Author: Staff

“All’s Fair?” Considering Laos, the environment, and war

Published by Staff

Centuries ago, a writer penned the famous line “All’s fair in love and war,” which encouraged approaching romance and conflict with calculating Machiavellian sensibilities unhindered by inconvenient moral compunctions and scruples. This idea was readily embraced in Europe and the United States. You can see it presently expressed in popular culture such as “Flavor of Love,” or former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura’s tongue-in-cheek encouragement. “Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.” But is that truly good advice, or are there limits to what we might tolerate, especially in the conduct of war? November 6th is recognized by the United Nations as the ‘World Day to Protect the Environment in War,’ first established in 2001 by the late U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (a 1961 graduate of Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota!). It is more formally known as the “International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.” Among the many of the things it addresses, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said one is the challenge to “keep the unsustainable …

Legacies of War Refugee Nation Twin Cities: 10 Years Later

Published by Staff

This October marked a quiet milestone for the Lao community in Minnesota, the 10th anniversary since the historic Legacies of War Refugee Nation Twin Cities exhibit in Minneapolis. The exhibition brought together teachers, artists, community builders, and families to understand Lao refugees’ experience, the poorly-understood Secret War in Laos, and the war’s long-term consequences.  This exhibit was a remarkable collaboration between the Lao community, Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota, local Lao artists, the Lao Student Association of Minnesota, Intermedia Arts, Pangea World Theater, TeAda Productions, and the advocacy organization Legacies of War. Many of the Lao community’s projects and successes over the last decade can be traced to lessons learned from this exhibit. In the 20th century, Laos had more bombs dropped on it than any nation during World War 2. More than two million tons of unexploded ordnance were dropped on Laos from 1964-1973 in violation of the Geneva Accords. An estimated 30% of the ordnances did not explode on impact, thus contaminating over 30% of Laos’s entirety with deadly bombs, some as small as a tennis …