In the beginning, I was not opposed to the Khmer revolution: having lived with the Cambodian peasants from 1965 to 1970, I was painfully aware of their exploitation at the hands of the administration under the corrupt Sihanouk regime….So I welcomed the revolutionaries’ victory as the only possible means of bringing Cambodia out of its misery. But after making a careful and full study of the broadcasts of Radio Phnom Penh and the refugees’ testimony relating to 1975 and 1976, I was compelled to conclude, against my will, that the Khmer revolution is irrefutably the bloodiest of our century. A year after the [French-language] publication of my book I can unfortunately find no reason to alter my judgment…
…May this book provide a modest contribution to the search for truth about the events in Cambodia. And may the Khmer people live to see the dawn of an age of peace and happiness.
- Extracted from the Author’s Note for the English Translation of François Ponchaud, Cambodia: Year Zero, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978, p.xiv and p.xvi.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Colum Graham // Sep 14, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Clearly, those Thais in rouge are unreasonable! The yellow revolutionaries are simply showing their loyalty to the King to combat the scourge of exploitative, uncouth criminals and chefs elected to parliament.
In the future, maybe a fitting way to refer to the PAD will be to say the Thai Jaune?
2 Frank G Anderson // Sep 14, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Hate to burst your bubble, friend.
Those people in red are hardly of multi-interest background. Like ultra-PAD groups, they are easily incited, prone to violence and neglect the bigger issues of human rights and free speech.
3 Colum Graham // Sep 14, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Frank, why are those people easily incited, prone to violence and neglect the bigger issues of human rights and free speech ? I don’t necessarily believe that all the people actively supporting PPP in red are any one thing or another — but an opposition to the Thai Juane must be more reasonable than no opposition at all. I see no equally over the top opposition as leaving the gate open for Sondhi Limthongkil and co to continue driving ridiculous messages into the Thai public sphere… and who knows, maybe the Juane would start calling for some insidious rural reforms…?!
Although an equally visible opposition could lead to further social division, at least there is an alternative. I feel that is much more assuring for the future. What do you think? Am I supporting the ingredients for a civil war? Haha… :S
4 Frank G Anderson // Sep 14, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Enough of tongue-in-cheek!
Obviously some observations are overly simplistic and not intended to provide an all-encompassing picture of what’s what and what’s not what.
Also keep in mind that a PAD supporter seems to have been responsible for the single death that occurred in Bangkok. So violence is not solely of the red or yellow.
Not to appear ignorant, but Juane?… who dat?
5 Above^ // Sep 15, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Jaune? ^ I think he’s saying they are thieves. They’re all either thieves or the suckered accomplices of thieves IMO.
6 Colum Graham // Sep 15, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Jaune means yellow in French.
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