Restless Souls
by Phil Thornton
Asia Books, Bangkok, 2006
ISBN: 9748303918
Over the years I have heard various stories about things that happen along the Thai-Burma border. It is often difficult to discern fact from fiction. So it was with this interest and sense of curiousity that I picked up Restless Souls.
Phil Thornton spent five years living in the border town of Mae Sot researching this book. He is obviously very sympathetic to the plight of the Karen*, and after reading this book I think anyone would be. The Karen face extreme hardships both in Burma and across the border in Siam (Thailand). Thornton obviously had plenty of time to gain trust with the locals and made numerous trips across the border into Burma (Myanmar). His observations and insights help reveal the complexities of the world there.
As Thornton observes many journalists come and go from Mae Sot. Most only spend a short time there in hope of getting a scoop or some sensational images. The most well known case of this is the 12 year old twin boys, Johnny and Luther Htoo who led the God's Army guerrilla group. Stories like this make the papers, but don't illuminate the background of the Karen people's struggle.
And the struggle is complex indeed. For the ordinary Karen life in Burma is to live poverty, in fear of the Burmese army and to be at risk of injury from landmines. There is haunting photo in the book of a Karen soldier holding a machine gun with the two stumps of his arms, his hands presumably having been lost to a land mine.
Life is often little improved in Thailand where many Karen escape to in hope of a better life. Karen face the choice of living in the confines of a refugee camp or being exploited as a source of cheap labour by the Thais. When I visited Mae Sot in January 2005 I wrote this about the Mae La refugee camp.
The road travelled close to the Burmese border. In one place I saw what looked to be a small village. However, it seemed to extend for a long distance and was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. I later found out it was the Mae La refugee camp. The camp is home to 40,000 refugees from Burma all of whom are stateless. Many of them have never had the opportunity to leave the confines of the camp.
There is also the war on drugs. The KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) are anti-drugs and do not participate in drug trafficking. However, Burma is the world's second largest opium producer and drugs have a strong influence on the conflict in the region. They pit the KNLA against rival ethnic groups and also the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) who produce and traffic the drugs often with the support of the Burmese Army.
Some Karen become drug addicts, too. Thornton reports on a Karen drug rehabilitation facility. Conditions were like a prison and some prisoners were kept in chains. One man recovering from addiction comments, "What's the difference between iron chains and mental chains? During withdrawal, the drug chains are worse."
I have scanned
2Bangkok.com,
The Irrawaddy News Magazine online and Google News for more recent news about the Karen and it shows little has changed. The International Herald Tribune of 4 June 2007 has a report from Mae Sot:
In a Thai border town, Burmese workers toil in penury.
The Irrawaddy reports on
Karen refugees in Siam seeking resettlement in the United States.
Thornton notes the difficulties of reporting on the struggle. Conditions in the region make travel difficult and dangerous, it is often impossible to verify facts and stories that are filed are often simply deemed as not important enough to publish.
So while the columns of a newspaper may not be the best place to understand the Karen's struggle Thornton has created an important document. His book provides an insightful account of the situation of the Karen.
* I have used the term Karen in this review. However, they generally refer to themselves as
Pakenyaw, which in their language simply means people. See the article
Karen people at Wikipedia for more background.
