The first trial of comrade Duch started yesterday at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).
I can't imagine the horrors that started during that infamous Khmer New Year in 1975 and lasted until 1979.
I can't imagine the rampant fear of an entire country.
I can't imagine Vietnamese control over this amazing land.
I can't imagine how UNTAC changed the landscape.
I can't believe the trials are actually happening after 30 years.
Below are two links, one from the Phnom Penh Post about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, the other from the New York Times from a Frenchman. I would encourage you to read both as they both give a different perspective.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009021724257/National-news/-I-have-waited-30-years-for-this-trial-Vann-Nath.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/opinion/17bizot.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=khmer%20rouge&st=cse
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Does it happen in America?
I have exciting news! WPM got a new donor! I was exstatic when I found out. The beneficiary is V-Day which raises money with V-Day celebrations and production of The Vagina Monologues to prevent abuse to women around the world. This year V-Day is supporting women in the Congo and for the production in Cambodia, WPM was chosen as the local beneficiary. :)
As part of the agreement, the producers of this group wanted WPM to come to several events, one which was last night was the screening of Until the Violence Stops, describing the history of The Vagina Monologues and the movement to stop violence against women. Sona, the executive director of WPM, had called me on Tuesday asking me to come into Phnom Penh and attend this event with them. Knowing the place the film was going to be shown and that the audience would mostly be western, I agreed to go with them.
Sona, Munney and I arrived about an hour before the film was to be shown, and with few other people around, we had free time to talk. This was an amazing experience for me to chat with Sona and Munney about their personal experiences and their views on sexuality, vaginas, what’s talked about in Cambodia and female empowerment. The general responses were unmarried women don’t talk about anything having to do with their reproductive system until they are married. Even then, only childbirth is talked about. The female reproductive system is either ‘dirty’ or ‘sexy’ or for childbirth. Likewise, domestic violence or rape isn’t talked about. Women believe they are to blame for the domestic abuse or rape and they brought it on themselves and now are ‘unworthy.’ More awareness is going on with programs like the one WPM is running, but for the most part, domestic violence is still seen as that family’s problem and local police and villagers will not get involved. After explaining the Cambodian mindset to me, Munney asked, “What about in America? Do you talk about these things?” I mumbled we talk about it some.
Later that night I got to thinking; we don’t talk about domestic violence, abuse, or rape in America. It’s socially taboo. We talk about sex, teenage pregnancy, porn, sexual exploration, abstinence, but not domestic violence. Why is this? I know it happens; I see the after effects. Looking back on my childhood I can recall people who were abused, though they never told me. What I struggle with more is the fact that so much abuse happens in the church and the establishment ignores it. I grew up with the assumption that if a woman was removed from an abusive relationship, she’ll just return to it or find another abusive partner. But statistics say this woman was possibly abused as a child. Where does this cycle end? When does the stigma disappear that we associate with relationships involving abuse? Why doesn’t the church stand up against violence instead of passively ignoring it and, thus condoning it?
Why don’t I stand up? I’m afraid. I’m afraid I’ll lose the attention of the women I’m trying to help, I’ll lose the my support network, and I’ll be ostracized by the establishment. I’m afraid I’ll become cynical and harsh, disillusioned with this matter as I have with other things. But, what if, just maybe, we try to heal the scars? The scars of abuse, disillusionment, and regain that last beam of hope left deep inside? I can find healing for my own cynicism, my own disillusionment with the established church. In the grand scheme of things, healing my own wounds may not bring world peace, but it is one step in the path of pacifism.
As part of the agreement, the producers of this group wanted WPM to come to several events, one which was last night was the screening of Until the Violence Stops, describing the history of The Vagina Monologues and the movement to stop violence against women. Sona, the executive director of WPM, had called me on Tuesday asking me to come into Phnom Penh and attend this event with them. Knowing the place the film was going to be shown and that the audience would mostly be western, I agreed to go with them.
Sona, Munney and I arrived about an hour before the film was to be shown, and with few other people around, we had free time to talk. This was an amazing experience for me to chat with Sona and Munney about their personal experiences and their views on sexuality, vaginas, what’s talked about in Cambodia and female empowerment. The general responses were unmarried women don’t talk about anything having to do with their reproductive system until they are married. Even then, only childbirth is talked about. The female reproductive system is either ‘dirty’ or ‘sexy’ or for childbirth. Likewise, domestic violence or rape isn’t talked about. Women believe they are to blame for the domestic abuse or rape and they brought it on themselves and now are ‘unworthy.’ More awareness is going on with programs like the one WPM is running, but for the most part, domestic violence is still seen as that family’s problem and local police and villagers will not get involved. After explaining the Cambodian mindset to me, Munney asked, “What about in America? Do you talk about these things?” I mumbled we talk about it some.
Later that night I got to thinking; we don’t talk about domestic violence, abuse, or rape in America. It’s socially taboo. We talk about sex, teenage pregnancy, porn, sexual exploration, abstinence, but not domestic violence. Why is this? I know it happens; I see the after effects. Looking back on my childhood I can recall people who were abused, though they never told me. What I struggle with more is the fact that so much abuse happens in the church and the establishment ignores it. I grew up with the assumption that if a woman was removed from an abusive relationship, she’ll just return to it or find another abusive partner. But statistics say this woman was possibly abused as a child. Where does this cycle end? When does the stigma disappear that we associate with relationships involving abuse? Why doesn’t the church stand up against violence instead of passively ignoring it and, thus condoning it?
Why don’t I stand up? I’m afraid. I’m afraid I’ll lose the attention of the women I’m trying to help, I’ll lose the my support network, and I’ll be ostracized by the establishment. I’m afraid I’ll become cynical and harsh, disillusioned with this matter as I have with other things. But, what if, just maybe, we try to heal the scars? The scars of abuse, disillusionment, and regain that last beam of hope left deep inside? I can find healing for my own cynicism, my own disillusionment with the established church. In the grand scheme of things, healing my own wounds may not bring world peace, but it is one step in the path of pacifism.
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