Deathpower Dies

All conditioned phenomena are impermanent.

And therefore, friends, all things come to an end. This blog has been a useful place for me to forward stories I found important, occasionally comment on them, or work out ideas – mostly relating to my dissertation – that were in incipient form.

But my dissertation is finished now, and my diploma is in hand. I find myself saving countless stories to forward, but doing nothing with them. I’m writing, perhaps more than ever, but not here.

There are excellent resources – some old, some new – covering many aspects of Cambodia, of Buddhism, and of the peculiar trends and themes I find most compelling.  My own fascinations are not likely to continue to be of widespread interest without continuing to reduplicate the higher quality efforts of others.

Therefore, I will no longer blog here. It’s been virtual, folks. See you around the internets.

The Last Wordle of My Dissertation

via Wordle – Treasures of the Buddha: Imagining Death and Life in Contemporary Cambodia.

emotional deflation ahead.

Security Guards Fire at Protesting Chinese Workers Stranded in Cambodia

via the PPP

SECURITY police at the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh opened fire during a confrontation with more than 100 protesters Wednesday as they sought intervention over a pay dispute.

About 110 Chinese construction workers employed by the Jiangsu Province First Construction Installation Co Ltd gathered at the embassy, claiming the company owners fled the country leaving them without six months’ back pay.

A protester representative said the workers were employed by the company to work on Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac City development for almost eight months but had so far received just two months’ pay.

He also said the company had taken their passports, stranding them in Cambodia.

“We want the embassy to contact the company and force them to return our passports and pay us our salary,” said another worker.

During the protest, which began midday, the workers carried a banner reading, “We want to return home”, demanding a meeting with embassy officials. Security guards ordered protesters to cross the road to wait and fired three warning shots in the air when protesters tried to push their way inside the embassy gates.

via The Phnom Penh Post – Shots fired at worker protest.

Cambodian Factory Bosses Blame their Economic Troubles on “Thieving Workers.”

This is really too low. Faced with a massive loss of orders from abroad, pressure from unions within the country, and the very real possibility of a global economic crisis severe enough to decimate or even destroy the Cambodian garment sector, the bosses have decided that their problems are caused by workers stealing clothes by putting them under their work clothes and smuggling out.

CAMBODIA’S largest garment industry association has filed a complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipality over what it says is rampant theft from local factories.

Van Sou Ieng, president of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, said the April 27 complaint was filed in response to reported thefts in many of the country’s more than 200 garment factories.

Though such complaints have been reported for years, he said they had become so widespread as to threaten the industry. “We’ve always received complaints from factory owners about this problem – it’s a serious issue because buyers are afraid to order from factories,” he said. “Many of the stolen orders have been partially sold in local markets or in neighbouring countries.”

Phnom Penh Deputy Police Chief Hy Prou said he had received the complaint, though he said he did not know what measures could be implemented to address it.

The manager of a major garment factory in Phnom Penh who requested anonymity said he agreed with Van Sou Ieng that theft had recently become more common.

“Most of the factories will say that this is getting worse,” he said. “We are losing a few thousand pieces of clothing per month.”

He said employees use a variety of tactics to smuggle garments, including hiding items under their clothes and placing them in rubbish bins.

“An even more alarming trend is that we are seeing garments stolen from transport containers. We complained to the police, and they are setting up a task force,” he said.

via The Phnom Penh Post – Garment factories complain of theft.

Really

Or is that line at the end – the one about how even more alarmingly, material is starting to disappear in even greater numbers from Cambodia’s ports – relevant?

Is the increasing number of missing fabric and garments a symptom of a corporate elite looting their own businesses before the collapse (and blaming it on workers)? Only time will tell.

The Phnom Penh Post – Worker solidarity

The Phnom Penh Post has a paragraph, with a nice photo, of part of the May Day march that took place last Friday. The CGT sent greetings, as did the IWW.

The Phnom Penh Post – Worker solidarity.

Burned like old rubbish: Pol Pot’s funeral

The Phnom Penh Post’s “This week in history” feature includes an article on Pol Pot’s death and cremation back in 1998.

Worth checking out.

The Phnom Penh Post – Burned like old rubbish: Pol Pot’s funeral.

Khmerican Post

Gunfire at the Wat Munisotaram New Year celebrations here in Minnesota. A tragedy. Nobody hurt, and one person in jail as a result.

Rising Cambodian studies scholar Trent Walker recently gave a talk on Smot (ស្មូត្រ) singing with demonstrations and a show. I wish I’d been there. Anyone have recordings of any sort?

Buddha as Businessman

You must watch this video lecture of Gregory Schopen, the Buddhist Studies author whose work has made quite substantial waves in the field. Hat tip to Danny Fisher, whose birthday is today!

Random Cambo Links

AlisoninCambodia has released another fantastic archaeology in Cambodia post to her blog, which talks about subjects dear to my heart: complexity, land use, and Southeast Asia. Read it, read it, read it!.

Also, the Prime Minister has joined in: apparently unions are the reason the economy has collapsed. Right.

Tim Sakhorn – Headed to the USA?

Tim Sakhorn was previously abducted from his temple in Cambodia, forcibly defrocked, and then illegally transported across national borders into Vietnam, where he was tried in a Vietnamese court, and recently released to a highly supervised existence.

Recently he traveled through Cambodia, and has now apparently fled to Thailand, awaiting a decision on refugee status to the USA.