วันเสาร์ที่ 29 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2554

Libya: The challenges ahead

The Kingdom of Libya flag flies in front of a refinery in Ras Lanuf in this 8 March 2011
 
The death of Libya's ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi has been greeted with jubilation by many Libyans, who felt the country could not move on while he remained at large.
But meeting their expectations - after an eight-month civil war and a 42-year dictatorship - will be difficult for the fledgling National Transition Council, a disparate movement formed during the conflict.
It not only has to repair the infrastructure destroyed in the war, but prepare a divided country for the novelty of holding multiparty elections.
Here is a guide to some of the challenges ahead:

Security

In the aftermath of the war, the country is awash with guns - arguably all of Libya is armed. So collecting these weapons needs to begin immediately.
Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrate the fall of Gaddafi in Sirte on 20 October 2011 Disarming and integrating all Libya's brigades needs to a be priority for the authorities
The BBC's Rana Jawad in the capital says Tripoli is now relatively secure but there is a persistent problem of armed people arriving from different parts of the country trying to move into empty homes that once belonged to Gaddafi loyalists.
She says re-activating the police force rather than relying on the various brigades that sprung up during the war to secure cities or towns would help prevent this - and rivalries between these different outfits.
NTC executive board head Mahmoud Jibril recently suggested the creation of local security companies to absorb fighters unwilling to disarm - many were unemployed before the war.
For Libya's long-term security rebuilding a national army - uniting all the brigades - will be an important but tough challenge.
For neighbouring countries and the Nato-led allies, the disappearance of heavy Gaddafi-era weaponry, will be of great concern.
"The only thing that can be said with certainty at this juncture is that Libya is going to be one big arms bazaar for the foreseeable future," AP quotes risk consultant Geoff D Porter as saying.
Much of the money in a new $11m US aid package announced this week will go towards finding and destroying thousands of unaccounted for shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.

Oil

Getting the oil pumping again will be crucial for the economy and vital for rebuilding infrastructure destroyed in the war.
An oil worker in Libya pictured in October 2011 Libya's economy depends on oil and many fields remain closed
This means disarming the militias roaming in remote desert areas and an end to Nato bombing, which made it too dangerous to transport oil along roads to the coast.
Libya produced about 1.6m barrels of oil a day before the conflict. Libya's oil chief Nouri Berouin told Reuters daily output had now risen to 430,000 barrels with some oil fields reopening recently.
But many, including two oil fields that used to account for a quarter of overall output, remain abandoned.
For the foreign operators who return to start the immediate task of restoring oil sites looted and destroyed in the fighting, political and tribal rivalries are bound to be a worry in the future.
And while staff directly employed by the oil firms may agree to return with a private security guarantee, it may not be so easy to attract the hundreds of thousands of foreign support workers who fled during the conflict.
Many of those from West Africa have faced attacks and harassment from the anti-Gaddafi fighters who accused them of being mercenaries - they may be loath to return to work under a regime they consider racist.

Electricity, water and food

Fixing every day utilities damaged in the fighting is already under way. There had been regular power cuts in many cities, but since Tripoli fell in August electricity has become more stable and no major outages reported.
But the country's largest oil refinery, at Ras Lanuf, is likely to remain out of action until the end of the year, meaning fuel prices will continue to be high.
Food prices are beginning to slide - they soared during the last month before Tripoli fell. Libya imports most of its food but with the Nato naval blockade now lifted, shops and supermarkets appear to be well-stocked in the capital.
In the last week, the power lines connected to a man-made river in the south, which feeds water supplies to Tripoli, was hit by Gaddafi loyalists. Water was cut off from many parts of capital, however it has started to return to normal again.
The situation elsewhere - especially in areas badly damaged in the battles - is less certain.

Schools and hospitals

Not all schools have reopened but those that have are focusing on reconciliation as many children whose parents were Gaddafi supporters are wary of returning to class.
The new academic year begins in January, which will give those who have missed out on nearly a whole year of education a chance to catch up and retake end of year exams.
This is when the curriculum will also be introduced - the special mandatory course on Gaddafi's Green Book, his political and social philosophy, will be dropped.
History books that never included teaching the pre-Gaddafi era under the monarchy of King Idriss will also be revised as will the legacy of the colonel who has only ever been shown in a positive light.
Shortages of medical supplies have eased in Tripoli, but there have been reports that hospitals elsewhere are still battling to cope, with Sirte and Bani Walid - which have experienced the most recent fighting - acutely affected.

Reconciliation and politics

National Transitional Council (NTC) military chief Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi (2nd R) shakes hands with a Tuareg tribesmen It will be important to heal regional and tribal rivalries entrenched by Col Gaddafi
Justice versus reconciliation will be a key challenge for Libya's new authorities.
The killing of the colonel will do little to encourage Gaddafi loyalists of the NTC's ability to ensure a path of national healing.
Col Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, whose whereabouts remain a mystery, are still wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court.
It is not clear whether a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission will be set up or an amnesty offered to pro-Gaddafi fighters and the colonel's relatives who have sought refuge in Algeria and Niger.
But the NTC has set out a transition timeline to democratic elections, expected in 2013.
Like in neighbouring Tunisia, a body will first be elected to oversee the writing of a new constitution.
Yet unlike its neighbours, Libya has never had any system of elections, even the charades held in pre-revolutionary Tunisia and Egypt, so building these electoral bodies and institutions from scratch in the time set out will be difficult.
Choosing a new system will also throw up the regional debate about secular versus Islamist politics - something that will no doubt worry Western oil investors.
----------------------------------------------------------

Gaddafi's quixotic and brutal rule


Col Gaddafi, 1969 and 2008 A military coup brought Muammar Gaddafi to power 40 years ago
 
Muammar Gaddafi came to power in Libya in September 1969 as the leader of a bloodless military coup which overthrew the British-backed King Idris.
He was 27 years old, inspired by Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser and he seemed to fit the regional template of Arab nationalist from the military becoming president. But he outlasted his contemporaries.
During nearly 42 years in power he invented his own system of government, supported radical armed groups as diverse as the IRA in Northern Ireland and the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, and presided over what may have been North Africa's most totalitarian, arbitrary and brutal regime.
In the last years of his rule, Libya emerged from the international isolation that followed the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland in December 1988. The country was once again courted by Western governments and companies drawn to its vast energy reserves and the rich contracts on offer in an ambitious infrastructure programme.
 

KEY FACTS: LIBYA

Map
  • Col Muammar Gaddafi has led since 1969
  • Population 6.5m; land area 1.77m sq km
  • Population with median age of 24.2, and a literacy rate of 88%
  • Gross national income per head: $12,020 (World Bank 2009)
The uprising that eventually overthrew him started in February 2011 in Libya's second city Benghazi, a city he had neglected and whose residents he mistrusted throughout his rule.
Jamahiriya
Col Gaddafi was born to a Bedouin family in Sirte in 1942.
He always played on his humble, tribal roots, preferring to greet visitors in his tent, and to pitch it when on foreign visits. His legitimacy depended on his anti-colonialist credentials at first, and then on keeping the country in perpetual revolution.
His stated political philosophy, expounded at length in the Green Book, was "government by the masses".
In 1977, Gaddafi proclaimed the Libyan "Jamahiriya" - a neologism meaning roughly state of the masses.
The theory was that Libya had become a democracy of the people, governed through local popular Revolutionary Councils.
In practice, all key decisions and state wealth remained tightly under his control.

Col Muammar Gaddafi

  • Born in Sirte, Libya 7 June 1942
  • Attended military academy in Libya, Greece and the UK
  • Seized power on 1 September 1969
  • The Green Book published in 1975
  • Married twice, with seven sons and one daughter
  • Killed on 20 October 2011 in Sirte after two months in hiding
Social theories
Gaddafi was a skilled political manipulator, playing off different tribes against each other and against state institutions or constituencies. He also developed a strong personality cult.
More and more, his rule became characterised by patronage and the tight control of a police state.
The worst period for Libyans was probably the 1980s, when Col Gaddafi experimented on his people with his social theories.
As part of his "cultural revolution" he banned all private enterprise and unsound books were burned.
He also had dissidents based abroad murdered. Freedom of speech and association were absolutely squashed and acts of violent repression were numerous.
Muammar Gaddafi (1985) Col Gaddafi experimented on his people with his social theories during the 1980s
This was followed by a decade of isolation by the West after the Lockerbie bombing.
For Libyans critical of Col Gaddafi his greatest crime may have been the squandering of wealth on foreign adventures and corruption.
With a population of only six million and annual oil revenues of US $32bn in 2010, Libya's potential is huge. Most Libyans do not feel this wealth and living conditions can be reminiscent of far poorer countries.
A lack of jobs outside government means that unemployment is estimated to be 30% or more.
Libya's particular form of socialism does provide free education, healthcare and subsidised housing and transport, but wages are extremely low and the wealth of the state and profits from foreign investments have only benefited a narrow elite.
In 1999, the Libyan leader made a comeback from almost total international isolation when he accepted the blame for the Lockerbie bombing.
A man holds a pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag on top of a tank in Benghazi (21 February 2011) The demonstrations spread to Tripoli after after cities in the east appeared to fall to the opposition
Following 11 September 2001, he signed up to the US government's so-called "war on terror". Soon after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Libya announced that it was abandoning its nuclear and biological weapons programmes. Both of these were seen by his critics as highly cynical moves.
In the final years of his rule, as questions of succession arose, two of his sons seemed to be in open and damaging competition against each other for his favour.
The influence of Saif al-Islam, the elder son who took an interest in the media and human rights issues, appeared to be waning as the influence of Mutassim, who had a powerful role in the security services, grew.
Inspired by neighbours to the west and east, Libyans rose up against 40 years of quixotic and often brutal rule in early 2011.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Regional media view end of 'tyrant' Gaddafi

NTC fighters celebrate in the eastern coastal city of Sirte following news of Gaddafi's death Libyans celebrated as grainy footage of Gaddafi's demise was circulated

 

The violent death of Libya's Colonel Muammar Gaddafi dominates front pages and news bulletins in the Middle East and Africa.

