Fishing gear set
alight in dam protest
Claim WB-funded
dams ruined stocks
Anjira Assavanonda
About 300 angry
people from the Forum of the Poor set fire to traditional fishing gear outside
the Unctad venue yesterday in protest against the World Bank's funding of dam
construction.
They accused World
Bank president James Wolfensohn of "ignorance" after he failed to show
up to hear their grievances.
After a four-hour
wait in front of Queen Sirikit Convention Centre, the protesters, mostly
villagers affected by dam construction, particularly Pak Moon dam, set alight
fishing gear in the late evening to signal their protest. They said the World
Bank's concept of development had destroyed their lives, communities and
fishing.
"We and our
ancestors once used this equipment to fish in the Moon river, but now our lives
have changed. Since the dam was built we can no longer catch fish. Today this
equipment is of no use to us. Why should we keep it?" a protester said.
"Today we'll
burn it to deliver our message to the world, that the coming of the World Bank
has brought us misery."The protesters condemned the World Bank president
for not coming out to meet them. Mr Wolfensohn was invited to Unctad as a key
speaker in an interactive debate at 3pm. yesterday.
In a open letter they
had planned to hand to him, the protesters insisted they did not want the World
Bank's money or development.
They called on the
World Bank to take responsibility for the destruction it had caused to people's
lives, the ecology and fisheries of the Moon river, and to acknowledge its
mistakes. They also demanded the World Bank work with the government to
decommission the dam and restore the Moon river.
At yesterday's
protest were villagers affected by eight dam projects.
Bangkok Post Feb , 17
, 2000
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