As the following chapters will demonstrate, agriculture, which has always been the main occupation of the people and the mainstay of the state surplus, has consistently failed to fulfill its potential as the designated catalyst for the sort of economic development that Cambodia’s modernisers envisaged. It is equally true, however, that after each catastrophe that befell the nation, it was traditional agriculture that revived the national economy and salvaged the people’s livelihood. (p. 29)
Yes, yes, and again yes: the role of agriculture as a foundation for economy, culture, politics, and ritual imagination, has never been genuinely appreciated in Cambodian studies (or indeed among Cambodian ideologues).
I just discovered this quote on a notecard from January, when I read the wonderful edited volume published by the Center for Khmer Studies. This quote is by Jeremy Ironside, from his article, “Development – in whose name? Cambodia’s economic development and its indigenous communities – from self-reliance to uncertainty.” It sums up a lot of Cambodia’s developing economy’s structural problems in a very few words:
For every $100 of exported garments, $63 is spent on improving materials and $4 on utilities. Value added is thus only 1/3 of the total value, with labour costs estimated at $13 and ‘bureaucracy costs’ at $7, with total gross profits at 13%. Three-quarters of these profits are repatriated [abroad; away from Cambodia]. Therefore, only 25% of the sale prie of the garment is net value added which stays in the Cambodian economy.”
p. 123, n.6. Ironside is citing data from M. Beresford, S. Ngoun, R. Rathin, S. Sisovanna, N. Ceema. 2004. “The macroeconomics of poverty reduction in Cambodia.” The UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Programme on the Macroeconomics of Poverty Reduction.
I’m sweating the beginning of the new semester, as I am teaching three classes (two large intro classes and a seminar), and trying to finish up three articles, among other things. Still, the enormous labor action that took place over the last week in Cambodia needs to be noted, though at this moment I have little to add in the way of analysis or interpretation. Please discuss in the comments.
as usual, the award for Best International Reporting on Cambodia in English goes to….Al Jazeera English.
Chea Mony of the much-discussed-on-this-blog Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, shows up around the 1’55 mark, and the closure has some statistics, and a short interview with a sex worker, that really brings the numbers home.
I like the way this story was done, as well, including the part with the sex worker at the end; maybe even especially because of that part. Normally, I hate the tendency of foreign reporters to focus so easily and quickly on the sex trade in Cambodia as a catch-all symptom of corruption and desperation; not that the sex trade doesn’t usually represent precisely those things, but because the focus on it remains, for the most part, purely at the level of representation. That’s to say, when most reporters focus on the trade in Cambodia, they rarely make an explicit connection between the factors that drove the sex worker to the trade, why s/he remains there, including the reasoning used, etc. And they almost never treat the sex worker with respect, but usually focus on the titillating shots that will get the story attention from editors back in New York, London, or Dubai. This one felt different to me, perhaps especially because the sex-worker interviewed at the end was translated, rather than merely paraphrased, and because the camera-work was not as predatory.
From a story by Uon Chin, Radio Free Asia, accessed on August 9, of a union rally in Phnom Penh, from July 25, of an estimate 5-7 thousand unionists. A very sad song by female garment workers, titled “Terrible Karma.” I typed out the song lyrics, and have included a first attempt at a translation (I am a bit intimidated by poetic translation, and found some of the lines difficult; suggestions for correction would be lovely, in the comments), below, after the break….
[update August 27, 2010: conversations with Chanroeun Pa, of Cambodian Translation Link and Trent Walker of the Ho Center of Buddhist Studies at Stanford University have helped me amend some of the lines; thanks, Chanroeun and Trent! The good things below are owed to the composers of the song, the bad things that remain are my fault.]
So many things have been going on since I took an extended vacation from blogging, but here are some of the Cambodian stories I’ve been following and wondering about:
Rape on the Rise: The incidence of sexual violence appears to continue its meteoric rise in reporting; it seems that it is not only reporting on the rise, however – an entire culture of rape among urban elite males appears to increasingly be copied by immiserated peasants and connected thugs alike, nation-wide.
