PolyMatter: Why Statues are North Korea’s Biggest Export

 

UnHerd: The disturbing history of statue-smashing

As I write, this contemporary Iconoclasm of the Woke seems to be accelerating, particularly in Britain. There is a website advising the Topplers where else they might chuck statuary in rivers: maybe Sir Francis Drake in Plymouth, or Captain James Cook in Teesside. And it’s not just statues, for the New Iconoclasts are targeting street names, movies, sitcoms, art: one particular target, much lusted after by the Topplers, is the Winston Churchill mural in Croydon (a borough heavily bombed in the Blitz). At the weekend the threats of further iconoclasm, in particular against the image of Britain’s wartime leader, lead to large numbers of ‘statue defenders’ turning up in central London.[...]

What provoked this national self-harm? Khmer Rouge leaders were steeped in a radical form of Maoism, acquired in Paris in the 50s. But that insane ideology needed a suitable place to breed, as mosquitoes need standing water. Cambodia in 1975 was a nation horribly traumatised by the neighbouring Vietnam War. Despite the nation’s neutrality in that conflict, the US government dropped more bombs on Cambodia than they dropped on Europe in all of the Second World War; the US bombing caused millions of refugees, and killed at least 250,000. A different kind of God was angry. [...]

What do these examples tell us of the Great Topplings of 2020? First, iconoclasms are far from rare (I could analyse two dozen more). Second, iconoclasms often burn out quite quickly, because there is only so much denouncing you can do before the denouncers denounce each other, the Revolution devours its own, and the cycle is done. Thirdly, they are commonly caused by external factors, unrelated to the broken images themselves: war, invasion, disease and economic disaster, many things can provoke these frenzies.

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Failed Architecture: Resisting Phnom Penh’s Beautification Plan (31 May 2018)

Among the poorest countries in the world, Cambodia is now experiencing its longest period of peace and development since it became a nation state. Yet the wounds of the 1975-79 genocide are still too fresh for the country to truly reckon with. As landmarks of past horrors still stand in the capital, they also remain in the living memory of a large section of the city’s current population. For many, including the current government, the only way to deal with this all too recent trauma is to look to the future, open up the country’s economy and modernise. In that spirit, Phnom Penh has become a city of cranes. But with many of the new buildings only affordable to a small elite, resistance to this top-down modernisation is growing. [...]

Even so, Phnom Penh remains an undeveloped city whose lively streets struggle to support all of its activity, from impromptu barbecues and roadside weddings to dusty construction work. Waste collection is sporadic, and fume-filled traffic jams are common. Increasing migration to the capital is putting growing pressure on the city’s already struggling infrastructure and pushing up land prices. With over 70% of people living on less than $3 a day, limited access to housing has resulted in growing slum communities. Despite the fact that Phnom Penh didn’t have traffic lights before 2000, Hun Sen’s new Cambodia is becoming increasingly dominated by luxury real estate within gated communities, and leisure centres equipped with shopping malls, casinos and nightclubs. [...]

The plan for the 100-hectare site at Diamond Island contains ‘cultural and tourism areas’: shopping malls, banquet halls, 5-star hotels, luxury real estate, and several schools. Ultimately, the aim is to create a city within a city; an exclusive, privately-owned and managed island. Several gated communities have already been realised, including the romantically-named La Seine, and Elite Town, which features streets named after prestigious American universities. The market for these luxury villas and condominiums essentially caters towards foreign buyers, with demand from the local elite limited by their small numbers. Indeed, while the official Cambodian minimum wage is just $170 per month, villas within these areas are valued between $600,000 and $1 million. [...]

Phnom Penh is a city of contradictions. On the one hand it appears to be burgeoning, repairing and modernizing; yet on the other, behind the facade of Beautification, there is an ongoing struggle on the part of the poor to claim their dues: recognition, resources and their right to the city. The force of the state is relentlessly felt, yet those fighting against it seem undeterred; they deeply value small and large victories, with the unwavering optimism of post Khmer Rouge Cambodia.

