Hearths of Resistance

Hearths of Resistance focuses on the social and political turmoil during the 18 months after the 2013 legislative elections in Cambodia. With the opposition CNRP gaining a surprising 55 of the 123 seats at the National Assembly, this was the first serious democratic challenge for Prime Minister Hun Sen in some 30 years. Surfing on this success and relying on a pool of disgruntled citizens who suffered land grabbings, on the 600,000 garment factory workers living on insufficient wages and more generally on normal citizens confronted with a daily dose of corruption and injustice, the CNRP managed to mobilise the masses for 6 months. A violent crackdown by the army on January 3rd of striking workers forced the opposition into a strategy of compromise. The workers and the evicted communities had to rely on their own.

With over 500 photographs and a video, an interactive map, a glossary available through the captions and quotes from protesters giving their definition of the word ‘resistance’, this ebook is an attempt to show the resilience of those who resist the erosion of their human rights