26/27/28 June
Burmese Group - Council of All Beings
29 June
workshop and presentation "Village of the Poor"
1/3 July
Council of All Beings - Hill Tribes Chiang Rai
4/10 July
visit Dhammagaia projects. 1
10/12 July
Council of All Beings Wongsanit Ashram - Bangkok group
14 July
public lecture Bangkok
26/27/28 June - Burmese Group - Council of All Beings
On 25th we will travel by plane to Ubon where the workshop with the Burmese group will be held in a national park. They are part of a Grassroots Leadership training programme - a three month course for peoples from Burma that are based in Thailand and the Philippines. Three courses have been for Christians and two for Sangha. This is the first inter-religious one although there are only three Buddhists in the group. They are all people involved in social action work from Baptist, Catholic and Buddhist groups. They arrive 24 April until 7 July. The training aims to raise awareness of the positive and negative aspects of development through a variety of learning techniques including learning from the challenges and successes of the Thai and Philippine experi ence, learning about community based development techniques and visioning for a sustainable and peaceful future. Our alumni return to Burma and in the very difficult circumstances we help them start up small scale community development projects ranging from Natural resource management, pig banks, training courses, sustainable agriculture, youth projects etc. etc. Your session comes near the end of their course so they will be well aware of many environmental, social, cultural issues by then. This group would also benefit from the slide show and learn about the sus tainable forestry projects you are involved in.
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29 June
Nearby is a protest village at the Pak Mon Dam where Forum of the Poor are very active - PMD has been protested against for more than twenty years although the dam has now been built the group are still very active and inspiring as a movement for grassroots activism in S.E. Asia. Forum of the Poor are a huge movement of people who have had their lives and communities destroyed by various aspects of the modernisation process particularly dams, shrimp farms and toxic waste. Over the years they have often come in their thousands to Bangkok and spent months in non-violent protest camping outsde government house. We have arranged a one-day workshop with Forum of the Poor at their protest village in Ubon. This group could benefit from an afternoon Council of All Beings and possibly the slide show and discussion of direct action you are involved in. The Forum of the Poor are very inspiring and this visit will be a great oppor tunity for you to understand their unique approach. There may be some potential Dhammagaia projects here as this particular group are keen on cultural sustainability and have adapted some Bud dhist and animist traditions in their actions..
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1/3 July - Council of All Beings - Chiang Rai
Your Council of All Beings for a group of forest and hill-tribe activists in Chiang Rai this will be co-ordinated by an activist theatre group that moved from Bangkok to a tribal village where the workshop will be held. This is probably most likely to be the most open group to the experiential approach so we can experiment more here.
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4/10 July - visit Dhammagaia projects.
The Dhamma Gaia Trust is a non-profit organisation which receives tax deductible donations to nurture Buddhist ecology projects. see rainforestinfo.org.audeep-eco/dharma.htm
In the NE of Thailand we will be visiting among others, the Buddhist monks who have saved old growth forests by conducting ceremonies to ordain trees into the monkhood. The woodcutters shun the trees with the orange cloth tied around them.
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10/12 July Council of All Beings Wongsanit Ashram - Bangkok group
This group is a general group of social activists or others concerned with environment etc. There will be socially active monks and nuns so will have to reduce the body and eye contact.
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14 July - public lecture Bangkok