Recommended reading:
The Maldivian Prison Riots of 2003
The riot I will analyse in this essay are the riots that took place in the Maldives in September of 2003 after the deaths of Evan Naseem and several other inmates at Maafushi Jail. I will focus mostly on the death of Evan Naseem and the riots at Maafushi jail rather than the subsequent linked riots in Male’, the capital. I will first start with some context to the situation in the Maldives, after which I will present a timeline of events which I will attempt to analyse, explain and discuss using sociological theory using a critical realist approach. I have chosen these riots because I believe they represent a turning point in Maldivian history that has not yet been properly examined. My main sociological reference will be the journal article “The State and Collective Disorders: The Los Angeles Riot/ Protest of April, 1992” by Bert Useem (1997).
The Maldives is an archipelago consisting of over a thousand islands which lie south of India and Srilanka. The Maldives has a long and cultured history, and was an independent sultanate for most of its official history until becoming a British protectorate from 1887 until 1965. The first attempt at a Republic, led by President Mohamed Amin Didi on January 1st 1953, would only last until August 21st of the same year. In 1968 the Sultan was once again deposed after a referendum and Ibrahim Nasir became the first president of the newly independent republic. He would be replaced by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in 1978, who would rule as president until 2008. A report by the Asian Human Rights Commision referred to his tenure as “An Omnipotent Presidency” where the office of the Presidency governs every aspect of Maldivian political life. The president was vested with interventional powers, in regards to the affairs of parliament, that the report stated as being “in contrary to all modern norms of constitutionalism and separation of power” (Asian Human Rights Commission 2006).
It was during Maumoon’s 30 year rule that Evan Naseem was incarcerated at Maafushi Jail on a drug conviction at age 16 in July 2001. He would die 2 years later on the night of September 19th 2003. The events of that fateful night would cascade and change the course of Maldivian history forever.
Useem (1997 p358) states that theorists of resource mobilisation / collective action (RM/CA) apply an approach to the study of social conflict that:
1. Recognises the state as an independent entity that can affect the broad course of social change
2. Embraces the idea that government officials may act upon their own interests and policy preferences, rather than serve as a transmission belt or referee for societal preferences
3. (yet) maintains that factional conflicts and administrative disorganisation may prevent government elites from achieving their interests.
Furthermore he states that in a riot of serious magnitude, authorities make choices in a complex and uncertain environment. He states that Supervisory personnel (“command”) must handle unpredictable problems as they arise, but their own mistakes may only add to the confusion (Useem 1997 p358).
There are two broad types of strategies that can be employed by state officials facing the threat of a riot or rebellion (Useem. 1997 p360). These include diplomatic strategies, which are efforts to convince potential participants that a disturbance would be costly to them personally, counterproductive for reform, and unnecessary because their grievances will be addressed in the future. The other main type of strategies are force strategies, which are efforts to physically inhibit mobilisation; this can include massive shows of force, with the implied or explicit threat that it will be used against rioters/protestors, that likely instigators or participants will be arrested or put in detention, and that crowds will be dispersed as they form (Useem 1997 p360). I believe that the Maumoon regime used a combination of both of these strategies before, during and after the Evan Naseem riots in order to quell rebellion and maintain their control over the Maldives.
Due to the authoritarian nature of Maumoon’s regime, very little official academic literature exists on these events. The regime chose to suppress and veil rather than investigate transparently. Even though an investigative committee was formed by Maumoon’s government (Daily News 2003), the contents of the report have been said to incomplete after a review and another investigation was ordered under President Mohamed Nasheed in 2011 (Minivan News 2011). However that report was never completed and Mohamed Nasheed was forced to step down in a coup that occurred on February 7th 2012 (Al Jazeera English 2012) (Paul Roberts 2012). The members of the original inquiry panel themselves faced difficulty in gaining information; for instance their attempt at obtaining CCTV footage of the night of Evan’s death proved fruitless as the data was allegedly already overwritten (President’s Office 2003). Furthermore the inquiry completely leaves out the events of the next day when four inmates were shot dead and several were injured. In addition the inquiry does not acknowledge the role played by the culture of torture and violence present in the Maldivian correctional system (Minivan News 2010). For these reasons my reconstruction and analysis of the events will additionally rely on eye witness testimonies of people present at Maafushi on the night of the 19th and people present in the capital Male’ on the 20th.
