Comments on: Special interview: Matthew McDaniel, pro-Akha activist

By: McDaniel’s new wheels

McDaniel’s new wheels — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:49:26 +0000

[...] very first interview published on New Mandala featured pro-Akha activist Matthew McDaniel.� � Back when he was based in [...]

By: New Mandala » Ayui Foundation in Chiang Rai

New Mandala » Ayui Foundation in Chiang Rai — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:43:11 +0000

[...] readers who remember New Mandala’s� 2006 interview with pro-Akha activist Daniel McDaniel will be interested to learn of another humanitarian [...]

By: New Mandala » The 500th post

New Mandala » The 500th post — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 06:29:02 +0000

[...] on Thaksin’s anti-drugs rally in Chiang Rai was posted on 16 August 2006. Along with his interview of Matthew McDaniel, it remains one of the most widely read posts on New [...]

By: Tom LaHaie

Tom LaHaie — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 15:45:45 +0000

I met Matthew McDaniel outside of a 7/11 in Mae Sai when both of us were doing a visa run to Burma. He had on a ratty hat and I mentioned he might want to switch to a Tilley and that his rat hat made him look like he came from Oz…trailia! Later I saw him in Chiang Rai and recognized his vehicle with the “Missionaries Suck” sign on both sides of it in one-foot high letters. I think that Matthew is doing admirable work in trying to help the Akha and his information on the so-called drug murders is detail of a human rights violation that should be investigated by some authority other than the Than and USA governments.

By: Jon Fernquest

Jon Fernquest — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 07:07:10 +0000

Matthew’s journal was the newspaper of the Thai-Burma hinterlands that should have been written, but wasn’t.

When people are murdered under mysterious circumstances and it isn’t made public in newspapers, something is wrong.

(Note: I mean newspapers read with an audience of people who actually cared whether the person was murdered or not. Some newspapers are more interested in the shock value of mutilated corpses.)

By: Johpa

Johpa — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 05:57:31 +0000

I don’t think I have ever met Matt, perhaps once, but I have been following his Akha.org for many years. If nothing else he has served as a tireless activist for a people who get little respect from any corner. Regardless of any personality issues as perceived by others, I tip my hat to him for his efforts as nobody else has champoined their rights or brought to light the bizarre existence of these orphanges up north that focus almost exclusively on Akha children. When I first lived north of the Kok River in the early 1980s, Lahu was used as the local lingua franca. So why so few Lahu and other minorities at these orphanges? There are serious human rights issues involved here.

Kurtz!?! Perhaps a smidgen from Conrad’s original Kurtz who had gone a bit too far native for the likes of most of his compatriots, but not Coppola’s Colonel who was an amalgam of Conrad’s Kurtz, legends of Lao snake eater Tony Poe, along with plenty of other personal musings added to the mix. I am a big fan of both works.

By: Chris White

Chris White — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 00:35:05 +0000

Akha.org presents Interesting, conflicting and complex stuff Nick.

There is a bit of a biography on Matthew by Antonio Graceffo on Hackwriters.com. Have you seen it? The line comparing Matthew to Colonel Kurz, from Apocalypse Now is amusing (or should that read telling?)

http://www.hackwriters.com/saveMathewMcDaniel.htm

By: patiwat

patiwat — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 12:30:04 +0000

Thanks for your post, Nicholas. I spent some time with an Christian Akha family around 2003 and found in that village some of the most kind and wonderful people I have ever met. A wonderful Japanese woman who I don’t have to name was the intermediary. They are facing some of the same challenges that a lot of Thai rural people are facing, including large-scale migration of the young to Bangkok and the central provinces. But that didn’t detract from their fundamnetal decency. They were some of the kindest people I have ever met.

What I didn’t see reflected in the interview was the diversity of the Akha people. From my discussions with the people, I gathered that there was a lot of things that I wasn’t seeing – differences in religion, world view, relationship to the Thai state, etc. The diversity of man is what makes it so wonderful. McDaniel is a honest and integral individual, and I wish him the best in his activism.