asiapacificresearch--2020-11-25--‘Murders After Murders’ by Soldiers, Villagers Tell Afghan Journalist

Afghanis who say they have witnessed torture and murder at the hands of Australian soldiers want the chance to testify in court as well as compensation , a journalist says .
Australia ’ s Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell announced yesterday that there is information to substantiate 23 incidents of alleged unlawful killing of 39 people by 25 special forces personnel in Afghanistan .
He was commenting on a four-year inquiry that found “ credible information ” supporting allegations of war crimes by the country ’ s special forces .
Major General Paul Brereton ‘ s report also said junior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commanders to shoot prisoners to get their first kill in a practice known as “ blooding ” .
The inquiry also found evidence soldiers gloated about their actions , kept kill counts and planted phones and weapons on corpses to justify their actions .
Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary has interviewed some of the victims ’ families .
Speaking from Kabul , he told Morning Report : “ They told me about torture , about helicopters , about women and children getting scared and murder.
” One victim had told him four of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and two cousins .
In another village he spoke to a number of victims about their bad experiences and they described “ murders after murders ” .
“ One man did say to me that he wanted to look up in the eyes of these killers and ask them why did they kill so many innocent Afghans.
” Another man he interviewed couldn ’ t stop crying as he likened the sound of bullets from a gun with a silencer to “ drops of water ” .
“ These families… have been telling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that they want to make sure this is a transparent process and that those responsible are brought to justice.
” They have asked him if those directly affected will get the chance to fly to Australia to give evidence in courtrooms there , Sarwary said .
Many of the people involved were very poor and they had also asked him about their chances of receiving compensation from Australia .
Sarwary said that the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission has demanded that Australia adopts a transparent process as it lays charges against the perpetrators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Brereton inquiry heard from more than 400 witnesses , including former SAS paramedic Dusty Miller , who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 .
He told the ABC he witnessed a number of unlawful killings and has since struggled with psychological wounds .
He said he felt vindicated after reading the report and is in no doubt that some of the soldiers need to go to jail for their crimes .
It might be hard for the Australian public to accept such behaviour had occurred , he said .
The report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revealed in the future and Miller said he is sure that is true .
Some soldiers ’ lives had been ruined by what they had witnessed in Afghanistan .
It also meant the end of his own military career , Miller said .
Miller said the commanders must have known what was happening especially as they had debriefs after every mission , however , it was “ a minority group ” who acted badly and the majority of men he served with were “ honourable ” although they operated in a “ dog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .

Afghanis who say they have witnessed torture and murder at the hands of Australian soldiers want the chance to testify in court as well as compensation, a journalist says.
***
Australia’s Defence Force Chief Angus Campbell announced yesterday that there is information to substantiate 23 incidents of alleged unlawful killing of 39 people by 25 special forces personnel in Afghanistan.
He was commenting on a four-year inquiry that found “credible information” supporting allegations of war crimes by the country’s special forces.
Major General Paul Brereton‘s report also said junior soldiers were often required by their patrol commanders to shoot prisoners to get their first kill in a practice known as “blooding”.
The inquiry also found evidence soldiers gloated about their actions, kept kill counts and planted phones and weapons on corpses to justify their actions.
Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary has interviewed some of the victims’ families. Speaking from Kabul, he told Morning Report: “They told me about torture, about helicopters, about women and children getting scared and murder.”
One victim had told him four of his family had been killed – two brothers and two cousins.
In another village he spoke to a number of victims about their bad experiences and they described “murders after murders”.
“One man did say to me that he wanted to look up in the eyes of these killers and ask them why did they kill so many innocent Afghans.”
Another man he interviewed couldn’t stop crying as he likened the sound of bullets from a gun with a silencer to “drops of water”.
“These families… have been telling me that they want to get justice, that they want to make sure this is a transparent process and that those responsible are brought to justice.”
They have asked him if those directly affected will get the chance to fly to Australia to give evidence in courtrooms there, Sarwary said.
Many of the people involved were very poor and they had also asked him about their chances of receiving compensation from Australia.
Sarwary said that the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission has demanded that Australia adopts a transparent process as it lays charges against the perpetrators and there should be compensation for victims.
‘We crossed a very bad line’ – ex-soldier
The Brereton inquiry heard from more than 400 witnesses, including former SAS paramedic Dusty Miller, who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012.
He told the ABC he witnessed a number of unlawful killings and has since struggled with psychological wounds.
He said he felt vindicated after reading the report and is in no doubt that some of the soldiers need to go to jail for their crimes. It might be hard for the Australian public to accept such behaviour had occurred, he said.
“We’ve got this proud ANZAC tradition that we’re trying to uphold but unfortunately it’s like finding out that Santa Claus isn’t real. “We crossed a very bad line and we crossed it for a number of years and we need to pay that price now.”
The report also warned that more killings will be revealed in the future and Miller said he is sure that is true.
Some soldiers’ lives had been ruined by what they had witnessed in Afghanistan. It also meant the end of his own military career, Miller said.
“Everybody knew what was going on. It was a day-to-day occurrence. We normalised it… you certainly had to go along with what was happening because the alternative would have been professional suicide. You’d have been ostracised. There was no way you would have flagged this with the commanders or speak up – that would have been unthinkable.”
Miller said the commanders must have known what was happening especially as they had debriefs after every mission, however, it was “a minority group” who acted badly and the majority of men he served with were “honourable” although they operated in a “dog eat dog” aggressive environment.
Read full article here.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.


asiapacificresearch--2020-11-26--Brave Vandana Shiva Speaks Out Against the Great Reset

Organic radical inspiration Vandana Shiva has been couragely speaking out against the insidious ‘ Great Reset ’ being sprung on us by Klaus Schwab , Bill Gates and the rest of the global capitalist elite .
She warns in a new interview that “ The Great Reset is about maintaining and empowering a corporate extraction machine and the private ownership of life ” .
( 1 ) Shiva has lately been drawing particular attention to the insidious role of Bill Gates in the technocrats ’ assault on food and nature .
Gates ’ nefarious activity is the subject of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seed and food sovereignty movement founded by Shiva in 1987 .
( 3 ) “ We have seen the Green Revolution and the industrial agriculture model fail , wiping out forests , transforming the land into a monoculture , causing pollution and illness , destroying natural resources and livelihoods .
And it is now a major contributor of climate change and species and biodiversity extinction .
“ In spite of this , while we are looking at better ways to farm , Gates has pushed the Green Revolution in Africa .
He seems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the natural world and biodiversity .
He ’ s taking control of the worlds ’ seed banks , pushing failed GMOs that we had rejected in India to other countries , taking control of gene traits through gene editing , trying to control the climate through geoengineering , and driving extinction through gene drives ” .
( 4 ) Shiva has also been strongly critical of The Great Reset , the global technocratic corporate coup promoted by Gates ’ friend and associate Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum .
She told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accused the WEF of “ parading fake science ” with its emphasis on GM food , lab-made proteins and pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals as “ sustainable solutions ” .
She added that “ for Mr Schwab to promote these technologies as solutions proves that The Great Reset is about maintaining and empowering a corporate extraction machine and the private ownership of life ” .
( 6 ) Schwab ’ s WEF has partnered with an organization called EAT Forum , closely linked to the pharmaceutical industry .
“ EAT ’ s proposed diet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s about big business and it ’ s about a corporate takeover of the food system .
“ EAT ’ s uniform global diet will be produced with western technology and agricultural chemicals .
Forcing this onto sovereign nations by multinational lobbying is what I refer to as food imperialism ” .
( 7 ) Our updated profile of Vandana Shiva can be found here .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1 .
Jeremy Loffredo , ‘ Worl d Economic Forum ’ s ‘ Great Reset ’ Plan for Big Food Benefits Industry , Not People ‘ , The Defender , November 9 , 2020 .

Organic radical inspiration Vandana Shiva has been couragely speaking out against the insidious ‘Great Reset’ being sprung on us by Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates and the rest of the global capitalist elite.
She warns in a new interview that “The Great Reset is about maintaining and empowering a corporate extraction machine and the private ownership of life”. (1)
Shiva has lately been drawing particular attention to the insidious role of Bill Gates in the technocrats’ assault on food and nature.
