LTO Cambodia: NGOs

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Is it right for foreigners to join protests in Cambodia?

This is a zoom on a photo taken by Lauren Crothers at the protest yesterday and posted on Twitter.

Yesterday, there was a protest on the riverfront here in Phnom Penh. It was one of a series of protests of the last several years related to the forced evictions and land seizures in the Boeung Kak Lake area in Phnom Penh (and across the country.) The purpose of this particular protest was to raise awareness and to push the government to release 13 women who were recently imprisoned for their involvement in protest activities related to the lake area evictions. The protesters blocked traffic on the busy Sisowath Quay Street in front of the FCC restaurant in the heart of the tourist district. I was not present at the protest, but followed it via Twitter. At least 2 people (Lauren Crothers and Donald Rallis) were present at the protest, tweeting the happenings and posting photos of the protest in progress.*

As the photos came through I noticed a new twist to this protest - western foreigners present amongst the Cambodian protesters, clearly participating in the protest. Note in the center photo above the western woman in sunglasses and a protest t-shirt. Other westerners were involved as well. There have also been strong (though not definitive) indications of foreign involvement in other recent forced eviction/land seizure protests in Cambodia, such as the Prey Lang protesters dressing as characters from Avatar. But, to my knowledge, this is the first time that westerners have visibly participated in the protest itself.

Conflicted about the ethics of foreigners participating in political protests in Cambodia, I pointed out the presence of foreigners in the crowd on Twitter and tweeted the question, 'Is it right for foreigners to join in protests in Cambodia?' The question generated an immediate flood of opinions and debate on Twitter, which was hampered by the 140 character Twitter format. So I bring that same question here to my blog to allow more room for comment.

I am still conflicted on the matter, but as I read the comments of others and took time to give it further consideration, I now find myself leaning strongly toward, 'No, it is not right.'

Though I have not developed a final position, my current (and primary) reasoning for opposing foreign participation in protests in Cambodia runs as follows:

These protests have the potential to generate significant long-term consequences for Cambodia, Cambodian society and the Cambodian people. The issues driving the protests have a considerable political component and the solutions are not universally agreed upon by Cambodians. Much more importantly, the consequences of such protests for Cambodia may be positive or negative or a mix. Most foreigners, especially short term visitors as these foreign protesters seem to be, will not be around to share those consequences. Whether they leave in the near future or when the effects of these protests take hold on Cambodia, they will leave. And regardless of whether they leave or not, they will always have the option of leaving and going home to their countries. Cambodia is not their home. As such, they do not share the same stake in Cambodia as the Cambodian citizens whose home will be affected and most of whom must remain in Cambodia and suffer (or enjoy) the effects on their country. As their stake in Cambodia is fundamentally different from citizens of Cambodia, these foreigners do not have the ethical right to join political and social protests in Cambodia, or for that matter, act as coordinators behind the protests.

This is not to say the foreigners should remain mute on matters of Cambodian politics and social justice. But there is a difference between being a critic, perhaps offering inspiration, and being an actor, trying to effect change oneself. Becoming directly and physically involved in Cambodian political affairs by joining such protests is an action akin to rights correctly reserved for citizens such as voting or running for office, and I would hold that foreigners who have no direct and inescapable stake in Cambodia, have no more ethical right to join protests in Cambodia than they do to vote in Cambodian elections. It is a step over the line.

I'm still mulling over this question of the ethics of foreigners participating in protests in Cambodia and invite others to express their thoughts and opinions on the matter.

Appeals Court Orders Release of 13 Boeung Kak Protesters
Cambodia Villages Stage Avatar Themed Protest
Boeung Kak lake residents arrested by police while on peaceful protest
Save Boeung Kak Lake website
Cambodia’s Land Crisis

* Edit: Just to be clear, these two people were at the protest as a journalist and as a bystander/observer, not as participants.

Cambodia

Cambodia is Srok Khmer, the 'Land of the Khmer,' the primary ethnic group in the area since at least the Neolithic and an Indian influenced civilization with origins near 2000 years old. Centered on the lower Mekong and tributaries the Khmer people have dominated the region for millennia. From 2nd century AD Khmer kingdoms rose and fell, culminating in unification and the 500 year reign of the Angkorian Empire, the builders of the temples of Angkor near Siem Reap. The Empire stretched from Burma to the ocean. But by the 1400s Cambodia fell to centuries of change and decline squeezed between the expanding Siam and Vietnam. Colonized and by the French in the 1860s, independence 90 years later in 1954, a brief post-colonial 'golden period' under Sihanouk, coup in 70, civil war, fall to the communist Khmer Rouge in 75, 3 years 8 months 20 days of madness, Vietnamese rescue in 1979, occupation, low level war and international sanctions in the 80s, the UN, ostensive democracy and an adventure party destination in the 90s and now mainstreaming, tourism, rapid development, rapacious capitalism and NGOs, missionaries and other international busybodies aplenty.

Southeast Asia

As the term implies, Southeast Asia encompasses the southeastern corner of the Asian continent, loosely speaking, the area between India, China and Australia. It is made up of two distinct regions: the mainland zone, a bulbous peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean, bounded by China to the north and India to the west; and the insular (island) zone in the Pacific Ocean. The name 'Southeast Asia' is a comparatively recent invention, first coming into use into the 20th century and still a bit indefinite in definition. Mainland Southeast Asia is generally considered to include Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and peninsular Malaysia. The mainland is sometimes referred to as Indo-China though Indochina (Indochine) also designates the 19th/20th century French colonial conglomerate of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Sitting south of the Tropic of Cancer, most of mainland Southeast Asia lies in the hot, humid tropics and sub-tropics with a climate dominated by a monsoon cycle which divides the year into two distinct seasons: a dry season and an extremely wet monsoon season. Much of the mainland is mountainous and thickly jungled, with large river systems and wide, low-lying, flood-prone plains, much of which is, in modern times, deforested and blanketed with geometrical rice paddies. Several major river valleys including the Mekong River, the Red, Ma and Ka rivers and the group of rivers draining to the Chao Praya Delta played host to the rise of early civilization in the area. The Mekong River is one of the world's greatest rivers, the seventh largest on the planet, and since pre-history has been closely associated with the land of the Khmer.