One of the many Cambodian returnees deported from the States is poet/spoken word artist Kosal Khiev.

Returnees often find themselves discriminated against by USA citizens, expatriates, and Cambodian nationals. Many don’t have a working knowledge of Khmer, finding themselves trapped between two cultures – and unemployable. I don’t think deportation is a particular gift to Cambodia. Nor is it a workable solution for crime prevention/reduction. I believe the USA’s process for selecting and deporting Cambodians is quite hit-and miss, warranting review and revision.

Kosal has viewed his deportation as a second chance. He’s been a featured speaker at TEDxPhnomPenh and numerous local events.

Earlier this year he made an appearance highlighting returnee issues in a video submitted to The White House’s ‘My Asian Americana’ competition.

The film won the popular vote but not the prize, and the creators held a sort of Salon des Refusés in response. http://studio-revolt.com/?p=764

Invited to represent Cambodia in London’s ‘Poetry Parnassus‘, he left for the UK this last weekend after a highly-promoted gig at Pontoon Club.

At the airport, the same country that had invited Kosal stopped him and detained him. (Stages of this were documented by filmmaker Masahiro Sugano.) Kosal ended up being held at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre – one of the very facilities he was originally scheduled to perform at.

Artistic partners Studio Revolt, Kosal’s friends, and road manager Linda Kwon pulled out all the stops to a) find out what was going on and b) keep the issue in the public eye. http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/vitti/spokenword_artist_kosal_khiev_is_detained_at_an/
Colnbrook was inundated with phone calls and queries.

News stories followed in today’s Cambodia Daily and Phnom Penh Post.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062557005/National-news/artist-detained-before-olympic-poetry.html

A day later, he is out, though his passport has not yet been returned. (‘Thank you’ video below).

It’s a pretty prestigious gig to perform at a cultural offshoot of the Olympics.
I’m guessing Kosal had his act buttoned down, this is not an opportunity he’d want to mess up.

What I’m wondering: A: Did the UK organizers have their act together in clearing his entry?
Or B: (Less likely) did Kosal knowingly or unwittingly break the law entering the country?

One thing’s for sure: he’ll get a story out of it. I’ll leave it to readers to make up their own minds.

More on Returnees:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sentencedhome/
http://www.risccambodia.org/about/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Cambodian_Americans

Kosal Khiev:
http://spokenkosal.com
http://twitter.com/KosalKhiev

The Cambodian Space Project is doing a fundraiser for BuckHunger soup kitchen!
Sounds like a fun event all around.
Buck Hunger is going like gangbusters to provide free food on a very simple model.

One recommendation that would make the whole operation more palatable: if the organization targets children, I’d be a lot more enthused if it was a registered ‘ChildSafe‘ organization. Individual and large-scale donors could give with even greater confidence.

If BuckHunger can get this accreditation as a part of their menu of future activities? That’d ROCK.     : )

More:
http://buckhunger.com
http://www.childsafe-international.org/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cambodian-Space-Project/102538263132453

Postscript: Phnom Penh Post, June 22
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062256975/7-Days/cambodian-space-projects-rescue-landing.html

I spent most of my time at #SketchSaturday yesterday, while most of the focus seemed to be on TEDxPhnomPenh. The event had been heavily promoted by the US Embassy, the Phnom Penh Post, and business/NGO partners.

I did keep an eye on the Twitter chatter emerging that day, and was looking forward to seeing the video collations down the road.

Later in the day, a post by KI-Media claimed that the director of Pannasastra University had been threatened regarding TEDxPP content. (The director has publicly denied this was the case.) This was flung to and fro on Twitter.

Due to KI-Media’s hyperbole and overt racism, I’m not an avid reader. (It’s unofficially blocked by most Khmer internet service providers.) In Cambodia’s convoluted media environment, the site does occasionally break/collate news that can’t be found anywhere else.

Just a few hours after the post went up, it was deleted, presumably at the request of the event organizers. (Above is a screen shot of the cached headline; the text portion of it still resides on KI-Media’s Facebook page.)

While I didn’t have the opportunity to take a screen shot of the blog post, I did download the two MP3s accompanying it for later listening – which are available here in mixed English and Khmer.
#1[MP3] & #2[MP3]

Far from censorship, the discussion seems more of a assessment about what content is acceptable in a public forum, by the different parties involved – community members, event organizers, and venue owners. This seems much closer to an issue debated in numerous BarCamps and blogger meetings – the issue of pragmatic self-censorship. In this case, presenting content related to the ‘Boeung Kak 15‘.

This Sunday TEDxPP released an “Official Statement on Yesterday’s Banned Talk” via their Facebook page.

After a few hours it was deleted (image from Google Cache), and a ‘Note on Removed Content’ was added to the TEDxPP site. (See postscript below.)

Technology, Entertainment, Design? Was the ‘Finale Talk’ any of these categories?
I’ll leave it for the pundits to chew over.

