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Contact: Ms. EAM Sivnin: +855.17.993.118
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights Brings
Speak Truth To Power to Cambodia
Kerry Kennedy in Phnom Penh to launch Speak Truth To Power
PHNOM PENH, 10 February 2011: Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, will arrive here on Tuesday, Feb. 22, to launch, through a series of events, the global human rights initiative Speak Truth To Power.
Ms. Kennedy and Phnom Penh-based Theary Seng will join local human rights activists, academics, and dignitaries to introduce Speak Truth To Power (STTP)—a book, play, photo exhibit, and human rights curriculum — to students, teachers, and the public.
Speak Truth To Power, based on Ms. Kennedy’s book of the same name, is a multi-faceted program of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Its goal is to use the experiences of courageous human rights defenders from around the world to educate students and the public on the significant struggles of our time, such as environmental activism and the fight for equality and democracy, and urge them to act.
The events in Cambodia will include an exhibit by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams; the play “Speak Truth To Power: Voices from Beyond the Dark,” by Broadway playwright Ariel Dorfman (adapted from Ms. Kennedy’s book), performed by the Phnom Penh Players; and a panel discussion on global human rights issues and the role of human rights in education.
Pannasastra University of Cambodia (PUC) will host the events, which are open to the public, free admission.
Seminar: Human Rights in Education
Wednesday, 23 February 2011, 3 – 5:30 P.M.
PUC Auditorium, Norodom Blvd.
Panel discussion on the role of human rights education and opening of Speak Truth To Power Photography Exhibition. Followed by a Press Conference and Photo Exhibition.
Keynote address by Prime Minister Hun Sen or his Human Rights representative H.E. OM Yentieng (TBC)
Remarks by Kerry Kennedy, Theary Seng, U.S. Ambassador Carol Rodley, Dr. Kol Pheng, Dr. Kek Galabru and others.
Representatives from education, legal and other sectors will discuss global human rights and the role of human rights education in Cambodia.
Photography Exhibition
Wednesday, 23 February 2011 following Seminar
The exhibit features portraits of prominent human rights defenders by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams. Launched at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the exhibit has traveled to more than 20 U.S. cities and is currently on a global tour on four continents.
The Play: Speak Truth To Power, Voices from Beyond the Dark
Thursday, 24 February 2011, 5:00 – 7:00 P.M.
PUC Auditorium, Norodom Blvd.
“Speak Truth To Power: Voices From Beyond the Dark,” a play adapted from Kerry Kennedy’s book Speak Truth To Power by Broadway playwright Ariel Dorfman. The play has been staged in cities worldwide, including London, Madrid, Rome, Milan, Sydney and Seoul, and performed by leading actors and students throughout the world. In Cambodia, the play will be performed by the Phnom Penh Players.
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The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights was founded in 1968 by Robert Kennedy’s family and friends as a living memorial to carry forward his vision of a more just and peaceful world. Today the impact of the RFK Center extends around the globe, through cutting-edge programs promoting human rights and social justice and empowering new generations of leaders.
CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education (“CIVICUS Cambodia”) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational, non-governmental organization registered with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy and reconciliation in Cambodia and the larger, globalized world. Up to now, Cambodia has had only a society of “survivors”, not of “representatives” or “citizens”. Cambodians as survivors are either “survivor-authoritarian” if the person is in a position of power or “survivor-subject” if an average person. The principal goals of CIVICUS Cambodia are to help Cambodian citizens develop (i) an increased understanding of the institutions of Cambodian constitutional democracy and the fundamental principles and values upon which they are founded, (ii) dialogue as a norm of communication, peace-building and reconciliation, (iii) the skills necessary to participate as effective and responsible citizens, and (iv) the willingness and ease to use democratic procedures for making decisions and managing conflict. In its engagement of citizens, CIVICUS Cambodia gives a special emphasis to (i) students—from elementary to university level—and the generation born after the Khmer Rouge era, (ii) female (both girls and women) participation, and (iii) elected representatives.
9 comments:
so what?
no news is insignificant enough for Theary Seng to promote herself and her business
When you hit the tag button “Theary Seng” at the bottom of this article, what you get is pages and pages of posts, most of them having a photo of Theary’s pretty face attached to them, many of them look like adds for cosmetic products often in private and opulent settings.
Which button do I have to click to see photos of all the regular Khmer women heroin mothers who live in the Khmer village and struggle to feed and educate their Khmer children and work their little piece of Khmer land until it is robbed from them, struggling to create a functional family and livelihood in a totally dysfunctional environment? Which button to listen to their voices and to know their thoughts? There are millions of them and I don’t know any of their names.
Same for all the regular Cambodian victims and those activists who speak out without the effortless enjoyment of a foreign citizenship and a law school career to fall back on? I don’t mind if they are less articulate than Theary.
