Cambodia Sends Off King Sihanouk in Fiery Ceremony – GlobalPost PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — One hundred one guns flashed against a quiet summer sky, then the sound of conch shells pierced the air. Norodom Sihanouk — Cambodia’s two-time king and former prime minister — had been placed onto his final funeral pyre. Sihanouk’s son, King […]
Tag: cambodia
Cambodian Government Hopes We Just Won’t Notice Sweeping Internet Cafe Circular
Want to visit an Internet cafe in downtown Phnom Penh? If the government has its way, that might not be an option for too much longer. New circular 1815 has been put out by the Cambodian government that states that Internet cafes shouldn’t be allowed to operate within 500 meters of schools or educational institutions. […]
Blogfest Asia 2012: Noisy, fractious ASEAN bloggers, ignore at own peril
Bloggers are about the same everywhere, I guess. Fractious and noisy. Exuberant, opinionated, occasionally make questionable clothing choices. Might have been considered “weird” in school. Vanguards of social revolution and change—that too. You ignore them at your own peril. This particular motley pack of Asia bloggers convened at Build Bright University, a small college of […]
Why Are So Many Cambodian Protesters Being Shot These Days? – UN Dispatch
Why Are So Many Cambodian Protesters Being Shot These Days? – UN Dispatch It’s becoming increasingly dangerous to be a peaceful protester in many parts of the world, and impoverished, corrupt Cambodia is no exception. Since November 2011, gun violence against peaceful protesters has been on the rise in this troubled Southeast Asian nation. Local […]
Sex Work and Dignity in Cambodia – Not Everyone’s a Victim at That Girly Bar
Sex work is still stigmatized in Cambodia, a largely conservative nation, despite what Street 51s more than healthy hostess bar trade may lead you to believe. A group of sex workers has decided to create a union and ask for the right to work—and most interestingly, they want to let people know that they don’t […]
Human Rights Go From Bad to Worse in Cambodia: UN Dispatch
Borei Keila evictee Art Samnang spoke to me yesterday after her second arrest. Land Grabs in Cambodia Human rights in Cambodia have gone from bad to worse in January, prompting Human Rights Watch to issue a damning report on the Southeast Asian nation’s rights slide. The Cambodian government has been especially rough on protesters demonstrating […]
Land Grabs and Misery at Borei Keila: A Photo Essay
I wrote this a while back but held onto it – it’s up at the Faster Times now. Mirroring it over here since I have a bit more space for photos on my blog. Cambodia is in the throes of another land-grab drama in the early days of 2012, after the Borei Keila slum development […]
Weird Wednesday in Phnom Penh: 4 Villagers Shot, 22 Escape Detention Center
The news cycle got weirder yesterday, as 22 Borei Keila evictees made an escape from an Orwellian “social affairs” center after a visit from Mu Sochua, and 4 protesting villagers near Snoul were shot in cold blood by hired security hands. The common theme in these examples of extreme government force? A total lack of […]
Phnom Penh Municipality Claims Evictees Aren’t Being “Detained” at “Social Affairs Center”
The Phnom Penh Municipality issued another poor explanation for its detention of 30 women and children at the Prey Speu Social Detention Center Friday. I’m here once again to break it down for you. Claiming to have “investigated” the 22 families detained at the center, the City found….. “14 families illegally bought the house on […]
Borei Keila Evictees Shunted Aside to Inhumane Refugee Camp
I visited the Borei Keila relocation sites yesterday, and was truly disturbed by what I saw. The term “relocation site” evokes neutral images, perhaps more akin to FEMA trailers or temporary housing, somewhere not-like-home but at least adequate for basic human needs. The Borei Keila evictees relocation site at Phnom Bath is not adequate for […]