Tales of Asia - Activist

To those of us who knew, and worked with the American, Matthew McDaniel, the question had always been "when" not "if" he would be declared persona non-grata in Thailand. So, it came as no surprise last week, when an anonymous email reached my inbox, informing me that Matthew was being held in Suan Phlu prison, awaiting deportation.

For the last thirteen years, Matthew had been living in a remote village, among the Akha Hill Tribe, serving as their councilor, friend, and teacher. He spoke the language fluently, married an Akha woman, and fathered five Akha children. In his work as activist and friend of the Akha he composed an Akha dictionary, helped villages build roads, and wrote a book, entitled The Akha Journal, a chronicle of allegations of corruption, misconduct, false arrest and imprisonment, murder, and abuse of the Akha people.

In addition to being a thorn in the side of police and army units in Northern Thailand, Matthew took what he called his "fight for human rights" to government and non-government agencies, all the way up to the UNHCR.

Although there are numerous reasons why any number of people would prefer for Matthew McDaniel to just disappear, it is rumored that his involvement, in a class action law suit against the Thai government was the nail in his coffin. Most people feel that after living in Thailand on a 30 day tourist visa for thirteen years, Matthew's luck had just run out. He was arrested when he attempted to renew his visa in Mae Sai.

Issues of human rights and allegations of "genocide" (Matthew's words) are sensitive subjects in the best of contexts. On the one hand, any reasonable, thinking, feeling human being would like to champion the cause of human rights, and see an end to human suffering. On the other hand, full time activists, no matter how noble their cause, often suffer from tunnel-vision, which blinds them to greater issues, or concessions and advances made on the part of a benevolent government. In the time I spent living in the village, I often found Mathew's worldview to be scued. Among the Akha, he lived in a world where he was the only person with a western education, the only one with knowledge of the outside world, and the only one with access to news, information, and learning. He was the authority on every subject, from farming to medicine. And no one in his world had the intellectual capacity to challenge him.

In short, after a long reign of being the authority, it is my belief that he had become Joseph Conrad's character, Colonel Kurz, from his novel "Heart of Darkness" (Film, Apocalypse Now) about a westerner who makes himself a god among the hill tribes of Lao. He was given to delusions of grandeur and megalomania. He suffered from paranoia, and subscribed to conspiracy theories. Among the people he professed to hate were the government, the police, the army, the DEA, the missionaries, other NGOs, the CIA, journalists, researchers, photographers, The Shan State Army, Americans, backpackers, tourists, Thais, and any person, connected with any project involved with the Akha, other than his own. He even hated the volunteers who came to help him in the village, calling them hippies with cameras and free loaders. Over half of the volunteers who worked with Matthew, during my time in the village, either left, or were kicked out, after a heated argument.

My intent is not to kick a man when he is down, but to demonstrate that some of Matthew's methods may have become unsound, causing needless tension with the Thai government, and leading to Matthew's inevitable expulsion from the Kingdom. Although many of Matthew's allegations of abuse are verifiable, the best way to get anything done in Thailand is to work with, not against the government. His Majesty, The King is one of the most responsive and most popular leaders in the world.

Publicly, no official charges were ever brought against Matthew. In fact, although the police verified that Matthew was being held in prison, they would not verify that he had been arrested. After eight horrific days in a jail cell, with 80 other inmates, and little or no food or water, Matthew was finally deported.

His wife and children will not be able to accompany him, as they are stateless persons. This fact at once demonstrates the impact on his family, as well as one of the legitimate issues facing the majority of Thailand's hill tribes. Denied Thai citizenship, it is virtually impossible for hill tribe people to immigrate to other countries.

Matthew had often said that if he were deported, he would become stronger, furthering the Akha cause from the US. This remains to be seen. But what is certain is that with Mathew gone, his hands-on work in the villages will end. Many of the villages are in dire need of assistance. One village in particular, Hoo Yo village, is facing starvation, as their land has been seized, and the villagers only have enough rice to last until September. On a micro level, Matthew was doing good work for a number of needy people. He was personally subsidizing the food budget of a family of fifteen, who were existing on less than $150 Baht ($5.00) per day. In another village he was supporting a widowed healer woman, her grandson, and her blind daughter. Recently, Matthew had asked me to find an artificial leg for a man, whose inability to work, after an amputation, will result in his death by starvation. Now, even if I secured the leg from a donor, I wouldn't know how to find the man. So much of Matthew's work, the names and locations of villages and individuals, was kept inside of his head. Even if there were a second, waiting on the sidelines, to step up and continue his work, it would be impossible.

