Showing 1 - 10 of 40
Battle over land rights law far from over
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 19/05/2018
» After calling the landless protesters freeloaders, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha suddenly made a U-turn by sending a close aide to promise the moon and the stars to the forest poor who were demonstrating in Bangkok. Why?
Supporting paraquat betrays the nation
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 02/06/2018
» The regime’s slogan to return happiness to the people has proven empty once again. Despite public demands for a ban, the military government has decided to allow paraquat, a highly toxic weed killer, to wreak havoc on public health and the environment.
Buddha's path must guide reform of clergy
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 07/06/2018
» The recent crackdown on the Sangha Supreme Council elders is long overdue. Corrupt monks in high places have escaped the law for far too long. But abuse of power will not go away as long as the clergy remains a closed, feudal autocracy under state patronage.
Verdict a blow to customary land rights
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 16/06/2018
» Ask the centenarian Ko-ee Mimee and other Karen forest dwellers what they want and why they sued Kaeng Krachan National Park officials who burned down their homes and violently evicted them from their ancestral land, and their answer is always the same: "We just want to be back home."
Mixing monks with money corrupts clergy
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 20/06/2018
» Fear and fury is gripping the clergy. Following the arrest and defrocking of high-profile monks for temple corruption, temples nationwide are fearful of financial inspections while monks are up in arms against the idea of prohibiting them from receiving money from the laity.
Lawsuits aggravate forest poor's plight
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 23/07/2018
» The polluters must pay. Most definitely. But when state authorities encroach on indigenous peoples' customary land, send them to jail for living in "protected" forest and -- on top of that -- demand exorbitant compensation for causing global warming, this is not the "polluters pay" policy. This is oppression beyond being unjust. It's pure malice.
Corn subsidies perpetuate old problems
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 11/08/2018
» The government's decision to pay rice farmers to shift to corn farming raises more questions than it answers.
What next after the passing of iconic Ko-ee?
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 08/10/2018
» At 107, ethnic Karen elder Ko-ee Mimee had only one wish -- to return to his ancestral land deep in the Kaeng Krachan jungle and die there. On Friday, the icon of indigenous forest dwellers' struggles against state violence and injustice passed, his last wish unfulfilled and the future of his people hanging in the balance.
Big Brother watching with cybersecurity law
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 20/10/2018
» All our personal and business information will no longer be safe from state surveillance if the draft of a new cybersecurity bill becomes law.
Central govt meddling no forest remedy
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 26/11/2018
» The Prayut Chan-o-cha administration has vowed to be the first government to end land rights conflicts in Thailand once and for all through its nationwide communal land use policy. Can it? Mae Tha, the first forest community under this system, has the answer.