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Life Returning Amidst the Ashes in East Timor
By Hawaa Irfan
Small shops and open-air vegetable markets are flourishing after East Timor's fight for the right to determine its own future.
Water and electricity services have been restored for a few hours a day, and everyone is busy repairing their burnt out neighborhoods.
Coffee growers have returned to the fields with the hope of planting larger crops in the knowledge that they won't be stolen by the militia.
Greater yields in rice and corn also look promising.
Another optimistic step in their future is the reserves of natural gas and oil. They have gathered $500 million in international aid, and there is speculation of further reserves below the seabed of the Timor Gap between East Timor and Australia.
However, East Timor's current share of royalties and taxes from Shell Oil's output in the Timor Gap only amounts to $4 million.
Current exploration by Philips Petroleum in the Timor Gap could earn $100 million a year in natural gas revenues.
Struggle Over the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve
In the country that gave birth to "The Green Revolution," 41 years after the death of agrarian reformist Emiliano Zapata, the Zapatista communities are struggling for the right to maintain their traditional homes in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve.
Zapata's efforts led to a Native American Revolution among the 8% (this figure has been reported elsewhere to be as high as 29%) of the 135 million Mexicans that are considered to be Native Americans.
The future of the reserve, which covers 331,000 hectares, is being threatened in the struggle between the Zapatista and the Mexican authorities. It was created in 1978, in the heart of the Lacandon jungle, in response to prospectors and timber merchants who were removing valuable trees and extending farms that were at the edge of the forest.
The authority's concern over the reserve was triggered by a series of forest fires two years ago that destroyed 30,000 hectares. Previous to that time, the area was basically ignored. The authorities feel that, when the Zapatista burn vegetation to prepare for planting crops, they are breaking up the unity of the ecosystem and increasing the danger of forest fires, particularly during dry seasons.
The Zapatista believe that this reaction is purely political. History has taught them to be suspicious of the current relocation programs. "If the government was really so worried about the environment, they would have solved the problem long ago," said Don Mariano. "We think that they want to kick out the poor so they can sell it to the rich."
Fearful of possible repercussions from the Zapatistas, the authorities dare not send in security forces to evict the "irregular" communities. They accept that there is little that they can do to displace the established communities, because they possess titles of ownership for the land. They are, however, focusing on more recent settlers to the reserves.
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