Land & Life Song and Video Inspiring Threatened Communities Across Cambodia
 As part of our campaign to end forced evictions and land-grabbing in Cambodia, Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA) recently teamed up with an all-female a capella group called the Messenger Band, award-winning director David Eberhardt, and the legendary Kong Nai to produce a soul-stirring music video called Land and Life.
The Land and Life song was inspired by the resistance struggle of the Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac district, which has been fighting since 2005 to protect their land from being grabbed by the 7NG company. In November and December 2007, when the Dey Krahorm community was under attack by 7NG workers who were attempting to forcibly evict the residents, Bridges helped provide the community with advice and training on active non-violence resistance strategies. Following a collective action to form a human chain around Dey Krahorm on International Human Rights Day (Dec 10), which included more than 1000 residents of more than 15 threatened Phnom Penh communities, Dey Krahorm adopted the same strategy of locking hands and standing together non-violently in front of their homes when they were later confronted with intimidation from company workers. It was a courageous act of non-violent resistance, yet there was something missing – a song that could unify the community and give them strength in their determination to counter violence with non-violence.
BABSEA Cambodia Country Director David Pred knew just who to call to write the song that was needed. The Messenger band is an all-female vocal group that was formed in September 2005 from active and former garment workers. Their music delves deeply into important social and political issues, from the privatization of essential services to the dangers of pesticides used by Cambodian farmers, to carry a message of hope across Cambodia. If anybody could write a song about resisting land-grabbling and evictions, it was the Messengers.
Four months later, after spending time learning from Dey Krahorm and other communities that have been forcibly evicted or are fighting evictions, the Messenger Band wrote the Land and Life song. Bridges then recruited the critically acclaimed filmmaker David Eberhardt to direct a music video for the song. Eberhardt’s video blends images of evictions and communities resisting eviction to provide dramatic visual evidence of the abuses recalled in the song’s powerful lyrics; abuses which are consistently denied by the Cambodian authorities.
The video features an acoustic performance with the master chapey player Kong Nai in front of his humble home in Dey Krahorm. Kong Nai is one of Cambodia's most celebrated traditional musical performers. A master of the chapey, or Cambodian lute, Kong Nai has inspired Cambodian people with his soulful music for decades. He has also lived in Dey Krahorm since the early 1990s, when the Prime Minister’s bodyguard unit offered him land and a home there in exchange for performances at official events.
Land and Life has already become popular in threatened communities from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. Its lyrics practically cry out for the government to listen to their plight and take action to solve the country’s land crisis. Dey Krahorm now plays the song on its communal loudspeakers when confronted with intimidation by company workers, and the neighborhood children can all sing the lyrics.
“Land and Life has indeed become the unifying musical force we hoped to create,” said Pred. “As individuals and residents continue to mobilize and stand up for their rights, the Land and Life lyrics succeed in putting to music the people's plea for justice and a new model for Cambodian Development that does not sacrifice human rights in its name.”
To see the music video, click here
To see the acoustic version, featuring Kong Nai, click here
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