Is Theary’s private life really sensitive information about Cambodia that it should be posted on KI-Media? If so, how come that there is not nearly as much about/from almost anyone of the KI-Media’s choice of Khmer heroes? I think it is for good reason that there is almost nothing about their private lives on KI Media. So why is Theary’s private life seemingly taking place mostly in foreign locations, considered sensitive information about Cambodia?
What is the purpose of posting photos of Theary that look as if they are promoting cosmetic products? I think it is demeaning not just of Khmer but any woman, as if men should only listen to pretty women or those who have applied sufficient amounts of make-up or as if you cannot get them with the strength of your argument than they might be persuaded by your sex-appeal?
If you were a politician, I would understand that you want everyone to vote for you, even people too stupid to understand your argument but who might find your face pretty enough to vote for you. But if you want your words to count, I suggest that you stop your self-promotion and showing off your undeserved privileges. Theary, for me its never become clear what you stand for, except yourself.
I think what is needed here is more and more diverse and more Khmer women voice, not only those that succeed in foreign educational institutions but those that struggle in the village in Cambodia. There is too little voice from inside Cambodia here, from the rice field, its mostly numbers, infant mortality, illiteracy, rape, land grab but what are the names of the innocent Khmer victims, the daily Khmer heroes and heroines, what do their faces look like, what are their thoughts, this is what I want to know and this is what is the real sensitive information about Cambodia, because it attaches names and faces to what is presented to us mostly as numbers. Photos of Theary’s face in her Greenwich Village apartment are a poor substitute, even with a Kroma. Sorry Theary, but if you do post your private stuff here you cannot be surprised that your private stuff is scrutinized here. The more you mix up your private stuff with your public role as voice of the Cambodian victims the more your claim to represent Khmer victims looses the last of its credibility. The victims are marginalized by your constant self-promotion. It is you who is diminishing their voices.
In fact I think that given the obvious constraints KI Media is doing a good job in making the real Khmer voice heard but I wonder if there are additional means that could be considered, such as ways in which Cambodians could share their stories through KI Media, maybe by sending them anonymously to a specific email? I am sure there are more students, farmers and so on whose thoughts and stories we would like to hear. I don’t mind Theary but I want her voice balanced with those of Cambodian women and men. Better focus on publishing sensitive information about Cambodia than private information about Theary, all the more since it is mostly targeted at foreign audiences, who respond particularly well to pretty, articulate, Anglophone victims.
If I want to see pretty Khmer girls I can watch any of the CPP TV channels. Why making KI Media a platform for Theary’s self-promotion?
Same for the Khmer Rouge trial. I can see how it benefits the CPP and international donors, foreign advocates and people like Theary, like to pay mortgage for her NYC apartment but I don’t see how it benefits Khmer victims. I also don’t see how Theary can credibly represent Khmer victims. I don’t think Theary’s success has come effortlessly but it was enabled by functional institutions that are the complete opposite of what Khmer victims experience every day. Theary’s privileged lifestyle is the opposite of what Khmer victims experience every day and it is obscene to suggest that it is she who could make the victims heard, that it is her story that represents the Khmer victims. I want the trial and the victims’ voice to be heard but I don’t want the trial to be a platform for Theary’s self-promotion. I think this is a matter of respect for the Khmer victims.
Same old jealous losers with same old comments, but Theary continues with her good work.
Happy day to everyone!
what is good work about giving people like Hun Sen and Om Yentieng a platform to pretend they care for civic education, leave alone "speaking truth to power"
its a travesty.
Please do not just keep going on repeating how great, good, pretty, articulate Theary is but please do try to point out what exactly it is you think is great about this work or her in general.
I think you are Theary's unpaid intern in NYC.
Dreaming for power or they are really love our country Cambodia ?
Why you have to teach our Khmer people the different thing, that not belongs to them. Are you sure, that all US people are understanding so well the Human right ?
Did the sitaution in Haiti change or got worse after the new man from the US-Exile took the power in this country ?
yes you make a right move rainsy, a litlte late but stile positive move. those who curse Hun sen those curse come back to you and to your family, smart peole they never blindly believe 100 prcent in anythings, good that you are out now, guy like you neither too good nor too bad, you are worst zero to anythings. and we are khmer don't have such blind extremise like you. goo to tiolet and dump yourhead in, becouse how that you value yourself tobe shite heads, yourhead full of anger who could live with you you have yourself enemy do not blame Mr rainsy, shit heads KI
10:25! Bank Kok lake! Dey craham is not extrem to you?
Chea Vichet, Piset Polika, Touch srey Nick were not enought for you!
You ready to hit hell with ah Kwack Hun Xen mothrfucker!
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