Four Preah Vihear indigenous families met with provincial authorities on Tuesday over claims to their land but were told they had no option but to leave their homes.
Preah Sihanouk is scattered with shacks and trailer homes after years of land disputes uprooted communities. Residents of the most affected communes question whether their votes can put an end to land conflicts and homelessness.
The trucks are not carrying sugarcane. There is no sugarcane for kilometers. Instead, the cleared land is filled with rice paddy ready for harvest. Kuy villagers in Preah Vihear are moving back onto plantation land from which they were once evicted.
Violence committed by the state against Cambodians — or “these things” as one shooting victim put it — is not infrequent. But amid villagers’ decadeslong struggle against land grabs, many are finding courage in filming and broadcasting authorities’ abuses live, across the country.
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