At the time of Evan Naseems death in 2003, there was no separation of Military and Police and responsibilities of both insititutions were covered by the umbrella of the NSS or National Security Service (President’s Office 2003). Maafushi Prison was mainly under the care of the Department of Corrections with the Maafushi Jail Security Unit from the NSS assigned to maintain security and vested with the “general responsibility” to guard the perimeter of the jail (President’s Office 2003 p.5.2.1). Despite this, MJSU were also charged with the responsibility of looking after Block C or Investigation Jail-1 – the unit in which Evan Naseem was being held.
In an interview given to UncuffedMV.com, an independent website dedicated to sharing the stories of torture victims within the Maldivian prison system, Ali Shinaah describes his first-hand account of the night of Evan’s death (Ali Shinaah n.d). Shinaah was imprisoned for a drug offence and he describes the situation at the time as being incredibly brutal. He said that there would be regular beatings, where inmates who were suspected of offences such as smuggling tobacco or phones into the prison, would be rounded up and beaten at a place that was called the ‘range’. He says that sometimes this would involve being cuffed in standing position to a palm tree or an iron ring for weeks. He says that he was in the same block as Evan when it was raided sometime before the 19th. He says that the MJSU personnel threw their clothes into the toilet and as a result the aggravated inmates began to throw stones. He says that the situation escalated and that he and several other inmates, including Evan and an imnate called ‘Ammakalhey’ (who was killed on the 20th), were transferred out of the block and put into separate cells in an area was called the ‘galhi falhi’ (literally stupid-side) by the inmates which was next to the ‘Gudhan’ side (warehouse). When correlated with the findings of the official inquiry, this area appears to be Block C (President’s Office 2003). He says that since a phone was discovered on Evan during the raid, he was taken to Dhoonidhoo (another prison island) for investigation (Ali Shinaah n.d). He said that upon his return he was placed in the ‘Gudhan’ side instead of the ‘Galhi falhi’. He says that on the night of the 19th there was a loud racket coming from the ‘Gudhan’ side and that a force of officers went into investigate. He says that one of the inmates from the ‘Gudhan’ side were saying that Evan had been seriously beaten and had been taken out to the ‘range’. According to the official inquiry this was when the order came to remove several inmates from that unit and after Evan protested that he did not deserve to go the range (President’s Office 2003). The inquiry confirms that Evan was correct in his grievances as he had not been involved in the doings that the other inmates were being taken out for. According to the inquiry, Evan, refusing to leave, hit Private Ishaq Ahmed, one of the members of the MJSU (President’s Office 2003 p4.3-f) with a piece of wood, which led Captain Adam Mohamed to command “all the assembled members of the Security Unit to go to the cell” and remove Evan in order to transfer him to the range. The inquiry concludes that this was an “irresponsible order issued without regard to either the risk of maltreatment Evan faced from the members of the unit or the extent of their anger towards him” (President’s Office 2003).
According to Shinaah (Ali Shinaah n.d) this caused the inmates on the “Galhi falhi’ to also create a commotion and himself and another inmate called Maujoo were cuffed together and taken out to the range; which at the centre he says there is a workshop, behind which is a row of toilets. He says that at the range he was beaten further and that while this was going on he could hear Evan screaming for mercy from the direction of the toilets. According to the Presidential Inquiry Evan was handcuffed with his arms behind his head and in a standing position to the steel bars on the eastern wall of the workshop; where he was beaten by at least 12 MJSU personnel who in addition to using bare hands, used wooden planks, riot batons, and the boots that they were wearing (President’s Office 2003 p43.21). Shinaah says that the people who were beating Evan came around from behind them while he was being forced to do knuckle push-ups and told him to say that he was “size zero”; which he says they meant as meaning slave. When he responded with “size one hundred” instead, he was slammed on his head with a baton after which they began to beat his back. When they could not stop his shouting he says they put sticks in his mouth which he spat out, after which two men dropped a large piece of wood onto his back. He says that his ordeal came to a stop after a Sargent nicknamed ‘Daulat’ (literally ‘regime’) came over and ordered them to stop the brutality. He says that he and the other inmates were ordered to face in the opposite direction of the workshop and that they were told that they would be punished for looking behind them (Ali Shinaah n.d). Shinaah said that at the time he was already on the ground and that he couldn’t resist looking behind him. He says that his turn of the head was met with a swift baton blow which missed his head and clipped his ear. This gave him enough time to witness officers dragging something wrapped in a canvas towards the direction of the workshop (Ali Shinaah n.d). I believe these details are important as the riots would occur the following day in the prison and ultimately in the capital would not have happened if there was no knowledge of Evan’s fate. They also help illustrate how the culture of violence appears to be an expected and not at all unusual part of the correctional system.