In October 2020 she warned:
“With his philanthro-imperialism, Gates is emerging as the Columbus of the digital age, the New Monsanto pushing failed GMOs and trying to introduce new GMOs based on gene editing”. (2)
Gates’ nefarious activity is the subject of a special report produced by Navdanya, the seed and food sovereignty movement founded by Shiva in 1987. (3)
Shiva commented:
“We have seen the Green Revolution and the industrial agriculture model fail, wiping out forests, transforming the land into a monoculture, causing pollution and illness, destroying natural resources and livelihoods. And it is now a major contributor of climate change and species and biodiversity extinction. “In spite of this, while we are looking at better ways to farm, Gates has pushed the Green Revolution in Africa. He seems too impatient to look at the complexity of the natural world and biodiversity. He’s taking control of the worlds’ seed banks, pushing failed GMOs that we had rejected in India to other countries, taking control of gene traits through gene editing, trying to control the climate through geoengineering, and driving extinction through gene drives”. (4)
Shiva has also been strongly critical of The Great Reset, the global technocratic corporate coup promoted by Gates’ friend and associate Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum.
She told Jeremy Loffredo of The Defender:
“The Great Reset is about multinational corporate stakeholders at the World Economic Forum controlling as many elements of planetary life as they possibly can. From the digital data humans produce to each morsel of food we eat”. (5)
Shiva accused the WEF of “parading fake science” with its emphasis on GM food, lab-made proteins and pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals as “sustainable solutions”.
She added that “for Mr Schwab to promote these technologies as solutions proves that The Great Reset is about maintaining and empowering a corporate extraction machine and the private ownership of life”. (6)
Schwab’s WEF has partnered with an organization called EAT Forum, closely linked to the pharmaceutical industry.
Said Shiva:
“EAT’s proposed diet is not about nutrition at all, it’s about big business and it’s about a corporate takeover of the food system. “EAT’s uniform global diet will be produced with western technology and agricultural chemicals. Forcing this onto sovereign nations by multinational lobbying is what I refer to as food imperialism”. (7)
Our updated profile of Vandana Shiva can be found here.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Notes
1. Jeremy Loffredo, ‘Worl d Economic Forum’s ‘Great Reset’ Plan for Big Food Benefits Industry, Not People‘, The Defender, November 9, 2020.
2. Navdanya International, ‘Is philanthro-capitalism endangering sustainable development?’, Lifegate, October 26, 2020. lifegate.com/philantro-capitalism-sustainable-development
3. Navdanya International, ‘Gates to a Global Empire‘, 2020.
4. Manlio Masucci, ‘The Philanthro-capitalist empire of Bill Gates‘.
5. Loffredo.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
Featured image is from Sott.net


asiapacificresearch--2020-11-27--The Women of Kendeng Set Their Feet in Cement to Stop a Mine in Their Lands. This Is Their Story.

Serene , prosperous , fertile .
These words come to mind as I stand at the top of a hill in Tegaldowo village , on the island of Java , in Indonesia , one Sunday evening in 2019 .
It is an idiom used to describe this giant island , with its rich soils , verdant rice paddies and teak forests .
But the tranquility hides a more turbulent story .
Across Indonesia , the world ’ s third largest democracy , mass demonstrations have erupted .
Some 3,000 kilometers ( 1,864 miles ) to the east , anger at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spilled over into violence .
In the capital , Jakarta , students are taking to the streets in their thousands , protesting against a raft of new laws many fear will erode civil liberties .
Among the most contentious features of the new legislation is concern that it will enable the government to criminalize farmers and activists fighting against extractive companies taking their land .
Already , hundreds of communities are locked in simmering conflicts with firms that have logged their forests , mined their mountains , and transformed their farmland into plantations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the president , Joko Widodo , would tip the scales in the favor of the powerless .
But in the coming months those hopes will be dashed .
By November 2020 , the government will sign into effect sweeping new legislation that appears to entrench the power of oligarchs , and of the private firms responsible for damaging the nation ’ s environment , including its vast rainforests .
For many communities engaged in the fight to protect land rights and the environment , the hills in which I stand hold huge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ karst provides water that irrigates farmland .
Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project .
It is not just a hill , but a karst : a limestone formation that undergirds the North Kendeng Mountains and stretches 180 kilometers ( 112 miles ) east to west .
The rock has been eroded over time to form a giant warren of underground caves and rivers , providing clean water to the people of the region throughout the year .
The Indigenous people of Kendeng consider the karst to be their Ibu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nurtures and even breastfeeds the land , in their lore , allowing them to grow rice and other crops .
“ Mother Earth has given , Mother Earth has been hurt , Mother Earth will seek justice , ” sings Sukinah , a farmer who accompanies me as she patiently checks the corn in the field that surrounds us .
She moves nimbly , dressed in slippers and a traditional Javanese blouse called a kebaya .
The song is an anthem for a group known as the “ Kartinis of Kendeng , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Kartinis of Kendeng led the resistance against the construction of a cement factory on their lands that would be fed by limestone mined from the karst .
In a nation replete with stories of social and environmental injustice , the Kartinis of Kendeng captured the public attention when they set their feet in cement outside the presidential palace in Jakarta .
It was a visceral display of protest that powerfully symbolized the desperation of wong cilik , the “ little people , ” in their struggle against investors backed by powerful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the start of a journey in which I would travel across Indonesia , an archipelago home to hundreds of ethnic groups and spoken languages , to meet women who had led grassroots activist movements .
I wanted to find out what made these women take a stand and what obstacles they faced as they fought for their land rights .
They were farmers , weavers and housewives in remote , rural communities , yet they had risen to become leaders .
From Timor in the east to Aceh in the west , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violence and even prison , due to their peaceful efforts to protect the culture and livelihoods of their people .
They not only faced a crooked bureaucracy and repressive security forces ; they also struggled for recognition within their own communities , in a male-dominated society in which they were regarded as second class .
I learned that in many cases , they had become activists because they , as women , were the people who cooked and cleaned for their family , and so they knew they would feel the impact if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
From left , Farwiza Farhan , Aleta Baun , Sukinah , Patmi , Lodia Oematan and Eva Bande , the women featured in this series , together with Febriana Firdaus , far right .
Illustration by Nadiyah Rizki .
Some of them won global recognition and international awards .
I wanted to find out what happened after the spotlight had moved elsewhere .
I found that many still bear the scars of those years of activism , through physical injuries , missed opportunities , years in prison , and even friends whose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I also learned more of the enduring cultural connection between women and the environment .
Across Indonesia , I found women who cared for their families , and who understood profoundly the importance of rainforests , mountains and land for the survival of their communities .
Everywhere , the natural world was given feminine form , and women were fighting for it .
Through the story of my journey , I want to bring you into their homes , to see their lives , and to know their stories .
It starts with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protests began , Sukinah lived the ordinary , but hard , life of a rural woman .
She would wake up at 4 a.m. and go straight to the kitchen , making coffee for her and her husband , and cooking rice .
After breakfast , she and her husband would work in their fields until 5 p.m .
Most of the day they would be outside , with nature .
At harvest time , both Sukinah and her husband would stay in a hut in their field , to finish cutting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ began to stir in 2014 when the villagers learned that a state-owned cement company , PT Semen Indonesia , was in the advanced stages of a plan to mine the karst .
Without the villagers ’ knowledge , two years earlier , the governor of Central Java , Bibit Waluyo , had issued an environmental license .
It was one of the most important licenses the company would need to begin operating .
It should have been issued after the community was consulted as part of an environmental impact assessment .
Some villagers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as early as 2010 , and raised concerns that it failed to identify the existence of underground springs .
After that , though , they were cut out of the process , Indonesia ’ s National Commission on Human Rights reported in 2016 .
The limestone that gives the Kendeng karst its character is also the key ingredient in cement .
The Kendeng Mountains had been targeted by cement companies since the 1990s , but by the 2010s interest had stepped up , stimulated by government investments in infrastructure .
An assessment commissioned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demand for clean water for more than half a million people living throughout the North Kendeng Mountains already exceeded the supply .
The karst was crucial for maintaining that supply , acting as a sponge that released clean water through the dry season .
But the provincial government had prioritized mining the limestone , threatening to significantly reduce and pollute the water supply as firms ground down through subterranean springs and rivers .
The North Kendeng Mountains lie in Java , one of the largest islands in the Indonesian archipelago and the nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Image by Nadiyah Rizki .
To find out what the factory might mean for them , the villagers visited the neighboring district of Tuban , where Semen Indonesia had been operating a factory since the early 1990s .
“ They saw firsthand that the exploitation in Tuban had ruined everything , ” Sukinah told me .
“ Damaging the environment , damaging the community , culture , social , everything.
” The threat of mining had already provoked opposition throughout the North Kendeng Mountains .
