‘A war of houses and a war of land’: Gentrification, post-politics and resistance in authoritarian Cambodia

Post-war property reforms in transitional Cambodia plunged the country into new conflict: a war of land. Under the guise of ‘beautification’, 11% of the capital’s residents have been displaced in under two decades in a wave of violent gentrification, enacted through forced eviction and dispossession. Mounting resistance shows signs of taking effect, however, evincing a turning point in state–society relations. Here, the government has trialled a new approach, moving from techniques of violent expropriation towards a conciliatory method, built on dialogue, consultation and negotiation. Responding to calls for more work on resistance to gentrification and success in the fight to stay put, in this paper, I investigate these claims, bringing the literatures on gentrification and post-politics to bear on the evictions crisis in Cambodia. Drawing on testimony of former residents and media analysis, I examine techniques of removal and resistance in a case study of the eviction and demolition of Cambodia’s White Building (1963–2017). I argue that recent shifts are not an abandonment of the state’s compulsion to expropriation, exclusion and expulsion but a subtle modification of its gentrification strategy: away from the naked coercion associated with its own kleptocratic variant of authoritarian neoliberalism towards the post-political manufacture of hollow consent.

On Administrative Liability for Nuisance and Disturbance of Citizens

The article analyzes effectiveness of the regulatory as well as administrative responsibility for disturbance of citizens’ peace and quiet in accommodation, protected areas and other public places. To improve the protection of citizens’ rights, the article justifies the need to introduce the new administrative penalty “Forced eviction from accommodation” for systematic and egregious disturbance of other citizens’ peace and quiet.

Urban eviction in Badia, Lagos: A look at evictees wellbeing and environmental burden

Forced eviction remains a contributory factor to urban poverty, loss of accommodation, and displacement among urban poor. By extension, these forcible displacement experiences result in a downward shift in their standard of living; thus, contributing to urban poverty within the urban space. This study examines forced Eviction in the Badia East community of Lagos State, Nigeria, from a human right angle. The study adopted a mixed-method approach. Primary data was obtained from quantitative (structured questionnaire), geospatial analysis, and qualitative data sources (interview), which was conducted with evictees and the Lagos State Physical Planning and Development Agency (LASPPDA) (evictor). The research outcome revealed that the evictees exhibited a nomadic lifestyle, which has, over the years, developed into resilience. The study identified the need for increased public access, location, and provision of some social amenities such as public toilets, bathrooms, and water points to ease the shock of eviction which indirectly translates into environmental degradation. It was concluded that the current and projected pace of urbanization necessitates new approaches to land governance, especially the regulation of informal settlements and forced evictions.

The eviction of Polish and German population from the border regions of the Ukrainian SSR to the Kazakh SSR in 1935–1936

The aim of the article is to reveal the process of forced eviction of the Polish and German population from the border regions of the Ukrainian SSR to the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (since 1936 – the Kazakh SSR) in the period of 1935–1936 based on the analysis of little-known documents stored in the archives of the Security Service of Ukraine. The research methodology is based on historical and scientific principles, as well as the use of historical-genetic, problem-chronological and comparative methods. Results. In 1935–1936, the Soviet government pursued a policy of forced eviction of residents from the territories near the western border of the Ukrainian SSR. The border areas were under the supervision of the military command of the republic at that time. In the early 1930s the border began to be actively fortified, and the border area of 7,5 km was defined as esplanade (that is, a territory between military or fortified objects and settlements). According to the Soviet leadership, it was necessary to evict the local population from this territory, including Polish and German people. Residents of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR came under special attention of the NKVD, who for the most part had a negative attitude towards the Soviet regime. Besides, they had relatives abroad, and in the case of a future armed conflict with neighboring countries, they could support foreign troops. There were 178 such settlements. They were home to 4 232 Polish and 1 357 German families with a total number of more than 27 000 people. But subsequently, the total number of planned migrants increased to 15 000 families, which amounted to 70 000 people. Due to the fact that all vacant lands in the southeastern regions of the republic were settled in the 1920s, it was planned to move the named number of Polish and German families mainly to Kazakhstan. Conclusions. In 1935–1936, the NKVD officers evicted not only the Ukrainian population, but also residents of Polish and German national regions. In 1936, more than 74 000 people were resettled from Vinnytsa, Kyiv and Odesa regions to the Kazakh SSR. Thus, forced eviction of population from the border areas became a continuation of the Soviet regime’s repressive policy as a means of overcoming the protest movements of the inhabitants of the Ukrainian SSR. Practical value. The results of the study outline a range of little-studied problems that can be investigated in the future with declassification of new documents of this period; the information presented in the article can be used in the development of educational programs. Originality. The study is based on little-known documents stored in the archives of the Security Service of Ukraine. Scientific novelty. The article supplements historical research on the national and repressive policies of the Soviet regime, which makes it topical and fills in the gaps in historical data on forced evictions of the mid-1930s. Article type: empirical.

What is Left of Migrants’ Spaces?

This article deals with the political legacy of migrants’ spaces across Europe that are the outcome of border enforcement policies but that are also shaped by migrants’ struggles and movements. It interrogates what is left, after their vanishing forced eviction, at the level of spatial-political traces, as well as in the collective memory of the citizens of those places. The main argument of the piece is that in order to come to grips with these spaces beyond their ephemeral dimension, we need to consider the temporality of migrant struggles and of solidarity practices – between migrants and citizens. The article focuses, first, on the French-Italian Alpine border, and analyses how the sedimented memory of the struggles in that valley has been reactivated in the present to support the migrants in transit. Then, the article moves on by developing the notion of transversal alliances through an insight into the Gilets Noirs movement in France, a collective of undocumented migrants which mobilised towards getting to permit to stay and accommodation, while at the same time framing their struggle as a broader battle against precarity and exploitation. The piece concludes suggesting that by bringing in the genealogy of struggles and solidarity practices, migrants’ spaces appear as part of a precarious mobile common in the making.

From authoritarian development to totalist urban reordering: The Daxing forced evictions case

The forced eviction campaign in the wake of a fire in Daxing District in Beijing in November 2017 provides some evidence signalling a shift from a technocratic-utilitarian model to a more assertive, image-conscious and totalist model of spatial control and population governance. Yet, although it was not possible for anyone to mount effective legal or political resistance to the campaign, protests in its wake suggest that faced with even harsher forms of control, citizens might solidarize in novel ways, articulating their legal rights and shared political identity as Chinese citizens across social barriers.