Edward Zwick isFilm and television writer-director; serves on the advisory board of Global Witness
The Huffington Post
Posted: 05/15/2012
On April 26th, a Cambodian environmental activist named Chut Wutty was killed
by military police. Two journalists present at the incident reported
that Wutty was shot after refusing to hand over photographic evidence he
had been collecting. A subsequent government inquiry -- open and shut
within three days -- not only failed to address the details of his
death, but also prohibited further inquiry into the issue Wutty was
investigating: namely, the systematic stripping and selling-off of
Cambodia's forests.
Wutty was part of the Prey Lang Network -- a grassroots group of
activists fighting to save the Prey Lang forest, Southeast Asia's last
remaining intact lowland evergreen forest. His death is the latest
episode in a long and sorry history of Cambodian dissenters being
intimidated or even silenced by a kleptocratic elite ransacking the
country's natural resources for personal gain. Home to the Kuy
indigenous people for centuries, the Prey Lang forest possesses
significant biodiversity value as well as being a critical source of
water for the country's rice-growing areas. In fact the battle the Kuy
are fighting against the march of logging, plantations and mining
companies into the forest holds an uncanny resemblance to the plot of Avatar
-- and in what might otherwise be a charming example of life imitating
art, they have even tried using the film to bring media attention to
their cause...
Except this is real-life. And the bullets are real.
Cambodia has a sad history of state abuse and violence, but Wutty's
death and the attention it has begun to receive provides an
unprecedented opportunity for the international activist community to
pressure the Cambodian government to reform. A growing chorus
of NGOs -- including Global Witness -- are calling for a full inquiry
into Chut Wutty's death, reform of Cambodia's notoriously corrupt
natural resource sector, and an end to the persecution of those who
defend forest and land rights. The time has come for the Cambodian
government to afford its citizens a meaningful say in what happens to
the country's resources; rather than line the pockets of a small,
corrupt elite, the riches of Cambodia must serve to lift its people out
of poverty.
This problem -- and its possible solution -- is not as distant as it
might appear. With savagely ironic timing, on the day Wutty was killed,
USAID announced
a $20m grant to "support forests and biodiversity" in Cambodia. The
potential for this kind of aid money as a powerful force for good has
too long been squandered on landmark conservation projects, many of
which have been fatally undermined by the Cambodian Prime Minister and
his cronies who habitually plunder resources that might otherwise drive
development. To make matters worse, little of this money ever reaches
the kind of grassroots organizations Wutty worked with. As a mark of
respect for his work -- and to signal our desire for change -- we as US
citizens must call on our government to ensure our tax dollars be used
to support such groups. The forests they are fighting to defend are not
only their homes, but ours as well. They are nothing less than the
essence of the natural world.
The work of the Prey Lang group is but one example of the heroic and
dangerous work being done every day by activists around the world in the
essential fight against "the resource curse." We must let them know
they are not alone. Making sure our aid money reaches its target is the
right place to start.
Edward Zwick is a member of the Global Witness Advisory Board.
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