ISBN:
9788776943240
,
9788776943257
Language:
English
Pages:
374 Seiten
,
Illustrationen
Series Statement:
NIAS monographs no. 157
Series Statement:
NIAS monographs
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als
Keywords:
Phi Phuon
;
Rote Khmer
;
Asian history
;
Asiatische Geschichte
;
Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies
;
Ethnische Gruppen und multikulturelle Studien
;
HISTORY / Asia / Southeast Asia
;
Marxism & Communism
;
Political oppression & persecution
;
Politische Ideologien und Bewegungen der extremen Linken
;
Politische Unterdrückung und Verfolgung
;
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural
;
Cambodia
;
Kambodscha
;
Autobiografie
;
Autobiografie
;
Erlebnisbericht
;
Phi Phuon 1947-2015
;
Rote Khmer
Abstract:
"The Khmer Rouge rise to power in 1975 gave birth to a terrifying new order. By 1979, when Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, up to two million people had fallen victim to executions or to starvation and diseases arising from a program of forced ruralization and total collectivization. That few accounts of the Khmer Rouge have much positive to say is no surprise. The appearance of the memoir of Phi Phuon, Pol Pot's aide-de-camp/bodyguard, is in many ways a startling development. Though playing a relatively minor role, Phi Phuon witnessed much Khmer Rouge history. No victim's lament, this quite candid account describes how an enterprising and idealistic young man was drawn to the revolutionary cause. It also portrays much of the Khmer Rouge leadership as patriotic, disinterested and even charismatic human beings - completely opposite to the standard view. Moreover, Phi Phuon was Jarai, from one of the despised Montagnard hill tribes on the border with Vietnam. Here, astride the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the jungles of Ratanakiri Province, is where Pol Pot and his urban, intellectual comrades took shelter and developed their military strength as war in Vietnam raged nearby. Inspired by idealized perceptions of hill-tribe lifestyles, they also developed the thinking behind implementation of a civilizational tabula rasa (blank slate) when they came to power. No academic study before has fully explored how, in their infancy, Khmer Rouge guerrilla forces almost exclusively comprised troops recruited from the tribal minorities (essentially Jarai and Tapuon) and led by (Khmer) revolutionary Marxist intellectuals from the plains. Pol Pot's success in mobilizing the ethnic minorities, building on their century-old frustrations, is a key part of this account. Moreover, Phi Phuon sheds light on events and people not fully revealed before. [...]."
Note:
NIAS = Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