Editorials say Col Gaddafi's gruesome end was not surprising, given the repressive history of his regime, but some commentators express disquiet at the "inhumane" and "humiliating" treatment meted out to the former dictator.
A number regret the fact that he was not brought to trial.
There is speculation about whether Col Gaddafi's death will serve to unite Libyans, or spur division among the country's new leaders. Many commentators contemplate the difficulties ahead, and mull the implications of his death for the Arab Spring.
Newspapers in sub-Saharan Africa say his death serves as a warning to other autocratic rulers.
Abd al-Bari Atwan in pan-Arab Al-Quds Al-Arabi
The Libyan people have suffered for more than 40 years from the oppression, tyranny and corruption of Gaddafi's regime. However, what disappointed us is the inhumane manner in which the Libyan leader was treated after he was injured and captured... The execution of Col Gaddafi is the end of a period and the beginning of another and we will not be exaggerating if we say that the coming period may be more difficult because it involves serious challenges.

Editorial in Saudi Arabia's Al-Watan
After many decades of tyranny and injustice, Gaddafi was killed... This event was expected. However, Libya now enters a new and crucial juncture. The first phase of political conflict has ended as its new rulers have to reveal their vision of the next stage... the most important challenge in this stage is to have a specified transitional period that paves the way for holding real and democratic elections.
Yasir al-Za'atra- in Jordan's Al-Dustur
The revolutionaries have wasted a precious chance by not bringing the Colonel to lengthy trials and listening to his new speeches from behind bars... Gaddafi left the Libyan people with no choice but to ask for help after he violently reacted to peaceful protests... We congratulate the Libyan people on their victory.
Editorial in Egypt's Al-Ahram
Curtains were pulled down yesterday on Gaddafi's rule, for a new chapter to begin not only in Libya's history but also in the history of the Arab region and the whole world. His rule was marked by despotism, tyranny and suppression of citizens' rights... The world will definitely be different and better without Gaddafi. We hope his death opens a new page in Libya's history that is characterized by democracy and respect for human rights.
Walid Shiqayr in pan-Arab Al-Hayat
If the current differences obstruct the formation of a new government, and if the tribal differences and the competition between the trends of the political revolution over quotas and power become dominant, and if each faction or trend does not make concessions for the interest of the collective leadership, then Libya will be in chaos as if Gaddafi was still alive and running the state.
Sati Nur-al-Din in Lebanon's Al-Safir
It was not the end of a regime but rather the end of a sick man who was a megalomaniac... The news was not surprising, it was expected. The details of his death were saddening but it was natural the Libyans danced and celebrated to express their joy. However, it was not human or ethical to show Gaddafi's corpse on TV... He should have been sent - a long time ago - to a lunatic asylum instead of being killed.
Tariq al-Hamid in pan-Arab Al-Sharq al-Awsat
When the Libyan revolution broke out, Col Muammar Gaddafi came out and demanded his soldiers catch what he described as rats and called for their removal from the streets. Thereafter his famous saying: [hunt them down] house by house, alley by alley, was repeated [but] the same thing happened to him and in a shocking manner.
Editorial in Saudi Arabia's Al-Jazirah
The humiliating end of Libya's tyrant was expected, like all the tyrants who served their people wrongly... Gaddafi was left to bleed to death as the revolutionaries were trying to reach him to save his life and give him a fair trial... A humiliating death that we hope serves as a lesson to other tyrants who still cling to power, commit crimes and cardinal sins and continue to kill their people to remain in power.
Samir Atallah in pan-Arab Al-Sharq al-Awsat
He should have remained alive and been put on trial so that he could confront the widows and those who lost their children as well as those who did not see their fathers... He should have heard the real views about what the Libyans thought of his rule, his regime and his ideas... It is not justice that he be excused from hearing from the people he treated like slaves and on whose chests he stood for more than 40 years.
Avi Issacharoff in Israel's Ha'aretz
Gaddafi's death heralds the start of a new era in Libya, but it is unclear how it will look… More than ten months have passed since the start of the 'Arab Spring' and in none of the Arab countries visited by the revolution - Egypt, Tunisia and Libya - no stable, strong leadership is being established and while in others, like Yemen and Syria, the old leadership clings to power… For now, the future of these three countries in the post-revolution era does not look better than their past.
Nadav Eyal in Israel's Ma'ariv
What began in Libya as a revolution quickly developed, thanks to the Gaddafi family's passion for blood, into an all-out civil war. In such a war, one fights to the death, and if possible, the dictator's body is dragged through the streets - a cruel attempt to dispel the black charm of his rule. Tribal Libya had no intention of granting Gaddafi gestures of formal justice.
McPhilips Nwachukwu in Nigeria's Vanguard
"His death... provides another critical platform for the assessment of what Gaddafi and dictatorship represent for Africa, Arab and the entire world... The leaderships of Tunisia, Bahrain, Cameroon and Zimbabwe among some other dictatorial regimes ... should learn to leave the stage while the ovation is loudest."
Editorial in Kenya's Daily Nation
"The new leadership must realise that wiping out the Gaddafi regime must not merely be about replacing one dictatorship with another... This also must not be the time for retribution. Accounts of the manner in which Gaddafi was killed after capture signal an inauspicious start for a new leadership that must rise above savage bloodlust."
Opiyo Oloya in Uganda's The New Vision
"The most lasting legacy from the death of Gaddafi is that dictators often begin to believe their own narratives... Were he not completely blinded by his own sense of power and omnipotence, Gaddafi might have realized that the rats and cockroaches were winning, and perhaps, that he needed to negotiate his exit from power, or even arrange exile in a neighbouring nation. He did neither... The upturned face of a dead Gaddafi boils down to one thing only - dictators everywhere should be afraid, very afraid."
BBC Monitoringselects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.
---------------------------------------------------