Remember the Mekong, whose name, “Mother Ganges,” identifies it with another world-historic river-system also under attack? Yeah, so do a lot of other people, who saw it dry up this last dry season. Unfortunately the people who care are not the people making the decisions. If you’re curious about one of the upstream dams likely related to this current, ongoing catastrophe, read the discussion over at New Mandala on the Xiaowan Dam, where most of the real science is being discussed in an informal way.
But I am surprised at some of the news out of the union movement in Cambodia lately. Rong Chhun appears to have been slowly sucked into the role of political opponent rather than labor dissident, and has been making a fuss over border posts lately, instead of issues of workers’ rights. That’s unfortunate, because Chhun has the capacity to be a leader of genuine change. The appeal of political diversions is greatest when workers’ advocacy and organization is weakest, or when individuals begin to burn out, but I hope he returns to the issues at the core of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association soon.
Go read about the catastrophe that was Bangkok a few months back somewhere; it’s important stuff, though I don’t have time to discuss it here. On the other hand, even though 80% of migrant workers in Thailand are from Burma, post-catastrophe raids have been primarily rounding up Cambodians (10% of the migrant worker population in Thailand).
Funded by the US State Department and the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, Undercover UXO is designed to run on the “One Laptop Per Child XO laptop.” The game will provide a consequence-free learning environment that teaches kids how to identify UXOs and report them to inspectors.
A lay nun burned herself inside the confines of Watt Ounalom in Phnom Penh. If you click through, beware that the photo is pretty horrific. The reasons for this tragic action remain unclear, though there is a lot of speculation; the woman, whose current status has not been reported to my knowledge, was taken to Calmette Hospital.
Anne Elizabeth Moore has another excellent article on Cambodian Garment Workers. Moore has a relatively privileged perspective here, having lived as a dorm supervisor for a few months in Cambodia for the Harpswell Foundation. The article, a followup to the last one written by Moore at Truthout, focuses on the Messenger Band, a band composed of current and former garment workers. There’s audio on the site as well – go check it out! I cried at my computer when I read this part:
Members of the Messenger Band
As garment factories close, more and more women enter the sex industry by working at the karaoke bars. You have a song about this.
Vun Em: When the factories close down, some girls will go to become entertainment workers, and HIV will spread out around. But why don’t [the NGOs] care about their living life? Why they don’t care about their family? Why they don’t care about the security of those people? Why they care only about HIV? [She starts to cry.] I don’t know, I don’t understand.
We also care about HIV, but you have to think about the lives of the people, not only HIV. If the people don’t have enough food to eat, if they don’t have enough education, if they don’t have good health, how can they prevent themselves from the HIV? They don’t have time to think about HIV, they only have time to think, I need food, I need food. All the time.
Land grabs continue – possibly the most important issue for Cambodians living in Cambodia – especially those whose ability to directly feed themselves is dependent upon their land. In Kompong Speu (Starfruit Province), approximately 1,000 farmers rallied to protest the grabs. Some farmers burned the fields that were being taken, and a video (embedded below – cautious, it’s difficult to watch) has begun making the rounds of the police violently – not to say brutally – destroying tables, buildings, and attacking people. This needs to stop. Read the rest of this entry »
The Cambodian government has started paying some (minor) attention to bloggers! Whoo-hoo! Of course, the form that attention has come in is the banning and blocking of specific blogging services. DAS has the sketchy details.
You may remember a little group called Amnesty International. They’ve recently been pissed off at the government of Cambodia for kicking out a bunch of Uighur asylum seekers, including a guy who had a legitimate visa, in exchange for a pantsload of aid from the People’s Republic of China.
Khmer Krom need defense from the UNHCR to have the right to speak their language, and practice their culture, in Vietnam. The lack of international attention to this issue is deeply distressing, as is the way in which those few groups who do pay attention to the issue attempt to use it.
Professor Raymond Robertson, economics, talks about his work with Better Factories Cambodia. Many factories in developing worlds have poor working standards. The program has enlisted many large scale retailers in their efforts.
I just discovered this quote on a notecard from January, when I read the wonderful edited volume published by the 
