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STAND UP AND FIGHT: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE THE STORY OF GRANDMA HAI
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When you lose your land because of a government development project, you can’t farm and thus lose your security in life. Then you try many many ways to solve your problems, but sometimes your neighbors, local authorities, the head of your village, and other people are still not interested and don’t give a damn. What would you do? How would you do it?
For this reason, I want to write about the civil disobedience of Grandma Hai
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Who is Grandma Hai? What did she do? Why did she do it?
Grandma Hai Khanjanta is 78 years old. She lives in Na Tan Village, Na Tan Sub-district, Ubon Ratchathani Province in North Eastern Thailand. She has been a farmer her whole life. She has a big family of about 64 persons. She spends her life on her inherited land. In the past, her land was named ‘the land of the brow-antlered red deer – Eld’s deer.’ She planted rice, and collected mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and vegetables near ‘Huay La Ha’ riverbank. She gave livelihood knowledge to her children: how to fish and grow food. They learnt about ecological knowledge to prepare themselves for farming in each season. They believe in the spirit of the land and have ceremonies to conserve their land, forest, canals, and wildlife. She also planted herbs and gathered them from the community forest near Huay La Ha. Certainly, her family got a lot of products from her land. If they needed money they could sell products to other people or bring them to the temple in their village. When they got money they bought more land. As Grandma Hai says, “Unlike money, land can not be depleted.”
She and her husband got more and more land and they had a plan to give it to their children. Maybe we can say that she and her husband were ‘millionaires,’ rich in food security and land, a happy farmer family helping each other and their community.
The Huay La Ha canal brought water to nourish people in three villages (Ban Na Tan, Ban Non Tan, and Ban Na Nakon). They could use the water all year long, even in the dry season.
The Huay La Ha canal was very small but it had its own ecological system. In the dry season the Huay La Ha canal dried to form ‘wang,’ meaning ponds. Ponds had water underground that never dried in the dry season. The villagers had water to use, and for their cows and buffalos. Moreover, the wang contained a lot of small fresh water prawns, common lowland frogs, common toads, and common burrowing frogs for all meals in the dry season. In this way of life, the villagers used rain for agriculture and made smale-scale dams to prevent flooding. Furthermore, the local people had many big ponds, swamps, marshs, puddles, and basins in the three villages. They classified them by themselves according to their use, such as this pond is to be used for people and animals to bathe in, another one is used for drinking. Their principle was very simple and depends on sharing and interdependence on one another and understanding how hard it is to survive by relying on nature and their own labor.
Everything was simple and balanced. The villagers and Grandma Hai were just living and dealing with nature.
THE TURNING POINT
In 1975 The Office of Accelerated Rural Development (OARD) constructed the ‘Huay Ra Ha’ Reservoir.
Some people saw the authorities come to see the area
.
Some people, especially the head of the village, accepted the project.
Some people didn’t know anything about the project.
Some people didn’t agree with the project and didn’t allow the project to be built on their land. They didn’t sign their names.
One day a small group discussed how to build a reservoir in the area. In this group, only one person would lose their land. There were over 18 other people who would lose their land from the project, but they were not present at the meeting. The authorities told them, “it will just be a small reservoir, with not too much flooding”
.
In the harvest season, the farmers saw a truck building the reservoir on their land.
The OARD tried to use many ways to pressure the land owners to allow the OARD to build the reservoir. At the same time, Grandma Hai used many ways to stop them too. She did not sign her name on the consent form. She went to appeal according to the bureaucratic process. When she went to the head of the village, he said, “It is not my land. If this is your land, you have to try to get it back by yourself”. After that she went to the sheriff, and he said, “It is not my duty. I don’t know anything about this”. Next she went to the deputy he said, “The land is a big issue. I can’t do anything”. Finally she went to the governor. He said, “It is just a small area. Why can’t you sacrifice it?”