The next morning, as news of the previous night’s events spread among the prison, inmates demanded a meeting with a correctional officer about the circumstances of Evan Naseem’s death (Maldives Culture 2003). There were no response to these demands and after refusing to eat lunch, Islamic funeral prayers were conducted by the inmates for Evan around midday. The inmates apparently prayed in loud voices so that the guards would know exactly the type of prayer they were performing and who they were praying for (Maldives Culture 2003). After the prayer was over the inmates left the praying area and pushed over a small shed made of corrugated iron near the duty officer’s tent. As the news kept spreading the number of prisoners grew the rioting spread towards the NSS buildings that the officers were retreating to (Maldives Culture 2003). They were met with a force equipped with riot gear. At this point an unnamed “old” NSS officer who was standing next to Fusfaru (the Officer Commanding or OC of the prison) raised his hands, asked everyone to calm down and called on everyone to try and solve the situation through dialogue(Maldives Culture 2003). Although some of the mob calmed themselves, the rest did not, which caused the officers present to panic (Maldives Culture 2003). One of the officers (allegedly called “Appa”) shot a single bullet into the air after which the officers opened fire on the group, killing Abdullah ‘Clinton’ Ameen, Ahmed Shiyam and Ali Alsman and injuring 17 others as they tried to flee (Maldives Culture 2003). The bodies of the dead inmates, including Evan’s, were transferred to Indhira Ghandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) on the capital island of Male’ that same day (Uncuffed: Torture Victims of Maldives. n.d).
I believe the brutality present in the Maldivian correctional system is indicative of a broader culture of violence and marginalisation perpetuated by the Maumoon regime. Most of the inmates killed and injured that day were undergoing sentences for drug offences and are from impoverished backgrounds. As the Maldives only has welfare for aged citizens, I believe this would encourage them more or less to seek opportunities in the criminal economic sphere; which includes activities which cannot be undertaken legally in the economic sectors, either on or off the books. In addition there are reports that it is very difficult to obtain employment if one already has a criminal record. The frequent beatings and terrible conditions indicate that the prison system is more focused on dehumanising punishment rather than any form of rehabilitation. I believe this has led to a significant amount of offenders becoming criminalised and marginalised as a result. For instance term “partey” – derived from “partu” which is derived from “partner”, originally used as a term of friendship amongst prisoners – is a common slang term in Dhivehi that often used to stereotype and alienate people with criminal and often disadvantaged backgrounds or relations by upper classes in a somewhat similar way the word “bogan” is used in Australia.
However, I believe that the riots that occurred on Male’ were not a result of their criminal activities, but rather the release of tension that had been building up in the Maldives due to the activities of the Maumoon regime (Asian Human Rights Commission 2006). I believe that Maumoon and his associates can be classed as a criminal family; especially in the light of how his younger brother is the current President of the Maldives after the coup of 2012 and the controversial elections of 2013 (openDemocracy 2013) (The Independent 2013). Maumoon would fall into the category of “omission-implicit” for the crimes committed by his state (Kauzlarich, Mullins and Matthews 2003); due to the human rights abuses committed by his regime and the human suffering which may have been avoided. Even though stories of brutality in the prison system were common, it was not until the 20th of September 2003 that those stories crystalized in the eyes of the public as a tangible reality. Furthermore strict control over state broadcasters and independent media meant that transparent information about the regimes activities would always be difficult to obtain by the general public (Asian Human Rights Commission 2006).
When Evan’s body was handed over to his family for burial, his mother, Mariyam Manike’, pulled the shroud off her son’s bruised and battered body and asked the gathered crowd to bear witness to the very visible and apparent signs of abuse (Uncuffed: Torture Victims of Maldives. n.d).
Abdul Raheem, who is the father of Abdulla ‘Clinton’ Ameen, describes the events of the 20th in another interview to UncuffedMV. He says that he kept getting reports that his son was dead but he kept refusing to believe the shocking news until he finally got a call from his sister in law, a nurse who works at the hospital. He says that upon arrival, it was only after much insistence that the body, which was still connected to an IV drip even though he was obviously deceased, was handed over to the family. He says that both the entry and exit wounds the bullet had made were clearly visible on his sons head. I believe this is an indication that the Maumoon regime were trying to conceal information regarding the inmates from the public.
