Stories by Marwaan Macan-Markar / IPS Inter Press Service

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Saturday, March 20, 2010 16:10 GMT

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Blame on Chinese Dams Rise as Mekong River Dries Up
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - As the water level in the Mekong River dips to a record 50-year low, a familiar pattern of fault-finding has risen to the surface. China, the regional giant through which parts of South-east Asia’s largest waterway flows through, is again at the receiving end of verbal salvoes from its neighbours.
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With Blood Spilt, Political Wounds Far from Healed
Analysis – By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - A nearly four-kilometre arc of road that cuts through the historic part of the Thai capital, the site of the largest anti-government protests the country has seen in years, has brought into sharp relief a political wound that is far from being healed in this kingdom.
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In Convoys of Red, Rural Masses Stage Historic Protest
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - An unprecedented show of force by men and women from Thailand’s rural hinterland was on display over the weekend as they poured into Bangkok in the tens of thousands to stake a claim on having a voice in shaping this South-east Asian kingdom’s national agenda.
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Despite Loss at Oscars, Film A Testament to Courage
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - It may have not won an Oscar, but its having been a final contender for the prestigious statue at the U.S. Academy Awards on Mar. 7 has taken ‘Burma VJ’ to heights never achieved by previous films depicting the oppression and courage in military-ruled Burma.
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Rape Victims Need Better Protection from New Penal Code
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Cambodia’s new penal code, which comes into force later this year, should be accompanied by stronger law enforcement measures if the country’s women and girls are to be better protected from rape, says the global rights lobby Amnesty International (AI).
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Migrant Worker Law Hits Hurdle as 500,000 ‘Disappear’
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Thailand’s labour ministry is on the hunt for half a million migrant workers from neighbouring Burma who have gone underground rather than join a new foreign workers’ programme, one that some critics have described as a "confusing" initiative.
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Amid Threats, Women Dissidents Stick to Political Beliefs
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - While Aung San Suu Kyi remains the most widely-known woman suppressed for her political views in Burma, the jails in that military-ruled country continue to be filled by lesser-known women dissidents being held on a range of questionable charges.
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Rural Protesters Prepare to Paint Bangkok Red
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
KHON KAEN, Thailand - As a former bureaucrat, Sakda Orphong cuts an unlikely figure as someone who is busy fomenting a grassroots protest movement to confront Thailand’s current government.
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Conflict Pushes Karen Women to be Village Chiefs
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
CHIANG MAI, Thailand - In military-ruled Burma’s Karen state, tradition and a male-dominated social order have long guaranteed men the role of village chiefs. But this order is crumbling in the country’s eastern region, giving rise to the new phenomenon of women village chiefs.
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Thaksin Verdict Leaves Judiciary’s Stamp on Politics
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
CHIANG MAI, Thailand - Even as they were prepared for the worst, supporters of ousted former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra conducted an eleventh-hour ritual in his home province this week, hoping for a miracle in Friday’s court verdict on the fate of his seized assets.
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‘Our Movement is Unique for Women from Burma’
Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews HSENG NOUNG, women’s right activist from Burma
CHIANG MAI, Thailand - Women who fled conflict and oppression in military-ruled Burma have become a potent political force during their lives in exile, says a leading women’s rights activist from the South-east Asian country’s Shan ethnic minority.
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Community Radio Stirs Political Passions in Villages
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
UDON THANI, Thailand - In an age when television continues to dominate national media, including Thailand’s, and gives birth to new celebrities, Kwanchai Praipana is a bit of an anomaly. His rise as a local star in this north-eastern city has been through community radio, the poor cousin of the local media.
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Temple Grounds A Venue for Curbing Domestic Violence
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
TRAT, Thailand - When the conversation here shifts to domestic violence, even the way a woman got pregnant becomes an issue of concern, particularly if the price for bearing a child means getting infected with HIV.
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Marwaan Macan-Markar - IPS's Bangkok correspondent provides essential reading on human rights, development, environment and politics in a dynamic region

Credit: Sayan Cheunodomsavad/Thailand for the Imaging Our Mekong programme

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