A long-standing French protectorate briefly occupied by Japan during World War II, Cambodia became independent in 1953 as the French finally withdrew from Indochina. Under the leadership of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia remained officially neutral, including during the subsequent US war on Indochina.
With worn single barrel shotguns slung over their shoulders, two Indigenous men tread quietly through the thick Amazon forest of their land, checking for illegal activity.
They say that since 2015, their territory – where they live with around 40 other fellow Karipuna in Brazil’s north-western state of Rondônia – has been increasingly targeted by illegal loggers and land grabbers.
She was just standing there, in the middle of burning land, surrounded by stumps of trees, fire everywhere, smoke rising towards a hopelessly gray sky. The expression on her face was mischievous, almost girlish. I had no idea how old she was: she could have been 28, just as she could easily have been 55.
This island, this village, this charred land: it all looked like hell to me, but obviously not to her: it actually made her laugh, burst with pride.
What do you say about this fellow – practicing to be a Jesuit priest. Yale Law School. His family involved in California politics since the 1930s. His great-grandfather here from Germany for the great California Gold Rush, 1852.
Yes, that genocidal, land-thieving time of California’s history –
Surkh Gul with her daughter.
“My family’s water well has dried up,” 18-year-old Surkh Gul said.
“Ours too,” echoed 13-year-old Inaam.
A distressed Surkh Gul lamented: “We have to fetch water from the public well along the main road, but that water is muddy, not fit for drinking. I get bottled water for my two-year-old daughter. At least someone in the family should stay healthy.”
Rapacious. “They got theirs, so I better get mine. Yes, things change, and, sure this sleepy town is about to boom but that’s the way of the world…. Might as well be part of the winning team – that money making side of things. That’s all you can do.”
I just finished talking to white guy in his late forties, gassing up excavators and huge dump trucks. We’re near the Estacada High School, and he tells me the scrapping is to make room for more ball fields. The school already has fields and a football stadium. This is a town with 3,000.
Run to the trees
Trees will be burning
Run to the sea
Sea will boiling
All on that day
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, greets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on arrival at the Europa building in Brussels, March 21, 2017. (AP/Virginia Mayo)
As Brexit talks begin in earnest, the European Union’s army of trade negotiators is finalizing what is set to become their biggest deal yet — JEFTA, a wide-reaching financial agreement with Japan.
How destructive can man get, how ruthless, in his quest to secure maximum profit, even as he endangers the very survival of our planet?
The tropical forests of Kalimantan (known as Borneo in Malaysia), the third largest island in the world, have almost totally disappeared. Coal mines are savagely scarring the hills; the rivers are polluted, and countless species are endangered or already extinct.
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
― John Muir