Postscript (June 11)
Statement from TedxPhnomPenh – ‘A Note On Removed Content‘
(The Facebook posting has been deleted.)
Statement from Pannasastra University (PDF)
Phnom Penh Post (TEDx Sponsor) ‘Rated X for Content: TEDxPP’
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rated-x-content-tedxpp
TEDxPhnomPenh Facebook Page: Discussion (in comments) between Loun Sovath and TEDxPP Team.
http://www.facebook.com/tedxphnompenh
June 13: Opinions from Gabi Yetter, http://latitudes.nu/a-day-in-cambodia-with-ted/
the PUC Journalism Class, http://pucpenh.tumblr.com/post/24969328615/recap-of-the-tedx-phnom-penh-debacle

Soma Norodom, http://somanorodom.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/hosting-tedxphnompenh-the-best-and-toughest-gig/
Warren Daly (Invisible Agent), http://www.invisibleagent.com/2012/06/13/tedx-phnom-penh-2012-inside-the-pinnacle/
and Jason Rosette (Camerado): http://cameradomoviesandmedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-unapproved-phnom-penh-post-comment.html

or: “We Lost The Lake, But Can We Free The Fifteen?”

In 2007 numerous advocates were concerned about Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lake. It was being filled in with sand, yet actual information about the company doing it was very hard to find. Unlike some communities facing eviction, this was a very diverse one, including a small tourist hub and a fair number of middle-class folks who really hadn’t expected to see such a drastic change.

The common consensus was that the issue needed more news coverage. More exposure. And a blog, ‘Save Boeung Kak‘ was created.  http://saveboeungkak.wordpress.com

Updating it was slow going. Most Cambodian advocacy NGOs are hestiant to embrace social media; they’re usually too busy dealing with crises at hand to consider a media strategy. Much less commit resources to putting information online. The end result? Usually it’s delegated to an intern.

Over the years Boeung Kak wasn’t ‘saved’, but filled in. After years of spotty and incomplete updating, the site finally seems to have found its groove. (Though I would caution them about their ‘cut and paste’ approach of using news articles in total.) I’m particularly impressed that ‘Save BK’ has begun including news directly in Khmer Unicode.

Showing how much can change in a few years: the lake is now full of sand. Fifteen Boeung Kak activists were taken to jail in a snap trial. Within a week, there was a blog: ‘Free The Fifteen’ (English and Khmer), a twitter account and a Facebook group.

Roughly one percent of Cambodia uses the internet on a regular basis. But it’s a very influential one percent. In the intervening years between the establishment of ‘Save Boeung Kak’ and ‘Free The 15′, young Cambodians have become addicted to the internet, particularly via Facebook. This has resulted in a much more web-savvy community over a very short period.

Here’s hoping that we will see a robust and civil discussion of issues on the internet in Cambodia, rather than censorship. Cambodia has an opportunity to set an example as a country with a high degree of free speech, compared to its more heavy-handed neighbors.

Linkage:
http://saveboeungkak.wordpress.com/
http://twitter.com/FreeThe15
http://FreeThe15.wordpress.com
http://KhmerFreeThe15.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/groups/419755404731430/421005761273061

There’s been a lot of talk in the last 48 hours about ‘anarchy’ and ‘secession’.

These terms been used to justify an armed raid upon a village in Kratie province’s district of Banteay Domrei.
(The village name can be transliterated as Broma / Prama or Proma, depending on how you prefer to spell it.)

Let’s take a look at the language:

NY Times/AP: Girl in Cambodia Killed During Violent Eviction
Government forces secured the area and were hunting for five accused ringleaders who escaped into the jungle, Sar Chamrong said. He alleged that the protesters were trying to set up a self-governing zone outside of the law.

AFP Cambodian girl killed in land row: rights groups
National police spokesman Kirt Chantharith told AFP he had no information about the fatality but said armed forces had been deployed to the area to prevent villagers “trying to control the land illegally”.

The Independent: Cambodian security forces kill teenage girl during clash with villagers armed with axes and crossbows 
Provincial official Sar Chamrong said government forces had secured the area and were hunting for five accused ringleaders who had escaped. He claimed the protesters were trying to set up a self-governing zone outside of the law.

The Phnom Penh Post:Teenage girl gunned down by security forces during eviction
The forces were ordered to evict the residents by a joint committee of Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, National Police chief Neth Savoeun and Kratie provincial governor Sar Cham Rong, which accused them of forming an autonomous state through a group called “Democratic Association”.

The Cambodia Daily: Teenage Girl Shot Dead by Security Forces
Provincial Governor Sar Chamrong: “All the illegal acts that have been committed by the anarchic ringleaders are against the state’s authority, which comes from elections and principles of democracy, and is an attempt at secession.” (May 17, P.1)

DW:DE:Cambodian land dispute escalates as teenager is killed
For its part, the Interior Ministry issued a statement on Thursday claiming the protesters were an “anarchic group” trying to set up a self-governing zone outside the law.

Phnom Penh Post: Mourning villagers flee
Pov Ban said he was unaware of any plan by Bun Ratha to create an autonomous state, saying he had merely attempted to help villagers in their dispute with the Russian company Casotim – which has a 15,000-hectare economic land concession about 15 kilometres from the village.

Cambodia Daily: Kratie Village Sealed After Girl’s Killing
“The original villagers – more than 360 families – living here there are very happy with our operation because they have been extorted by those anarchists for a long time, ” Mr. Chamrong said. We could not let them stay longer, otherwise these ringleaders would gather more and more people from everywhere to grab the state land and secede,” he said. (May 18, P. 1/22)

Just what were these folks doing, translating Kropotkin? Setting up an anarcho-syndicalist commune? Laughable.

Licadho adds some much-needed context.   http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/pressrelease.php?perm=277

I wonder how actual ‘card-carrying’ Anarchists in the West would view this?