Cambodia’s Culture Ministry is cracking down on the spread of rapper Kea Sokun’s music video for “Blood Workers,” which marks the 9th anniversary of the 2014 workers’ protest that resulted in four deaths and at least three dozen people injured at the hands of the police, according to news service Radio Free Asia.
The now-deleted video shows footage of the January 3 demonstrations in Phnom Penh, where “police have opened fire on striking Cambodian garment workers” who were demanding an increase to the minimum wage, according to a 2014 report by the BBC.
Kea Sokun raps, “For the past nine years they have been left with pain and sorrow and sadness by gestures full of blood… There is no one who knows, and they have been waiting for justice for the past nine years, waiting so long but there is no one held responsible.”
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Independent news outlet VOD reported that the police received a letter from Culture Minister Phoeurng Sackona, dated January 6, to stop the “Blood Workers” video from circulating on social media, citing its “inciting contents that can contribute to instability and social disorder.”
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In a statement, Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts spokesman Long Bunna Sireyvath said, “If it is within a blue or green line, the ministry will summon them for education, but it is beyond this line.”
Representatives from several civil society groups in Cambodia were brought into questioning after sharing the video on their respective platforms, and were given 24 hours to remove the video from their online platforms, or risk facing legal action.
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Human rights group LICADHO released a statement via Facebook on January 10, saying, “It is LICADHO’s belief that the music video is not incitement, and is protected speech under the Cambodian Constitution. We are saddened by this restriction on freedom of expression. This is the first time in LICADHO’s 30-year history that the government has taken legal action as a result of a complaint… The video marked the 9-year anniversary of the violence on Veng Sreng Boulevard that left four civilians dead, 38 wounded (including 25 with bullet wounds) and a 15-year-old boy missing. It consisted of historical footage taken on and around Veng Sreng Boulevard during the early days of 2014, when striking workers clashed with heavily armed security forces.”
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It continued, “LICADHO continues to stand in solidarity with the victims of the Veng Sreng violence. To this day, no one has been held accountable for the killings of workers Kim Phaleap, Sam Ravy, Yean Rithy and Pheng Kosal, or for Khem Sophath’s disappearance.”
Meanwhile, informal workers union IDEA president Vorn Pov was quoted after his questioning, “We live in a society like this, and it is like this… We have never had the peace to express our views.”
As of publication, both LICADHO and IDEA, along with several other groups, have complied with the order and removed the video.
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Kea Sokun has yet to release a statement about the removal of his video.
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In 2020, the Cambodian rapper was arrested and found guilty of charges of “incitement to commit a felony” but was subsequently released in 2021. HipHopDX Asia staff writer Sofia Guanzon wrote last year, “Sokun had the option of publicly apologizing to save himself from the sentence but took the unthinkably difficult route to make a stand and believe that justice would find him either way. This kind of resolve is difficult to swallow for anyone else. In the face of state persecution, the rapper has breathed new meaning into the potential for hip hop to ignite change and serve as a platform that celebrates dissent in the name of peace.”
Listen to the audio of “ឈាមបាតុករ Blood Workers” below:
