The road in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court was cordoned off again during the resumption of the trial for 23 workers, union leaders and activists who were arrested on January 2nd and 3rd during a violent crackdown of striking workers. A brief and fairly useless scuffle between Municipal Security Guards and monks from the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ) resulted in injuries on the authorities’ side. A loud and colourfull protest by some 400 demonstrators supporting the 23 followed.
For the record if you master the Flemish language…
I was interviewed by Luc Van Eeghem, presenter of the ‘Pompidou’ program at Radio Klara, on the occasion of my exhibition with vintage prints at 44Gallery in Brugge (open on W.E. until May 25th). You can download a podcast HERE (search and click on ‘Pompidou’).
The ‘Marches de l’Entre-Sambre-Et-Meuse’ originated with the traditional processions with the cross from the Middle Ages, when worshippers paid their dues to the abbeys. They were accompanied by a military escort to protect the people from the bandits roaming forests and countrysides. In 1802 the marches gained in importance and were escorted by soldiers from the Napoleon army.
And since then these escorts got somehow stuck in uniforms of the ‘Second Empire’.
Because this is not Belgium. Or is it?
More on ‘This is not Belgium’ HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE…
The ‘Zinnekes’ (‘Halfbloods’ in the Brussels dialect) parade was drenched in the rain today.
The ‘Zinnekes’ Parade is Belgium at its best: absurd, inventive with bits and pieces of anything and cardboard, funny, multi-cultural, with a twist of ‘it is messy but it’ll work out (and it does)’, and rainy.
More on ‘This is not Belgium’ HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE…
How cynical can the Cambodian authorities be? On the day before the World Press Freedom Day, VOD journalist Lay Samean was beaten unconscious by auxiliary police forces armed with metal bars and wooden sticks.
During the numerous violent crackdowns by authorities on demonstrators over the last few months, journalists have been relatively spared and were able to report without too much difficulty. It seems the instructions to the police forces have changed and that our work will be more difficult from now on…
Statement from CCIM HERE.
Photographs from better times:
Posted Saturday May 03, 2014, in
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Of course there was some rain…
And of course there are a few unrelated photographs…
More on ‘This is not Belgium’ HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE…
If you have doubts about the possibility of having Labour Day parades nowadays in Cambodia, here are a few photographs from past ones in Phnom Penh. There is nothing wrong with them. They celebrate those who work to make some people rich… They celebrate those who make your designer’s t-shirt for a monthly salary which will buy you 3 or 4 meals in a European restaurant…
Most of these photographs can be found in ‘A Fine Thread’, an ebook for the iPad and Mac OS running ‘Mavericks’ about the garment workers sector in Cambodia. It contains over 500 photographs and an in-depth analysis by Robert Carmichael. The ebook is divided in 10 chapters: A Fine Thread, Working, Shuttling, Living, Checking, Learning, Remembering, Protesting, Confronting and ends with a multimedia piece. It can be downloaded for $US 4,99 at THIS LINK.
It is raining. Good time for scanning never-edited photographs from the 80’s in Belgium. Might eventually feed the ‘This is not Belgium’ project…
More on ‘This is not Belgium’ HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE…
PS: I changed the layout of the weblog, giving you bigger photographs. But I lost all the sidebar content. Figuring out how to get it all back… Sorry…
