baan Non Yang in Yasothon province for a weekend-long photography class for local youth. The group even got out into AAN President Paw Bunsong Mahtkao’s fields to help with rice transplanting.

P’ Wik, from the Sustainable Agriculture Foundation in Bangkok was our teacher for the weekend, as she is a talented photographer with some teaching experience. Students got to take the lead in learning techniques for photocomposition, tone, balance and content. We all worked together in small groups and gave feedback on each other’s photos throughout the weekend. In the end, the local high school and middle-school students, who rarely have the opportunity to pick up a camera, took beautiful photographs and I think they got a lot out of walking around their community and finding interesting things to take photos of or talking with villagers before taking their photo.

While this past weekend’s activities were small and may not seem all that “activist-y,” they represent students’ genuine interest in working with rural communities and taking the time to work with villagers. For these activists, their time at Mahasarakam means a lot more than “eat, play, sleep.” By working to inform and educate their classmates on campus and heading into rural communities with their free time, these students represent a tradition of activism on which many Thai NGO careers are built. Their efforts are enabled by the strength of farmers’ organizations like the AAN, which welcome students into their communities and help coordinate activities, despite even this season’s busy planting schedule.

Since studying with CIEE Khon Kaen in 2006, I’ve wanted to learn more about the student movement in the northeast and engage with young Thai activists. It is important that these student networks are working to revive the Student Federation of the Northeast. Simply organizing events like the ones this past week represents an empowering process of coordination and critical involvement. I look forward to seeing where this movement will go next.

Coming Together for Food Justice

Here's a post I recently submitted to Organic on the Green - some thoughts on the possibilities for food and agriculture movement organizing after the 2009 ENGAGE Global Convergence:

How do we form new relationships within this growing movement for sustainable agriculture and food justice? Where are the opportunities and what are the limitations?

As someone who has gained from the diversity of food and agriculture blogs (as well as building my own - surinfarmersupport.org), I’m often content with accessing new information and campaign updates via the web. It’s been an important tool for educating us all on important and complex issues. This medium will only go further in empowering our ideas for what a more sustainable and just food system should look like.

Further, as an activist living in Thailand and working with Thai farmers and NGOs, much of my connection to the movement in the U.S. has been built upon e-mail messages and blogpost comments. This is what it has to be, given time differences and schedules. And, I do feel connected – Civil Eats posted a link to my blog, and the Greenhorns invited me to post on their Irresistible Fleet of Bicycles.

Yet, at the same time, activists online seem to spend a lot of time debating – I’m thinking here about the comfood discussion this winter about Alice Waters’s food elitism or last week’s back and forth about the validity of the term “food desert. Yes, Alice Waters says some elitist things and yes, food desert is an “inadequate term” (thank you, Brahm Ahmadi of People’s Grocery). It seems we spend a lot of time critiquing our agreement, which is important for uniting the movement under similar language, yet when folks actually come together, share ideas and work for a common cause, this movement benefits greatly.

This coming together is the working model for the Alternative Agriculture Network (AAN) in Thailand. Realizing that Thailand is a much smaller country, one thing I’ve begun to realize is the importance of forming local groups or networks. When Thai farmers, activists and NGOs are able to spend a day or two critically approaching their work and planning for future efforts, the AAN maintains it’s direction and strengthens allies throughout Thailand and abroad.

Upon returning to the U.S. for a visit this summer, I realized the simple beauty (and importance) of seeing people face-to-face and exchanging with them, discussing current issues and planning out solutions. I’ve been away from the U.S. for one year and will be away for another, and despite the current recession, the movement here for a better food system continues going forward and gaining strength. Though Costco seems to now be filled with organic carrots, lettuce and apples from all over the world, small farmers’ markets are popping up all over the country. Meanwhile, organizations like Our School at Blair Grocery are empowering urban youth in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. Here we have opportunities for critique and celebration.

This past weekend at the 2009 ENGAGE National Convergence, I got to learn more about the work happening in New Orleans for food justice, as well as link up with Kandace Vallejo, Erica Dodt and Dylan Cook from the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA). (Thanks to Gillian’s last post - Bigger Than Just Tomatoes - for introducing their work). ENGAGE is a coalition of returned study abroad students that builds lifelong connections and cooperative action between peoples and social movements working towards a just and sustainable world. It was great to make these new friends and build allies for ENGAGE and Thailand's Alternative Agriculture Network. Together, we organized a workshop and brainstormed ways for ENGAGE members to get more involved with fair food around the country.