In 1977, construction of the reservoir created a flood on their land that covered about 400 rai. Grandma Hai and her neighbors decided that they must go to the central authorities at the Ministry of Interior. They received her appeal and said, “Wait, grandma. We have to report this to the head of the ministry. Then we have to continue with your case”.
Grandma Hai and her neighbors went back home and waited. While she waited, some people suggested she consult with a lawyer. The lawyer said, “In your case we have to proceed against the defendant. We need about 4,000 baht to do this work, but you can pay us 3,000 baht first”. Grandma Hai and her supporters did not have much money to use this way. They went back home again. The neighbors lost their money and willpower. They faded gradually. In the end, out of 9 people, there were only 3 people left. Grandma Hai and her husband and her cousin held on and stood firm.
From 1991 – 1994 Grandma Hai and her husband and her cousin got involved with an assembly of small farmers. The goal of this movement focused on the issue of paying off debts. Her issue was a small one. Many movements just end up with an inefficient committee to solve problems.
From 1994 – 2002 Grandma Hai and her husband and her cousin got involved with The Assembly of the Poor, a group of people who had been affected by destructive development projects. The Assembly of the Poor faced many bad situations. The government suppressed them and people in society didn’t accept or understand their movement. They suspected them, blamed them, called them “uncivilized people,” and accused them of opposing development.
GRANDMA HAI BELIEVES IN MORALITY AND THAT WHAT SHE IS DOING IS RIGHT!!
Grandma Hai fought for 27 years (until 2003). Her complaint received no attention. She struggled over a period of that covered 10 different Thai administrations. She didn’t have much money to fight. She couldn’t read or write, and she walked to appeal 40 kilometers a day. At the same time, she had to take care of her 10 children and tried to raise them to become good farmers and good citizens of this country. She had to walk far from home to exchange fish and vegetables from her Mekong garden for rice and money. Her family had to go to Bangkok and Ubon Ratchathani to work to earn money for survival. The neighbors who have been affected faced a similar situation.
One thing she always told everybody is that, “the truth is in my mind and I must be truthful,” and, “this land is the heritage of my mother and father I have to recognize and appreciate their kindness towards me and my family”. This is what made her keep taking action seriously and with strong motivation.
On 19 April 2003 Grandma Hai said, “I am a farmer. If I don’t have land, where can I grow rice? Where can I live? This is my own land I will get my land back before the next season”.
She decided to live on the reservoir road and wait for a chance to destroy the reservoir!
“When we went to protest and tell them about our problems, suffering, and pain, the government didn’t listen to us. They caught us and hurt us. That made me decide to settle down on my own land,” she said.
She started to smash the reservoir by herself!
Her allies came to assist. They coordinated with journalists, politicians, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Law Society of Thailand. They produced information to raise this issue. At last Grandma Hai showed her case on the most popular public television show. No one knew when and how the story would end. Then the situation began to change, as many people sent their willpower to Grandma Hai. That was a big change in her life. Most people said, “give her back her land.”
On May, 2003 Grandma Hai celebrated the spirit of the Huay La Ha by blessing the river. Then, as the water receded from her land, she and her family started to recover their land to transplant rice seeds.
THE STORY OF GRANDMA HAI TEACHES PEOPLES TO STAND UP AND FIGHT!!
What effect has the Grandma Hai phenomenon had on the grassroots and on society?
The case of Grandma Hai has become a model for grassroots movements. Her principle is very simple, that is being courageous to assert our rights to live by our own natural resources. And when the government accountability system does not work, the only way left is to be disobedient and never give up. Morality and humanity, rather than the power structure, are key issues used to raise public awareness. The government also learned that people’s participation in development projects should receive more attention and in the future people’s participation should be set as a rule to be implemented in every development project. People in society also learned from Grandma Hai’s experience that government development projects can really harm poor people’s livelihoods.
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·ÕèÁÒ : CHINNARAJ BUTSRIPUM
(203.188.52.149)
[2006-11-13 11:11:01]
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