Video : forced evictions in Cambodia

Cambodia has a history that dates back more than 2,000 years. I was born, raised and acculturated in that land until 1961, when I spent my senior year of high school under the auspices of a student exchange program in Ohio. I returned to Cambodia after graduation, but came back to the U.S. for college and graduate school, earning my B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science.

School and experience have shaped my political outlook on individual rights, freedom and the rule of law. My cousin, who graduated from a medical school in East Germany, pronounced that my political views were proof that I was "born before my time." I dislike dictatorship in any circumstances; I hate it as a form of government.

Cambodians are not as passive and docile as some may think. Weak and helpless, perhaps, but no person accepts tyranny indefinitely. Weakness and helplessness are able to be modified, but a change in attitudes and values needs to come first.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam.
Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com

Source :
http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110504/OPINION02/105040309

See YouTube videos on forced evictions in Cambodia :
http://tinyurl.com/ytube-evictions