In 2011 , thousands of villagers reportedly gathered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ district of Pati , protesting against another Semen Indonesia mine .
The following year , people from three districts amassed outside the Central Java provincial parliament .
In June 2014 , as Semen Indonesia prepared to lay the first stone in the construction of its factory , Sukinah and other women decided they would be there to oppose it .
“ To fight for the environment , you don ’ t have to be a man , ” Sukinah told me .
“ Especially because it ’ s us [ women ] who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as we are the first ones to use water , to cook.
” But the decision to place the women on the front lines was to maintain what they hoped would be a peaceful protest , in the face of the provocation they expected to occur .
They knew they would face the police , and potentially violence .
“ If the men were there , their blood could become angry , ” Sukinah said .
“ The women had to stay in control to avoid violence .
Or else people could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tussle with the women as they protest on the road to the construction site , in November 2014 .
When the day came , some 100 women gathered at the road to the construction site .
Though it began peacefully , by November the police and military sought to end the action .
Video footage shows women thrown around , their placards ripped away .
They would maintain the protest for two years .
“ Even though there was violence from the authorities , from thugs , we never gave up , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going .
Because this is for our children and grandchildren in the future .
If the mountain is damaged , it will be on us.
” Like most Javanese , Sukinah is a Muslim .
But she also subscribes to the philosophy of Sedulur Sikep , or Saminism , a local belief that emerged among followers of a religious teacher named Samin Surosentiko in the late 19th century .
I find it easy to understand her decision to embrace this belief .
Saminists have a long tradition of opposing outside authority , resisting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imposed by the Dutch colonial administration .
They believed that land , water and forests are common property , to be used for the common good .
They rejected the idea that the state can impose its own control over these natural resources , an idea that resonates today .
The people of Tegaldowo identify as Muslims , and subscribe to a local belief system known as Saminism .
Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project .
On the wall of her home today , I also see a giant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Wali Songo , or “ nine saints , ” said to have introduced Islam to Java .
He was known as a very tolerant ulema , or religious authority , who introduced Islam through art , who stands in stark contrast to the Indonesian religious vigilante groups and some conservative ulema of today .
During the protests , the Kartinis of Kendeng would sing a famous song , “ Lir-ilir , ” composed by Sunan Kalijaga .
The lyrics encourage followers to survive in difficult times and challenge adversity by taking action @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who would give the women activists their defining identity .
The name Kartini was taken from Raden Adjeng Kartini , a Javanese noblewoman and national heroine who lived at the turn of the 20th century .
When her letters were published posthumously in 1911 under the title Through Darkness into Light , her progressive ideas for female emancipation and education became an inspiration for Indonesian feminists .
In September 2014 , villagers from Rembang , together with the environmental NGOs Walhi and the Semarang Legal Aid Institute , filed a lawsuit against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ environmental impact assessment .
Their suit argued the decision ran counter to a raft of regulations aimed at protecting watersheds and karsts specifically .
But it seemed the judicial system was working against them .
In April 2015 , the case was thrown out for technical reasons , without considering the substance of the case , according to the head of Walhi .
The community appealed .
By April 2016 , the women had been staging regular protests outside the gates of the factory as construction went on for almost two years .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sukinah and eight other women put themselves forward .
Over time , the members of the group would cycle in and out , but they would remain the Nine Kartinis of Kendeng .
That month , when the dry season had just started , the Kartinis of Kendeng traveled more than 500 kilometers ( 311 miles ) west , from their rural homes to the dense urban sprawl of Jakarta , Indonesia ’ s giant capital city .
Outside the presidential palace , as cars , buses , and motorbikes passed by , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chairs and planted their feet in cement .
People from North Kendeng demonstrate outside the presidential palace in Jakarta , with their feet set in cement .
It was there that I met Sukinah for the first time , standing in a square wooden crate filled with cement .
Tears dripped slowly down her face .
Maybe it was because of the pain in her feet ; or maybe it was her feeling of disappointment in the government .
Two years earlier she and many other rural people had voted for Joko Widodo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take their side against powerful companies .
Now she was outside the palace , in the hope his promises on the campaign trail might still be delivered .
After repeated protests , and as media attention grew , the farmers were eventually ushered in to meet Jokowi , as the president is popularly known , in August 2016 .
They presented their case that the permits had been issued illegally ; that the project would harm their food security and provoke ongoing unrest .
The president promised to freeze the company ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the farmers .
He promised that a broad environmental assessment would take place , to determine which parts of the North Kendeng Mountains should be conserved , and which could be exploited .
But back in Central Java province , governor Ganjar Pranowo , Bibit ’ s successor , questioned whether the project could be stopped .
The cement factory was already 95 % complete , he told reporters .
A corn harvest in Tegaldowo .
Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project .
By October , their lengthy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ruling to uphold the farmers ’ case against the governor and Semen Indonesia .
It held that the environmental impact assessment approved by the previous governor was flawed , that it failed to show how the mining would prevent serious damage to the water basin , and that it had not taken the views of the community into account .
The court instructed the provincial government to revoke the environmental permit .
In December , hundreds of villagers marched for some 135 kilometers ( 84 miles ) from Kendeng to the governor ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the implementation of the court ’ s decision .
But when they arrived at the office , with Sukinah ’ s ankles swollen from the long walk , a bureaucrat informed them that the governor had simply replaced the revoked permit with a new one , days after the Supreme Court decision .
The governor ’ s decision caused a public outcry .
But the farmers were yet to reach their lowest ebb .
By March 2017 , the Kartinis of Kendeng were back in Jakarta , with their feet encased in cement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president and a win in the Supreme Court , yet the project was still moving ahead .
Protests seemed to be their last resort .
After maintaining the demonstration for several days , it was time for one of the nine , a 48-year-old named Patmi , to return home .
The cement around her feet was cracked open and she went to rest at the offices of the Legal Aid Institute .
That night , she began convulsing and vomiting , and early the next morning she died of a heart @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Kartinis of Kendeng , still mourning their friend and traumatized , received a backlash on social media from Indonesians blaming them for Patmi ’ s death .
“ We felt lost , ” Sukinah told me .
“ We had lost our sister , and many people criticized our movement .
But what could we do ?
” A day after the tragedy , on March 22 , President Jokowi met Gunarti , one of the Kartinis of Kendeng , in the palace for a second time .
She told him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jokowi made in their first meeting .
But the president demurred , suggesting they should talk to the governor , who had by now repeatedly ignored their demands .
Gunarti told a scrum of reporters outside the palace of her deep disappointment , as hopes of stopping the project began to fade .
During the protests , a farmer named Parmi had been assigned to take care of Patmi , seeing to her needs as her feet were lodged in the cement .
In Tegaldowo , Parmi took me through the village to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a langgar , a type of small mosque , built in memory of her friend .
“ It was Patmi ’ s lifelong dream to build a langgar , ” she told me .
“ We decided to make it , after she breathed her last breath.
” Today , when I meet Sukinah , I see the same person I met three years ago .
From her home , though , I can see the giant cement factory built over the karst .
The company operates “ legally ” with the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sukinah and the other Kendeng farmers still struggle to stop it , while slowly but surely the mining has started to pulverize the karst .
Her home serves as a headquarters for the campaign , in which the farmers gather and hold traditional Javanese ceremonies that strengthen the bonds of their movement , as they do today .
My visit coincides with the seventh day after the Islamic holiday of Idul Fitri , a day the Javanese celebrate by holding a rice cake party .
It begins with a performance of Punokawan .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the characters Semar , Gareng , Bagong and Petruk .
In this rice cake party scene , Semar , the wisest and oldest among the Punokawan , cautions the villagers to take care of the environment .
Then , the residents parade around the village with two groups of men carrying gunungan , mountains made of corn .
They sing of Ibu Bumi , Mother Earth .
The event continues into the night as Sukinah leads a group of women farmers , followed by villagers who carry bamboo torches in their hands , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sing the same song .
After surrounding the well and praying together , they go back to Sukinah ’ s house and celebrate by eating rice cakes together .
None of the setbacks have dampened the desire of the Kartinis of Kendeng to fight for the mountains .
Even the death of Patmi ultimately gave the women a renewed sense of togetherness and purpose .
Villagers march through Tegaldowo during the festival .
By Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project .
“ For me and the other sisters , it brought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It fired up our enthusiasm .
We knew we must not remain silent .
We are not weak , and we must not lose .
“ Because Patmi is still with us .
Even though her body might have been buried , her soul was never buried.
” Indeed , looking back on her six years of activism , Sukinah does not see setbacks and despair .
