Brother Number One
Trip Start
Mar 21, 2005
1
72
354
Trip End
Ongoing
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Friday, January 20, 2006
~Prince Sihanouk
When Pol Pot, Brother Number One, came to power in 1975, he began by evacuating all residents from the cities and sending them to the countryside in order to create an agrarian, Communist society under the Khmer Rouge or Angkar. Deep down inside, Pol Pot revered the simple life in a tribal village, saying it embodied all the virtues of communism. Four years later, when Vietnam defeated Pol Pot despite C.I.A. aid, the country was impoverished, with an estimated two million people dead from starvation, disease, torture, and execution. The educated--doctors, monks, engineers, and more--were particularly targeted and Cambodia lost much of its ability to cure disease, build sturdy buildings, and teach
Choeung Ek: The Killing Fields
.Today, I visited the Killing Fields and S-21, called Tuol Sleng (poisonous hill), where 17,000 people were tortured and murdered, their skulls and bones resting in a memorial stupa. Only seven people survived. The Khmer Rouge photographed each of its victims, which today shows the extent of their ruthlessness as well as how people react when they know they are going to die. Some photographs show fear in the victim's faces, others show defiance, others show indifference, others still show pity.
What would your photograph look like?
Writing on the wall says: "why?"
Why did this happen? Why are people so cruel and vicious? Why was the C.I.A helping Pol Pot? Why are two million Cambodians dead?
Why?