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Politico: EU plays hardball with Cambodian hardman

A decision to turn the screws on Phnom Penh would mark just the fourth time the EU has implemented trade sanctions for human rights reasons — Myanmar, Belarus and Sri Lanka having been downgraded in the past. [...]

There is every sign that Hun Sen will make a public show of strength, and only make discreet concessions later. Last year, shortly after a furor over his move to declare a rival party illegal, he even publicly dared the European Union to sever the preferential trade access. “Cut it!” Hun Sen said in a speech, declaring that he would not become a “dog acting only for a bone or a piece of meat.”[...]

In total, EU tariffs would affect 40 percent of all of Cambodia’s exports, incurring a cost of $676 million, according to government estimates. In 2017, Cambodia exported €5 billion worth of goods to the EU, the vast share of which consisted of garments, footwear and agricultural products such as rice.[...]

Facing the prospect of a humiliating loss, Hun Sen declared his primary political opposition illegal and had his main rival, Kem Sokha, arrested and spirited away to a remote prison on the Vietnamese border. He has also banned over 100 other opposition members from politics, shut down independent newspapers and threatened or jailed human rights workers.

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The New York Review of Books: The Autocracy App

In Myanmar, hatred whipped up on Facebook Messenger has driven ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. In India, false child abduction rumors on Facebook’s WhatsApp service have incited mobs to lynch innocent victims. In the Philippines, Turkey, and other receding democracies, gangs of “patriotic trolls” use Facebook to spread disinformation and terrorize opponents. And in the United States, the platform’s advertising tools remain conduits for subterranean propaganda.[...]

It’s not just external critics who see something fundamentally amiss at the company. People central to Facebook’s history have lately been expressing remorse over their contributions and warning others to keep their children away from it. Sean Parker, the company’s first president, acknowledged last year that Facebook was designed to cultivate addiction. He explained that the “like” button and other features had been created in response to the question, “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” Chamath Palihapitiya, a crucial figure in driving Facebook’s growth, said he feels “tremendous guilt” over his involvement in developing “tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.” Roger McNamee, an early investor and mentor to Zuckerberg, has become a full-time crusader for restraining a platform that he calls “tailor-made for abuse by bad actors.”[...]

As Facebook proved a better tool for autocrats than for revolutionaries, the protest machine became a surveillance and disinformation machine. In Cambodia, Hun Sen’s government has poured money into Facebook advertising to build up an inflated following, while an “experiment” the company performed in six small countries—moving news content out of the primary Newsfeed into a separate “Explore” section—made independent media sources all but invisible. In the Philippines, where the average user spends nearly four hours a day on social media, Rodrigo Duterte’s government has carried out a campaign of legal harassment against the brave news start-up Rappler—which is, of course, mainly distributed via Facebook.[...]

But the Microsoft precedent is not encouraging. After a federal judge found that Microsoft had abused its monopoly and ruled that it should be separated into two companies, the US Court of Appeals overturned the ruling on multiple grounds. The government has brought no comparably ambitious antitrust action against a major technology company in the two decades since. If the Justice Department were to become interested in breaking up Facebook, it would need the FTC to expand its definition of “consumer harm” to explicitly include violations of data privacy.

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The New York Review of Books: The Crackdown in Cambodia

These closures appear to be a veiled targeting of institutions backed by the United States, whose foreign policy Hun Sen has long criticized. But Hun Sen sent a less ambiguous message after his government arrested Kem Sokha, president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party: he justified the arrest with the startling accusation that the US government was conspiring with opposition leaders to topple Cambodia’s government. [...]

That opposition movement has slowly grown to pose a credible threat to Hun Sen in next year’s election. During the last general election, in 2013, Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party lost a quarter of its seats and won by less than 5 percent, its poorest showing in fifteen years—despite widespread allegations of vote rigging. This small margin of victory led many observers to believe that the Cambodian National Rescue Party had in fact won the election. Hun Sen’s government, and not election officials, announced the vote’s result, which was then protested by thousands on Phnom Penh’s streets. The leader of the opposition party in that election, Sam Rainsy, was banned from Cambodian politics six months ago, and now lives in exile. [...]

