As the latest ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh approaches, so does a familiar
sideshow.
The meetings open tomorrow, but
activist groups say they are already being shut out of public and private
spaces by authorities, though they remain determined to weigh in on issues they
wish to see tackled at the summit.
Representatives from the ASEAN
Grassroots Peoples Assembly said yesterday they planned to march tomorrow to
present the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with recommendations for consideration
by ASEAN, despite Phnom Penh’s refusal to allow the march and other
obstructionist tactics.
“It’s difficult for us, but we
really hope the Phnom Penh Municipality will understand our concerns and give
us space,” Cambodian Food Services Workers Federation president and AGPA
organiser Sar Mora said at AGPA’s opening event last night.
But space for AGPA had so far
been in short supply, Mora said, speaking in the growing dark because the
hosting Stung Meas Restaurant had refused to turn on its electricity.
Earlier in the day, local
authorities had pressured the restaurant’s owners not to host the kick-off,
telling them they would be legally responsible for anything that happened, he
said.
“The way they expressed the
threat made the owners very scared.”
Nevertheless, hundreds of
participants crowded into the restaurant’s courtyard to listen to a series of
stirring songs and speeches. AGPA says more than 2,000 people will participate
in its workshops over the next four days.
Participants included farmers,
communities affected by evictions, garment workers, indigenous peoples, sex
workers, members of the LGBT community and representatives from other ASEAN
countries, AGPA organiser Ly Pisey said.
“We can see very clearly that the
authorities can cut off your electricity but they can’t cut off your power,”
Shalmali Guttal, Thailand program officer for the grassroots support group
Focus on the Global South, told the group at the restaurant.
The owners of the Stung Meas
Restaurant were not available for comment, but the Tuol Kork Centre, which
yesterday reneged on an agreement to host AGPA workshops scheduled for today,
said it was unable to host conferences and that AGPA had not shown adequate
permission from commune or district authorities.
Mora said the Tuol Kork Centre
had also received threats from local authorities.
He said AGPA participants had
also been turned away from a few guesthouses.
Guttal told the Post several
other venues for AGPA events had pulled out, even though the events were
private and, therefore, theoretically out of the government’s realm.
AGPA organisers said the
government had also pressured venues to refuse to host meetings of the ASEAN
People’s Forum, whose meetings coinciding with last March’s ASEAN summit were
blocked by authorities.
City spokesman Long Dimanche said
before the AGPA kick-off yesterday that he had not received adequate
information to respond.
He could not be reached for
comment later.
The Chroy Changvar comm-une chief
and commune police chief denied knowledge of pressure for venues such as Stung
Meas to exclude AGPA.
Justine Drennan
Business & Investment Opportunities
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