07/16/2007: "Interview with Frans Welman"

Interview with Frans Welman
Posted on Monday, June 04 @ 13:10:36 UTC by administrator

Interviews Frans Welman is a photojournalist, writer and documentary filmmaker from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has recently published two new books on the Nagas. Jeremy Taylor of Kuknalim.com conducts an interview with him..

Frans Welman is a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He started out as a clinical psychologist with a preference for cross-cultural psychology. Armed with that inclination, he went on a journey that carried him from West Papua to Peru, and eventually to the doorstep of Nagaland. He worked in the prominent Dutch anthropological Royal Tropical Museum education department for over 20 years and that brought the conviction to stand by those indigenous peoples who, due to post-colonial effects, have yet to attain their right to self-determination. Frans Welman brings these peoples and environments they live in to light as his never-ending journey continues.

Kuknalim.com: Congratulations on the recent launch of your two new publications and thank you for taking the time for an interview with Kuknalim.com. We are honored to interview you at this significant time of your recent launch of two publications.

Click here to open larger image
The book, Out of Isolation, is a remarkable work to gather testimonies and accounts from Nagas in an attempt to document the volatile history, heritage and conflict of the Naga people.

Kuknalim.com: Can you tell us more about this amazing piece of work?
Mr. Welman: It is really an three part attempt to intersubjectively present the Naga Cultures who happened to have met conflict not initiated by them. First part is about Culture and the misconceptions in terms on how the people of the mountains live, see reality and other people and this includes the term headhunting too, a term attributed to them by the British based on superficial and prejudiced notions from a western European culture.

The second part is Wandering among the Nagas and the stories of Zeliangrong Nagas close to Nagaland State which I sneaked into to visit a Naga Army Camp and report from there.

Then the history in full from British Times via interlude of the Baptists into Indian times and culminating in the second peace talks. Of course after the first one was agreed upon and abrogated the war resumed and the Shillong Accord meant a split in the Naga forces and the fighting amongst themselves began. Then the split deepened the rifts between the Naga more when the K was formed when it broke off of the NSCN.

Kuknalim.com: How long did it take to gather these testimonies and accounts?
Mr. Welman: The unbelievable stories Nagas told and where not verifiable because their land could not be visited. Meetings in the late 1980’s with NNC members who attended a UN meeting in Geneva before coming to Amsterdam. Later followed by high members of the NSCN to become part of UNPO/

Click here to open larger image Kuknalim.com: Beyond Twilight is an effort to present the Naga struggle from a different angle, written in the form of an intense political thriller.

Can you tell us more about this book?

Mr. Welman: The talks are in a deadlock. As I say in Out of Isolation the elephant tramples the mouse so what actually happens is that an external factor not controllable by India nor the Naga Peoples themselves comes into play and has far reaching effects.

The assassination of a Naga leader leads to all kinds of credible consequences and all characters though fictional are directly linked or based on real life interest in the Indo-Naga conflict.
That interest could be historically linked, dominance linked, or culturally linked. The point is that it will change the situation completely because it evokes the eyes of the world to focus on the conflict. Until the last moment though some things of importance remain unknown.

Kuknalim.com: How long did it take you to complete Beyond Twilight?
Mr. Welman: Once the idea is there it does not take very long. The actual writing took me about two months and I wrestled a month or so on a good idea to end it credibly. After writing the tedious work of rewriting and correcting begins and I am dismayed by the fact that in the print version there are still errors found.

Kuknalim.com: What inspired you to create a political thriller from a 50 year old struggle of the Nagas?
Mr. Welman: As I just indicated the India-Naga conflict is not known but has international responsibilities. So, the underlying motivation to write this is because colonial powers did a sloppy job when they departed from their colonies. Hence some of the characters in the book represent those interests. I am from the Netherlands and the Dutch face a similar situation with a former colony called West Papua in Indonesia. I wrote a non fiction book on that issue but do intend and have in mind a thriller about that too. The title” The Signature".