Muammar Gaddafi: How he died

Col Muammar Gaddafi died from bullet wounds some time after a failed attempt to escape from the fighters of the National Transitional Council (NTC), but the exact circumstances of his death are still emerging.
CLICKABLE
Gaddafi capturedAirstrike destroys convoy
Attempt to escape Sirte
After the fall of Tripoli in August, Sirte remained one of the final pockets of loyalist resistance, in particular District 2 in the north-west of the city.
In the early hours of Thursday it appears that Col Gaddafi, accompanied by key loyalists, decided to attempt a breakout from District 2 in a convoy of vehicles.
At about 08:30 local time French aircraft operating as part of the Nato mission attacked the convoy of 75 vehicles heading out of Sirte at high speed approximately 3-4 km (two miles) west of the city near the western roundabout.
Among those in the convoy were Col Gaddafi's son Mutassim and head of Gaddafi's army Abu Bakr Younis Jabr - both men were later reported dead at the scene and Mutassim's body shown on Libyan TV.
According to Nato, a first strike destroyed one vehicle and caused the convoy to disperse into several groups.
One of those groups, carrying Col Gaddafi, headed south and was hit again by a Nato fighter, destroying 11 vehicles.

Start Quote

My master is here ... Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded”
End Quote Unnamed Gaddafi bodyguard
Col Gaddafi and a handful of his men managed to escape on foot and sought refuge in two large drainage pipes filled with rubbish. Rebel forces then closed in.
Fighter Salem Bakeer told Reuters: "At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use.
"Then we went in on foot. One of Gaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air... as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me. I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded'".
Gaddafi caught Col Gaddafi was initially captured at around noon.
Amateur video of Col Muammar Gaddafi shortly before he was shot dead
The al-Jazeera news channel broadcast footage showing the dazed and wounded Col Gaddafi gesticulating while being man-handled by rebel fighters.
Salem Bakeer told Reuters: "We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying 'What's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?' Then we took him and put him in the car." One fighter showed reporters a golden pistol he said he had taken from Col Gaddafi.
BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Sirte: "I have spoken to the man who says that he captured him... he was brandishing a golden pistol"
What happened next and how Libya's former leader died remains unclear.
What is certain is that at 16:30 local time, Mahmoud Jibril, the NTC prime minister, confirmed the news that Col Gaddafi was dead, saying: "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed."
According to Mr Jibril, the colonel died just minutes away from hospital.
He later told journalists that a "forensic report" had concluded that the colonel had died from bullet wounds when the car he was in was caught in crossfire. "The forensic doctor could not tell if it came from the revolutionaries or from Gaddafi's forces," he said.
An interview with the commander of the brigade that captured Gaddafi suggests that the former leader died in an ambulance and appears to support the official version that he was killed in crossfire.
But a man claiming to be an eyewitness told the BBC that he saw Col Gaddafi being shot with a 9mm gun in the abdomen at around 12:30 local time and initial video footage seemed to show Col Gaddafi's body being dragged through the streets of Misrata.
Col Muammar Gaddafi was shot in the abdomen, according to a man who says he was there
Further amateur video footage has also emerged of a convoy of NTC fighters following an ambulance. The video includes scenes of soldiers celebrating with a man who they claim shot Col Gaddafi.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has said there should be a full investigation.
Her spokesman Rupert Colville told the BBC: "There are two videos out there, one showing him alive and one showing him dead and there are four or five different versions of what happened in between those two cellphone videos. That obviously raises very, very major concerns."
The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse visited the drain where Col Gaddafi was reportedly found by NTC forces

---------------------------------------------------------------

Bangkok, Thailand (CNN)

 The central business district of Bangkok dodged severe flooding Saturday afternoon, but surrounding areas of the bustling capital faced further inundation at the next high tide.
A dreaded tide on Saturday spurred residents' fears that it would overwhelm defenses along the Chao Phraya River and its many canals.
Bangkok's outer suburbs were already submerged, but the central city has been largely spared the misery Thailand has been suffering for months in the nation's worst flooding since 1942.
In the east and the north of the city, water was at waist-level in some neighborhoods.
Thai flood waters prompt exodus
Rescuing dogs from Thailand floods
Bangkok near peak flooding

But the city -- which sits barely above sea level -- still faces two converging threats.
Massive runoff was flowing south to the sea through Bangkok, as high tides pushed the water in the opposite direction.
"The challenge is to manage the huge runoff from the north passing via the city on its way to the Gulf of Thailand," a Red Cross bulletin said.
Bangkok's Chinatown area -- normally hopping with activity on a Saturday afternoon -- was largely desolate, with few passers-by wading in knee-deep water.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ordered work crews Friday to cut channels in roadways to allow faster drainage, according to the MCOT news agency. But the plan was rejected late in the day in favor of dredging canals and using pumps, the Bangkok Post reported.
Health concerns were rising with the water.
Bangkok residents plodded through murky waters without knowing what lurked within, the risk of infection and communicable disease worrying health officials. The government sent out crocodile hunters after reports of crocodiles and snakes in the filthy floodwater.
"We were hearing disturbing reports of dangerous animals such as snakes and crocodiles appearing in the floodwaters, and every day we see children playing in the water, bathing or wading through it trying to make their way to dry ground," said Annie Bodmer-Roy, spokeswoman for the humanitarian agency Save the Children.
 
