I had the pleasure of being at an amazing event on sunday, and I wanted to share it with all of you.

I was invited to a youth conference over the weekend held at the pagoda (effectively a buddhist monastery) that serves the communities we are benefiting.  There wasn't much for me to do except soak up the atmosphere, and talk with our partner organizations that are all trying to help this group of villages (Balang Commune).

Sunday was the culmination of the weekend, when there was a youth conference held.  The young people in our villages had prepared questions under the guidance of Mean Someth (our monk) and the local Non-Governmental Organization, HRND, to ask the leaders of their government.  Someth invited as many big-wigs from local politics and bureaucracy as he could.  Wattana, who works for another NGO helping this community, was skeptical that they would show up, especially on a sunday-so was I.  Usually once you get powerful enough in Cambodia you could care less what "little people" think.  In the Cambodian language (Khmer) there it is common to refer to people as "big men" or "small men" when talking about who holds the power-in a country with a nearly non-existent middle class, everybody falls into one of these categories.  Either they have no power or lots of power, and the guys with lots of power don't usually notice what the guys with no power are thinking*(see below).

It seemed that the conference would be a big flop at about 11 am, when the "big men" still hadn't shown up and were already an hour late.  However, we hadn't given up hope, particularly because this conference was organized by Someth.  From personal experience, I can attest that Someth is a hard person to ignore when he makes a request of you; he is both a passionate community organizer and a powerful and respected buddhist monk, and especially because of the latter he is one of the few non-government officials in the area that a powerful person might listen to.  I know he personally asked everyone to attend, and that meant that there was a good chance that some would.

Sure enough, a fair number of officials showed up around 1 pm and the conference actually began in earnest.   

First came a long round of boring introductions, in which each panel member expounded on the great things that their department or organization does.  I'm sure to all Cambodians concerned, this felt like the old days of only a few years ago, when powerful people spoke to, but did not listen to, their constituency.  Someth noted later that he saw all the older villagers in the room leave immediately when the police representatives showed up to speak.  It is hard not to be afraid of powerful people in a country where a few years ago they controlled the entire populace in an absolute way.

Things are changing, though.  Whereas before, power was in the hands of one party per province, at the local level power is now fragmented among three parties.  This, coupled with the fact that NGO presence is now strong enough in Siem Reap province, means that the people DO have a say in what their political leaders' actions are.  For the first time in forever (not an exaggeration), ordinary people organized properly can influence, if only slightly, the actions of their political leaders.

And youth, more responsive to radical change like this, were happy to lead the village into this new frontier of political activism.

With Wattana translating for me, I observed a remarkable, first time event for Balang Commune: ordinary people, youth no less, questioning their government leaders on policies.

With carefully rehearsed politeness, the first young man stood up and asked the Chief of the District a question:

 

Next question:

 

"Honorable sir, the people of Balang Commune cannot cut down the trees in the forests around us because the government says the land is being protected.  But large timber companies are allowed to cut those trees down and we get no compensation for it.  What can I do if my family needs wood for building a house or to sell for money?"

 

and on and on it went

 

As you might imagine there were the appropriate bureaucratic responses to most questions: "we are looking into that matter" and "we were busy with other projects to help the people but rest assured, we will work on that as soon as we can".  Same old, same old.

 

But there were also some positive interactions.  The District Chief, in particular, was extremely honest with the youth, and also made some substantive promises.  For example, on the logging question posed above, he apologized (a remarkable occurrence in its own right) for the governments' actions, which were to give logging concessions to big companies in exchange for bribes and prevent villagers from using their own lumber resources.  He said that while these conditions had already been decided at very high levels, allowances could be made on a case-by-case basis.  If a very poor family came to him and requested the right to cut wood to build a house, he could get the Provincial government to make an exception.  It was a small concession, but big in that concessions from the government to ordinary people until now have been non-existent in Cambodia.

 

I feel that regardless of what questions were asked and what answers were given, the first steps were taken towards true political participation for Balang Commune.  It didn't matter what political leaders showed up; word will spread to all of them that Balang Commune is getting organized and the villagers are keeping tabs on everyone.  It didn't matter that it was the youth and not the middle-aged or community elders; for one, youth comprise a huge percentage of the Cambodian population, and for another, they showed everyone in Balang that it was possible to stand up and speak out.

What really mattered was that for the first time in the history of these villages, people were able to freely ask critical questions of their political superiors and those superiors had to answer.  It made both the villagers and the bigwigs realize that this was possible, and that in this new era for Cambodia, where the dominant powers are fragmented, Cambodian politicians are finally somewhat accountable to the people for their actions.  The people aren't knocking at the doors of power-they are prying them open and stepping inside. 

I was very moved to be present for such an event, and very proud of this community that is developing in attitude and activism to accompany the development of their community by NGOs.  With the help of dedicated people they are learning how to demand positive action from their superiors, organize as a community, and prepare for the introduction of new projects, such as roads and (my project) water reservoirs.  One day, they will be able to independently improve their own lives.  This conference was a big indication that that possibility of independence is becoming a reality.

That's all from the field. Hope all is well with everyone.

 

Regards,

Will