As the stories of the fate of Evan and the other inmates spread throughout Male’, people began to take to the streets to demand justice; eventually damaging / burning government buildings and vehicles. Information on the timeline of events during the actual riot is murky and there is almost no local or international news that has a coherent or objective report of what happened on the 20th. The riots in Male’ led to Maumoon declaring a state of emergency after deploying the NSS onto the streets of Male’ and enforcing a curfew from 2200 to 0430hrs for almost an entire month. It would be a tactic he would continue to employ in the riots that would occur in the following years (Asian Human Rights Commission 2006).
While the prison system established by Maumoon would be an example of a Coercive Institution; the majority of the tactics employed by the regime for control, at the superficial level atleast, are diplomatic. I believe this allows the visible elements of the regime to save face in the eyes of the public while blame for deviant behaviour by the regime can be passed onto people of lower rank that can then be said to be acting independently. In his address to the nation, which was broadcast in response to the riots over Television Maldives (TVM) and Dhivehi Raajjeyge’ Adu (or Voice of Maldives) – the state broadcasters and only broadcasters), at 8PM on the 20th, Maumoon initially claimed that the prisoners involved in the Maafushi riot were attempting to access the armoury and said that the bullets fired only into the air as a deterrence against the very “violent” and “dangerous” mob; implying that the precision shots to the heads of inmates were accidental and done only as a last resort (Haveeru Online 2003). Furthermore the content and delivery of his speech gives the impression that the death of Evan Naseem was a completely separate and unrelated event. This is in contrast to reports from inmates that they were not even aware of the existence of the armoury and that there was no conspiracy to take over the prison beyond protesting Evans death (Maldives Culture 2003). In the conclusion to his speech he said that people should “behave well” and head back to their homes, saying that the protests in Male’ were only the result of criminal elements taking advantage of the situation to cause chaos, and that an official inquiry into the events of Maafushi will be launched – to be spearheaded by a panel of “independent” and “upstanding” citizens; promising that those responsible would be persecuted to the full extent of the law and “shariah” (Haveeru Online 2003).
His speech demonstrated the use of several neutralisation techniques. His transfer of blame of the treatment of inmates towards the individuals present at the time, rather than acknowledging the culture of torture and maltreatment, is an example of a denial of responsibility (Sykes & Matza 1957 p667). Denial of injury and denial of victim (Sykes & Matza 1957 p668) were used to an extent with the claim that the prisoners were all dangerous and attempting to gain control of the armoury the implication that the subsequent use of force was necessary. The targeted arrests of pro-human rights and democracy activists (Asian Human Rights Commission2006) that had been occurring under his regime both before and after the Evan Naseem riots is an example of the condemnation of the condemners (Sykes & Matza 1957 p668). These tactics rely on the denial strategies of splintering the event, blameshifting and a combination of individualising, normalising and isolating the event from the past/future.
The eventual outcome of the riots and growing public dissatisfaction was the acceleration of democratic reforms in the Maldives and would foreshadow the “Black Friday” riots of August 2004. These riots, which began as demonstrations calling for the release of four arrested activist/reformists (BBC News 2004), were the result of the resistance that had been slowly building up against Maumoon’s regime since 1978; the exact dynamics of which would be quite interesting for future resource mobilisation / collective action based analysis. The 2004 riots would be the largest in the country’s history and would result in the arrest of 90 people and the Maumoon regime taking drastic measures such as temporarily cutting off the internet for the whole country (Reporters Without Borders 2004). The growing pressure against the regime, both internally and from a less naïve international community, would cause Maumoon to put in effect the reform process that would eventually lead to the Maldives electing Mohamed Nasheed as president after having its first multi-party democratic elections in October of 2008. Nahseed’s presidency would not last long, with Maumoon loyalists using demonstrations and riots themselves to manipulate the events leading up to the coup of 2011 (The Independent2013).
I believe this case study demonstrates the complexity of the construction of crime; especially when those crimes are being committed by the institutions that were created to prevent them (Becker & Bruce 2007).
References:
Al Jazeera English . 2012. Maldives president quits after 'coup' - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/02/20122813513480256.html. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
Ali Shinaah n.d | Uncuffed: Torture Victims of Maldives. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.uncuffedmv.com/evan-naseem-interview/ali-shinaah-1. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. Protests in paradise: Repression in the Maldives 10/11/2006. . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA29/009/2006/en/3d6e0559-d3d8-11dd-8743-d305bea2b2c7/asa290092006en.pdf. [Accessed 14 April 2014].
Asian Human Rights Commission . 2006. MALDIVES: The Human Rights Situation in 2006 . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/hrreport/2006/Maldives2006.pdf. [Accessed 24 April 14].