She sees an education .
“ I never went to school , ” she said .
“ So I sought knowledge , and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the environmentalists , lawyers and scientists she has met along the way , and her experiences outside her village .
It was a journey that brought her both happiness and pride .
“ Every step of the way we learned from people who were positive about the environment , ” she said .
“ About the meaning of this life , what we live for.
” Sukinah at the festival .
Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project .
The time comes for me to say goodbye to Sukinah and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drive out of Tegaldowo , I pass the cement factory .
It strikes me that it ’ s the support of a single governor — not the views of the people , or the law , or science , or what is right — that has the greatest influence over the development projects that shape people ’ s lives .
I left Kendeng with the sense that their movement was about fraternity .
All of the members of their group had the same purpose and feelings , forged through friendship .
Sedulur Sikep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ united even after they lost their sister , Patmi .
In the end , her death even made them stronger .
From my time with them , I could see how their lives and their movement are suffused with culture .
Their culture and activism were so bound together that it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began .
That culture is a beautiful , unique and local tapestry of Islam , Saminism and resistance , a belief in both the past and a sustainable future , that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the environment by heavy extractive industries .
I also left with the belief that Patmi should be considered a heroine .
She dedicated her life to safeguard the karst from destruction , because of her belief that it would provoke a water crisis .
She sacrificed herself , knowing the dangers , for her community .
I worry that the Jokowi administration , elected with so much hope , will never understand this struggle .
But seeing the Kartinis of Kendeng gives me a little hope about the future : that people will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homeland , our homeland .
For Sukinah , there is no other choice .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .
This article was co-produced with The Gecko Project .
Read part two of the series here .

Serene, prosperous, fertile. These words come to mind as I stand at the top of a hill in Tegaldowo village, on the island of Java, in Indonesia, one Sunday evening in 2019. It is an idiom used to describe this giant island, with its rich soils, verdant rice paddies and teak forests. But the tranquility hides a more turbulent story.
Across Indonesia, the world’s third largest democracy, mass demonstrations have erupted. Some 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) to the east, anger at decades of mistreatment of indigenous Papuans has spilled over into violence. In the capital, Jakarta, students are taking to the streets in their thousands, protesting against a raft of new laws many fear will erode civil liberties.
Among the most contentious features of the new legislation is concern that it will enable the government to criminalize farmers and activists fighting against extractive companies taking their land. Already, hundreds of communities are locked in simmering conflicts with firms that have logged their forests, mined their mountains, and transformed their farmland into plantations. Many of these people once hoped that the president, Joko Widodo, would tip the scales in the favor of the powerless.
But in the coming months those hopes will be dashed. By November 2020, the government will sign into effect sweeping new legislation that appears to entrench the power of oligarchs, and of the private firms responsible for damaging the nation’s environment, including its vast rainforests.
For many communities engaged in the fight to protect land rights and the environment, the hills in which I stand hold huge resonance.
Cornfields in Rembang. The karst provides water that irrigates farmland. Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project.
It is not just a hill, but a karst: a limestone formation that undergirds the North Kendeng Mountains and stretches 180 kilometers (112 miles) east to west. The rock has been eroded over time to form a giant warren of underground caves and rivers, providing clean water to the people of the region throughout the year.
The Indigenous people of Kendeng consider the karst to be their Ibu Bumi — their Mother Earth. She nurtures and even breastfeeds the land, in their lore, allowing them to grow rice and other crops.
“Mother Earth has given, Mother Earth has been hurt, Mother Earth will seek justice,” sings Sukinah, a farmer who accompanies me as she patiently checks the corn in the field that surrounds us. She moves nimbly, dressed in slippers and a traditional Javanese blouse called a kebaya.
The song is an anthem for a group known as the “Kartinis of Kendeng,” comprising Sukinah and eight other women farmers. The Kartinis of Kendeng led the resistance against the construction of a cement factory on their lands that would be fed by limestone mined from the karst.
In a nation replete with stories of social and environmental injustice, the Kartinis of Kendeng captured the public attention when they set their feet in cement outside the presidential palace in Jakarta. It was a visceral display of protest that powerfully symbolized the desperation of wong cilik, the “little people,” in their struggle against investors backed by powerful politicians.
I came to visit Sukinah at the start of a journey in which I would travel across Indonesia, an archipelago home to hundreds of ethnic groups and spoken languages, to meet women who had led grassroots activist movements. I wanted to find out what made these women take a stand and what obstacles they faced as they fought for their land rights. They were farmers, weavers and housewives in remote, rural communities, yet they had risen to become leaders.
From Timor in the east to Aceh in the west, the women I met faced intimidation, violence and even prison, due to their peaceful efforts to protect the culture and livelihoods of their people.
They not only faced a crooked bureaucracy and repressive security forces; they also struggled for recognition within their own communities, in a male-dominated society in which they were regarded as second class. I learned that in many cases, they had become activists because they, as women, were the people who cooked and cleaned for their family, and so they knew they would feel the impact if the water became polluted and farmland disappeared.
From left, Farwiza Farhan, Aleta Baun, Sukinah, Patmi, Lodia Oematan and Eva Bande, the women featured in this series, together with Febriana Firdaus, far right. Illustration by Nadiyah Rizki.
Some of them won global recognition and international awards. I wanted to find out what happened after the spotlight had moved elsewhere. I found that many still bear the scars of those years of activism, through physical injuries, missed opportunities, years in prison, and even friends whose lives were lost to the cause.
I also learned more of the enduring cultural connection between women and the environment. Across Indonesia, I found women who cared for their families, and who understood profoundly the importance of rainforests, mountains and land for the survival of their communities. Everywhere, the natural world was given feminine form, and women were fighting for it.
Through the story of my journey, I want to bring you into their homes, to see their lives, and to know their stories. It starts with the Kartinis of Kendeng.
Before the protests began, Sukinah lived the ordinary, but hard, life of a rural woman. She would wake up at 4 a.m. and go straight to the kitchen, making coffee for her and her husband, and cooking rice. After breakfast, she and her husband would work in their fields until 5 p.m. Most of the day they would be outside, with nature. At harvest time, both Sukinah and her husband would stay in a hut in their field, to finish cutting the corn or gathering rice.
The movement began to stir in 2014 when the villagers learned that a state-owned cement company, PT Semen Indonesia, was in the advanced stages of a plan to mine the karst. Without the villagers’ knowledge, two years earlier, the governor of Central Java, Bibit Waluyo, had issued an environmental license. It was one of the most important licenses the company would need to begin operating. It should have been issued after the community was consulted as part of an environmental impact assessment.
Some villagers had seen a draft of the assessment as early as 2010, and raised concerns that it failed to identify the existence of underground springs. After that, though, they were cut out of the process, Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights reported in 2016.
The limestone that gives the Kendeng karst its character is also the key ingredient in cement. The Kendeng Mountains had been targeted by cement companies since the 1990s, but by the 2010s interest had stepped up, stimulated by government investments in infrastructure.
An assessment commissioned by the national government found that the demand for clean water for more than half a million people living throughout the North Kendeng Mountains already exceeded the supply. The karst was crucial for maintaining that supply, acting as a sponge that released clean water through the dry season. But the provincial government had prioritized mining the limestone, threatening to significantly reduce and pollute the water supply as firms ground down through subterranean springs and rivers.
The North Kendeng Mountains lie in Java, one of the largest islands in the Indonesian archipelago and the nation’s political center of gravity. Image by Nadiyah Rizki.
To find out what the factory might mean for them, the villagers visited the neighboring district of Tuban, where Semen Indonesia had been operating a factory since the early 1990s. “They saw firsthand that the exploitation in Tuban had ruined everything,” Sukinah told me. “Damaging the environment, damaging the community, culture, social, everything.”
The threat of mining had already provoked opposition throughout the North Kendeng Mountains. In 2011, thousands of villagers reportedly gathered outside the district parliament building in the district of Pati, protesting against another Semen Indonesia mine. The following year, people from three districts amassed outside the Central Java provincial parliament.
In June 2014, as Semen Indonesia prepared to lay the first stone in the construction of its factory, Sukinah and other women decided they would be there to oppose it.
“To fight for the environment, you don’t have to be a man,” Sukinah told me. “Especially because it’s us [women] who are the first to feel the impacts, as we are the first ones to use water, to cook.”
But the decision to place the women on the front lines was to maintain what they hoped would be a peaceful protest, in the face of the provocation they expected to occur. They knew they would face the police, and potentially violence.
