http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/southeast+asia/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Mon, 01 Oct 2001 14:52:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1621/burma_inc/ There may be no country with a worse record on labor rights than Burma, where the military regime regularly forces workers to toil on government and private projects for no pay. If the new global order can't act against such an extreme case, then there is little hope of effective protection of labor rights anywhere. The campaign to support the democratic opposition in Burma nevertheless has exerted significant pressure on the ruling junta, mainly by attacking corporate investment in Burma and sales of Burmese products. The drive for strong economic sanctions has the support of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. In the '90s, U.S. supporters of Burmese democracy attacked companies that operated in Burma… southeast asia Grace Lee Boggs Fri, 15 Mar 2002 14:25:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1438/dust_and_bones/ As a boy, Phann Ana found the bodies of his uncle and father where the Khmer Rouge had left them: under a compost pile near his family’s home. “The bodies were badly decomposed—just bones, really,” says Phann Ana, a 32-year-old writer. “But my mother recognized my father by his pants, and my aunt recognized my uncle by his lighter.” The family scooped up the mounds of splintered bones and tattered rags and cremated them. In their Buddhist faith, the ceremony, long delayed, brought spiritual peace. But it did not bring justice. Phann Ana—and millions of Cambodians—are still waiting for that. “It will not happen,” he says of efforts to bring the Khmer Rouge leadership to trial. “I don’t think so.”… southeast asia Grace Lee Boggs Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:10:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/398/unocal_off_the_hook/ For now, California energy giant Unocal Corp. is not liable for the rape, murder, torture and forced labor that occurred during construction of the $1.2 billion, 40-mile Yadana natural gas pipeline in Burma, now Myanmar. On January 23, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney concluded that Unocal could not be held accountable for the actions of its subsidiaries—but ruled that the case could move forward if plaintiff attorneys used other means to prove libability. The court found that victims’ testimony was well documented and that “the evidence does suggest that Unocal knew that forced labor was being utilized and that they benefited from the practice.” The notoriously brutal Burmese military was contracted to act as security on the… civil liberties corporations economy southeast asia Grace Lee Boggs Mon, 05 Dec 2005 05:01:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2420/cult_of_ideology/ The illusion of success on which this secretive nation's leaders thrive was on full display in early October as the Korean Workers Party celebrated the 60th anniversary of its ascent to power. Parks and skyscrapers in the country's showcase city were newly spruced up to valiantly demonstrate how the might and success of the unique brand of Communism practiced by the "hermit kingdom" is still intact. A song-and-dance extravaganza called "Arirang" was the centerpiece of the festivities. A cast of 100,000 acrobats, dancers, singers, soldiers, musicians and children who made giant designs using colored cards enthralled the audience as they told a love story with predictable ingredients--boy meets girl and, separated by political turmoil, they fight for their country, defeat… international affairs southeast asia Grace Lee Boggs Thu, 24 Aug 2006 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2775/the_true_temptations_of_the_west/ The phrase "Third World poverty," conjures up CNN-inspired images of starving, fly-infested babies clutching at their emaciated parents. This is raw human desperation that even we, in the comfort of our First-World homes, can comprehend. But what's more difficult to imagine is the fate of the other hundreds of millions in these distant countries caught right in the cusp between such disaster and survival. They are truck drivers, street vendors, house-maids, unemployed college graduates, and farmers who lead precarious, desperate lives scratching and flailing against going under in a teeming mass of humanity. Theirs is a world where success is a small step up the social ladder, achieved against enormous odds and at great expense to one's soul. Except for… books art and culture s.e. Asia Grace Lee Boggs Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3022/eyes_off_the_prize/ About 30 years ago, U.S. diplomats famously dismissed the civil war raging in the jungles of Cambodia as a "sideshow" to the Cold War. Callous as that was, the uncomfortable fact remains that the diplomats were probably right. As bloody and heartrending as the situation in Cambodia got by 1977, in the end it appears to have had only a limited bearing on the wider historical forces at work in the world, adding a further dimension of sheer meaninglessness to the tragedy and trauma that still haunts millions of Cambodians. Today, headlines are fixated on the gore and chaos unfolding in Iraq. The conflict there has been shaping the outcome of the elections in many Western nations, and is certain… china india iran Grace Lee Boggs Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:00:19 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4363/casualties_continue_in_vietnam/ DAI NGHIA VILLAGE, Vietnam--A house sits vacant off a dirt path in Dai An hamlet. The concrete home has a rusted corrugated metal roof, and attached to the building is a small, open-air structure standing on wood supports. Its metal roof is pockmarked with holes that allow sunlight to filter in. People in the hamlet hear mournful cries when they near the home. Down the same path, about 160 feet away, a smaller building houses the family that once lived in the vacant home--but the family has one less son. And there's crying here, too: the sobs of a mother. Across the street, on the front steps of a blue-tinged home sits a woman, with red eyes and a tear-streaked… war southeast asia Grace Lee Boggs