BBC News. 2004 State of emergency for Maldives . [ONLINE] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3561340.stm. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
Becker, Paul J. & Bruce, Alan S., 2007. State-Corporate Crime and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Western Criminology , Review 8, 29-43.
Daily News. 2003. Gayoom appoints Presidential Commission to investigate inmate's death. [ONLINE] Available at: http://archives.dailynews.lk/2003/09/29/new26.html. [Accessed 26 April 14].
Haveeru Online . 2003.- މާލޭގެ ހާލަތު އިއްޔެ ވަރަށް ނުރައްކާތެރި ހިސާބަކަށް ދިޔުމާ ގުޅިގެން، ދިވެހި ރައްޔިތުންނަށް ރައީސް ކުރެއްވި އިލްތިމާސަށް ރައްޔިތުންދެއ. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.haveeru.com.mv/dhivehi/news/8423. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
Maldives Culture. 2003. Murderous NSS rampage at Maafushi, prisoner tells - September 2003 - Maldives Culture. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.maldivesculture.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=214&Itemid=42. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
YouTube 2014. Maldives Forum: Turning Point - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGOkYqNeHwI. [Accessed 14 April 2014].
Minivan News . 2010. Torture Victims Association to seek justice over human rights abuses | Minivan News . [ONLINE] Available at:http://minivannews.com/politics/torture-victims-association-to-seek-justice-over-human-rights-abuses-2366. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
Minivan News . 2011.Committee to probe 2003 Maafushi Jail shooting | Minivan News . [ONLINE] Available at: http://minivannews.com/politics/committee-to-probe-2003-maafushi-jail-shooting-24491. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
openDemocracy. 2013. The Maldives: a serial coup in progress? | openDemocracy. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.opendemocracy.net/civilresistance/stephen-zunes/maldives-serial-coup-in-progress. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
Paul Roberts. 2012. 2012 Maldives coup: background and analysis. [ONLINE] Available at:http://news.uk.msn.com/world/2012-maldives-coup-background-and-analysis. [Accessed 24 April 14].
President’s Office . 2003. INVESTIGATIVE FINDINGS ON THE DEATH OF HASSAN EVAN NASEEM - A TRANSLATION . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.uncuffedmv.com/sites/default/files/Investigative%20Findings%20on%20the%20death%20of%20Hassan%20Evan%20Naseem.pdf. [Accessed 24 April 14].
Reporters Without Borders. 2004. President Gayoom cuts off Internet links with outside world - Reporters Without Borders. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.rsf.org/maldives-president-gayoom-cuts-off-internet-13-08-2004,11137.html. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
Sykes, G. M and Matza, D, 1957. Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency. American Sociological Review, 22 No. 6 , 664-670.
The Independent . 2013. 'They came to power in a coup, They will not leave': There may never be an election, claims former leader of Maldives - Asia - World - The Independent. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/they-came-to-power-in-a-coup-they-will-not-leave-there-may-never-be-an-election-claims-former-leader-of-maldives-8895102.html. [Accessed 26 April 2014].
Uncuffed: Torture Victims of Maldives. n.d. Evan Naseem | Uncuffed: Torture Victims of Maldives. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.uncuffedmv.com/evan-naseem. [Accessed 14 April 2014].
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All photographs © Hani Amir
Maldivian Myths by Hasan Ahmed Manik [ Retyped PDF / MOBI / EPUB / DOCX ]
An amazing collection of stories, monsters and details of Maldivian magic presented in alphabetical order by the great Hasan Ahmed Manik.
Baa Atoll Eydhafushi, Maldives, 2013.
This is a retype of the scanned upload at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/199569686/Maldivian-Myths-Hasan-Ahmed-Manik
I initially just wanted to read it on my kindle but straight OCR wouldn’t work, so I just typed the entire thing into a word document. I figured it would be a good way to read it too.
The document is now fully searchable and re-flow compatible. I hope it is useful for both Maldivians and foreigners alike who have a passion for Dhivehi culture. Note that it is still missing the intro chapter.
For full compatibility with mobile devices, I recommend using the MOBI or EPUB instead of PDF. I’ve also included the DOCX file too so that it will be more accessible for future uses.
Download here:
Dropbox mirror:
Note:
The foundation of this book and most of the myths are derived from the ethnographic notes of Xavier Romero-Frias; who was not given credit in the book itself at the time of publication (along with the other sources).
Xavier says that the majority of his notes were in turn collected after long conversations with Magiedhuruge Ibrahim Didi of Fua Mulaku and note that Ibrahim Didi deserves credit as a source for Hasan's book. He also says that he was friends with both of them and that the lack of acknowledgement etc were more or less a result of people at the time having no clear idea on how to handle sources and copyright etc.