“If the men were there, their blood could become angry,” Sukinah said. “The women had to stay in control to avoid violence. Or else people could have been killed.”
Police and military tussle with the women as they protest on the road to the construction site, in November 2014.
When the day came, some 100 women gathered at the road to the construction site. Though it began peacefully, by November the police and military sought to end the action. Video footage shows women thrown around, their placards ripped away. They would maintain the protest for two years.
“Even though there was violence from the authorities, from thugs, we never gave up,” Sukinah told me. “We kept going. Because this is for our children and grandchildren in the future. If the mountain is damaged, it will be on us.”
***
Like most Javanese, Sukinah is a Muslim. But she also subscribes to the philosophy of Sedulur Sikep, or Saminism, a local belief that emerged among followers of a religious teacher named Samin Surosentiko in the late 19th century.
I find it easy to understand her decision to embrace this belief. Saminists have a long tradition of opposing outside authority, resisting the taxes, forest regulations and bureaucracy imposed by the Dutch colonial administration. They believed that land, water and forests are common property, to be used for the common good. They rejected the idea that the state can impose its own control over these natural resources, an idea that resonates today.
The people of Tegaldowo identify as Muslims, and subscribe to a local belief system known as Saminism. Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project.
On the wall of her home today, I also see a giant picture of Sunan Kalijaga, one of the Wali Songo, or “nine saints,” said to have introduced Islam to Java. He was known as a very tolerant ulema, or religious authority, who introduced Islam through art, who stands in stark contrast to the Indonesian religious vigilante groups and some conservative ulema of today.
During the protests, the Kartinis of Kendeng would sing a famous song, “Lir-ilir,” composed by Sunan Kalijaga. The lyrics encourage followers to survive in difficult times and challenge adversity by taking action.
It was yet another influential figure who would give the women activists their defining identity. The name Kartini was taken from Raden Adjeng Kartini, a Javanese noblewoman and national heroine who lived at the turn of the 20th century. When her letters were published posthumously in 1911 under the title Through Darkness into Light, her progressive ideas for female emancipation and education became an inspiration for Indonesian feminists.
In September 2014, villagers from Rembang, together with the environmental NGOs Walhi and the Semarang Legal Aid Institute, filed a lawsuit against the government for ratifying Semen Indonesia’s environmental impact assessment. Their suit argued the decision ran counter to a raft of regulations aimed at protecting watersheds and karsts specifically. But it seemed the judicial system was working against them. In April 2015, the case was thrown out for technical reasons, without considering the substance of the case, according to the head of Walhi. The community appealed.
By April 2016, the women had been staging regular protests outside the gates of the factory as construction went on for almost two years. They decided to escalate their protests. Sukinah and eight other women put themselves forward. Over time, the members of the group would cycle in and out, but they would remain the Nine Kartinis of Kendeng.
That month, when the dry season had just started, the Kartinis of Kendeng traveled more than 500 kilometers (311 miles) west, from their rural homes to the dense urban sprawl of Jakarta, Indonesia’s giant capital city.
Outside the presidential palace, as cars, buses, and motorbikes passed by, the Nine Kartinis of Kendeng sat in chairs and planted their feet in cement.
People from North Kendeng demonstrate outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, with their feet set in cement.
It was there that I met Sukinah for the first time, standing in a square wooden crate filled with cement. Tears dripped slowly down her face. Maybe it was because of the pain in her feet; or maybe it was her feeling of disappointment in the government. Two years earlier she and many other rural people had voted for Joko Widodo as president in the hope he would take their side against powerful companies. Now she was outside the palace, in the hope his promises on the campaign trail might still be delivered.
After repeated protests, and as media attention grew, the farmers were eventually ushered in to meet Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, in August 2016. They presented their case that the permits had been issued illegally; that the project would harm their food security and provoke ongoing unrest. The president promised to freeze the company’s operations and facilitate a dialogue between it and the farmers. He promised that a broad environmental assessment would take place, to determine which parts of the North Kendeng Mountains should be conserved, and which could be exploited.
But back in Central Java province, governor Ganjar Pranowo, Bibit’s successor, questioned whether the project could be stopped. The cement factory was already 95% complete, he told reporters.
A corn harvest in Tegaldowo. Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project.
By October, their lengthy legal battle culminated with the Supreme Court ruling to uphold the farmers’ case against the governor and Semen Indonesia. It held that the environmental impact assessment approved by the previous governor was flawed, that it failed to show how the mining would prevent serious damage to the water basin, and that it had not taken the views of the community into account. The court instructed the provincial government to revoke the environmental permit.
In December, hundreds of villagers marched for some 135 kilometers (84 miles) from Kendeng to the governor’s office, to celebrate and demand the implementation of the court’s decision. But when they arrived at the office, with Sukinah’s ankles swollen from the long walk, a bureaucrat informed them that the governor had simply replaced the revoked permit with a new one, days after the Supreme Court decision.
The governor’s decision caused a public outcry. But the farmers were yet to reach their lowest ebb.
***
By March 2017, the Kartinis of Kendeng were back in Jakarta, with their feet encased in cement. They had secured a commitment from the president and a win in the Supreme Court, yet the project was still moving ahead. Protests seemed to be their last resort.
After maintaining the demonstration for several days, it was time for one of the nine, a 48-year-old named Patmi, to return home. The cement around her feet was cracked open and she went to rest at the offices of the Legal Aid Institute. That night, she began convulsing and vomiting, and early the next morning she died of a heart attack.
The news spread across WhatsApp. The Kartinis of Kendeng, still mourning their friend and traumatized, received a backlash on social media from Indonesians blaming them for Patmi’s death.
“We felt lost,” Sukinah told me. “We had lost our sister, and many people criticized our movement. But what could we do?”
A day after the tragedy, on March 22, President Jokowi met Gunarti, one of the Kartinis of Kendeng, in the palace for a second time. She told him that Ganjar had effectively overridden the promises Jokowi made in their first meeting. But the president demurred, suggesting they should talk to the governor, who had by now repeatedly ignored their demands. Gunarti told a scrum of reporters outside the palace of her deep disappointment, as hopes of stopping the project began to fade.
During the protests, a farmer named Parmi had been assigned to take care of Patmi, seeing to her needs as her feet were lodged in the cement. In Tegaldowo, Parmi took me through the village to a beautiful wooden building. It is a langgar, a type of small mosque, built in memory of her friend.
“It was Patmi’s lifelong dream to build a langgar,” she told me. “We decided to make it, after she breathed her last breath.”
***
Today, when I meet Sukinah, I see the same person I met three years ago. From her home, though, I can see the giant cement factory built over the karst. The company operates “legally” with the new permit the governor issued in 2017.
Sukinah and the other Kendeng farmers still struggle to stop it, while slowly but surely the mining has started to pulverize the karst. Her home serves as a headquarters for the campaign, in which the farmers gather and hold traditional Javanese ceremonies that strengthen the bonds of their movement, as they do today.
My visit coincides with the seventh day after the Islamic holiday of Idul Fitri, a day the Javanese celebrate by holding a rice cake party.
It begins with a performance of Punokawan. In Javanese puppet theater, Punokawan involves the characters Semar, Gareng, Bagong and Petruk. In this rice cake party scene, Semar, the wisest and oldest among the Punokawan, cautions the villagers to take care of the environment.
Then, the residents parade around the village with two groups of men carrying gunungan, mountains made of corn. They sing of Ibu Bumi, Mother Earth.
The event continues into the night as Sukinah leads a group of women farmers, followed by villagers who carry bamboo torches in their hands, heading to a sacred well. They sing the same song.
After surrounding the well and praying together, they go back to Sukinah’s house and celebrate by eating rice cakes together.
None of the setbacks have dampened the desire of the Kartinis of Kendeng to fight for the mountains. Even the death of Patmi ultimately gave the women a renewed sense of togetherness and purpose.
Villagers march through Tegaldowo during the festival. By Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project.
“For me and the other sisters, it brought us light,” Sukinah told me. “It fired up our enthusiasm. We knew we must not remain silent. We are not weak, and we must not lose.
“Because Patmi is still with us. Even though her body might have been buried, her soul was never buried.”
Indeed, looking back on her six years of activism, Sukinah does not see setbacks and despair. She sees an education. “I never went to school,” she said. “So I sought knowledge, and I found so much.”
She pointed to the environmentalists, lawyers and scientists she has met along the way, and her experiences outside her village. It was a journey that brought her both happiness and pride.
“Every step of the way we learned from people who were positive about the environment,” she said. “About the meaning of this life, what we live for.”
