Kea Sokun’s ‘Blood Workers’ Video Taken Down Following Legal Threats From Police & Culture Ministry

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Cambodia’s Tradition Ministry is cracking down on the unfold of rapper Kea Sokun’s music video for “Blood Employees,” which marks the 9^th anniversary of the 2014 employees’ protest that resulted in 4 deaths and at the least three dozen folks injured by the hands of the police, according to information service Radio Free Asia.

The now-deleted video reveals footage of the January 3 demonstrations in Phnom Penh, the place “police have opened hearth on hanging Cambodian garment employees” who have been demanding a rise to the minimal wage, according to a 2014 report by the BBC.

Kea Sokun raps, “For the previous 9 years they’ve been left with ache and sorrow and disappointment by gestures stuffed with blood… There isn’t any one who is aware of, and so they have been ready for justice for the previous 9 years, ready so lengthy however there isn’t any one held accountable.”

Unbiased information outlet VOD reported that the police obtained a letter from Tradition Minister Phoeurng Sackona, dated January 6, to cease the “Blood Employees” video from circulating on social media, citing its “inciting contents that may contribute to instability and social dysfunction.”

In a press release, Ministry of Tradition and Advantageous Arts spokesman Lengthy Bunna Sireyvath stated, “Whether it is inside a blue or inexperienced line, the ministry will summon them for schooling, however it’s past this line.”

Representatives from a number of civil society teams in Cambodia have been introduced into questioning after sharing the video on their respective platforms, and got 24 hours to take away the video from their on-line platforms, or danger going through authorized motion.

Human rights group LICADHO launched a statement through Fb on January 10, saying, “It’s LICADHO’s perception that the music video will not be incitement, and is protected speech below the Cambodian Structure. We’re saddened by this restriction on freedom of expression. That is the primary time in LICADHO’s 30-year historical past that the federal government has taken authorized motion because of a criticism… The video marked the 9-year anniversary of the violence on Veng Sreng Boulevard that left 4 civilians lifeless, 38 wounded (together with 25 with bullet wounds) and a 15-year-old boy lacking. It consisted of historic footage taken on and round Veng Sreng Boulevard through the early days of 2014, when hanging employees clashed with closely armed safety forces.”

It continued, “LICADHO continues to face in solidarity with the victims of the Veng Sreng violence. To today, nobody has been held accountable for the killings of employees Kim Phaleap, Sam Ravy, Yean Rithy and Pheng Kosal, or for Khem Sophath’s disappearance.”

In the meantime, casual employees union IDEA president Vorn Pov was quoted after his questioning, “We reside in a society like this, and it’s like this… Now we have by no means had the peace to specific our views.”

As of publication, each LICADHO and IDEA, together with a number of different teams, have complied with the order and eliminated the video.

Kea Sokun has but to launch a press release concerning the removing of his video.

In 2020, the Cambodian rapper was arrested for costs of incitement through his songs however was subsequently launched in 2021. HipHopDX Asia workers author Sofia Guanzon wrote final 12 months, “Sokun had the choice of publicly apologizing to save lots of himself from the sentence however took the unthinkably troublesome path to make a stand and imagine that justice would discover him both approach. This sort of resolve is troublesome to swallow for anybody else. Within the face of state persecution, the rapper has breathed new which means into the potential for hip hop to ignite change and function a platform that celebrates dissent within the title of peace.”

Take heed to the audio of “ឈាមបាតុករ Blood Employees” beneath: