By Roger TATOUD
Agora Vox (France)
Bangkok
In the middle of Phnom Penh, the author “meets” David Beckham and ponder on globalization as an indecent driving force that can take a country out of poverty.
Phnom Penh. Standing at the intersection of Moniwong Boulevard and Charles de Gaulle I watch the traffic, oblivious of where I am. In the hot and sticky weather of this month of May I only want to cool down in the shadow of a building. Hypnotized by a never-ending flow of Hondas, I barely noticed David Beckham looking at me from the other side of the boulevard. I suddenly realized that I am not in London or Bangkok, but in Phnom Penh, a town that was forcedly abandoned thirty years ago after falling in the hands of the Khmers Rouge on April 17, 1975.
Then, I though, what does David Beckham know about Cambodia?
Three decades after the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia is slowly recovering. Its economy is dependent on hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid, mostly wasted on a rampant corruption. Cambodia is a rural country with a striking gender imbalance the result of widespread massacres in the 1970s. 36.1% of the 14 millions Cambodians live below the poverty line (1990-2002, UNDP/HDR 2005). Mortality at birth is among the highest in Asia at 437 deaths per 100,000 live births. Cambodia has one of the highest landmines and unexploded ordinances in the world restricting freedom of movement and land exploitation. According to the WHO approximately 4.2 persons per 1,000 are amputees as a consequence of a land-mine explosion. Cambodia also has the highest proportion of amputees in the world at 1 person out of 384 people and 1 person per 250 Cambodians is disabled. With a life expectancy in 2004 of 57, the population is a young one; those are the survivors of the Khmer Rouge Era (Figures from Womenwarpeace.org).
However, the streets of the capital are bustling with people, barbers, mechanics, ironmongers, and street sellers of all sorts. The pavement is a jungle of street shops. Everybody is doing something, selling something, even children as young as 6 sell second-hand books and postcards to tourists. Rickshaw, Motorbike and TukTuk drivers are everywhere offering their service all day long relentlessly.
In a more remote part of town, away from the tourist area, I met a young man selling charcoal. Most of the country still lack basic facilities like fresh water and electricity. In rural area only 29% of the population use improved drinking water sources (UNICEF 2002).
Children walk in the nude, covered in dirt, many are underweight. Health care remains inadequate. The HIV epidemic, often blamed on the 1992 UNTAC mission, is spreading quickly with an increasing prostitution that accompanies rapid development. Cambodia has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in all of Asia at 1.6% (0.9-2.6%) according to the UNAIDS 2006 report. Migration flux (particularly of women) to satisfy global economic demands or driven by poverty or human trafficking between Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam are an important factor in the spreading of the disease.
On the touristy Sisowath Quay bars and restaurants have mushroomed in recent years. They offer international and Thai food and happy hours deals. There is even an ATM machine giving dollars open until late at night. Here, tourists enjoy the late afternoon in the shadow of bars set in a colonial style, comfortably sitting in large and deep armchair, sipping a Heineken. At night, while the backstreets of Phnom Penh are falling asleep and the silence finally fall after a busy day, Sisowath Quay is vibrant with tourists and expats enjoying the freshness of the nigh, its girls, boys and beers.
Back where I stand, watching over me, David Beckham, epitome of our globalisation at work, advertises for Gillette on a giant screen at a busy corner of the capital.
It is indecent but it is a driving force.
The UNTAC mission did not only bring HIV, prostitution (1) and possibly an end to the Khmer Rouge regime (2), but also a lifestyle until then unknown to rural Cambodia. It is then that Cambodia entered into the era of globalisation. I can not write of this time as I did not witness it, but I can write about today and my journey in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Poipet.
Coming from Thailand where the globalisation process is already a thing of the past, I know where Cambodia is heading to: a society where consumerism not only governs the polity but is a lifestyle of choice for the future generation. The images and the way of life of the West starting to invade and penetrate the Cambodian society will foster dreams of what a good life is in a population emerging from years of repression and human suffering. Faced by no choice other than joining in, people will strive to make a little bit of these dreams come true. Unwillingly and willingly Cambodian will sell body and soul to our globalisation.
In the centre of Phnom Penh the Sorya shopping mall is the first of its kind trying to emulate what is already an old concept in neighbouring Thailand. Those familiar with the Bangkok MBK Centre, an enormous 8-storey marble mall opened in 1985, would feel in known territory here. Five floors of small stalls and booths selling locally made western-like goods, from clothes to DVD. The Pizza Company is already there, fattening wealthy Cambodians who can afford it in what could be considered a luxurious and modern setting by local standard. Cambodians have missed out on the shopping complexes common across most cities in Southeast Asia but they are now catching up and more complexes, “bigger and better” are in the making.
From the Sorya rooftop, the view over Phnom Penh is impressing. On the roof of a nearby building, young boys play football, further away someone is doing some physical exercise, and afar the chedi of Wat Phnom is visible, beyond a sea of roof covered with advertising boards promoting foreign goods and lifestyle, bringing from far away a world where David Beckham uses Gillette Razor.