Sukinah at the festival. Image by Leo Plunkett for Mongabay and The Gecko Project.
The time comes for me to say goodbye to Sukinah and the Kartinis of Kendeng. As I drive out of Tegaldowo, I pass the cement factory. It strikes me that it’s the support of a single governor — not the views of the people, or the law, or science, or what is right — that has the greatest influence over the development projects that shape people’s lives.
I left Kendeng with the sense that their movement was about fraternity. All of the members of their group had the same purpose and feelings, forged through friendship. Sedulur Sikep, their local belief, kept them united even after they lost their sister, Patmi. In the end, her death even made them stronger.
From my time with them, I could see how their lives and their movement are suffused with culture. Their culture and activism were so bound together that it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. That culture is a beautiful, unique and local tapestry of Islam, Saminism and resistance, a belief in both the past and a sustainable future, that is completely at odds with the destruction of the environment by heavy extractive industries.
I also left with the belief that Patmi should be considered a heroine. She dedicated her life to safeguard the karst from destruction, because of her belief that it would provoke a water crisis. She sacrificed herself, knowing the dangers, for her community.
I worry that the Jokowi administration, elected with so much hope, will never understand this struggle. But seeing the Kartinis of Kendeng gives me a little hope about the future: that people will continue to resist and stand for their homeland, our homeland. For Sukinah, there is no other choice.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
This article was co-produced with The Gecko Project. Read part two of the series here.
Featured image is from Mongabay


asiapacificresearch--2020-11-27--Villagers Flee Their Homes After Myanmar’s Military Clashes with TNLA

Nearly 1,000 people in Mandalay Region ’ s Mogoke Township have left their villages due to clashes this week between the Ta ’ ang National Liberation Army ( TNLA ) and Myanmar ’ s military .
The clashes have occurred about 11km north of Mogoke since Tuesday evening .
U Hla Moe Oo , Mogoke Township ’ s administrator , told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that nearly 1,000 villagers are sheltering at monasteries , churches and community halls and with relatives .
He said the authorities are collecting the names of displaced people .
U Aung Naing , the National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawmaker for the township , said the residents of Kyaukwar , Chaunggyi and Manar villages north of Mogoke have fled their homes .
Displaced villagers take shelter at a Mogoke community hall .
Source : The Irrawaddy Myanmar ’ s military spokesman , Major General Zaw Min Tun , told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that fighting broke out between about 30 TNLA troops and a military battalion during an ambush about 2km north of the town .
“ Some of our soldiers were killed and injured , ” he said .
Maj-Gen Zaw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recruiting and taking a grip on the area since 2019 .
The TNLA confirmed the clash had occurred on Tuesday night .
Residents reported that some fighting continued until Wednesday noon but the violence had subsequently ended .
The TNLA , based in northern Shan State , is actively fighting Myanmar ’ s army and is a member of the Northern Alliance , which has engaged in peace negotiations with the government .
The TNLA has not signed a ceasefire with Myanmar ’ s authorities .
Note to readers : please click the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .
Featured image : Displaced villagers are in Mogoke .
Source : The Irrawaddy

Nearly 1,000 people in Mandalay Region’s Mogoke Township have left their villages due to clashes this week between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar’s military.
The clashes have occurred about 11km north of Mogoke since Tuesday evening.
U Hla Moe Oo, Mogoke Township’s administrator, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that nearly 1,000 villagers are sheltering at monasteries, churches and community halls and with relatives.
He said the authorities are collecting the names of displaced people.
U Aung Naing, the National League for Democracy’s Lower House lawmaker for the township, said the residents of Kyaukwar, Chaunggyi and Manar villages north of Mogoke have fled their homes.
Displaced villagers take shelter at a Mogoke community hall. Source: The Irrawaddy
“We want peace. The people need to live peacefully,” he said. “Clashes make trouble for the IDPs [internally displaced people] but also a burden for the people who assist them.”
Myanmar’s military spokesman, Major General Zaw Min Tun, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that fighting broke out between about 30 TNLA troops and a military battalion during an ambush about 2km north of the town. “Some of our soldiers were killed and injured,” he said.
Residents of Mogoke reported hearing gunfire.
Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun said the TNLA has been recruiting and taking a grip on the area since 2019.
The TNLA confirmed the clash had occurred on Tuesday night.
Residents reported that some fighting continued until Wednesday noon but the violence had subsequently ended.
The TNLA, based in northern Shan State, is actively fighting Myanmar’s army and is a member of the Northern Alliance, which has engaged in peace negotiations with the government.
The TNLA has not signed a ceasefire with Myanmar’s authorities.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Featured image: Displaced villagers are in Mogoke. Source: The Irrawaddy


asiapacificresearch--2020-11-27--Should Americans Die for the Senkaku Islands? Joe Biden Says Yes.

President-elect Joe Biden says Americans might have to die for the Senkaku Islands .
You know , the 51st state .
Er , a distant U.S. territory .
Er , a vital geographic outpost blocking invasion routes into America .
Er , some uninhabited rocks claimed by both China and Japan .
According to the official “ read-out ” of the phone call between the president-elect and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga : The Pentagon takes this responsibility seriously .
Last month the US and Japan undertook exercise Keen Sword 21 , which tested moving units among Japanese islands .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ US forces in Japan , observed that “ the same capability would be used to deploy combat troops to defend the Senkaku Islands or respond to other crises and contingencies.
” Well , at least Tokyo bears an equivalent obligation to come to the defense of Guam and the Commonwealth of Marianna Islands , American territories in the western Pacific , right ?
Huh , huh .
You must be kidding !
Until recently the Japanese Self-Defense Force didn ’ t even have authority to aid US personnel or vessels under attack while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sent humanitarian JSDF personnel to Iraq to support the US occupation , they were primarily defended by Australian combat troops .
Finally , five years ago the official security guidelines were changed to allow Japan ’ s quasi-military to act a little bit more like , well , a real military .
So much for helping to defend American territory .
Nevertheless , at the time this change was treated as a revolutionary accomplishment .
In World War II Imperial Japan ’ s defeat was total and the US imposed a “ peace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banning possession of a military .
As the Cold War intensified Washington reconsidered that policy , but Tokyo enthusiastically hid behind the letter of the law to resist America ’ s subsequent pressure to rearm .
Other states in the region , including Washington ’ s most important allies , South Korea , Australia , and the Philippines , also opposed what they feared would be the Japanese empire redux .
Tokyo created the JSDF and treated it as distinct from a military , since the new force was allowed to do little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s beaches , if that .
Still , though Japan capped defense outlays at one percent of GDP , that was enough to create a serious and sophisticated , if limited , military capability .
But it has taken years for Japanese governments to increase the JSDF ’ s authorized missions , while multiple proposals for constitutional reform , to formally legalize a military , have foundered .
Nevertheless , as North Korea ’ s and China ’ s military outlays and ambitions have increased , so have Tokyo ’ s – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assumed America ’ s continued defense commitment , while beginning to hedge by improving their own forces .
President Obama and now President-elect Biden sought to calm Japanese fears by promising to sacrifice American lives to guarantee every meter of claimed Japanese territory .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did the same , though not President Donald Trump , who has been much more skeptical of “ endless wars ” than the appointees with whom he surrounded himself .
Of course , Washington also is pushing Japan to do more .
So are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , perhaps most surprisingly , the Philippines .
The rise of China , highlighted by its growing totalitarian tendencies and international aggressiveness , has concentrated minds throughout the region .
Suddenly the idea of having Japanese vessels and planes wandering East Asian doesn ’ t sound so bad .
However , Biden ’ s readiness to increase an already expansive American commitment is bad policy for several reasons .
The most obvious problem is that ownership of the Senkakus , known as the Diaoyus in China , is contested .
They total five @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and lack any intrinsic value .
However , sovereignty yields control over surrounding waters and resources , which in turn yields fisheries and hydrocarbons .
Tokyo controls the territory , but Beijing ’ s claim is serious .
Japan grabbed the group as part of its victory over the decrepit Chinese Empire in 1895 ( along with the Korean peninsula and island of Formosa , present day Taiwan ) .
Tokyo views its conquest as dispositive while treating the Soviet Union ’ s end-of-the-war seizure of the Kuril Islands in 1945 as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ People ’ s Republic of China could do little in its early years to challenge Japan now has greater ambition and ability and is refusing to take no for an answer .
The US has no stake in the outcome , other than a general commitment to peaceful resolution of disputes .
However , that position looks biased when Washington ’ s client won ’ t address the issue peacefully .
