Here is some recent writing on the current crisis and what it means for the AAN. Your reporter is currently in the U.S. and next week will begin working for Hearty Roots Farm in Tivoli, New York. The next few months will be covered by our new intern, Abe Levine – I look forward to seeing his writing on the local and network-level efforts carried out by the AAN. I will continue to support this website and will be presenting on the AAN at a TEDx event in Bangkok at the beginning of September.
York University, Toronto, Canada
May 16, 2010
Subject: STOP using violence and repression to dismantle the demonstrators
An open letter to the Thai Government and UDD
On May 14,2010, just one day after Thailand was elected with land slide majority of 182 votes out of 192 members of the United Nations to sit in the UN Human Rights Council (of which the total number of members is 47) the Thai Government seriously breached its own commitments and pledges made during the campaign for the seat. In the campaign, the PM.Abhisit Vejjajiva has committed that “…I can reaffirm that this Government will address problems relating to freedom and liberty and human rights on the basis of accepting them as reality. This is the first crucial step so that every agency, including civil society, recognizes the need to cooperate in seriously solving the problems…if the Government or state officials do not learn how to respect human rights themselves, problems will never end. Read the rest of this entry »
The first week of May found the Food Ways Learning Group traveling by 6-wheel truck trace the food ways of two very commonly purchased food ingredients – shallots and chilis. Buying food is increasingly common in Esan’s rural communities and villagers are increasingly concerned and are asking – where does food come from? How is it produced? While both research trips were important learning experiences for our group, everyone was astounded by the amount of chemicals used in production. Yet this is reality in a food system that depends on monocropping. More writing to come on this resarch process, for now some photos from our most recent experiences. Read the rest of this entry »