Yet Cambodians live at the periphery of our world, but they know all about it and want it all and want it now. Cambodia and many other developing countries are thrust into our 21st century by greed, envy and fairytales images of prosperity, artificial beauty and material possession. Though it is easy to be upset I don’t see here anything different from what has happened all along European and North American history. The greed of many is a more powerful driving force than the altruism of a few. What rights or reasons could one have to forbid these people what we can enjoy, even if it comes at a price?
Where one should get easily upset is by the crass ignorance of the devastating impact our western way of life is having on developing countries. One should be upset with shoppers trying to get the best bargain on a 10£ T-shirt in London, made here for a hundredth of its price. It is the total lack of understanding or even interest in this globalisation sold to us as the panacea to all our problems that is really upsetting (read Gordon Brown latest pro-globalisation article in Newsweek).
We only have to look at what is happening in Europe and the USA now to know where these countries forced into our globalisation are heading to. Equally, we only have to look at the existing disparities in these developing countries now to know that the end result will be worst. Cambodia and other developing SE Asian countries with an economic potential are just getting there faster. Globalisation gave them a kick start into a world where the divide between rich and poor can only be growing, where inequality will only be exacerbated if nothing is done.
Faced by an unbearable and unavoidable social, economic and political pressure, it becomes a personal responsibility not to contribute to this globalisation. Awareness of the impact our globalisation has on these local populations is the first step toward a better world. This is a huge task. It means understanding the impact of globalisation on health issue (HIV/AIDS) gender equality (prostitution, women’s oppression), migration (legal or human trafficking), economy (corruption and parallel economies) and social structures (destruction of traditional lifestyles and familial bonds). It also means waking up from the state of lethargy globalisation is keeping us in.
Globalisation can take Cambodia and other developing countries out of poverty, but it does not have to be an indecent process. One of the first things to do might just be to talk to David Beckham.
(1) www.womenwarpeace.org reports that according to a book released in June 2004 written by two UN employees and one former UN staffer, ‘Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell on Earth’ Bulgarian peacekeepers in Cambodia were not actually trained soldiers. The book says the Bulgarian government, strapped for hard currency, offered a deal to inmates, pledging them pardons if they accepted a six-month assignment in Cambodia. For sending troops, the U.N. would give Bulgaria financial compensation. The Bulgarians are "a battalion of criminal lunatics (who) arrive in a lawless land. They’re drunk as sailors, rape vulnerable Cambodian women and crash their U.N. land cruisers with remarkable frequency.”
(2) For a short discussion see UN Peacekeeping Missions: The Lessons from Cambodia
Agora Vox (France)
Bangkok
In the middle of Phnom Penh, the author “meets” David Beckham and ponder on globalization as an indecent driving force that can take a country out of poverty.
Phnom Penh. Standing at the intersection of Moniwong Boulevard and Charles de Gaulle I watch the traffic, oblivious of where I am. In the hot and sticky weather of this month of May I only want to cool down in the shadow of a building. Hypnotized by a never-ending flow of Hondas, I barely noticed David Beckham looking at me from the other side of the boulevard. I suddenly realized that I am not in London or Bangkok, but in Phnom Penh, a town that was forcedly abandoned thirty years ago after falling in the hands of the Khmers Rouge on April 17, 1975.
Then, I though, what does David Beckham know about Cambodia?
Three decades after the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia is slowly recovering. Its economy is dependent on hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign aid, mostly wasted on a rampant corruption. Cambodia is a rural country with a striking gender imbalance the result of widespread massacres in the 1970s. 36.1% of the 14 millions Cambodians live below the poverty line (1990-2002, UNDP/HDR 2005). Mortality at birth is among the highest in Asia at 437 deaths per 100,000 live births. Cambodia has one of the highest landmines and unexploded ordinances in the world restricting freedom of movement and land exploitation. According to the WHO approximately 4.2 persons per 1,000 are amputees as a consequence of a land-mine explosion. Cambodia also has the highest proportion of amputees in the world at 1 person out of 384 people and 1 person per 250 Cambodians is disabled. With a life expectancy in 2004 of 57, the population is a young one; those are the survivors of the Khmer Rouge Era (Figures from Womenwarpeace.org).
However, the streets of the capital are bustling with people, barbers, mechanics, ironmongers, and street sellers of all sorts. The pavement is a jungle of street shops. Everybody is doing something, selling something, even children as young as 6 sell second-hand books and postcards to tourists. Rickshaw, Motorbike and TukTuk drivers are everywhere offering their service all day long relentlessly.
In a more remote part of town, away from the tourist area, I met a young man selling charcoal. Most of the country still lack basic facilities like fresh water and electricity. In rural area only 29% of the population use improved drinking water sources (UNICEF 2002).
Children walk in the nude, covered in dirt, many are underweight. Health care remains inadequate. The HIV epidemic, often blamed on the 1992 UNTAC mission, is spreading quickly with an increasing prostitution that accompanies rapid development. Cambodia has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in all of Asia at 1.6% (0.9-2.6%) according to the UNAIDS 2006 report. Migration flux (particularly of women) to satisfy global economic demands or driven by poverty or human trafficking between Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam are an important factor in the spreading of the disease.