Heavy cost of Thai floods

As floodwater entered homes, some Bangkok residents still in the city made plans to leave.
Thanyarat Hemkittiwat said she was going to stay with relatives outside the city.
"Some families in southern Bangkok had their house flooded," said the 31-year-old worker at a furniture export company, which was shut after it also was flooded. "The water level is 2 meters (six feet) high and smells very bad," she said.
The Bangkok Post reported that government buses had evacuated a number of elderly residents from the northern and eastern suburbs, and would pick up residents of the capital on Saturday and take them out of Bangkok. As of Saturday, an estimated 1 million of the city's 12 million residents had left.
Another Bangkok resident said she was worried about abandoning her house, which has been flooded for five days, and would not leave.
Panic buying has led to a shortage of food and bottled water in the capital, residents said.
And the worst might not yet be over.
Another high tide -- expected to reach about 4 meters (13 feet) high -- is forecast for Sunday morning.
Officials urged tourists to steer clear of Bangkok, while noting that many of the other tourist spots, such as Phuket, remained dry and open for business.
Thailand's Ministry of Public Health had transferred 280 of the capital's 520 patients in severe condition to 22 hospitals upcountry, the MCOT news agency reported.
The remaining 240 patients will be taken to hospitals in other provinces by Sunday, it said, citing Permanent-Secretary for Health Paichit Varachit.
Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri said that, after months of flooding, 107,101 Thais have been diagnosed with stress, 6,214 with depression and 878 at risk of suicide. In all, 1,356 people were under observation by health officials, the minister said, according to MCOT.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert on Thursday, recommending against all but essential travel to affected areas. It noted that most tourist destinations, such as Phuket and Chiang Mai, were unaffected.
U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenny said the crisis was slow-moving and it was hard to know what would be hit next.

The floods, caused by monsoon rains that saturated rivers, have killed 373 people nationwide and affected more than 9.5 million people,
The government has called the flooding the worst to afflict the nation in half a century and said it might take more than a month before the waters recede from some areas.
The government has set up more than 1,700 shelters nationwide, and more than 113,000 people have taken refuge in them.
Overall damage from the floods could exceed $6 billion, the Thai Finance Ministry said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

วันศุกร์ที่ 28 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2554

หมู่บ้านอีสาน


รูปแบบของสถาปัตยกรรมแต่ละพื้นที่สะท้อนวิถีชีวิตความเป็นอยู่และสภาพแวดล้อมในพื้นที่ได้เป็นอย่างดี ช่วงวิกฤติน้ำท่วมในขณะนี้ คนไทยได้บทเรียนที่ว่าการสร้างที่อยู่อาศัยที่อยู่ในทิศทางน้ำผ่าน ต้องออกแบบเพื่อรองรับภัยเหตุการณ์น้ำท่วมไว้ด้วย ดังเช่นเรือนไม้ใต้ถุนสูงในพื้นที่ราบลุ่มภาคกลาง ขณะที่ พื้นที่ภาคอีสานเมื่ออดีตไม่ได้เป็นเส้นทางน้ำผ่านแต่การสร้างเรือนไม้ใต้ถุนสูง เพื่อใช้พื้นที่ใต้ถุนเป็นที่อยู่อาศัยในช่วงกลางวันที่อากาศร้อน

เมื่อปี พ.ศ. 2550 จิม ทอมป์สัน ฟาร์ม ซึ่งตั้งอยู่ในอ.ปักธงชัย จ.นครราชสีมา  ใช้พื้นที่ของฟาร์มกว่า 10 ไร่ จัดตั้งเป็นหมู่บ้านอีสานขึ้น โดยเสาะแสวงหาบ้านเก่า ช่างพื้นบ้านมาปลูกสร้างบ้านไว้ รวมทั้ง “เฮือนโคราช” และในปีนี้จิม ทอมป์สัน ฟาร์มได้ขยายหมู่บ้านอีสานออกไป มีพื้นที่ทั้งหมด 50 ไร่ สร้างบ้านอีสานขึ้นมาใหม่ และได้จัดสร้างสิมกลางน้ำ เพื่อรับกิจกรรมฟาร์มทัวร์ ปี ค.ศ.2011 ระหว่างวันที่ 17 ธ.ค. 54-8 ม.ค. 55 อย่างไรก็ตามเพื่อเผยแพร่ความรู้ทางสถาปัตยกรรมของอีสาน ให้กับเหล่าสถาปนิก นักศึกษา และประชาชน จิม ทอมป์สัน ฟาร์ม ได้ร่วมกับกรรมาธิการสถาปนิกอีสาน จัดงานเสวนา “สถาปัตยกรรมพื้นบ้านอีสานพื้นถิ่น” ณ จิม ทอมป์สัน ฟาร์ม

