Bruno Manser

Bruno Manser ( born August 25, 1954 in Basel, missing since May 25, 2000, and Malaysia on 10 March 2005 officially declared missing ) was a Swiss anthropologist and environmental activist.

Life

1973 Bruno Manser graduated from the Matura at Basel secondary school. It was followed by various training courses, including as Senn, to pasture and agriculture, medicine, traditional crafts, and carpentry. 1973-1984 Bruno Manser worked as Senn and shepherd in the canton of Grisons. From 1977 he did an internship at the Natural History Museum in Basel. From 1984 to 1990 he lived in the jungles of Borneo in Indonesia / Malaysia, made a record of the flora and fauna of the rainforest and on the Language and Culture of the Penan, a nomadic ethnic group of Borneo. In April 1990, he was forced to flee to Switzerland and was recognized by the Malaysian government and declared persona non grata. In addition, a bounty was exposed to him.

Henceforth, Bruno Manser dedicated international of lecture and education about the fate of the indigenous people of the rainforest, about the machinations of the timber trade and timber industry and on the human rights situation in the Malaysian Sarawak. In addition, was founded in 1992 in Basel, the Bruno Manser Fund ( BMF), which evolved into a globally recognized Rainforest Information Centre and a lobby for the indigenous population.

In 1992, the Clock Tower Publishing his book Voices from the rainforest. In 1993 Manser involved in a fast action and a hunger strike in front of the parliament building in Bern to protest against imports of tropical timber. This was followed from 1995 to 1997 various exhibitions, including at the Museum Ethnography in Geneva, at the Zoological Museum in Strasbourg and the Swiss National Museum in Zurich.

1995-1998 led Manser further actions against the destruction of rainforests by, about 1996 in Zermatt and 1998 a parachute jump over Geneva. From 1997 to 1998, the campaign ran waiver of wood from overexploitation, and finally in 1998 actions to contact with the Malaysian government.

In July 1999, Bruno Manser caused a stir in the local media, as it has a quiver full of poison arrows deposited at a shopping center in a bush. He was accused of negligence because it can have serious consequences would be if children had the arrows found.

From the fear that the Penan have hardly as a people survival chances to Manser decided to renewed journey. On 22 May 2000, he traveled despite travel ban and exposed bounty from the Indonesian part of Borneo ( Kalimantan ) across the border in the Malaysian Sarawak on the Penan.

Since 25 May 2000, he has been missing. Search expeditions were unsuccessful. On 10 March 2005 Manser was declared by the Basel civil court officially missing, presumed dead.

In May 2004, the diaries of the rain forest are published in the Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel, which Bruno Manser has written 1984-1990 in the jungles of Sarawak and record the Penankultur as well as their commitment to their habitat. The Bruno Manser Fund is continuing its work for the Penan and other forest peoples.

Awards

Art and literature

• Bruno Manser: Voices from the rainforest. Testimonies of a threatened people. Clock Tower, Gümligen 1992
• Bruno Manser: Diaries from the rainforest. 4 volumes in slipcase. Merian, Basel 2004, ISBN 3-85616-214-3
• Ruedi Suter: Bruno Manser. The Voice of the Forest. Clock Tower, Oberhofen 2005, ISBN 3-7296-0688-3
• Bruno Manser: A Life for the rainforest. Excerpts from the diaries. Merian, Basel 2007, ISBN 3-85616-317-4

Media

The Swiss director Christoph Kühn went with the movie Bruno Manser - Laki Penan in the footsteps of Bruno Manser in the jungles of Sarawak. It come in those Penan to speak, who were to Manser's second family: They tell of their adventures together and fears, Manser's battles with giant snakes, his encounters with spirits - and to unite his trial, the Penan in the resistance against the loggers and police. This film was seen from 5 April 2007 in the Swiss cinemas.