How are we going to connect rice farmers in northeastern Thailand with Latino, Mayan Indian and Haitian immigrant tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida? We’ve got plenty of ideas and we look forward to acting in solidarity for the CIW Encuentro in October. There are a lot of challenges in bringing together the different parts of this movement, but we can’t overlook the value of sitting down together for a common goal. Nor can we fail to integrate all the tools that Internet communication provides for us. And I hope that more local, regional meetings or convergences will be important in the future of coordinating our efforts. How do we find a balance? What do you think are our next steps?

Sanitsuda speaks

Here's an important Op-Ed from Sanitsuda Ekachai, an editor for the Bangkok Post:

Fear of foreigner on the farm

Hands off! The back-breaking rice farming work is only for Thais. If you are a foreigner wanting to invest in farming here, our laws allow you to partake only in the more profitable business of food processing and other agriculture-related investments which require high capital and technology.

No, no, you foreigners cannot engage in contract-farming here, either. That would turn independent farmers into hired hands on their own land. That would be daylight robbery. Only Thai agro giants can do that and still call it agricultural development!

But if you still want to invest in farming, get a Thai front. The law says it is okay if the paperwork states that your Thai partners own up to 51%. Reality does not count.

No, this is not a joke. This is how our laws on farming protection work.

What is more stunning is that when the government cited this law to appease the nationalist outcry against the Gulf Cooperation Council's interest in rice farming here, it worked like magic in ending the anxiety, leaving the real issue - that of environmentally destructive farming - as unaddressed as ever.

Should we allow foreigners to invest in farming in Thailand? When the world is galvanised by global warming and economic globalisation amid depleting natural resources, this is no longer an applicable question.

Intensive chemical farming has hardened the soil, destroyed the organisms that nourish soil fertility, and severely contaminated the waterways and the food chain with cancer-inducing residues. Is this not a crime if the Thais do it?

What if some foreign investors want to invest in ecological farming; should we say no to them? Rice farming is a politically sensitive issue because rice is not only a major export but also a national symbol of sorts. But if the government wants to protect poor farmers, why have its policies principally served the middlemen and exporters while strengthening the grip of agro-business monopoly?

Thai or not, no one should be allowed to engage in farming which destroys the ecology and poses health threats to society. Period.

Is it possible that our fear of land grabbing by oil-rich Arabs has political, even racist, elements? When ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra wanted to introduce a rice farming scheme from the Middle East, he was lambasted as engaging in a sell-out. PM Abhisit Vejjajiva certainly does not want to be seen as following in the same footsteps.

But why a thunderous no to the Arabs, when no one in power has paid any attention to the Chinese investors who have massively cut down the forests in the North for their orange plantations, filling the valleys with the deathly stench of toxic farm chemicals? And had it not been for fierce opposition from grassroots groups, China would have enjoyed the eucalyptus tree farms deal from the Forestry Department, too.

Aren't orange and eucalyptus plantations farming activities?

Amid fears of land-grabbing foreigners, the Democrat government is all set to give local landlords a big bonanza. Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam has promised to elevate some one million informal land ownership papers called Sor Kor I into fully-fledged land title deeds within February next year. Such a rush will make it next to impossible to investigate land ownership irregularities.

Many Sor Kor I sites are located in the commons, on scenic hills, or by the beaches where they should not be. Thanks to corruption, they are already in the hands of land speculators.

The land reform movement demands the return of this illegally acquired land to be distributed to the landless under a community ownership system. The government said yes to one such pilot project, then immediately announced a plan to reward the landlords.

The landlords are Thai, Mr Thaworn claims in defense. And the more land you own, the more taxes you will be paying to the state, he added. With such an absurd rationale, there is no hope for land reform - and the political instability rooted in social injustice will continue with no end.


Santisuda provides useful commentary on the issue presented in my last post. Contract farming, as already carried out by companies like CP, has meant farmers becoming laborers on their own land (or what once was theirs). We certainly ought to imagine what land reform for ecological farming could look like - think MST in Brasil - but fault also lies with Thai consumers. Consolidation into the hands of Thai or multi-national agribusiness is partly the result of domestic consumer demand, as people deserve convenience, but serving foods that represent injsutice and unsustainability. Why do we love Chinese or northern Thai oranges so much? If we knew the kinds of pesticides sprayed on them, would we still eat them? The same goes for cabbage, apples and many other popular fruits and vegetables. Alongside fair redistribution of land, we ought to also envision a new consumerism, that looks to local and regional food culture. As my friend Samrat often says - กินสิ่งที่ฉันปลูก ปลูกสิ่งที่ฉันกิน - eat what you plant, plant what you eat.