CIVIL RESISTANCE
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CIVIC EDUCATION
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Obama, in Cambodia for a Meeting, Sidesteps the Ghosts of History
THE NEW YORK TIMES / International Herald Tribune By PETER BAKER, November 20, 2012, NEWS ANALYSIS President Obama’s visit to a country deeply scarred by its involvement with the United States did nothing to purge the ghosts or even address them. Mr. Obama made clear he came only because Cambodia happened to be the site for a summit meeting of Asian leaders, but given the current government’s human rights record, he was intent on avoiding much interaction with the host. “How are you?” Mr. Obama asked Prime Minister Hun Sen when he showed up, unsmiling, for a meeting made necessary by protocol. “Good to see you.” Those, as it turned out, were the only words he uttered publicly to or about Cambodia during his two days here. In private, aides said, Mr. Obama pressed Mr. Hun Sen about repression. While they usually characterize even the most hostile meeting in diplomatic terms, in this case they were eager to call the meeting “tense.” But the president’s public silence disappointed human rights organizations that had called for a more explicit challenge to Mr. Hun Sen’s record of crushing opposition. And it left to another day any public examination of the United States’ role in the events of the 1970s that culminated in the infamous “killing fields” that wiped out a generation of Cambodians. Theary Seng, president of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia, said, “President Obama should have met with the human rights community and activists challenging the Hun Sen regime, and while then and there, offer a public apology to the Cambodian people for the illegal U.S. bombings, which took the lives of half a million Cambodians and created the conditions for the Khmer Rouge genocide.”
Click here to read this complete news analysis
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Protests Greet Obama's Visit International Herald Tribune / New York Times Luke Hunt, 20 Nov. 2012 PHNOM PENH — Theary Seng was taking aim with precision and anger. The 41-year-old U.S.-trained lawyer and a regular on Cambodia’s crowded protest circuit was about to throw a dart at a poster of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Kissinger is one of 13 politicians and senior Khmer Rouge leaders in a dart game created by Poetic Justice, a nongovernmental organization run by Theary Seng that highlights deficiencies of the special U.N.-backed tribunal judging the Khmer Rouge’s crimes. Each player gets five throws. A bull’s-eye is worth seven points. The highest score wins. Last Sunday afternoon, Theary Seng and three members of her staff were playing on Phnom Penh’s riverfront opposite the storied Foreign Correspondents’ Club. On this occasion — the fourth time the game has been staged in public — the point was to draw attention to the narrow scope of the Khmer Rouge tribunal ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit for a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Click here to read full article.
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Watch the TV3 New Zealand broadcast with Mike McRoberts (aired 21 Nov. 2012) At ASEAN summit, trade overshadows human rights
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Open Letter to U.S. President Barack Obama Sent out as Press Release to 2,000 recipients Published in The Phnom Penh Post, 20 November 2012 (2nd day of Pres. Obama's visit in Cambodia)
. . . Attempts of this Monday afternoon in holding up 2 large banners of War Criminal Henry Kissinger and War Criminals Meas Muth / Im Chaem of Cases 003/4 in front of US Embassy
Theary Seng and some 30 security (plus more embedded in Wat Phnom Penh and Sunway Hotel) Narrative of harassment and images of Ms. Theary C. Seng's stand-off with at least 30 big bulky, heavily armed security in front of US Embassy Phnom Penh (Tuesday, 19 Nov. 2012)
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Emotional Violence of Past Poetic Justice Dart Games flared into Physical Assault on Ms. Theary C. Seng and those around her along the Riverfront, Sunday, 18 Nov. 2012
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Poetic Justice War Criminal Collection Dart Games TODAY at 4 P.M. On the RIVERFRONT, across from FCC. Yes, TODAY!! . . .
WELCOME, MR. PRESIDENT!
Quickly, we'd like to draw your attention to two urgent matters: 1. Official apology for illegal U.S. bombings of Cambodia, which created the conditions for the Khmer Rouge genocide; 2. Extradite Henry Kissinger to Eccc the Clown for war crimes.