On the touristy Sisowath Quay bars and restaurants have mushroomed in recent years. They offer international and Thai food and happy hours deals. There is even an ATM machine giving dollars open until late at night. Here, tourists enjoy the late afternoon in the shadow of bars set in a colonial style, comfortably sitting in large and deep armchair, sipping a Heineken. At night, while the backstreets of Phnom Penh are falling asleep and the silence finally fall after a busy day, Sisowath Quay is vibrant with tourists and expats enjoying the freshness of the nigh, its girls, boys and beers.
Back where I stand, watching over me, David Beckham, epitome of our globalisation at work, advertises for Gillette on a giant screen at a busy corner of the capital.
It is indecent but it is a driving force.
The UNTAC mission did not only bring HIV, prostitution (1) and possibly an end to the Khmer Rouge regime (2), but also a lifestyle until then unknown to rural Cambodia. It is then that Cambodia entered into the era of globalisation. I can not write of this time as I did not witness it, but I can write about today and my journey in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Poipet.
Coming from Thailand where the globalisation process is already a thing of the past, I know where Cambodia is heading to: a society where consumerism not only governs the polity but is a lifestyle of choice for the future generation. The images and the way of life of the West starting to invade and penetrate the Cambodian society will foster dreams of what a good life is in a population emerging from years of repression and human suffering. Faced by no choice other than joining in, people will strive to make a little bit of these dreams come true. Unwillingly and willingly Cambodian will sell body and soul to our globalisation.
In the centre of Phnom Penh the Sorya shopping mall is the first of its kind trying to emulate what is already an old concept in neighbouring Thailand. Those familiar with the Bangkok MBK Centre, an enormous 8-storey marble mall opened in 1985, would feel in known territory here. Five floors of small stalls and booths selling locally made western-like goods, from clothes to DVD. The Pizza Company is already there, fattening wealthy Cambodians who can afford it in what could be considered a luxurious and modern setting by local standard. Cambodians have missed out on the shopping complexes common across most cities in Southeast Asia but they are now catching up and more complexes, “bigger and better” are in the making.
From the Sorya rooftop, the view over Phnom Penh is impressing. On the roof of a nearby building, young boys play football, further away someone is doing some physical exercise, and afar the chedi of Wat Phnom is visible, beyond a sea of roof covered with advertising boards promoting foreign goods and lifestyle, bringing from far away a world where David Beckham uses Gillette Razor.
Yet Cambodians live at the periphery of our world, but they know all about it and want it all and want it now. Cambodia and many other developing countries are thrust into our 21st century by greed, envy and fairytales images of prosperity, artificial beauty and material possession. Though it is easy to be upset I don’t see here anything different from what has happened all along European and North American history. The greed of many is a more powerful driving force than the altruism of a few. What rights or reasons could one have to forbid these people what we can enjoy, even if it comes at a price?
Where one should get easily upset is by the crass ignorance of the devastating impact our western way of life is having on developing countries. One should be upset with shoppers trying to get the best bargain on a 10£ T-shirt in London, made here for a hundredth of its price. It is the total lack of understanding or even interest in this globalisation sold to us as the panacea to all our problems that is really upsetting (read Gordon Brown latest pro-globalisation article in Newsweek).
We only have to look at what is happening in Europe and the USA now to know where these countries forced into our globalisation are heading to. Equally, we only have to look at the existing disparities in these developing countries now to know that the end result will be worst. Cambodia and other developing SE Asian countries with an economic potential are just getting there faster. Globalisation gave them a kick start into a world where the divide between rich and poor can only be growing, where inequality will only be exacerbated if nothing is done.
Faced by an unbearable and unavoidable social, economic and political pressure, it becomes a personal responsibility not to contribute to this globalisation. Awareness of the impact our globalisation has on these local populations is the first step toward a better world. This is a huge task. It means understanding the impact of globalisation on health issue (HIV/AIDS) gender equality (prostitution, women’s oppression), migration (legal or human trafficking), economy (corruption and parallel economies) and social structures (destruction of traditional lifestyles and familial bonds). It also means waking up from the state of lethargy globalisation is keeping us in.
Globalisation can take Cambodia and other developing countries out of poverty, but it does not have to be an indecent process. One of the first things to do might just be to talk to David Beckham.
(1) www.womenwarpeace.org reports that according to a book released in June 2004 written by two UN employees and one former UN staffer, ‘Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell on Earth’ Bulgarian peacekeepers in Cambodia were not actually trained soldiers. The book says the Bulgarian government, strapped for hard currency, offered a deal to inmates, pledging them pardons if they accepted a six-month assignment in Cambodia. For sending troops, the U.N. would give Bulgaria financial compensation. The Bulgarians are "a battalion of criminal lunatics (who) arrive in a lawless land. They’re drunk as sailors, rape vulnerable Cambodian women and crash their U.N. land cruisers with remarkable frequency.”
(2) For a short discussion see UN Peacekeeping Missions: The Lessons from Cambodia
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