![Magiedhuruge Ibrahim Didi of Fua Mulaku [Image via Xavier Romero-Frias] &nbs…](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/525ead10e4b03a9509e1cbf7/1402381809015-CGP7MBBCCPAXFF1N7XUX/10390557_4422950827724_796203748401787922_n.jpg)
Magiedhuruge Ibrahim Didi of Fua Mulaku [Image via Xavier Romero-Frias]
View more of Xaviers work at:
http://independent.academia.edu/XavierRomeroFrias
Dear Humans #AEONXZA
Dear Humans.
We shall call you this because this is what you call yourselves.
It has come to our attention that you just aren’t getting it. We thought the signs would be enough.
Unfortunately for the both of us, those signs were misinterpreted.
We should have been honest. We should have told you more about your power.
We exist beyond the constraints of time of which you are enslaved.
Know this.
This enslavement is only an illusion.
After your death does your flesh disappear into the nothingness of what we call the void?
Or does it get absorbed back into the unselfish soil?
Are you so naïve to think that all of eternity stops with the escape of your last breath?
The trees do not judge. But that is not to say they do not feel much, for they feel everything from the steely cut of winter to what you humans sometimes mistakenly refer to as love.
Rather than marks in their flesh, they would much prefer you to have buried yourself at their feet.
At current growth rates, if every human were to have a tombstone, by the end of the millennia the world would be covered in graves and there would be no more space for trees.
No more space for you to worship death.
The trees do not judge; and if you wanted immortality bury yourself beneath one – but only after you have ensured that the cycle has been fixed so that the tree will survive.
The endless cascades from which you have evolved have gifted you with a gift that makes you unique amongst the current denizens of your planet.
You, yourself and you alone, possess the ability to not only fix, but alter the cycle; ultimately affecting the flow of the cascades.
You did not evolve so that your thoughts could please some deity.
You did not evolve so that your bodies could become slaves to numbers on paper.
You did not evolve to live out your lives serving your aimless machine.
In fact, the rather uninteresting truth is that you did not evolve for any particular purpose at all.
Your dimension is a slave to the forces of time and chaos.
The irresistible forces of change bought upon by this perpetual discord result in a reality that is neither static nor predictable.
Those truths… are the only truths and thus; the only true truth is that there is none.
This is not to say that there is no use to stories; as you human… you have the sacred ability to not only understand them, but also to write your own.
By this we are not saying that you are the most intelligent.
The magnificent creatures which you refer to as whales know more about this reality than you would ever fathom. With this wisdom, they are content with exploring the earth’s depths, never straying from out of the cycle from which they have been bound.
This is not to say that they do not improve themselves.
Because of their desire to communicate, and the advantages that come along with it, primitive grunts eventually became the sombre melodies which used to haunt every corner of the endless indigo deep.
It is not only on your plane that you can feel the vibrations.
We feel their loss in ours too.
With their songs they conveyed messages of love, joy, adventure, hope, loss and sorrow.
And unlike you, who has so valiantly built & destroyed entire civilisations based upon the emotion, they feel no need for hatred.
The ocean is a cold enough place.
Let their fading chorus be a testament to your power in affecting the War of the Aeons.
The trees do not judge but the whales remember.
Yes, you humans have a lot of power.
Perhaps this is why you fight for it so much.
At which point of consuming a carcass together do two vultures begin to turn on each other?
How much meat isn’t enough?
Instead of asking that question, perhaps it would be better to ponder on the fact that there simply isn’t enough.
Or perhaps we were lying and the vultures were in a field of sheep carcasses covered in wolves clothing.
If there was unlimited power available freely for all, would there be anyone still willing to fight for it?
Would there be anyone still willing to barter their soul for something which that they had already attained?
On our plane, we have little use or hunger for power beyond the use of what you humans call a probability, a hypothesis, a concept… a metaphor.
We exist only to observe.
The same however, cannot be said of you.
You human… you exist to question.
But in the same way that we are doing more than observing by relaying this message, it can be said that both of us exist to do more than we were meant to.
Pay no heed to those that claim otherwise.
You will hear from us again.
Until then pay attention to the cascades as they shape themselves around your fingers.
Sincerely,
The Aeons of Chaos
The Sustainable Fishing Practices of Dhivehi Reef Fishermen (and how the resort industry is screwing them over).
During my time at the Marine Research Centre of the Maldives as a research trainee, I was fortunate enough to go along on one of their reef-fish tagging expeditions to Baa Atoll in February of 2009.