Kuknalim.com: What are your thoughts on the direction of a greater Nagaland leading to a free ‘Nagalim’ ?
Mr. Welman: To my opinion and considering the historical background there is no Greater Nagaland to speak of. The British referred to the Naga Hills and so the people living there were Nagas to them. So, essentially the Nagas want to be reunified, because they are separated by a border between two nation and beginning with the formation of Nagaland State were further divided by that state, a small part Arunachal and Assam and the Hills of Manipur, so, four states and two countries.

My thoughts on this matter are that during the British times the Nagas were not conquered but a part of their land and the people on it were colonized, two thirds was not. So, how could Britain hand over land and people to an emerging nation when Britain called the areas unadministered areas and the people Free Nagas?

So, I would call it reunification is what the Nagas stand for no expansionist drive they have to rule other, which is what the term Greater Nagaland implies.

Kuknalim.com: You have written other books and made documentaries. Do you have any more publications & documentaries on the Nagas?
Mr. Welman: One in the USA is called the Forbidden Land, the quest for Nagalim. This book tells the tales of three attempts to enter Nagaland, three failed attempts. Only once in Nagaland I was but on the Assam side. The term Nagalim refers to lim as land, but Nagalim means then all of the Naga lands in the Hills and not just Nagaland State.

Kuknalim.com: As “Enter The Forbidden land: The Quest For Nagalim” was your first published book on the Nagas, what was the reactions you received from its readers?
Mr. Welman: Mostly they were relatively positive in the sense that they saw it as an eyeopener for both the conflict and the Nagas are little known in this side of the world. And, when in India this is also but perhaps to a lesser extent true for India. It reads like an adventure story and travel books are en vogue among Europeans with some adventurous nature.

Kuknalim.com: Out of all your extensive travels and background in photojournalism, what has drawn you to the Naga people?
Mr. Welman: In two words I reply to this question which I think I have already implicitly answered: the Unique Culture and the Resilience to be able to resist while all odds are against them.

Kuknalim.com: Do you face difficulty to travel to Naga inhabitant areas in India?
Mr. Welman: I cannot come to India anymore for a visa to enter the country is practically impossible for me not obtain now. This is due to the book the Forbidden land in which I show too what happens in the bureaucracy apparatuses when enquiring about reasons why a Remote Area Permit which had been granted cannot be issued. And, when I returned from Dimapur I blasted some Embassy people here for the treatment of the immigration people over there in India and said I thought it ludicrous to restrict foreigners from going into Nagaland. So, teasingly but with a sting I said: next time when in India I will go without permit and with some press around me to document when I am arrested.
Since then the visa application has to go through the Home Ministry. Do you know how the Home Ministry operates?

Kuknalim.com: Can you tell us more about the NISC – Naga International Support Center.
Mr. Welman: The decision to found the NISC has been described in the Forbidden Land, but has to do with the international obscurity of the Nagas and their Naga Hills.

Kuknalim.com: What role does the UNPO play in the Naga struggle?
Mr. Welman: The Nagas by way of the NSCN are a member of UNPO and have been member since 1993. Unpo is a membership organization of Unrepresented Peoples and Nations. East Timor was part of it for instance.

Kuknalim.com: A word of advice for the Naga people
Mr. Welman: I think the Nagas know best what is good for themselves but for a thing or two: fratricide either the sort which is caused by envy or worse by divide and rule imposed by opponents leads to a spiral of aggression with has strong effects on trust. My advice then would be bury the hatchet, stand together an go international. That way India will take the Nagas serious in the talks for peace.

Kuknalim.com: Do you have any comments or suggestions for Kuknalim.com?

Mr. Welman: I have noticed in the chatroom and in the for a that quite a few youngsters seem to have to express themselves in vile ways. Of course chatting in anonymity leads to extreme behavior but I did not realize yet how string the bad feelings run within the Naga Society with youth so utterly despaired but the lack of future prospects. They have known nothing but war and cease fire and then infighting too. Hence the psychological effects on the young Nagas like alcohol drugs and promiscuity are also acts of a dimmed future. This is also the result of a cease fire dragging on for too long.

Kuknalim.com: Thank you for taking the time for us to conduct this interview.

For more information:

www.franswelman.nl
Naga International Support Center,
NISC website:
www.nagalim.nl

(More publisher information coming soon)

(More publisher information coming soon)

Nagalim.NL News

07/16/2007: "Interview with Frans Welman"