Reactions on the Web to the Dey Krohom eviction range from emotion to rallying
Saturday, 31 January 2009
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Several websites have published articles, videos, pictures and songs to mobilise Internet users about the fate of the families evictedon Saturday 24thJanuary from Dey Krohom,a neighbourhood in the capital of Cambodia.
30-01-2009By Laurent
Le Gouanvic Ka-set in English
Cambodian police firing tear gas, an army of young workers demolishing frail houses with sledge hammers and axes, bulldozers crushing everything on their way at the risk of injuring tearful residents fleeing with the few possessions they have managed to save in the chaos... These images of the violent operation to evict the last residents of Dey Krohom, in Phnom Penh on Saturday 24th January, were not broadcast on CNN or any major international television network. Yet, for the last few days, they have been going round the world through the Internet and its new “social networking” tools, like Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Blogspot or Wordpress. Gradually, after the initial emotional reactions, outraged Internet users are trying – and somewhat struggling – to raise awareness about what happened with the widest possible audience, in Cambodia and abroad.
One of their first actions is to launch an international appeal to draw mass protest against the Cambodian authorities and the 7NG company. A message addressed directly to the authorities“Dear Prime Minister Hun Sen, I am writing to express my shock at the violent eviction of the Dey Krahorm on January 24th, 2009 and to request that the evicted families receive adequate compensation for their losses.” So begins one of the two “sample letters” published on the website of the organisation "Bridges Across Borders" who invites Internet users throughout the world to copy and send these letters by email or fax to the head of the Cambodian government as well as the Minister of the Council of Ministers Sok An, the Chairman of the National Assembly Heng Samrin, the Governor of Phnom Penh Kep Chuktema, and the Chairman of the 7NG company Srey Sothea. The appeal is also relayed through emails and on a group page dedicated to land conflicts in Cambodia on the social networking website Facebook .
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