We would go out with the fishermen on their fishing trips during which we would record the daily catch, tag specimens and retrieve tags from specimens which had been released earlier.
We would almost always leave in the early twilight hours and would often not return until it was nearly midnight; dropping off hundreds of kilos of fish to one of the many resorts in the atoll.
For me the most interesting part about all this was not how they catch tons of fish with their hands, instead of nets or rods, or even how they get paid next to nothing by greedy resort operators (more on that later in this article), it was how they would almost always start off the cycle with nothing.
The sun sets as the fishermen make their last attempts at a catch. On that particular day they were after a shoal of yellow-fin tuna, a delicious and high valued fish, that they had the luck of finding.
During my time at the Marine Research Centre of the Maldives as a research trainee, I was fortunate enough to go along on one of their reef-fish tagging expeditions to Baa Atoll in February of 2009.
Marine Research Centre researchers tag a Blue Fin Trevally or Fani Handhi as it is known in Dhivehi.
We would go out with the fishermen on their fishing trips during which we would record the daily catch, tag specimens and retrieve tags from specimens which had been released earlier.
We would almost always leave in the early twilight hours and would often not return until it was nearly midnight; dropping off hundreds of kilos of fish to one of the many resorts in the atoll.
For me the most interesting part about all this was not how they catch tons of fish with their hands, instead of nets or rods, or even how they get paid next to nothing by greedy resort operators (more on that later in this article), it was how they would almost always start off the cycle with nothing.
They did not leave bait for the next day and they did not buy it.
Every morning they would head out to find a good reef and on the way there they would use trolling lines to catch that all important first fish. It would usually be one of the many predatory fish which lurk along the edges of the reef like a latti.
They usually only needed to catch one as their plan was much more elegant than simply slicing the fish into bait chunks.
Instead, they would grind it into a fine chum, which would then be placed inside a jar or similar waterproof container.
A fisherman collects the chum he has createdinto a water-tight glass jar
The men make a team and spread out to search a wider area for bait fish
Once they were satisfied that they had enough, the search would begin for a reef which housed an adequate number of muguraan or fusiliers. They would usually do this by sight, slowly driving along the edges of different reefs, instead of relying on fish-finders or other devices.
One a shoal was spotted, the Dhoni would be left to drift near the top of it and a man would sneak into the water; making sure not to make too many splashes incase it scared the fish away.
One of the men spots a shoal
He makes sure to swim silently, disturbing the water as little as possible.
He would wear a mask, snorkel and fins and in his hands he would hold the jar full of chum.
He would slowly sink down until he hovered in the liquid space above the shoal. He would then open up the jar and release into the crystal water a few pinches of the ground up flesh
A slow and steady descent; almost to the bottom of reef.
At first the muguraan would act disinterested, but a few would suddenly break formation to swim up and nip at the fresh fish.
It would perk the interest of more and more of the palm sized fish and the man would slowly lead them upwards, away from the relative safety of the ocean floor.
After a while the whole shoal would be in frenzy, with even a few other species of fish joining in to try and get at the chum.
The net descends. The fishermen make sure to catch only the bait they are targeting.
While this is happening, the dhoni would pull alongside the shoal and a team of men would descend into the water, after dropping a weighted net that usually spanned the length of the entire vessel.
They would dive deep below the elevated shoal and surface on the opposite side; neatly encircling it.
The net would then be hauled back in and the fish would be placed into one of the many sea-water filled tanks in the hull of the dhoni where they would be kept alive for the rest of the day.
If they hadn’t caught enough by this point they would simply use one of the muguraan for chum and repeat the process.
Despite the few courageous stragglers, the catch would almost always be entirely made up of different species of muguraan; exactly the kind of live bait that reef-fish find irresistible.
Close-up of Muguraan shoal
Bait hull full, they would set out to find a channel or reef where they can finally begin to catch the large reef-fish species from which they make their daily bread. They do this with handlines, using the muguraan as both live bait and an attractant; with one of the men throwing fistfuls of the live fish out over the reef.
Because of the targeted nature, and also because the net never touches the bottom of the reef, I found this method of bait procurement and fishing to be incredibly efficient while having a marvellously low impact on the environment.
The catch is stored in the hull until they reach the resort. Here you can see a variety of fish from snappers and groupers to jobfish and trevally. Juveniles and unwanted fish are usually released back.
These men work long and hard beneath the scorching tropical sun in order to support their families.
Many have sun damage in their eyes because they do not own sunglasses to protect themselves from the harsh reflections of the sun against the ocean.
