John Pilger's Year Zero from 1979 is now available online for free.
Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia
John Pilger, Year Zero
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
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The first documentary to be made after the fall of Democratic Kampuchea is here, it was made by an East German crew and I believe John Pilger used some of their footage of the deserted capital in Year Zero but I'm not absolutely sure on that. Either way it's fascinating.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
It's a fascinating look at PP right after the KR were overthrown. He has a 1990 followup documentary as well.
Also check out the wikipedia page on this documentary for some interesting background.
There is a smugness and an obvious Anti-American bias in all of his reporting that I can't seem to get over. As an American I can admit when America makes mistakes, but he just rubs me the wrong way.
I think Pilger (and others) mistakenly, but intentionally (bias as noted), lay blame for KR atrocities at the feet of "Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger" because of the "secret bombing" of Cambodia and he does it in this documentary. When I met with Elizabeth Becker, she said that without question the US bombing is what brought the KR to power. Many others share her position. But I'm not so sure.
I asked this question to a previous US Ambassador to Cambodia some years ago and he suggested the KR would have come to power anyway and the US bombing likely delayed the fall of PP by at least a year. I tend to lean towards this opinion although not to minimize the death of innocent Cambodian's or the affect it had in bringing the KR to power. But that's a debate for another post perhaps.
I'm reading Shawcross' book "Sideshow" which is really fascinating. As with most history, this is not as clean cut as "Nixon and Kissinger secretly bombed Cambodia and the KR took advantage of peasant anger to increase their power." Anyway, didn't mean to take this post off track...
Also check out the wikipedia page on this documentary for some interesting background.
There is a smugness and an obvious Anti-American bias in all of his reporting that I can't seem to get over. As an American I can admit when America makes mistakes, but he just rubs me the wrong way.
I think Pilger (and others) mistakenly, but intentionally (bias as noted), lay blame for KR atrocities at the feet of "Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger" because of the "secret bombing" of Cambodia and he does it in this documentary. When I met with Elizabeth Becker, she said that without question the US bombing is what brought the KR to power. Many others share her position. But I'm not so sure.
I asked this question to a previous US Ambassador to Cambodia some years ago and he suggested the KR would have come to power anyway and the US bombing likely delayed the fall of PP by at least a year. I tend to lean towards this opinion although not to minimize the death of innocent Cambodian's or the affect it had in bringing the KR to power. But that's a debate for another post perhaps.
I'm reading Shawcross' book "Sideshow" which is really fascinating. As with most history, this is not as clean cut as "Nixon and Kissinger secretly bombed Cambodia and the KR took advantage of peasant anger to increase their power." Anyway, didn't mean to take this post off track...
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
- Reactions: 761
- Posts: 22525
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:24 pm
- Location: The Pearl of the Orient
Yes, I agree that this is overstated. The majority of Cambodians lived in government areas and welcomed the support of the US in keeping the communists at bay. Other countries have been heavily bombed too but they didn't end up in orgies of violence like here.barangPP wrote: ↑Mon Apr 11, 2022 9:16 am
I think Pilger (and others) mistakenly, but intentionally (bias as noted), lay blame for KR atrocities at the feet of "Mr. Nixon and Mr. Kissinger" because of the "secret bombing" of Cambodia and he does it in this documentary. When I met with Elizabeth Becker, she said that without question the US bombing is what brought the KR to power. Many others share her position. But I'm not so sure.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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