Worse , America ’ s position encourages Japanese intransigence , which in turn leaves the PRC with no choice but to use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , let alone achieve satisfaction .
Which could put the US on a collision course with a nuclear-armed power fighting much closer at home with much more at stake .
Is Tokyo worth taking such a risk ?
Even if so , preserving Tokyo ’ s sovereignty matters a lot more to the US than preserving Tokyo ’ s sovereignty over a few barren rocks .
So it would make sense to restrict Washington ’ s commitment to ensuring Japan ’ s independence .
Which , notably , Beijing has not threatened and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s ambitions remain focused on regaining territory lost during what is commonly known as the Century of Humiliation , when the once great imperial power was beaten , invaded , and divided by assorted European powers , along with the US and Japan .
Although this history doesn ’ t justify today crushing the freedom of Hong Kongers and threatening to conquer Taiwan , a desire to restore control over historic territories still populated by ethnic Chinese is very different from seeking to conquer lands filled with non-Chinese .
However , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Japan has two serious drawbacks .
While intended to deter aggression by Beijing , it ensures American involvement if conflict erupts , irrespective of who started the fight .
And encourages reckless provocations by US allies .
Thus , sparring by both sides over the Senkakus/Diaoyus could lead to encounters of the dangerous kind by warships and warplanes .
For instance , U.S.-Chinese relations faced a difficult test in 2001 after an aggressive Chinese fighter pilot collided with an American EP-3 spy plane near Hainan Island , which contained sensitive Chinese military installations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the other ; thankfully , the dispute was ultimately resolved diplomatically .
Last year a Chinese ship rammed and sank a Filipino fishing vessel in a confrontation over contested territory .
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte took a break from his anti-American posturing to demand US military action : “ I ’ m calling now , America .
I am invoking the RP-US pact , and I would like America to gather their Seventh Fleet in front of China .
I ’ m asking them now.
” Lest his intentions be misunderstood , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enter the South China Sea , I will enter .
I will ride with the American who goes there first .
Then I will tell the Americans , ‘ Okay , let ’ s bomb everything ’ .
” Unfortunately , instead of de-escalating , both Tokyo and Beijing appear to be digging in , making future incidents more likely .
Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono complained to China ’ s ambassador about the PRC ’ s behavior .
The Chinese embassy responded with support “ to build a constructive Sino-Japanese security relationship @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions .
Three score members of the ruling LDP established a study group intended to reinforce Japanese sovereignty over the islands , which is only likely to spur additional Chinese challenges .
Moreover , increased US security assurances discourage increased Japanese defense efforts .
Tokyo has awoken on security issues because of increased foreign threats and , even more important , decreased certainty of the American commitment .
Shoichi Yamada , a professor at Fukui Prefectural University , observed : “ We have to be realistic .
Right now , the Japan Self-defense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Chinese military on our own , and it is not clear what the US is thinking at the moment.
” The result has been a small hike in Japanese defense outlays and SDF responsibilities .
Belief that Washington can simultaneously promise bountiful and eternal defense subsidies and convince happy clients to do more reflects the triumph of irrational hope over long and painful experience .
Why should Japanese governments combat public opinion and waste limited public resources if America promises to do the job for Tokyo ?
For years Washington has sought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authorities to do more under US control while eschewing independent action , essentially treating the SDF as a tool of American , not Japanese , policy .
However , that tradeoff looks increasingly dubious from Japan ’ s standpoint , restricting Tokyo ’ s ability to fashion policy that best advances its interests .
This approach is even worse from a US perspective , requiring Washington to risk war over issues which are not vital against a growing power with much more at stake .
America also is increasingly ill-positioned to protect Japan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the dominant US military : it costs far more to project power , in this case to the Asia-Pacific , than to deter someone else ’ s use of power .
The same phenomenon makes the US homeland largely immune .
Consider how difficult it would be for China to attack Hawaii , let alone the mainland .
Of course , it is not Washington ’ s job to tell Tokyo how much or in what way to spend on defense .
Rather , US officials should decide what they are willing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obligations .
The start for relaxing America ’ s obligations would be to exempt any contested territories from the so-called Mutual Defense Treaty ( which imposes many obligations on the US and only one on Japan , to agree to be defended ) .
Pulling US forces out of Okinawa , where residents host a dramatically disproportionate share of American military facilities , should be another early step .
Ending the so-called “ nuclear umbrella ” over Japan would be a third .
Over time Washington should withdraw to a back-up role , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It is important for Washington to give Japan due notice , thereby allowing it to adjust its defense policy accordingly .
Tokyo ’ s military spending is around $ 50 billion annually , less than a fourth China ’ s estimated levels .
Nevertheless , Japan ’ s unofficial armed forces are capable .
Noted the International Institute for Strategic Studies : “ While the JSDF ’ s offensive capacity remains weak , the navy has strengths in anti-Submarine warfare and air defense.
” Moreover , “ an Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the defense of remote islands.
” However , Japan ’ s ongoing “ build-up ” is anemic , with outlays expected to rise by a modest 3.3 percent next year .
Tokyo ’ s military outlays run only one percent of GDP , despite Japan ’ s obviously ability to do much more to enhance its defensive capabilities .
That could even mean a Japanese atomic bomb at some point , something which Washington should allow but not encourage .
Japan ’ s defense should be left up to Japan .
In any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ match the PRC , man for man and weapon for weapon .
The tyranny of distance also applies to the PRC if Japan is defending against Chinese power projection .
President-elect Biden will be tempted to stage a reprise of the Obama administration , attempting to advance a slightly restrained version of traditional liberal internationalism , which rarely meets a foreign commitment it does not want to make .
However , that policy is no longer viable : the costs and risks for the US are too great , especially in a world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And an American people tired of endless wars in the Mideast won ’ t look favorably on potentially bigger wars elsewhere .
The president-elect should begin his term by promising Americans that they won ’ t die for the Senkaku Islands – or any other forlorn piece of East Asian real estate .
Note to readers : please click the share buttons above or below .
Forward this article to your email lists .
Crosspost on your blog site , internet forums .
etc .
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Assistant to President Ronald Reagan , he is author of Tripwire : Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World and co-author of The Korean Conundrum : America ’ s Troubled Relations with North and South Korea .

President-elect Joe Biden says Americans might have to die for the Senkaku Islands. You know, the 51st state. Er, a distant U.S. territory. Er, a vital geographic outpost blocking invasion routes into America. Er, some uninhabited rocks claimed by both China and Japan.
Bingo!
According to the official “read-out” of the phone call between the president-elect and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga:
“Biden confirmed that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty will be applied to the defense of Okinawa Prefecture and the Senkaku Islands. Article 5 stipulates that the U.S. is obliged to defend Japan should its territories come under attack. Former President Barack Obama was the first US leader to declare that the pact applies to the Senkakus.”
The Pentagon takes this responsibility seriously. Last month the US and Japan undertook exercise Keen Sword 21, which tested moving units among Japanese islands. Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of US forces in Japan, observed that “the same capability would be used to deploy combat troops to defend the Senkaku Islands or respond to other crises and contingencies.”
Well, at least Tokyo bears an equivalent obligation to come to the defense of Guam and the Commonwealth of Marianna Islands, American territories in the western Pacific, right?
Huh, huh. You must be kidding! Until recently the Japanese Self-Defense Force didn’t even have authority to aid US personnel or vessels under attack while engaged in defending Japan. When Tokyo sent humanitarian JSDF personnel to Iraq to support the US occupation, they were primarily defended by Australian combat troops. Finally, five years ago the official security guidelines were changed to allow Japan’s quasi-military to act a little bit more like, well, a real military.
Explained the Carnegie Endowment’s James Schoff:
“The guidelines suggest that Japan will expand the range of support activities for the US, such as helping to protect US ships if they are attacked, more coordinated missile defense activity, and helping out with minesweeping at sea and other actions to protect secure sea lanes. Whereas the alliance in the past was almost completely about the US helping to protect Japan, the new guidelines suggest a more balanced relationship, even if Japan still limits the situations where it can use military force. Japan will severely restrict its ability to use force, but it should be able to provide more information and logistical support to the US in a conflict than it ever could before.”
So much for helping to defend American territory. Nevertheless, at the time this change was treated as a revolutionary accomplishment.
In World War II Imperial Japan’s defeat was total and the US imposed a “peace constitution” on the occupied country, banning possession of a military. As the Cold War intensified Washington reconsidered that policy, but Tokyo enthusiastically hid behind the letter of the law to resist America’s subsequent pressure to rearm. Other states in the region, including Washington’s most important allies, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines, also opposed what they feared would be the Japanese empire redux.
