Loung Ung's Blog, page 18

Is Big Brother watching Cambodia?

Phnom Penh Post, 11/17/2013 Big Brother Watching Closely…  The United States taps the telephones and monitors the emails of everyone in this region.No one is immune: not you, not me, not Prime Minister Hun Sen or opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

Khmer Rouge Tribunal Set to Hear Closing Arguments in First Case

VOA, October 15, 2012 PHNOM PENH — The United Nations-backed war crimes court in Cambodia is scheduled to begin hearing closing arguments on Wednesday in its landmark first case against the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement, which is blamed for two million deaths during its rule of the country between 1975 and 1979.

Rithy Panh’s new film–The Missing Picture wins top prize at Cannes

Cambodia’s Unseen Horrors
Richard Bernstein–New York Review of Books, 10/8/2013
“….The images that do not exist form the “missing picture” of Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh’s newest documentary, which won a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and is being screened at the New York Film Festival this fall. (It will be more widely released in the United States in the spring.) The Missing Picture is not a systematic history of the KR era, but it follows the chronology of events, beginning with a brief recollection of Phnom Penh when it was still a languid and abundant Southeast Asian city, perfumed with the scent of jasmine.”

Cambodia’s tipping point

August 16, 2012 Phnom Penh Post Op Ed piece by Theary Seng. Cambodia is undergoing a phenomenon, the beginning of “Cambodia flourishing”, if you will. Even amidst the high-tension political brinkmanship, Cambodia has reached the tipping point, that is slowly but surely ushering in the Cambodia Spring. Cambodia’s Tipping Point

Civil Rights, Cambodia, and Cuba: Memos That Made History

the Atlantic by Andrew Cohen, 8/12/2012…A newly released collection of legal documents reveals what high officials thought about the major events of their times.

Rethinking Cambodia’s political transformation

Malay Mai, 8/11/2012…”While many analysts attribute CPP’s decline and CNRP’s rising popularity to demographic change,…, my perspective emphasises two factors — the people’s desire to improve their livelihoods and CNRP’s innovative election campaign policy targeting household income.” Read Full Article by Kimly Ngoun, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political and Social Change at The Australian National University.

The humbling of Hun Sen–Economist Article explains Election

Here’s an article that does a good job of explaining what happened in Cambodia’s Presidential election. From the Economist.

Cambodia National Election July 28 Results

Reuters) – Cambodia’s long-ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen faced his biggest political setback in two decades on Monday as the country’s opposition rejected an election result as tainted by widespread fraud, despite heavy losses for the ruling party. Read Full Article

Young Cambodian voters look beyond tragic past

From article. “…But with more than one-third of Cambodia’s nearly 9.6 million eligible voters born after the end of the “Killing Fields” era of the late 1970s, there are signs that the strategy is losing potency.” Read Full Article

9.14.2013.Cambodia Town Film Festival.

Cambodia international Film Festival has officially become a creative partner of Cambodia Town Film Festival, building a bridge between Long Beach, CA and Phnom Penh, Cambodia where every year since its inauguration CIFF has been a platform for filmmakers and an incredible viewing experience for audiences all across Cambodia.