Ven. Sovath Luon: Leading struggle of poor farmersBy CÍAN NIHILL
The Irish Times
Friday, September 16, 2011
FRONT LINE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS: GOING AGAINST centuries of tradition, Buddhist monks across Cambodia have been ordered by their superiors not to give food or shelter to the Venerable Sovath Luon, whose only crime has been to stand up against brutal land seizures.
Known in some quarters as “The Multimedia Monk” for his use of video to catch human rights violations, Luon has risked defrocking and police brutality by documenting and often leading the struggle of poor farmers in his community.
Luon spoke passionately while at the Front Line Dublin Platform about what he sees as rampant corruption around him.
His activism started after he witnessed a land grab in his village in 2009, when police fired at unarmed villagers protesting against the confiscation of their fields. Land seizures are common in Cambodia, where large tracts are being sold, often to foreign investors, for logging, agriculture, mining, tourism and fisheries, displacing thousands of people.
“Big companies co-operate with the authorities, with the powerful men and grab the land from the farmer,” saod Luon. Some 475 hectares were taken in his community when more than 100 military police violently forced 175 families off their land, “while farmers were harvesting rice”.
A number of farmers were shot, said Luon, who resisted attempts by the authorities to confiscate video footage he had captured of the incident. He is now making a documentary about both the event and the protests he has led since.
“They lost the land, they lost the law – that’s what made me stand up to lead them for justice, for human rights, to find respect for them.”
The Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong, also called the Monks’ King, ordered Luon to stop his work opposing the land seizures.
According to Luon, the Buddhist hierarchy in Cambodia has been corrupted by close ties to power and no longer works for the good of ordinary people.
“They are speaking not for the law of Buddhism; [when] the Monks’ King is speaking, everything is politics,” said Luon.
An order from religious superiors banned pagodas (communities of monks) from feeding or housing Luon because of his activity.
“[It has been] very difficult because I am a monk, the monk [has] no house, only stay in pagoda” he said. For now, Luon has been forced to rely on the generosity of the villagers with whom he continues to protest.
2 comments:
I felt bad for khmer krom people they try so hard to fight for the independent, but nothing goes out their way...Viet is very tough son of a bitch!
Viet fucks aren't tough son-of-bitch. They're very good at tricks and manipulation. Like thieves, they had to resort to their dishonesty, cheat, and lies ways to get ahead to win. They used France to obtain the land of Khmer Krom. Throughout history fighting with the Khmer, Khmer were sucessfully driving them out slowly as much as they push forward. As much as Khmer fighting the Viet, Khmer also had to fight the Siem/Thai. So Khmer is constantly dealing with these 2 enemies trying to take over. This is what make Khmer losing their lands bit by bit. If Khmer were to focus on one enemy, Khmer wouldn't had lost so much land. During the Vietnamese invasion and occupation starting in 1979, if all Khmer were fighting the Viet, Vietnam wouldn't have occupied Cambodia that long. Vietnam mostly had Khmer fighting against Khmer. Vietcong fought very dirty with the American troops because the American didn't know how to fight dirty. The American fighting tactics were too simple and straight forward. The Vietcong were using unconventional guarilla warfare tactics. They weren't playing by the rules. Vietcong tried their dirty style with Khmer but Khmer already knew their bullshit fighting tactics because the Vietcong taught the Khmer Rouge how to fight their ways, maybe to kill very dirty their ways too. This is why Khmer Rouge are so ruthless. This should make you think about the killing mindset of the Khmer Rouge. No one know about the Viet than the Khmer because Khmer had been fighting them for almost the last 400 years.
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