ผู้ช่วยศาสตราจารย์ทรงยศ วีระทวีมาศ คณบดีคณะสถาปัตยกรรม ม.ขอนแก่น กล่าวว่า รูปแบบเรือนพื้นถิ่นในภาคอีสาน จำแนกออกได้เป็น 1. เรือนแฝดหรือเรือนจั่วคู่ ลักษณะเป็นเรือนที่ปลูกคู่กันสองหลัง ประกอบไปด้วยเรือนใหญ่ ซึ่งกันพื้นที่ในเรือนเป็นส่วนนอน และเรือนโข่ง อาจมีผนังเพียงบางด้านเปิดโล่ง 2. เรือนจั่วเดียว หรือเรือนเกย เป็นเรือนที่มี 3 ห้องเสา มีจั่วเดียวคลุมส่วนเรือนใหญ่ (เรือนนอน) 3. เรือนชั่วคราว ลักษณะเป็นกระท่อมเล็ก ๆ เป็นเรือนติดพื้นดิน เป็นที่อยู่อาศัยของคนยากจน สำหรับการใช้พื้นที่เรือนในภาคอีสาน จะแบ่งพื้นที่ออกเป็น “ห้องเปิง” เป็นห้องที่มีความสำคัญในฐานะพื้นที่ศักดิ์สิทธิ์ เป็นที่ตั้งของสิ่งเซ่นบูชา และยังเป็นห้องนอนสำหรับลูกชาย “ห้องกลาง” เป็นพื้นที่ที่ตั้งอยู่ระหว่างห้องเปิงและห้องส้วม (ส่วม) เป็นพื้นที่นอนของพ่อแม่ “ห้องส้วม” เป็นห้องนอนของลูกสาว อยู่ด้านริมสุดของเรือน ตรงข้ามห้องเปิงเสมอ “เรือนครัวไฟ” ที่สำหรับหุงหาอาหาร เรือนครัวเชื่อมกับเรือนใหญ่ด้วยชานน้ำ เรือนครัวมักล้อมด้วยฝาโปร่งเพื่อการระบายอากาศที่ดี “ชานแดด”และ “ชานน้ำ” เป็นพื้นที่โล่งไม่มีหลังคาคลุม

ด้าน ผศ.สมชาย นิลอาธิ อาจารย์ คณะมนุษยศาสตร์และสังคมศึกษา ม.มหาสารคาม ให้ข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมว่า หลักการเลือกทำเลที่ตั้งจะแบ่งเป็นพื้นที่อยู่อาศัย พื้นที่ทำกิน พื้นที่สาธารณะ และพื้นที่ศักดิ์สิทธิ์ แต่หลัก ๆ แล้วต้องมีน้ำ และเกลือเป็นตัวหลัก เพราะเกลือเป็นทั้งยา และใช้ถนอมอาหาร วิถีเกษตรต้องใช้ควายไถนา ควายตัวผู้จะไถนาได้ต้องตอนก่อน การตอนควายต้องใช้เกลือในการรักษาบาดแผล นอกจากนี้การสร้างเรือนจะมีข้อห้ามบอกเล่าสืบต่อกันมา เช่น ห้ามปลูกเรือนคร่อมทาง คร่อมตอ คร่อมน้ำ ห้ามปลูกเรือนคร่อมทางไทยเที่ยว อธิบายได้ว่าเมื่อสมัยต้นรัตนโกสินทร์มีเส้นทางเดินทัพ บ้านที่ขวางเส้นทางดังกล่าวก็พังได้

เกร็ดเล็กเกร็ดน้อยของ ผศ.สมชาย เกี่ยวกับการอยู่อาศัยในบ้านอีสานยังมีเพิ่มเติมอีกว่า ห้ามผู้หญิงนุ่งซิ่นผืนเดียวผ่านห้องเปิง อันเป็นพื้นที่ศักดิ์สิทธิ์ อธิบายได้ว่า คนอีสานนุ่งซิ่นผ้าไหม ผ้าไหมเก่าเมื่อใช้ไปนานจะบางยามต้องแสงแดดยิ่งบางลง โดยเฉพาะในช่วงที่มีลมหนาวมาผ้าแนบเนื้อ ดังนั้นคนอีสานจะนุ่งซิ่นซ้อนซิ่น ด้านในเป็นผ้าฝ้ายด้านนอกเป็นผ้าไหม