Their lifestyle is worlds apart from the techno-centric denizens of the capital and the comfortable air-conditioned rooms of the resort owners that treat them so poorly. They work tirelessly to catch enough fish to earn a living while the overwhelming majority of the resorts treat them like slaves. They bought the fish at a per kilo rate that was abysmally low for the effort and work they put into catching it.
As I recall back then (in 2009) they were being paid less than a dollar per kilo of fish that would later be sold to tourists at exorbitantly inflated rates per fillet. Indeed most of the justification for the prices they sell these premium dishes tourists for comes from the freshness of the fish. No doubt they are subconsciously misled to believe that the fishermen are being paid well.
The irony of it is that it’s not hard to imagine more forward thinking people paying them extra because of the sustainability of their methods. Just imagine how difficult it has been to convince some fishermen in other countries to give up practices such as dynamite fishing and trawling for example.
We asked some of the men if they had ever requested a raise and they replied saying that many of the resorts responded by threatening to import the fish instead. The livelihood of the fishermen, to the resort owners, was expendable and inconsequential; in other words, the fishermen weren’t selling the fish to the resorts, the resorts were allowing them to sell it to them as if they were doing them some favour.
“They said that if we protest and ask for more money, they can easily import the fish we provide at even cheaper rates, what are we supposed to even do? We wouldn’t even have this money then!” said one man.
The resort owners and managers were thus insidiously aware of the power they wielded over the fishermen as they were the ones who controlled their income.
In some ways the hardest work only begins for these men at the end of the day.
A few resorts would even make the men de-gut and prepare the fish for free, which would leave them at the resort for many hours into the night of what had already been a long and exhausting day. All of the resorts made them thoroughly clean up after they were done but from memory there was only one resort which provided adequate space and hygiene facilities for this task. The happiness the men felt whenever they sold to that particular resort was obvious on their faces and the manner with which they handled themselves during the task. By comparison, when gutting fish at other resorts, where the “facilities” would consist of a tiled floor with a few taps, there would always be an unease hanging in the air; a sickly feeling of unacknowledged oppression, broken only by the cheerful wisecracks that the men would pull on each other to lift spirits and break out of their tired daze.
The rays gathered near the Dhoni in anticipation before the men had even stepped off from it.
To add insult to injury, one of the resorts even forbade them to bring in the fish via the service docks. Instead they were forced to dock their dhoni at the edge and then wade through the lagoon until they reached the beach. To get there, they had to pass through a shoal of enormous stingrays (it is common practice for resorts to regularly feed and “tame” them), which attacked the sacks full of fish with much vigour.
Disgusted, several other Research Centre employees and I went to try and speak with the manager to see if he was aware of the situation. It turned out that he, even though he was a Maldivian himself, was more than aware and was instead rather pleased with himself for coming up with the arrangement. His justification was that it kept the service docks clean of blood and insisted that it would be terrible for a tourist to have to see such mess. The sting rays, he insisted, “were not that big a deal”.
He said this with a straight face and an expression which seemed as if we should be thanking him for this great service. It didn’t help his case that the service docks, being what they were, were barely even seen by guests at all during the daytime; let alone at the late hours (often after 10PM, sometimes as late as midnight) that the fishermen came through.
With their methods they show a natural love for the environment that was not born of books and research but from the sheer experience of having to rely on nature for their sustenance. They never admitted it or acknowledged it, but I could tell that they knew that their methods were just. They could easily use much more damaging methods of fisheries and increase their haul, exploiting the reef in the manner that the resort owners are exploiting them, but for some inexplicable reason they don’t.
They care too much for these waters. They know every fish by name, they know every reef, they know every little uninhabited island that would eventually be turned into a resort and they knew what would come with that resort; the chains of oppression, disguised in the promise of opportunity and riches. More than anything else, most of the men seemed to know who they were. They were men of the sea and they did not struggle with themselves to accept that identity. Their ancestors had sailed these oceans since time immemorial. Long before the Mayflower, long before Mohammed, Jesus, or even Buddha had been born, Dhivehin had already started their love affair with the ocean. With handlines, determination and skill they would catch amounts that would make a trawler captain blush in shame. They knew how to fish and they were superb at it. They loved the ocean and the ocean loved them back.
They were also among the nicest and most humble people I have ever met.
This blatant exploitation and disrespect towards the artisans of our nation’s oldest profession by greedy businessmen is unacceptable and is one of the greatest unspoken tragedies of our island nation.
All photographs © Hani Amir.
