Tong Tana - Bruno Manser Fonds

Editorial
bm – I’m on my way in beautiful Switzerland
in the year 1999 AD. A McDonald’s
wrapping flies out of the train window, a
Coke can follows soon afterwards. “Do you
find that funny” I asked the youth who realised
that he had shown bravado in the
wrong place. – A walk with my 78 year-old
mother, who has trouble walking and uses
crutches. The path in the green park is littered
with garbage and glass from broken bottles
after a young people’s party: father state, or
rather a good foreigner, will clean everything
up again. – At the edge of the Rhine river in
Basel: within minutes 3 empty beer bottles fall
with a plop into the dark river at night. Out of
sight, out of mind. The Rhine will wash everything
clean.
Switzerland is one of the richest countries
in the world. Federal Council member
Couchepin sees further economic growth,
even more production, even more consumption,
as conditions for social security. Social
security for whom Already three or four people
successfully commit suicide in Switzerland
every day.
We export weapons in order to save jobs.
Thanks to the war in Ex-Yugoslavia various
businesses are flourishing. War boosts the
economy. The economy and war are allies.
The economy and politics are allies. Politics
and war are allies. It is up to the Swiss politicians
and every one of us to show that it need
not be so, that Switzerland shows solidarity
with people in the Third World protecting their
and our environment. We are all in the same
boat: our wonderful, beautiful planet Earth.
The first proof of our honesty is transparency.
All products on the market should be
declared according to origin and contents.
Objective information is a prerequisite for
a conscious society; and only such a society
will have a future in the new millenium. After
the introduction of a mandatory declaration
for meat, genetically modified organisms and
toxic substances, the declaration for wood
will be a further small step towards honesty.
Only give your vote to those members of the
National Council this autumn who clearly
commit themselves in this sense to more transparency
in commerce. The mandatory declaration
has been put on the agenda for the parliamentary
session in autumn after not being
dealt with in the summer session.
Or does nothing make sense anymore Is
it too late to act Mrs Spaehnhauer said to me
on the phone that, even if it is difficult at the
moment, good will triumph in the end, to
which I answered that we will also hold fast
to this hope. “Don’t talk like this! Good will
triumph! Set an exclamation mark behind it”
the 82-year-old lady called out energetically.
– Chapeau!
And again I’m sitting on the banks of the
Rhine. A drowning swallow drifts in the current.
Save it Jump in Get wet The bird is
certainly already dead – or not Quickly I
throw off my clothes an, “splash”, the swift lies
in my hand. One of its eyes is almost closed,
the other tired. The body is shivering. With its
beak wide open it breathes heavily. Are you
dying After 1 1 / 2 hours in my hand it suddenly
spreads its wings, lifts off, flies low over
the surface of the water in a wide curve over
the Rhine, over the roofs of the town and disappears
in the distance.
Contents
Editorial 2
Sarawak (Malaysia) 3–5
The great ripening of the fruits
(Tá-un Buá) 6–7
Canada respects the
indigenous Inuit people 8
Speaking of Wood: Amazon 9
Speaking of Wood: Miscellany news 10
Switzerland: Mandatory
declaration of timber 11–13
Speaking of wood: Switzerland 14–15
BMF internal affairs 16
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