ด้าน รศ.กาญจนา ตันสุวรรณรัตน์ อาจารย์คณะสถาปัตยกรรมศาสตร์ ม.เทคโนโลยีราชมงคลอีสาน กล่าวถึงลักษณะของเรือนโคราชว่า เป็นเรือนไม้ชั้นเดียวยกพื้นสูง ใต้ถุนโล่ง หลังคาจั่ว ตัวเรือนแบ่งออกเป็น 4 ส่วน คือ เรือนนอน ถัดลงมาเป็นส่วนหน้าเรือนหรือระเบียง และส่วนที่ 3 เป็นนอกชานเป็นส่วนที่ต่ำสุดของบ้านไม่มีหลังคาคลุม มีระดับต่ำกว่าระเบียง นอกชานทำหน้าที่เชื่อมกับพื้นดินโดยอาศัยบันไดที่ชักขึ้นเก็บได้ และเชื่อมกับส่วนที่ 4 คือห้องครัว การวางตัวเรือนของคนโคราช หันหน้าเรือนไปทางทิศเหนือ ทำให้คนโคราชหันหัวนอนไปทางทิศใต้ ซึ่งเป็นการวางอาคารที่เหมาะกับสภาพภูมิอากาศของ จ.นครราชสีมา ซึ่งหนาวจัดในฤดูหนาว เนื่องจากได้รับอิทธิพลของลมมรสุมตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือ ส่วนในฤดูร้อนและฤดูฝนจะมีอากาศร้อนจัดและมีฝนตกจากอิทธิพลของลมมรสุมตะวันตกเฉียงใต้ ทำให้เรือนโคราชเจาะช่องหน้าต่างทางทิศใต้รับลมโดยเจาะจงแผงฝาละ 1 ช่อง มีขนาดเล็กประมาณ 40 ซม. สูง 78 ซม.เท่านั้น เพราะการทำฝาผนังในสมัยแรก ๆ ใช้ฝาปรือกรุเซงดำ (ปรือ คือ พืชตระกูลกก ขึ้นได้เฉพาะแหล่งน้ำที่สะอาดเท่านั้นมีอายุการใช้งานนับ 100 ปี)

ด้าน ติ๊ก แสนบุญ อ.คณะศิลปะประยุกต์และการออกแบบ ม.อุบลราชธานี ให้ภาพรวมของสถาปัตยกรรมอีสานของศาสนอาคารว่า ช่างอีสานมีความเป็นอิสระ บางครั้งในงานประเพณีแสดงสัญลักษณ์ทางเพศ แต่ตรงนี้ไม่ใช่เรื่องหยาบคาย แต่นัยหนึ่งคือการสอนเรื่องเพศไปในตัว เนื่องด้วยในพื้นที่ของภาคอีสานไม่เคยมีเจ้าเข้ามาปกครอง ศาสนสถานของอีสานจะสวยเพราะซื่อมากกว่า ยกตัวอย่างเช่นการสร้างพระพุทธรูปอีสานไม่มีพระพุทธรูปสวยงามตามรูปแบบของพระพุทธชินราช

ขณะที่ความเป็นมาของหมู่บ้านอีสานภายในจิม ทอมป์สัน ฟาร์ม  อ.พหลไชย เปรมใจ สถาปนิกหมู่บ้านอีสาน เล่าว่า วิธีการสร้างหมู่บ้านอีสาน ได้ไปติดต่อขอซื้อบ้านเก่ามาซ่อมแซม โดยตั้งชื่อเรือนตามเจ้าของเดิม อาทิ เฮือนนางเผอะ เฮือนนางแตงอ่อน เฮือนนางเอื้อย  ซึ่งส่วนใหญ่จะเป็นชื่อผู้หญิง เพราะตามวัฒนธรรมอีสานบ้านจะตกทอดเป็นสมบัติของลูกสาว ส่วนศาสนสถาน สิมกลางน้ำ ที่กำลังก่อสร้างอยู่จะแล้วเสร็จในเดือนพฤศจิกายนนี้ โดยการจำลองสัดส่วนของสิมบก ณ วัดกลางโคกค้อ บ้านโคกค้อ อ.ยางตลาด จ.กาฬสินธุ์ สร้างด้วยไม้ทั้งหมด ซึ่งปัจจุบันของจริงได้ถูกรื้อไปแล้ว

“วัตถุประสงค์ของการสร้าง ไม่ได้สร้างเพื่อสักการะ แต่สร้างเพื่อสืบสาน” อ.พหลไชยบอกถึงความตั้งใจอันหมายรวมถึงสถาปัตยกรรมในหมู่บ้านอีสานเมื่อแล้วเสร็จจะมีทั้งหมด 40 หลัง เพื่อแสดงให้เห็นถึงภูมิปัญญาทางสถาปัตยกรรมชาวอีสานเมื่ออดีตที่เรียนรู้ธรรมชาติและปรับตัวให้อยู่กับธรรมชาติได้อย่างปลอดภัย.

พรประไพ  เสือเขียว

Vampires and their stories.

LonelyPlanet.com) -- Vampires and their stories seem to be enjoying an eternal renaissance in contemporary fiction and film.


Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" kicked off the modern raft of tales, and the popularity of more recent book and movie offerings like "Twilight" and "True Blood" shows that folks are, well, batty for vampire tales.
So where can you go to learn more about these creatures of the night? Discover the top destinations with this excerpt from Lonely Planet's Best in Travel.

Bran Castle, Romania
There's nothing better than going to the source, and in the case of vampire lore that's Vlad Ţepeş, legendary ruler of Wallachia, now part of Romania. Ţepeş became the scourge of the Ottoman empire and was fond of impaling entire Turkish forces sent against him. His bloodthirsty reputation inspired Irish author Bram Stoker to use him as the model for "Dracula," and thus a legend was born. Bran Castle, one of his strongholds, now houses a museum dedicated to Queen Marie of Romania. It has an impressive clifftop profile, looking like the quintessential location for a vampire movie.

