webbed feet, web log
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blog Cambodia; blog the planet.

Dec 31, 2005

Kem Sokha Arrest

Kem Sokha Arrest Mr Kem Sokha was arrested in Phnom Penh on New Years' eve for defamation charges. The charges are based on actions of Mr. Sokha's organization, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, at a public celebration of free speech at Olympic Stadium on December 10. (International Human Rights Day.) Mr. Sokha is also a key figure in the newly formed Alliance of Freedom of Expression in Cambodia, a group of more than 30 NGOs in Cambodia, which launched a national campaign preceding the event, using a yellow ribbon (pictured) as its symbol. He had also been quite outspoken regarding the recent arrest of Mam Sonando from 'Beehive Radio'. Yeng Virak, the head of the Community Legal Education Center has also been arrested on the same charge. I expect there to be a lot of comment, speculation, and rumor regarding this event. I would urge people to check their news sources carefully. I'll post a few stories here as they come in. (I would also recommend checking out the email mailing list CamNews as a good way of keeping current, for those who haven't tried it.) News Articles "Human Rights Activist Arrested" - The Scotsman "Cambodia arrests rights activist" - BBC "Cambodian human rights center chief hit with defamation charge" - Japan Economic Newswire "Cambodian police arrest human rights activists" - Australian Broadcasting Company "Government Detains Human Rights Activist"- Los Angeles Times Human Rights Day Photos: Part One, Part Two, Three and Four Pictures of Arrest: Politics weblog 'Khmer Intelligence' http://ki-media.blogspot.com Cambodian Center for Human Rights: http://www.cchr-cambodia.org/ CamNews: http://groups.google.com/group/camnews Tags:

- jinja Link

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Dec 30, 2005

Miss Khmer-ica?

Miss Khmer-ica? And a round of applause for Miss Utah USA... Soben Huon, as reported by the Phnom Penh Post. I'm tickled that Utah (often typified as conservative and lacking in diversity) is fielding a Khmer-American candidate. Already a fan site (www.sobenhuon.com) has been webbed up. Beauty pageants aren't really my thing... some people like ballet, others prefer punk rock. But it'll be fun to see how the contest works out. And I wonder what my Khmer friends will think. Most families in the Cambodian countryside would be horrified to see their daughter enter a public swimsuit competition. But 'Freshie Girl' this ain't. What if she wins? No asian candidate has won the contest yet. A web search shows message boards chattering away: http://khmer.cc/community/t.c?b=1&t=2467 http://khmer.cc/community/t.c?b=12&t=28908 http://www.khmer-network.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=3188&page=1#pid12551 http://www.aznforum.com/community//showthread.php?t=808 http://www.khmerfuture.com/index.php?module=My%20eGallery&do=showpic&pid=7308&orderby=dateD http://tinyurl.com/7aho9 Ok, go take a look at the pictures, guys. http://sobenhuon.blogspot.com/ Tags: ,,

- jinja Link

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Dec 29, 2005

Beer Lao - the making of a brand

Beer Lao - the making of a brand Ever wonder why Beer Lao is so ubiquitous in Southeast Asia? Here's a little background. http://tinyurl.com/clgku Tags: ,

- jinja Link

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Dec 17, 2005

RUFA Exhibition

RUFA Exhibition z_rufa_banner In addition to the Visual Arts Open, the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh has a student exhibition from December 13 to 22. This banner hangs just above an anti-Sam Rainsy Party banner, which most public higher education institutions have been displaying prominently for the last few months. To me this shows that art does not necessarily have to be political, but the world of money and politics is never that far away. These two worlds also intersected at the recent performance by Cambodian Living Arts' students from the Tonle Bassac community. Wrapped up in this poignant 'farewell' performance are concerns about land rights, traditional arts, and community cohesion. More on that to follow. Also upcoming are some weekend performances from the students at Reyum Art school. (I will post more information if I can find the flyer.) Lots going on! Tags: , painting, drawing

- jinja Link

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Dec 16, 2005

L'Orientalisme dans la littérature française du 19ème siècle

 
Auteur de nombreux articles sur la littérature du XIXe siècle, il a publié consécutivement Flaubert et le pignouf en 1993, Flaubert ou la prose du silence en 1997, Le Réalisme. De Balzac à Proust en 1998, et plus récemment : La Pensée romanesque du langage en 2004. Il s?est en outre attelé à l?édition du roman Dominique de Fromentin pour la collection du Livre de Poche Classique publiée en 2001.
 
