© John Vink / Magnum Photos

 

Archive for March, 2013

Tep Vanny’s long struggle…

Saturday, March 30th, 2013

Tep Vanny will be awarded the ‘Leadership in Public Life Award’ by ‘Vital Voices’ this April 2nd in Washington DC, in the presence, so I heard, of Vice President Joe Biden and former Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton. But if she was singled out for the award, most of the women of Boeung Kak Lake equally […]

Any reason to stop now?..

Friday, March 29th, 2013

It seems there isn’t. Two days after Yorm Bopha was denied bail by the Supreme Court, the Boeung Kak Lake ladies were in front of the Royal Palace, seeking an intervention by King Norodom Sihamoni for her liberation. There were about 40 of them. And at least as many policemen in uniform under the shadow […]

Denied…

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

The hopes were high and the anger was intense with the Boeung Kak Lake community members this morning at the Supreme Court when they heard that Yorm Bopha, a very vocal activist involved in a lingering land issue (see here and here) and accused of having assaulted a tuktuk driver, was yet again denied bail. […]

Three Rivers Dams (17)

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

The water sprit said:’The dam will not be built before five years’… That is what the chamane told the Poum Thmey villagers gathered at the spirit house on the banks of the Srepok river, near the rapids where the Lower Srepok3 dam’s construction is planned. They took their longboats, zigzagging upstream through the rocks hidden […]

’30 Years for a Trial’ review

Monday, March 25th, 2013

’30 Years for a Trial’ reviewed by ‘The Cambodia Daily’. The ebook about Duch’s trial, the Khmer Rouge director of ‘S21’ where some 15,000 people were tortured and later killed, is available on iTunes at this link. The ebook, with texts by Robert Carmichael and photographs by John Vink gives insight on the backstage of […]

Three Rivers Dams (16)

Saturday, March 23rd, 2013

Poum Thmey, squeezed between a land concession and a flooding river (see here) will have to cope with the consequences of the possible construction of the Lower Srepok3 dam, just a few km upstream, where a barrier of rocks creates a series of rapids in the river. A feasability study was conducted by a Chinese […]

Three Rivers Dams (15)

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

To reach Phum Thmey village along the Srepok river it takes a car ride on the wide road being carved through hills and forests by the Chinese to connect Ratanakkiri and Mondulkiri, a bumpy ride on a side road, a river crossing with a ferry and a walk through the forest. It is remote. It […]

Three Rivers Dams (14)

Thursday, March 21st, 2013

A few kilometers from Kbal Romea, the Phnong village which will be flooded by the Sesan2 dam, the Siv Guek Investment co. LTD has cleared a 90 hectares stretch of land in the forest, a small part of the 10,000 hectares of the concession granted by the Cambodian government. The company was bought by the […]