Cambodia Calling: To youn or not to youn

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

To youn or not to youn

I left a post on another website detailsaresketchy on how some of the Cambodian Bloom women would refuse to sell used aluminium cans to Vietnamese rubbish collectors, saving them only for a Cambodian collector (when I had the cafe, I would give the cans to the Bloom women to sell for them to buy fruit or snacks to share). When I asked why, these women would tell me because "youn ot-la-or" ("Vietnamese no good") or "m'nu koick" ("bad people").

Anyway, this post led to a response from a person (obviously Khmer) who blustered on about "hate" and how "youn" is just a descriptive term and different languages have different words for the same object and stop picking on the word "youn" as used by Cambodians.

It's not worth going into. The only thing worth pointing out is intent and context is important is determining Hate Speech--speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a person (definition from wikipedia).

The word "youn" is not racist in itself (I have been told it comes from the Vietnamese word that refers to the Vietnamese rice hats). Words are just words until they are used in context, when intention comes into play. The word "bitch" as it occurs in a dictionary is just a word, until it is spat by a man at a woman. This is why it is ok for a black (African or African American) person to use "the N-word" when addressing another black person, but not acceptable for a person from another race to address a black person in this manner. It is because in the latter instance, the intent is suspect.

In the example I used, I say clearly the context: not selling the cans to one group of people versus another. The intent is referred to when I said the Cambodian women told me why they would not sell the cans, because Vietnamese are "ot la-or".

So if a Cambodian uses the word "youn", make sure you know what context it is in and also his/her intention. And hand on heart, dear Cambodian reader, when you use the word "youn", are you sure it is not a loaded term for you?

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Some argue that "Shopping is more important than voting", and that the disposition of money is the most basic role we play in any system of economics. Some theorists believe that it is the clearest way that we express our actual moral choices, i.e., if we say we care about something but continue to buy from parties that have a high probability of risk of harm or destruction of that thing, we really don't care about it; we are practicing a form of simple hypocrisy." - Ethical Consumerism, Wikipedia

THE BLOOM MANIFESTO

1. We believe in the right of all people to a decent life, free of poverty and with access to education

2. We believe you will be enriched helping the poor

3. We believe women hold up half the sky

4. We believe workers should always be paid a fair wage

5. We believe if you knew the truth, you would not be an accessory to the exploitation of workers

6. We believe exploitation is evil

7. We believe in the power of good over evil

8. We believe in the power of the individual to bring about change

9. We believe your bag is a reflection of you - are you really a sheep?

10. We believe quality is worth paying for

11. We believe in love at first sight - at least where our bags are concerned!

12. We believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of handbags!

WHAT IS A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?

A social enterprise has as its central objective, a social or environmental purpose, and not the obsession with profits. Yes, of course we want to be profitable, but it is so we can hire even more people in unfortunate circumstances, and offer them a shot at a better life, and not because we want to "increase shareholder value" or for the sake of lining our personal pockets. In fact, the only foreign staff (and founder/funder) does not get a salary from Bloom.

At Bloom, our mission is to alleviate poverty and save the environment at the same time, through our recycled bags.

As a social enterprise in Cambodia, we are competing with many NGOs on the one hand (which get donations) and for want of a better word, capitalistic businesses (which drive down costs in an effort to maximise profits). We recognise and accept the challenges that face all business, but are committed to principles of Fair Play, and will NEVER sacrifice those principles in order to be competitive. This means, for instance, we will never sacrifice workers' pay just so our bags will be cheaper. The average pay at Bloom today is 2.13 times the market rate.

So please, before you ask us to discount our bags, remember that we are not a minimum wage factory; we are a social enterprise. If you want a cheap factory-made bag, Bloom is not what you are looking for. If you agree that workers (where-ever they are--Singapore, Germany, France, the US) should always be paid fairly and are not here to produce goods and services at low wages for the profit of big business, then please consider Bloom. Bloom bags are all hand-made by our small team who spend our working hours dreaming up and making bags.

All Bloom profits go to our Khmer staff and to growing Bloom. Ultimately the aim is for Bloom to be a workers' cooperative, where workers own, manage, grow the business and share the profits.

WHO WE ARE

Bloom is a social enterprise established in Sept 2006 with the intention of providing fair-paying jobs to abandoned, widowed and divorced Cambodian women. Bloom is not a factory. We are a small workshop of nine people who work closely as a team to produce original, quality handmade bags made from recycled rice and fish feed bags.

Every Bloom Bag is meticulously designed, cut, glued and sewn by the Bloom team in our workshop in Phnom Penh. Each bag is handmade with love and attention to detail (the Bloom team really enjoys making bags!), resulting in beautiful, unique bags we are sure you will love and your friends will want!

All Bloom Bags are handmade by our team. We do not outsource to other sewers because we want to be in control of the supply chain, to ensure that everyone involved in making a Bloom Bag is paid fairly. There is no middleman taking a cut and passing on the work to another.

Please Visit Bloom's new workshop off Norodom Boulevard in Phnom Penh and our retail outlets. Bloom is next to Warehouse Pub in the Old Market Area in Siem Reap and at No.808 Russian Market, Phnom Penh.