Vampire Bats, Costa Rica
The vampire bat has become inseparable from the legend of the vampire. Apparently inspired by a newspaper article about these inhabitants of South and Central America, Bram Stoker wove their blood-sucking habits into his novel and the rest is history (or at least, folklore). These small bats do feed on animals' blood but rarely suck on humans, though there have been reported attacks in recent years in Brazil and Venezuela. One of the best places to see them in the wild is Costa Rica, especially within Santa Rosa National Park and Corcovado National Park.

Musée Des Vampires, France
Hidden away in the Les Lilas district of Paris is an enigmatic museum devoted to the vampire. Visits can only be made by appointment, but once through the forbidding red door, the visitor is treated to an eclectic collection of books, photographs, weapons, masks, models, costumes and other curios referencing the vampire legend. There's also a creepy Gothic garden out the back. The Musée des Vampires.

Forks, Washington
When author Stephanie Meyer set her vampire novel "Twilight" in the small town of Forks, Washington, she had little idea of the wave of vampire tourism she was setting in motion. When "Twilight" went ballistic on the bookshelves, ardent fans headed for Forks, neatly arresting the slow economic decline caused by its traditional mainstay, the timber industry, losing momentum. Now vampire fans can buy undead memorabilia, go on tours to locations that resemble Edward and Bella's literary hangouts, and celebrate Bella's birthday on 13 September.

Vampire Tour of San Francisco
Anyone who's read Bram Stoker's Dracula will remember Mina Harker, whom Dracula attacked with the intent of transforming her into a vampire. Given that this curse was apparently lifted once he was destroyed, you might be surprised to find Mina Harker wafting about in 21st-century San Francisco, and sporting an American accent. But every weekend you can join Mina for a vampire tour of the city's historic Nob Hill. It covers documented San Francisco history as well as speculative supernatural events, and attendees are encouraged to dress spookily.

Dracula Tour of London, UK
Given the British capital's starring role in the original Dracula novel, it makes sense that there should be a vampire tour of its darker nooks and crannies. This supernatural outing takes in a house in Highgate where the vampiric one apparently lived during his London sojourn. It also takes in the ghosts of Highgate Cemetery, the satanists of Highgate Woods, and other dark denizens. Curiously, the whole thing is then followed with a medieval banquet. Blood, presumably, is not on the menu. The Dracula Tour of London, run by Transylvania Live, takes place nightly except Mondays.

Pontianak, Indonesia
Vampiric creatures aren't just a Western obsession. Malaysia and Indonesia share the legend of the pontianak, supposedly the undead manifestation of a woman who has died during childbirth. This supernatural being is said to take the form of a beautiful woman, attracting men to their deaths by disemboweling them with her razor-sharp fingernails. You wouldn't really want to encounter one of these hellhounds, but if feeling brave you might visit the city of Pontianak, said to be named after the undead creature which once terrorized its men. Pontianak is the capital of the Indonesia province of West Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo.

Dracula's Haunts, Whitby, UK
Before "Dracula" reached London in the pages of Bram Stoker's novel, he came ashore at Whitby. The North Yorkshire seaport is famous for being the home base of 18th-century explorer Captain James Cook. However, no amount of historic circumstance can top Stoker's evocative description of the Russian schooner Demeter blown across Whitby's harbour with its dead captain lashed to the helm, crashing beneath the East Cliff before disgorging the vampire in the guise of a huge dog. As a result, Whitby has become a popular destination for vampire-fanciers. The Whitby Gothic Weekend is held twice-yearly, in April and October, and features concerts, markets and comedy nights.

"Buffy" locations, USA
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" gained vampires a big new TV audience in the 1990s. If you loved seeing Sarah Michelle Gellar stake scowly-faced evil vampires while finding time to fall in love with a reformed one then you might like to visit the locations in and around Los Angeles where the series was filmed. The series' exterior scenes at Sunnydale High School were in fact filmed at Torrance High School. Shots of the fictional University of California at Sunnydale were taken at the UCLA campus in Westwood, and at California State University in Northridge. And the vampire mansion once lived in by Angel, Spike and Drusilla is the Frank Lloyd Wright--designed Ennis House near Griffith Park. You can find a comprehensive list of Buffy locations within the IMDb entry for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"True Blood" locations, USA
Bon Temps, Louisiana, is the fictional town in "True Blood," the rightful heir to the vampire-mania stoked by Buffy. As with Buffy, the main character of the show is female, Sookie Stackhouse, who, like Buffy, falls in love with vampires. Unlike Buffy, vampires no longer hide from mainstream society -- they have 'come out of the coffin' to drink a synthetic human blood (True Blood). But vampires aren't the only supernatural citizens of Bon Temps. Werewolves, werepanthers, faeries, shapeshifters and maenads also roam its streets. While all the human characters in the series pass through Merlotte's Bar & Grill, the vampires of the show frequent Fangtasia, a bar owned by the thousand-year-old vampire Eric Northman in Shreveport, Louisiana. The actual bar used for some of the filming is located in Long Beach, California, so if you want to be a fang banger then head to Alex's Bar. Other True Blood film locations are scattered over Southern USA and California. Seeing Stars has a site dedicated to finding these sights.
----------------------------------------------------------------