Human Rights organisations staged a small demonstration in front of the PJ prison to commemorate the 1700th day of imprisonment of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, condemned to 20 years for the assassination of union leader Chea Vichea. According to the Human Rights organisations, the family of the condemned and numerous individuals, the court ignored key evidence which would clear the condemned from any guilt (VIJ2008074G).
The company which is going to evict some 4000 families from around the Boeung Kak lake has started its sand pumping operations to fill the lake again. I guess there will be more pictures on this story in the coming month.
Yesterday shot some pics of Pchhum Benh, a two or three week long festival to honour the deceased (VIJ2008073). Climax will be on 27th, 28th and 29th…
The French say ‘Sauter du coq à l’âne’ (’jumping from the rooster to the donkey’): means jumping from one topic to another. That’s what I’m doing for Ka-set lately… And trying desperately to keep the standards decent…
Yesterday night took pics at the oldest of the two mosques in Penh (VIJ2008071G)…
This morning of a groundbreaking ceremony for a culture, tourism and trade promotion center financed by S Korean interests (VIJ2008072G)…
Today some 150 residents from the Boeung Kak area gathered in front of Prime Minister Hun Sens house in Takmau to ask for his support (VIJ2008069). Some 4000 families, living on, near and from the Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh, are threatened to be evicted soon. The municipality granted a 99 year lease to a Korean company which plans to fill the lake and develop the new land by building office spaces and residential areas. The problem is that the municipality recognises only 600 families to be entitled for compensation: either a house in the suburbs or 8500$, which is way under the market value.
John D. Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State of the US, announced today an (initial?) American contribution of 1,8 million $ to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (VIJ2008070G).
It is never too late is it? And the administration in Washington will have changed when the trials start for real.
Opening of The Absence of Architecture exhibition, part of the In Transition event at the Meta House (6 street 264, Phnom Penh) tonight at 6pm.
Here is the accompanying text:
“The Absence of Architecture
In 1962, 10.3 percent of the population was living in the cities in Cambodia. In 2008 it is 15.7 percent. There is no reason it’ll stop increasing: land evictions and rural migration, symptoms of a fast developing country, are continuing unabated. This trend, combined with a steady economical growth and political stabilty over the last decade, sent the long underevaluated real estate prices soaring, triggering a scramble amongst experienced or overnight speculators. Hundreds of hectares of ricefields in Phnom Penh’s suburbs were sold, often several times in the same month. Farmers bought a new motorbike and lost their land, their livelihood.
The result is emptyness: empty lots of land surrounded by hastily erected walls symbolizing greed and fast money. They are short term visions. They are shallow dreams. There is no creativity except the creation of material wealth. Urbanistic and architectural concepts are minimal: straight lines, an occasional curve, some flowers on a roundabout. They are the expression of a market based economy at its best, where individual well-being largely supersedes over common interest. They are areas of unsophisticated power.”
There is a new story about UXO, cluster bombs, mines and the presence of Handicap International in Cambodia on my website.
On the eve of the signature of an international convention on UXO and clusterbombs in December, there will be an exhibition with some of these pictures in the streets of Brussels (yes: Belgium)…
Just today, five people were killed and three injured by the explosion of an anti-tank mine in Anlong Veng…
Enjoy (?)
I’m back in PPenh. Spent 10 days out there tracking UXO, mine victims, traffic accidents etc… with Handicap International Belgium (VIJ2008065G).
There’ll be a selection of pictures soon on my website…
