{"id":1138,"date":"2008-11-02T04:15:40","date_gmt":"2008-11-02T12:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bbrace.laughingsquid.net\/wordpress\/?p=1136"},"modified":"2008-11-02T04:15:40","modified_gmt":"2008-11-02T12:15:40","slug":"white-farmers-on-radio-qman-txun-swim-12-hours-for-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/?p=1138","title":{"rendered":"White Farmers on Radio Qman Txun Swim 12 Hours For Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

ShareThis<\/em><\/p>\n

A tourist left behind on a dive trip swam all night, covering nearly 10
\nkilometers through shark-infested water before reaching land in Taveuni,
\nFiji Monday.<\/p>\n

If there’s a model of hope for the world’s indigenous peoples, it is the
\ntown of Todos Santos Cuchumatan in northwestern Guatemala. The Mayans who
\nlive here still wear their traditional clothing with pride and practice
\ntheir traditional ceremonies and customs, and 95 percent of the population
\nstill speaks Mam. At the same time, the people of Todos Santos also
\nparticipate vigorously in the larger society and have a thriving economy.<\/p>\n

Some white farmers whose land was acquired by the Government for
\nresettlement purposes have reportedly destroyed maize fields belonging to
\nnew farmers in Mashonaland West, claiming that the land was theirs.<\/p>\n

Thomas Holz, 40, of Berlin, Germany, was out a scuba diving trip with three
\nother tourists at Rainbow Reef, near Viani Bay in Vanua Levu, according to
\nthe local Fiji Times.<\/p>\n

The key to this indigenous success story is Radio Qman Txun, the town’s
\ncommunity radio station. The station’s programs reinforce the local
\nlanguage and the culture while also bringing news from the nation and the
\nworld into the town. The station is all the more important because the
\nwhole country of Guatemala is flooded with Western music, information, and
\ncultural standards, and without Radio Qman Txun, those influences would
\nquickly overwhelm the town.<\/p>\n

He surfaced after running out of oxygen and waited for the dive master to
\nreturn with the other divers. A local police spokesman said that when the
\ndive master resurfaced with the other tourists, they couldn’t find Holz.
\nThey searched until nightfall, and began again early at 5 a.m. Monday.<\/p>\n

At least two new farmers who had done dry planting had their germinating
\nmaize crop destroyed recently. It is said that the white farmers are
\nrefusing to vacate the land and to recognise the new farmers\u2019 offer
\nletters. One new farmer Colonel Tony Kapanga said he lost over 20 hectares
\nof his maize crop on Wednesday after the former owner of his Chingford Farm
\nin Selous Mr Colin Cloete allegedly ploughed the land. He said he also lost
\nbillions of dollars worth of fertiliser he had applied to the crop.<\/p>\n

“The currents were strong, and my main fear was for my family in Germany.
\nEven though I was tired, I hung on to the oxygen cylinder and kept
\nswimming,” Holz told the Fiji Times. “Then early this morning, I felt the
\nseabed and just screamed out for help before I collapsed on the shore.”<\/p>\n

But Radio Qman Txun, along with all the other community radio stations in
\nGuatemala, is at extreme risk. Elements in the government do not want these
\nstations to succeed. In past few weeks police have raided four radio
\nstations near Todos Santos and confiscated all the equipment. The country’s
\nconstitution guarantees the right to community radio, but the
\ntelecommunications law does not, and government forces are using the
\npretext of this law to shut down the stations and cut off this vital
\ncultural lifeline.<\/p>\n

Police at Selous confirmed the incident saying they had opened
\ninvestigations into the matter. When contacted for comment Mr Cloete said
\nhe had ploughed down the maize seed because Col Kapanga was not supposed to
\nbe on the farm. \u201cSelous Police have recorded my statement and are charging
\nme with malicious damage to property but when Mr Kapanga was disturbing me
\nno one came to my rescue. This is my farm and the house in which the police
\ndetails are housed is my father\u2019s house, so how do you explain this,\u2019\u2019 said
\nMr Cloete.<\/p>\n

A local woman heard his cries and helped him from shore. Holz has recovered
\nand is continuing his tourist activities on an eco tour.<\/p>\n

This assault on Mayan culture has to stop, and right now we have a unique
\nchance to do it: a new telecommunications bill has been introduced in the
\nGuatemalan Congress, and recent elections resulted in 94 of the 158 members
\nof Congress being new. We have a very short window of time to reach these
\nnew legislators before they are swamped with conflicting agendas. And the
\nmath is all too simple: for the new bill to pass, 80 legislators must vote
\nfor the bill. Currently, we have the support of 24; we need 56 more.<\/p>\n

At Maunze Farm in Darwendale employees of one Mr J S Crowley allegedly
\nploughed down more than six farmers\u2019 fields which had maize seed. One of
\nthe affected farmers Mr Roy Chinanga claimed he had nine hectares of maize
\ndestroyed by Mr Crowley\u2019s managers. \u201cI used seed from last year\u2019s reserves
\nbut that has now been ploughed down and I do not have anywhere to turn
\nto,\u2019\u2019 said Mr Chinanga. Mr Crowley could not be reached for comment as he
\nwas said to be living in Harare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ShareThis A tourist left behind on a dive trip swam all night, covering nearly 10 kilometers through shark-infested water before reaching land in Taveuni, Fiji Monday. If there’s a model of hope for the world’s indigenous peoples, it is the town of Todos Santos Cuchumatan in northwestern Guatemala. The Mayans who live here still wear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[60,22,32],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbrace.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}