Weekly Analysis (Third Week of February 2015)
While the Western countries believe in giving space and liberty to their citizens to bravely speak up their voice and fully engage in social development in the hope of long term survival of their motherland, Cambodia is in dichotomous effort by the government. This historical and remarkable contrast has happened since Cambodian people protest against the additional border treaty with Vietnam in 2005, many of them were arrested and jailed, once Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to make coffins for those who dare to claim back Khmer Krom lost land for Cambodia, and with many other occasions including banning Alex from his campaign to protect the Cambodia forests, is seen as an attempt to threat those bottom line people activism who are working to protect their lands and forests and to open way or encourage the wrong doers such as land grab activities, deforestation and logging, and forced eviction etc. to continue their wrong deeds without obstacle.
This week, Cambodia media has been immensely covered by the Cambodian
government measure to reject visa extension for Alex Gonzalez-Davidson aka Alex to banning him from staying in Cambodia beyond February 20th expiry date. Alex has fallen in love with Cambodia nature particularly in Areng Valley in Koh Kong of South Western Cambodia. He has lived in Cambodia for more than 10 years and he can use Khmer language fluently. From his tangible contact with local communities and his researches in Areng area, he reveled that this more than 500 h. vast dense jungle and prairie are comprising of rare plants, wild life, lakes and brooks, and minority people etc. It has huge potential for eco-system and eco-tourism to generate income rather than to build dam that produces low electricity capacity. More than this, the dam project has likely hidden agenda to cut trees for trade within this vast plentiful green forest. Cambodian people especially youths both inside and outside of Cambodia have come in solidarity to condemn the government for this very unjust, negligible, dis-courageous measure. (watch this video Alex said about his visa denying)
The Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) has emerged the longest controller of power to be able to generate their wealth through lands, rivers, water, air and mountain businesses. Prime Minister Hun Sen and his leadership emerged as anti-capitalism. The CPP was installed by the Vietnam who practiced political dogma and ideology of Marx-Lenin to proliferate the farmers and to downgrade the bourgeois classes, has transformed themselves overnight to generate their personal, family and patrons wealth unbelievably. During this overnight policy changing, Hun Sen family and his political rings members have changed from poor cadres into billionaire capitalists.
The Social Change and Revolution has rested on “Blessed Unrest”
Blessed Unrest is a title of a book written by Paul Hawken. He posed intrigued question on the front cover that “How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming?”.