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The culture did it
published April 9, 2003
The victory in 2001 of the Klamath Basin farmers, Klamath County and the city of Klamath Falls was spectacular.
What was the feature that united everyone together? It was Klamath culture.
Klamath possesses a fairly isolated, fully developed socio-cultural system that has been in existence for many generations. Culture is one of the most powerful things on earth.
When the water was shut off to farmers in 2001, it meant economic strangulation. But much more than that, it threatened the cultural environment - the way of life - for the farming community.
The farmers skillfully used the media and the information web to spread the word across the nation, and even internationally. They chose the A Canal gates as the focal point of their cause and eschewed violence.
When people tell the farmers to sell out, they reveal their ignorance of culture. It is the same as telling people to sell their right arms. Culture is not something you can sell.
What is Klamath culture? It has its own technology, society and beliefs. It is like the air that surrounds us. We walk and live in it, and cannot do without it. It is specific to this region alone.
It is made up of such things as climate, weather, land, soil, seasons, planting and harvesting, crop selection and irrigating.
It is made up of such things as marriage and family, neighbors, customs of behavior, 4-H, harmony with nature, love and friendship and a sense of community.
It is made up of such things as ethics and morality, the proper way to raise kids, what is fair or unfair, hard work and sacrifice, and the love of nature.
When you combine these things and many more, a new meaning comes into existence which cannot be fathomed by people outside this area. This new meaning is Klamath culture.
My hat is off to the Klamath Basin Farmers, Klamath County and the city of Klamath Falls for the courage they have shown to the entire nation.
What is in the future for Klamath? Since the A Canal gates can no longer be used as a focal site for future challenges to the Basin, a new site must be selected. Farmers must continue contact with the media and the information web to apprise the nation of our plight. Above all, in unity there is strength. If you possess culture, you have everything you need to be a winner.
The integration of new cultural elements that threaten the established culture of a region will always cause tension to increase, especially if directed cultural change through legal imposition is employed. A farmer would describe the above statement in this way: "If it doesn't fit, don't force it."
To those agencies and entities that wish to bulldoze us out of existence, we have a much larger bulldozer named Klamath culture with which you will have to contend.
It is our environment with our attitudes, values, ideals and beliefs that you must face. And it has plenty of horsepower. To use your concern for endangered species as an excuse to damage our culture and take our resources flies in the face of common sense. The whole nation is watching you.
Anthony F. Krok
604 N. Seventh St.
The victory in 2001 of the Klamath Basin farmers, Klamath County and the city of Klamath Falls was spectacular.
What was the feature that united everyone together? It was Klamath culture.
Klamath possesses a fairly isolated, fully developed socio-cultural system that has been in existence for many generations. Culture is one of the most powerful things on earth.
When the water was shut off to farmers in 2001, it meant economic strangulation. But much more than that, it threatened the cultural environment - the way of life - for the farming community.
The farmers skillfully used the media and the information web to spread the word across the nation, and even internationally. They chose the A Canal gates as the focal point of their cause and eschewed violence.
When people tell the farmers to sell out, they reveal their ignorance of culture. It is the same as telling people to sell their right arms. Culture is not something you can sell.
What is Klamath culture? It has its own technology, society and beliefs. It is like the air that surrounds us. We walk and live in it, and cannot do without it. It is specific to this region alone.
It is made up of such things as climate, weather, land, soil, seasons, planting and harvesting, crop selection and irrigating.
It is made up of such things as marriage and family, neighbors, customs of behavior, 4-H, harmony with nature, love and friendship and a sense of community.
It is made up of such things as ethics and morality, the proper way to raise kids, what is fair or unfair, hard work and sacrifice, and the love of nature.
When you combine these things and many more, a new meaning comes into existence which cannot be fathomed by people outside this area. This new meaning is Klamath culture.
My hat is off to the Klamath Basin Farmers, Klamath County and the city of Klamath Falls for the courage they have shown to the entire nation.
What is in the future for Klamath? Since the A Canal gates can no longer be used as a focal site for future challenges to the Basin, a new site must be selected. Farmers must continue contact with the media and the information web to apprise the nation of our plight. Above all, in unity there is strength. If you possess culture, you have everything you need to be a winner.
The integration of new cultural elements that threaten the established culture of a region will always cause tension to increase, especially if directed cultural change through legal imposition is employed. A farmer would describe the above statement in this way: "If it doesn't fit, don't force it."
To those agencies and entities that wish to bulldoze us out of existence, we have a much larger bulldozer named Klamath culture with which you will have to contend.
It is our environment with our attitudes, values, ideals and beliefs that you must face. And it has plenty of horsepower. To use your concern for endangered species as an excuse to damage our culture and take our resources flies in the face of common sense. The whole nation is watching you.
Anthony F. Krok
604 N. Seventh St.
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