Judging by the number of participants, the mobilisation to free the 21 workers, union leaders and activists who were arrested during the early January crackdown by the armed forces on striking workers is not really gaining momentum. Only the infatigable ladies from Boeung Kak lake and monks from the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ) showed up in front of the Supreme Court to plead for the release, joined by Mam Sonando with a few of his followers. Opposition party co-President Sam Rainsy made a 5-minute appearance (which I missed because I left to cover the demonstration by the Phnom Penh Referral Hospital staff fearing their building was sold by the government).
Update: it seems there is no more demonstration ban. Prime Minister Hun Sen said today both opposition and pro-government demonstrations are no longer forbidden…
In an attempt to put pressure on factory owners and the government to obtain a wage of 160$ for the garment factory workers as well as the release of 21 workers, union leaders and activists jailed after January 2nd and 3rd crackdown on striking workers, several unions organised the first day of an overtime strike, asking workers not to stay at the factory after their normal 8-hour shift.
Choreographer Manou Phuon continues her investigation on how to use khmer boxer’s moves into a contemporary dance narrative with the dancers from Amrita Performing Arts. For those who know about khmer boxing it might seem obvious but it isn’t. It is about trial and error. It is about analysis and perfection. It is about coordination. About getting rid of the superfluous, about not betraying either side. A fascinating quest.
And HERE is a small multimedia piece about ‘brodal serei’…
Posted Friday Feb 21, 2014, in
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Members of the Borei Keila community, on this International Day of Social Justice, collected a bowl of soil from the place they were violently evicted from in 2012 and, after a few prayers, brought it to the Preah Ang Dongker riverside pagoda to rest in the urns in which revellers stick their joss sticks whent they come to pray.
See more on the Borei Keila land issue HERE.
Choreographer Manou Phuon digs into her cambodian roots again by working on a piece inspired by khmer boxing. ‘Khmeropédies’, her previous three choreographies she put together with the Amrita Performing Arts dancers, were stretching or liberating the extremely codified traditional khmer ballet repertoire through her contemporary dance background.
See more about ‘Khmeropédies’ HERE and HERE.
See more about khmer boxing HERE.
Posted Wednesday Feb 19, 2014, in
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It is the type of question which will pop up during an open forum moderated by But Bunthen, Leader of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ), and organised by the Boeung Kak lake community who invited Y. Vireak, Director of CLEC and human rights Advocate, Tep Vanny, Land Rights Activist, Kem Ley, Researcher at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), Ven. Khem Sam Oeun and Tep Teav.
Posted Monday Feb 17, 2014, in
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The very few people who were symbolically occupying an unfinished building which was promised to the Borei Keila community more than 2 years ago if the development company Phanimex had not ‘unfortunately’ run out of money to finish the last 2 of 10 buildings, were roughhandedly expelled at 6:30 AM by municipal guards wearing ‘Lucky’ helmets. Some of them were carrying heavy metal bars used in reinforced concrete. Several people were wounded.
The whole Borei Keila story is HERE.
This is a follow-up post on the ‘Quest for Land‘ story which is available as an iApp on iTunes and which reports on land issues in Cambodia since the year 2000 with texts by Robert Carmichael and over 700 photographs.
As if we didn’t know…
Members of the Borei Keila community, after a recent disagreement with the local authorities on the size of a piece of relocation land and their following occupation of a building which was promised to them at the very beginning of their endless land issue, were allowed to meet with the municipal authorities for a meeting this morning. It turned out to be yet another disappointing one and they went back to try and claim the ground floor of that unfinished building which had been promised to them.
Borei Keila members reported that the authorities told them that their relocation problem would be solved before the end of this year (this is February 13th if I am not mistaken). The first relocations for the community, in a deal with Phanimex company which promised to provide 10 buildings (out of which only 8 were built as Phanimex at one point said it ran out of money and couldn’t care less about the remaining inhabitants), started in 2007 and were riddled with one problem after another, the segregation of HIV positive families being one of them, corruption and nepotism being a permanent one.
During that same meeting the representatives of Borei Keila also reported having heard the authorities say that they shouldn’t claim anything on behalf of their rights because then it would be a political issue. But isn’t everything a political issue?
More on the Borei Keila story HERE…
This is a follow-up post on the ‘Quest for Land‘ story which is available as an iApp on iTunes and which reports on land issues in Cambodia since the year 2000 with texts by Robert Carmichael and over 700 photographs.
