IT has been raining since dawn. The sun is just beginning to rise, its light trying to penetrate the morning clouds and the dense trees into the protected forests in Toguraci on the northern Maluku island of Halmahera. The rain has not yet stopped when men of the village file into the forests to form a human blockade.

Among the 2,000-odd men entering Toguraci late last month to block the operation of the gold mining company PT Nusa Halmaher