Fall of the Khmer Rouge

[Insidious Rex]

I didnt know you were Cambodian. What did you think of the film The Killing Fields?

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
I didnt know you were Cambodian. What did you think of the film The Killing Fields?

Yes, I'm a Chinese-Cambodian. Most immigrants from Cambodia here are, too.

I haven't seen the film yet. How did you find it? My mother thinks it's relatively accurate, but rather 'tame'. In different areas of Cambodia, some people had it better and some worse. That story is apparently one of the luckier ones.

I posted before that the Cambodians were 'transported' to their new 'homes'. Sorry, I didn't mean that. They actually had to walk for days to get there, with not much food or water. Even the sick and elderly (hospitals were emptied) were forced to walk, thus many died along the way.

[Jonathan]

That is sad. The Western powers should have intervened, staying inactive is like taking part of the crime.

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Jonathan
That is sad. The Western powers should have intervened, staying inactive is like taking part of the crime.

I know, but like I said, 'Democratic Kampuchea' was completely cut off from the outside world.

Posted by GrayMouser
Whatever you say about Sihanouk (pere), he did manage to keep Cambodia out of direct involvement in the Vietnam War ( "Ho Chi Minh Trail? Never heard of it.")

I realise that. But keep in mind he urged Cambodians to go join the guerilla rebels (the Khmer Rouge) in the jungle, via radio from China. They were his former enemies, until he was ousted. Sorry, I seem to have taken on the same opinion as my mother on many Cambodian people in power - they're all corrupt idiots.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Jonathan
That is sad. The Western powers should have intervened, staying inactive is like taking part of the crime.

That is true. We wouldn't have though - we had do nothing Carter in the White House at the time.

What is disturbing is that the UN just gave in - but it's pretty typical - hence the UN's 30% approval rating in America. They haven't been above 50% for decades.

I don't know enough about the episodes to make a judgment on the situation though. I just find it disturbing that this type of stuff is allowed to go on and on. As I have said in past threads - just because there is no war - does not mean that there is actual peace.

[Grey_Wolf]

I posted in an another forum (helsingborgs dagblads www.hd.se) about the atrocities committed by communist dictatorships and I thought that we should go out in the street (empty the houses; gå man ur huse) and protest against this, the reply I got was that Communism wasn't a threat to Sweden and therefore we need not do it.

[Ruinel]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
...What did you think of the film The Killing Fields?

This question was asked of Lin, but I've seen the movie. It's a good rent, go get it. I was glued to the screen the whole time. The scene where the Khmer Rouge militant kid puts a plastic bag over the 'educated' adult's head, ties it off and then leaves this person to die really made me shudder. The utter cruelty and malicious acts against the 'educated' people just turned my stomach. I liked it to Hitler's crimes against the Jews.

[Insidious Rex]

Originally posted by Linaewen
I haven't seen the film yet. How did you find it? My mother thinks it's relatively accurate, but rather 'tame'. In different areas of Cambodia, some people had it better and some worse. That story is apparently one of the luckier ones.

good lord. if that movie portrayed the "lucky" ones then I couldnt even imagine the story of the unlucky ones. Seems like some real global education is in order on the scale of the holocaust.

[Ruinel]

I think what Lin was saying is that since Cambodia was cut off from the world while all this was going on, that it was not known until people started filtering out with the stories. I don't know what evidence was left in the wake of all that. There's also time that could be a factor.

As for the Holocaust, much of the evidence for the atrocities was there when the Allied forces came in and rescued the survivors from the camps. But the crimes were known before the war even started, from the few witnesses who were able to escape.

[Jonathan]

Originally posted by Linaewen
I know, but like I said, 'Democratic Kampuchea' was completely cut off from the outside world.

Yes, it was. Sadly, even in countries where we know mass killings are commited, we don't always intervene. In Rwanda for example, even though the UN knew about the planning of genocide, no one did anything to prevent it. And after the killings started, the Western countries did little to improve the situation. 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda in the 90s.
Even today there are killings going on. In Laos for example, the Communist government has killed more than 300,000 people and as far as I know, no one has stood trial.

Originally posted by Grey_Wolf
...the reply I got was that Communism wasn't a threat to Sweden and therefore we need not do it.

The person who gave you that reply should say that to any Swede or other foreigner who was unfortunate to be in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took over.
Communism and genocides might be nothing but a memory in Europe, but they are the cruel reality of many people in the rest of the world.

[Ruinel]

Yes, it's a shame that the UN ("The West") doesn't help these countries out by stepping in. It seems they are impotent to do anything anymore but bicker and jockey for power among the members.

[Jonathan]

At least Nato managed to put an end to the assaults on the civilians and the ethnic cleansing which were conducted in Kosovo when the UN stood there powerless. Sometimes the West gets involved. Most of the times it seems as if it doesn't.

[Grey_Wolf]

Originally posted by Jonathan
Yes, it was. Sadly, even in countries where we know mass killings are commited, we don't always intervene. In Rwanda for example, even though the UN knew about the planning of genocide, no one did anything to prevent it. And after the killings started, the Western countries did little to improve the situation. 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda in the 90s.
Even today there are killings going on. In Laos for example, the Communist government has killed more than 300,000 people and as far as I know, no one has stood trial.

The person who gave you that reply should say that to any Swede or other foreigner who was unfortunate to be in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took over.
Communism and genocides might be nothing but a memory in Europe, but they are the cruel reality of many people in the rest of the world.

Or perhaps that he was a dedicated communist and protesting against his own ideology would be counterproductive.

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Ruinel
.....The scene where the Khmer Rouge militant kid puts a plastic bag over the 'educated' adult's head, ties it off and then leaves this person to die really made me shudder.

A kid did that? That reminds me of a story I heard about a Hitler Youth member, a 14 year old, who shot another boy for some reason I can't quite recall, but it was petty. (Possibly the other boy was late?)

Yes, I Rex, it gets a lot worse. Khmer Rouge members used to

Slit upon a victim's chest, take out their gall bladder, and eat it raw

as as sign of strength.

I agree, it is extremely sad that the West does not always intervene in these atrocities. But what disturbs me more is that humans have the capacity to commit such horrendous deeds, often without cause or remorse. We humans are our own worse threat.