L?objet de ses recherches actuelles se situe sur les différents terrains du roman historique, de la poétique du roman balzacien, du roman intime, et du paysage dans le roman du XIXe siècle.

- jinja Link

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Dec 15, 2005

Sera Interview in English

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Dec 12, 2005

Tharum in London

Tharum in London

At the Global Voices Summit weblog meeting. Congrats Tharum and Beth Kanter! http://beth.typepad.com/cambodia4kidsorg/2005/12/meeting_tharum_.html [photo borrowed from Beth's site]

- jinja Link

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Dec 11, 2005

Go read other Blogs

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Dec 9, 2005

Visual Arts Open

Fw: 19 cambodian visual artists in 8 spaces in Phnom Penh [Click for larger image] Good day, The First Visual Arts Open will start next week in Phnom Penh on the 9th of December at 6pm at New Art Gallery. 19 Cambodian artists: painters, photographs, sculptors and installation. www.saklapel.org/vao/ website is now updated. You can find the calendar, artist review by other artists or art collector and the new works curated for the VAO exhibition. Please to support the artists and art community in Cambodia, spread out the words about the event. The invitation with the calendar will be available at all the exhibiting spaces (Elsewhere, Java Express, New Art Gallery, Popil PhotoGallery, Rubies, Sunrise Gallery, The Shop and Water Lily), enclosed an email version. A catalogue of 44 pages will also be available at the openings. For more information do not hesitate to contact us. Yours, Bonjour, Le premier VAO (portes ouvertes des arts visuels) débutera la semaine prochaine à partir du 9 décembre à 18h a New Art Gallery. 19 artistes cambodgiens: peintres, photographes, sculpteurs et installationistes. Le site internet: www.saklapel.org/vao/ est maintenant mis à jour. Vous y trouverez le calendrier des événements, une critique d’art des artistes par des artistes ou des collectionneurs et les oeuvres pour l’exposition VAO. Faites passer l’information pour soutenir les artistes et la communauté artistique au Cambodge. Des invitations avec le calendrier sera disponible dans tous les espaces d’exposition (Elsewhere, Java Express, New Art Gallery, Popil PhotoGallery, Rubies, Sunrise Gallery, The Shop and Water Lily), ci-joint une version courriel. Un catalogue de 44 pages sera également disponible les jours de vernissage. Pour plus d’information, n’hésitez pas à nous contacter Linda Saphan Commissaire organisatrice du VAO 2005 saphan @ saklapel.org 855 (0)12 560 911 -- Linda Saphan http://saklapel.org/gallery/Linda%20Saphan/ [from 'What's On'] Tag:

- jinja Link

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Dec 7, 2005

The King's Last Song

Geoff Ryman: "In 2002 I was invited by friends to stay at the Australian archaelogical dig at Siem Reap. I was very lucky and got a tour from the dig director Roland Fletcher of all the monuments in the order they were built, which was an overwhelming introduction the history. I came back and immediately started to write the Jayavarman sequences. But there was a lot of expense, research, travel and reading to be done. I went back to Cambodia 4 times in two years, the last trip funded by the Author's Foundation. On my second trip, meeting so many Cambodians during the research inspired the modern plot and the whole modern half of the book took off from there." Read the whole Q&A at Andy Brouwer's site. http://andybrouwer.co.uk/bookrev.html Tag:

- jinja Link

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