Phonsavan is the main town near the Plain of Jars, an unexplained site of hundreds of jars believed to be over 2000 years old. The plain of jars is well worth the trip but it is even more worth seeing Phonsavan to learn more about the horrific unexploded ordnance that still plagues life in this rural region of Laos. I have to say I was largely ignorant of the indiscriminate bombing of Laos by the US during the Vietnam war. In this “secret war” America dropped more than 2 million tonnes of explosives giving Laos the awful title of being the most heavily bombed country in the world. Many of these bombs were cluster bombs, evil devices that murder and maim civilians during and many many years after their original use. Up to 30% of these bombs did not detonate and still maim and kill in the beautiful countryside around Phonsavan and across Laos. It is well worth watching the documentary Bombies to understand more about this as I cannot do this issue the justice it deserves here. I was just left annoyed and angry at another example of the terrible things that have happened to innocent people and the lack of funds and support being given to correct the horrendous wrongs of the past.
It made me think why people seem to spend so much time looking for little things to get angry at in the UK. People almost search for things to be offended by that are so meaningless. When people feel offended by a Russell Brand joke or some other Daily Mail hate campaign perhaps they could turn there attention to a part of the world where people still cannot farm their own land because it is so ridden with bombs that were dropped by the world’s richest country in an illegal war. America were not even at war with Laos. So rather than write an angry letter or huff and puff and talk about the decline of Britain or some such nonsense maybe we should put our hands in our pockets and help to solve a genuine problem that we should genuinely be offended by. You could donate directly to MAG, a group helping to clear the areas of UXO or donate to some other worthwhile charity that are attempting to solve real problems that should offend, outrage and upset every single one of us every single day.
My final comment on this rant is that the Convention on Cluster Munitions must be completed and ratified by all countries. So far 21 have ratified and 79 have signed. The UK have signed but not yet ratified and sadly the US, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Brazil and Israel have opposed the convention. In this day and age how can we accept these sorts of weapons being used???