Tokyo created the JSDF and treated it as distinct from a military, since the new force was allowed to do little more than shoot at invaders on Japan’s beaches, if that. Still, though Japan capped defense outlays at one percent of GDP, that was enough to create a serious and sophisticated, if limited, military capability. But it has taken years for Japanese governments to increase the JSDF’s authorized missions, while multiple proposals for constitutional reform, to formally legalize a military, have foundered.
Nevertheless, as North Korea’s and China’s military outlays and ambitions have increased, so have Tokyo’s – a little bit. Successive governments have assumed America’s continued defense commitment, while beginning to hedge by improving their own forces. President Obama and now President-elect Biden sought to calm Japanese fears by promising to sacrifice American lives to guarantee every meter of claimed Japanese territory. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did the same, though not President Donald Trump, who has been much more skeptical of “endless wars” than the appointees with whom he surrounded himself.
Of course, Washington also is pushing Japan to do more. So are Tokyo’s old enemies, including, perhaps most surprisingly, the Philippines. The rise of China, highlighted by its growing totalitarian tendencies and international aggressiveness, has concentrated minds throughout the region. Suddenly the idea of having Japanese vessels and planes wandering East Asian doesn’t sound so bad.
However, Biden’s readiness to increase an already expansive American commitment is bad policy for several reasons. The most obvious problem is that ownership of the Senkakus, known as the Diaoyus in China, is contested. They total five islands and three reefs, all uninhabited, and lack any intrinsic value. However, sovereignty yields control over surrounding waters and resources, which in turn yields fisheries and hydrocarbons.
Tokyo controls the territory, but Beijing’s claim is serious. Japan grabbed the group as part of its victory over the decrepit Chinese Empire in 1895 (along with the Korean peninsula and island of Formosa, present day Taiwan). Tokyo views its conquest as dispositive while treating the Soviet Union’s end-of-the-war seizure of the Kuril Islands in 1945 as invalid and refuses to negotiate. The People’s Republic of China could do little in its early years to challenge Japan now has greater ambition and ability and is refusing to take no for an answer.
The US has no stake in the outcome, other than a general commitment to peaceful resolution of disputes. However, that position looks biased when Washington’s client won’t address the issue peacefully. Worse, America’s position encourages Japanese intransigence, which in turn leaves the PRC with no choice but to use force to win recognition of its claim, let alone achieve satisfaction. Which could put the US on a collision course with a nuclear-armed power fighting much closer at home with much more at stake.
Is Tokyo worth taking such a risk? Even if so, preserving Tokyo’s sovereignty matters a lot more to the US than preserving Tokyo’s sovereignty over a few barren rocks. So it would make sense to restrict Washington’s commitment to ensuring Japan’s independence. Which, notably, Beijing has not threatened and probably has no interest in ending.
China’s ambitions remain focused on regaining territory lost during what is commonly known as the Century of Humiliation, when the once great imperial power was beaten, invaded, and divided by assorted European powers, along with the US and Japan. Although this history doesn’t justify today crushing the freedom of Hong Kongers and threatening to conquer Taiwan, a desire to restore control over historic territories still populated by ethnic Chinese is very different from seeking to conquer lands filled with non-Chinese.
However, even a more limited Washington commitment to Japan has two serious drawbacks. While intended to deter aggression by Beijing, it ensures American involvement if conflict erupts, irrespective of who started the fight. And encourages reckless provocations by US allies. Thus, sparring by both sides over the Senkakus/Diaoyus could lead to encounters of the dangerous kind by warships and warplanes.
For instance, U.S.-Chinese relations faced a difficult test in 2001 after an aggressive Chinese fighter pilot collided with an American EP-3 spy plane near Hainan Island, which contained sensitive Chinese military installations. The US and PRC naturally blamed the other; thankfully, the dispute was ultimately resolved diplomatically.
Last year a Chinese ship rammed and sank a Filipino fishing vessel in a confrontation over contested territory. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte took a break from his anti-American posturing to demand US military action: “I’m calling now, America. I am invoking the RP-US pact, and I would like America to gather their Seventh Fleet in front of China. I’m asking them now.” Lest his intentions be misunderstood, the blustering Duterte declared: “When they enter the South China Sea, I will enter. I will ride with the American who goes there first. Then I will tell the Americans, ‘Okay, let’s bomb everything’.”
Unfortunately, instead of de-escalating, both Tokyo and Beijing appear to be digging in, making future incidents more likely. Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono complained to China’s ambassador about the PRC’s behavior. The Chinese embassy responded with support “to build a constructive Sino-Japanese security relationship,” but was unrepentant about its actions. Three score members of the ruling LDP established a study group intended to reinforce Japanese sovereignty over the islands, which is only likely to spur additional Chinese challenges.
Moreover, increased US security assurances discourage increased Japanese defense efforts. Tokyo has awoken on security issues because of increased foreign threats and, even more important, decreased certainty of the American commitment. Shoichi Yamada, a professor at Fukui Prefectural University, observed: “We have to be realistic. Right now, the Japan Self-defense Forces are not strong enough to confront the Chinese military on our own, and it is not clear what the US is thinking at the moment.” The result has been a small hike in Japanese defense outlays and SDF responsibilities.
Belief that Washington can simultaneously promise bountiful and eternal defense subsidies and convince happy clients to do more reflects the triumph of irrational hope over long and painful experience. Why should Japanese governments combat public opinion and waste limited public resources if America promises to do the job for Tokyo?
For years Washington has sought to micro-manage Japanese efforts – convince the authorities to do more under US control while eschewing independent action, essentially treating the SDF as a tool of American, not Japanese, policy. However, that tradeoff looks increasingly dubious from Japan’s standpoint, restricting Tokyo’s ability to fashion policy that best advances its interests. This approach is even worse from a US perspective, requiring Washington to risk war over issues which are not vital against a growing power with much more at stake.
America also is increasingly ill-positioned to protect Japan. The tyranny of distance bedevils even the dominant US military: it costs far more to project power, in this case to the Asia-Pacific, than to deter someone else’s use of power. The same phenomenon makes the US homeland largely immune. Consider how difficult it would be for China to attack Hawaii, let alone the mainland.
Of course, it is not Washington’s job to tell Tokyo how much or in what way to spend on defense. Rather, US officials should decide what they are willing to do and begin rolling back American military obligations. The start for relaxing America’s obligations would be to exempt any contested territories from the so-called Mutual Defense Treaty (which imposes many obligations on the US and only one on Japan, to agree to be defended). Pulling US forces out of Okinawa, where residents host a dramatically disproportionate share of American military facilities, should be another early step. Ending the so-called “nuclear umbrella” over Japan would be a third. Over time Washington should withdraw to a back-up role, on call for only the direst situations.
It is important for Washington to give Japan due notice, thereby allowing it to adjust its defense policy accordingly. Tokyo’s military spending is around $50 billion annually, less than a fourth China’s estimated levels. Nevertheless, Japan’s unofficial armed forces are capable. Noted the International Institute for Strategic Studies: “While the JSDF’s offensive capacity remains weak, the navy has strengths in anti-Submarine warfare and air defense.” Moreover, “an Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade was also created, tasked mainly with the defense of remote islands.”
However, Japan’s ongoing “build-up” is anemic, with outlays expected to rise by a modest 3.3 percent next year. Tokyo’s military outlays run only one percent of GDP, despite Japan’s obviously ability to do much more to enhance its defensive capabilities. That could even mean a Japanese atomic bomb at some point, something which Washington should allow but not encourage. Japan’s defense should be left up to Japan. In any case, Tokyo does not have to match the PRC, man for man and weapon for weapon. The tyranny of distance also applies to the PRC if Japan is defending against Chinese power projection.
President-elect Biden will be tempted to stage a reprise of the Obama administration, attempting to advance a slightly restrained version of traditional liberal internationalism, which rarely meets a foreign commitment it does not want to make. However, that policy is no longer viable: the costs and risks for the US are too great, especially in a world of massive deficits and a runaway debt. And an American people tired of endless wars in the Mideast won’t look favorably on potentially bigger wars elsewhere. The president-elect should begin his term by promising Americans that they won’t die for the Senkaku Islands – or any other forlorn piece of East Asian real estate.
*
Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc.
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World and co-author of The Korean Conundrum: America’s Troubled Relations with North and South Korea.
Featured image: Location of Senkaku Islands (CC BY-SA 3.0)