Irrespective of personality flaws, over-zealous behavior, and indelicate treatment of our Thai hosts, Matthew's cause, helping the Akha people was a just one. And now, there is no one to take up the baton.

Antonio Gracefo NEVER worked with my organization. He came to the village twice, did his best to exploit the Akha at every opportunity for photos, stated basically that tragedy sells and the more the better.

He never paid his bills in the village, lived with my family as our guests, and ate our food. A great deal I might add. Although I took him with me to numerous villages, he did not pay what he said he would for fuel either, a very expensive part of our overhead.

He was angry because we would not lend him guides to take him into Myanmar where he could see conflict between Shans and Burmese and "see people get killed - it sells".

He writes sensation as if he cares about people, he doesn't.

He bemoaned that there would be no one to help the Akha, but continued to stay in Thailand and never asked us once how to help villagers that we took him to see.

His article also contains many pieces of disinformation.

Where do the funds go? he says in one article, like he did not know the poverty of our family, we lived in a dirt floor hut, obviously we were not spending it there, but Antonio doesn't show this.

We have asked him about his articles repeatedly, but he seems to feel that in this kind of exploitation and sensational writing it is not important, who he gores.

We feel that he has recklessly done damage to our efforts in spreading information that is false and that misleads people as to our work and serious long term committment to help the Akha.

Once again, Antonio never worked with us, and he never made a single donation of money or aid to the Akha people when he visited.

While he waves around his pen, he also has not done anything to address the ONGOING abuses of human rights of the Ahka people.

I wrote Antonio last year, (who asked me to use one of our manuscripts for reprinting and modification - glad I didn't do that in hindsight) and asked him why he wrote his original piece a year ago, after being a guest in our house and seeing how tough life was for my family. I also asked him to pay his bill to the village. He has never offered to do that. He never got permission to publish any photos of Akha families we took him to but did so anyway. The Akha got not a dime out of it.

We knew we could live in town but did not, as we knew in town we could not help the Akha or know their story day to day.

As well, on a daily basis the Akha came to me for help, the Peace and Justice Center remains and volunteers still go and stay there.

But Antonio never responded, and then in the past year before I got my family out of Thailand, he continued to write this rubbish on many sites, various versions of it, and never once went and saw my family or asked them if they needed help. My wife and four small children there.

Although we can not discuss details, we continue to help the Akha directly and push for their full human rights. I am not in the west now, where I could have a job, I do not write for money, but continue to provide support and aid to Akha villagers in Thailand and the region.

We have met many volunteers and westerners over the years who visited to the village in 15 years of work. We never met anyone like Antonio.

Originally from New York City, Antonio spent much of his childhood in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee. He spent seven years in the United States Military, in both the Army NG and the US Merchant Marines. Antonio is fluent in German, Spanish, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese. He holds diplomas from Tennessee State University, University of Mainz, Germany, Trinity College, England, Heriot Watt University, Scotland, Universidad Latina, Costa Rica, as well as advanced degrees in business and Taxation from various universities in the United States. Antonio has studied and competed in martial arts and boxing for over twenty-five years, and has studied at the Shaolin Temple, in Mainland China. He works as a full time adventurer and writer, and currently lives in Taiwan.

Antonio's writing has appeared in the following publications: Escape Artist, Travel in Taiwan, Taiwan Ho, Travelmag (UK), Travellers Impressions, Marco Polo, Lifestyle Taipei, Views Unplugged, Kung Fu Magazine, Black Belt, Good Morning Chiang Mai, Centered on Taipei, The Pattaya Mail, The Huahin Observer, Bike China, Chiang Mai Mail, Thailand Holiday, The Elizabethton Star, Go Nomad, Close Quarters Combat, Hack Writers, Go World, Bike League of America, Martial Arts Planet, The Travel Rag, Black Belt Magazine, The Bristol Herald Courier, Radical Adventures, Yellow times, Justice Network, The Investment Advisor, I Soldi, America Oggi, The Italian Tribune, Pagina Uno, and The Italian Voice.

Antonio's book, about his studies at the Shaolin Temple, "The Monk From Brooklyn," will be available in the USA, in 2004.

His book, "The Desert of Death on Three Wheels" about his solo trek in the Taklamakan Desert, will be available in USA in 2004.

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