On Friday, 30 January 2009, an unsigned public letter, stamped with the emblem of the Phnom Penh Municipality, was released to the press in Cambodia. The letter decried the actions of human rights NGOs, including many expatriates, in support of the small and poor community of Dey Krahom, in the community’s resistance to forced eviction from the homes many had lived in for two decades. Dey Krahom is not exceptional. Hundreds of thousands of Cambodians are threatened with eviction and deepening impoverishment in a country where the term “poverty eradication” has taken on a particularly insidious meaning.

The city’s letter singled out one particularly vocal expatriate critic, David Pred, for special censure.

David is the director of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA), a small non-profit group, committed to social justice and defending the rights of the poor. ‘BABSEA’s work has included legal education for the poor and vulnerable, formal and informal education programs, cooperative community development, community-based child protection, and raising global awareness of the pressing issues facing people in Southeast Asia. David, in particular, has helped to call international attention to mounting forced displacement in Cambodia.

Due to his work, David himself has been a sometimes controversial figure in Cambodia. Some consider him too outspoken, too abrasive, or even too extreme. In person, he is forthright, calm, and considerate. He tells the truth. He’s been willing to do so in a country where fear has led most people to simply shut up and put up. He has chosen the role consciously. He has spoken for others when they dared not speak for themselves.

The municipality’s statement has been quoted widely in local newspapers and discussed on broadcast media. This creates a chilling atmosphere for civil discussion,

Some people would say that David is a busybody; that he should attend to the ills of his own country; that he is just stirring up trouble.

American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. had similar criticism leveled at him. In 1963, King was confined to the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama for his part in a non-violent protest against segregation. Fellow clergy implied that King was inciting people far from his native Atlanta, and he should let local courts deal with the issue.

King’s historic reply argued that he not only had a right to stand with the people of Birmingham, he had a responsibility.

He wrote,

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea.

….We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

David Pred—who came from a place far away from Cambodia but who has stayed close to his own conscience — acts in the same spirit. There are many others—Cambodians and expatriates—who may be less visible, but who have also dared to assist communities by offering support and standing beside them. Some of them have also been targeted by threats.

The implications that underlie the municipality’s unsigned letter are unmistakable. We must recognize that David, and others like him, are bearing risks too great for those they defend to even consider. They are all worthy of our solemn support.

David, we thank you for reminding us of our own obligations to brothers and sisters in need, in Dey Krahom and other Cambodian communities at risk - wherever they may be. And to all of you others – Cambodians and expatriates who dare to speak and act against the injustice of forced evictions - we honor you too.

In peace and solidarity, we sign our names,




For more information on evictions and land alienation in Cambodia see:
http://peace-and-justice-cambodia.awardspace.com/
www.licadho-cambodia.org and www.licadhocanada.com

For regular updates on evictions in Cambodia, see:
http://tinyurl.com/cambodiaevictionsupdate

For more information on Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia, go to:
www.babsea.org/

For the full text of King's letter, go to:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/frequentdocs/birmingham.pdf

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