Oh, yeah-- 3. ECCC Cases 003 and 004 !
We also invite you to the POETIC Justice Dart Games on the Riverfront this Sunday, Nov. 18, at 4 P.M. should you arrive early into Cambodia.
Sending on behalf of Ms. Theary C. Seng, president of the Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia. In addition to the names listed, many others whose names cannot be listed have confirmed their attendance. To welcome U.S. President Barack Obama, the Poetic Justice Dart Games will prominently feature Henry Kissinger. A special Poetic Justice dart set will also be given to President Obama via the U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh. States Ms. Theary C. Seng, “We see this unprecedented visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Cambodia, on the heel of his exciting re-election, as a great occasion to offer a much glaringly, painfully delayed apology to Khmer victims for the destruction of Cambodia – the illegal U.S. bombings which gave rise to the diabolical reign of the Khmer Rouge. The U.S. has a legal obligation. It has a moral obligation.”
Click here to see images of past POETIC Justice dart games along the riverfront. All members of Poetic Justice WAR CRIMINAL Collection as of November 2012.
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Following the Opening Remarks by H.R.H. Norodom Sirivudh (half-brother of the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk and chair of CICP), CIVICUS Cambodia president and international lawyer Ms. Theary C. Seng will make an intervention after ICRC's presentation of "An overview of IHL ratification and implementation of Cambodia" (Hotel Cambodiana Phnom Penh, 8 Nov. 2012)
Click here to see full program.
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Reykjavik, Iceland SESSION 3: CALLING 4.15 - 5.45 pm Led by Miriam Subirana, Foundation for a Culture of Peace The session includes: Theary C. Seng, Founder, Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, Cambodia
. . . A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS
4-Part Series of Commentary to The Phnom Penh Post Re-posted on KI-Media and Facebook Accounts Sent to 1,500 on Email List-serve
Part I A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS (edited version published in The Phnom Penh Post, 16 Aug. 2011)
Part II A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS The Written Khmer: The Problem (edited version published in The Phnom Penh Post, 17 August 2012)
Part III A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS The Written Khmer: A Few Questions (anecdotes of the problems on the ground posed in list of questions, forthcoming)
Part IV A LANGUAGE IN CRISIS The Written Khmer: A Few Recommendations (a few initial recommendations of the way forward, forthcoming) Background
Venerable Chuon Nath's Dictionary and other Authority (the learned monk of the 20th century is the strongest authority on all things educated, in Khmer)
Language and National Identity by Dr. Stephen Heder (a chapter on Cambodia in a book published by Oxford University Press)
The Khmer Bible Version with Proper Punctuations/Formatting Theary Seng Version As the Khmer Standard Version of the Bible, 2005 is extremely well translated in terms of word choice/vocabulary, and recently made available in electronic form on the internet, and because I am already very well familiar with the stories and books of the Bible (reading, re-reading them since I first became a Christian at the age of 9 years old--32 years ago!), I am editing the KSV 2005 with proper, consistent, and "new" punctuations as well as reformatting it for clarity and easier comprehension. I am starting with books and portions of the Bible which contain ideas and concepts which are already familiar, even if the non-Christian Khmer reader may be surprised to find the source as the Bible, e.g. the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Sermon on the Mount, Gospel of Luke and of John, Letter of James, etc.
Both Christian and non-Christian Cambodian readers will be able to appreciate these edited books of the Bible in Khmer, mainly because they rare reading materials available in the Khmer language that are clear and understandable. For the non-believing Khmer readers, take these edited books of the Bible as good literature, which they are (plus more, for the Khmer believers!).
I am currently having my staff at CIVICUS Cambodia typing two basic books on the history of Cambodia, already translated but lacking proper punctuations, so that I may edit them and make them freely available online for the public.
READING MUST BE TRIGGERED with INTERESTING MATERIALS, free of the burdens of having to fight the printed page and mangled language -- which allows for the beginning of effective DIALOGUE, of quality EDUCATION, of RECONCILIATION, of Cambodian FLOURISHING (PEACE with JUSTICE, or SHALOM). * * *
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