Hun Sen’s latest crackdown stems both from the threat to his grip on power and his strategic move away from the United States and toward China. The Chinese government reacted to Kem Sokha’s arrest predictably, emphasizing stability over any concerns about democracy. Booming Chinese investment has helped to drive Cambodia’s economic growth, from new high rises towering over Phnom Penh to giant hydroelectric dams on Cambodia’s extensive river network. But Cambodia, one of Asia’s poorest countries, remains dependent on aid from the United States and other Western powers to finance more than 30 percent of the government’s budget, and also for preferential export terms to the US from its large garment industry. [...]

Hun Sen’s government has been accused of land grabs, illegal logging, and widespread corruption. Over the past two decades, more than a dozen journalists and human rights activists have been killed, including the prominent political commentator Kem Ley, assassinated last year in a Phnom Penh coffee shop. The trial for that murder bordered on farce: a Cambodian court accepted the accused killer’s detailed confession, as well as his claim that his name was “Chuop Samlap,” which means “meet to kill.” Such flagrant abuses of power will only grow with a weaker local press.

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Vox: The Cambodian prime minister just told his political opponents to “prepare coffins”

“Your tongue is the reason for war. If you still make insults and threats to kill, you have to prepare your coffin,” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on June 21. “To protect the peace for millions of people, if necessary, 100 or 200 must be eliminated. Please listen carefully. ... Whoever intends to undermine peace will receive what you deserve.”

The prime minister delivered the speech at a 40th-anniversary commemoration of the day he decided to defect from the Khmer Rouge army and organize rebel forces that eventually defeated the genocidal regime of Pol Pot. Hun made the speech wearing his military uniform — a rarity for him — and while flanked by his top military commanders.

Hun, who has ruled Cambodia for 32 years, also made clear that power over Cambodia is, and will continue to be, in the hands of his family. This remains to be seen, especially given the upcoming general election in 2018, which could pose a serious threat to Hun’s Cambodian People’s Party. [...]

Cambodia has organized national elections since 1993, though it has been virtually impossible for any other political party to challenge the CPP’s rule, until now. In 2013, despite even more intimidation and electoral manipulation than in previous years, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which is the main opposition party, managed to take 22 seats from the CPP in the National Assembly, giving them a total of 55 out of 123 positions. [...]

Local elections in Cambodia aren’t typically seen as that important, but the buildup of opposition forces in the past few years made this one markedly different. Close to 90 percent of registered voters participated in these elections — the highest turnout in Cambodia’s history. Hun even hit the ground to campaign, attending his first political rally since 1998.

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The Conversation: Explainer: the rise of naked tourism

Recently, tourists have been stripping down and photographing themselves at the world’s iconic locations to the bewilderment of some and the disgust of others. Social media is abuzz as tourists get snaps of their uncovered backsides at national parks, on top of mountains, and at World Heritage sites.

The desire to reveal one’s naked glory is not a new thing, as streakers at sporting events and the devotees of nude beaches and nudist camps demonstrate. But this trend of “naked tourism” reveals something more than just bare bottoms – and it may call for some active interventions. [...]

Social media is certainly encouraging the practice. A good example of this is the Naked At Monuments Facebook page, which describes its purpose as “we get naked around the world”. There is also the My Naked Trip blog. Together, these indicate naked tourism may be an emerging trend rather than an oddity. [...]

Climbing Uluru is a great example of this. The Anangu traditional owners do not want visitors to climb this sacred place, but still do not ban it outright. One reason is deeply spiritual: the Anangu want visitors to respect their values and choose not to climb.

Such an approach has much to teach us about the meaning of travel between cultures. While today’s tourists travel freely to enjoy the world’s treasures, it does not mean such travel should be completely uninhibited.

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