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Cambodia's recent history |
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A French protectorate until 1953, Cambodia has had a two-tiered history. From the height of the Angkorian era until the 20th century, the country lived in relative innocence, thanks to a cheerful resistance to change and the continuation of the ancestral way of life. The harvest, fishing, family and oral history were the main preoccupations of the Khmer people. From the green expanses of ricefields swaying in the wind to the serenity of its inhabitants, Cambodia embodied simplicity and well-being. The centuries unfolded, marked by alternate occupations by Siamese and Vietnamese neighbors: from the 14th century to 1954, Cambodia did not enjoy any period of complete self-determination. The foreign invader was a constant and the Khmer people were not the masters of their own destiny. In 1954, proclaiming independence from France, his majesty Norodom Sihanouk led his country on a promising path. An era of peace, independence and progress seemed about to begin. Unfortunately, that all changed quickly. The Cold War divided the world and the American involvement in the Vietnam war led the U.S. to support a coup led by General Lon Nol in 1970. Cambodia then descended into civil war. The deposed Sihanouk gave his backing to forces fighting against the American presence: the Khmer Rouge, who won the war and took power. The people quickly became disillusioned when, on 17 April 1975, Pol Pot's forces entered Phnom Penh dressed in black, with red and white krama (Cambodian scarves) and armed with kalachnikov rifles. Greeted as saviors, the Khmer Rouge and their revolutionary communist ideas soon revealed their true tactics. And so began the horrifying Khmer Rouge revolution, founded on the myth of the "New Man." Forbidding all reference to the past or the West, the Khmer Rouge revolution set about destroying traditional Khmer values. Temples, art, community clinics, the education system, the agriculture sector, towns: they were all razed in order to be replaced. The Khmer Rouge were determined to modify the individual, to mold and reshape him by destroying the family structure which was so important to Cambodians. Entire village communities, made up of extended families developed over generations, were arbitrarily broken up to encourage loyalty to the Angkar, the Khmer Rouge organization. Children were taken away from their parents and sent to work in travelling work units. Denunciation, indoctrination and totalitarianism were the order of the day. In 1979, the Vietnamese army invaded and discovered a genocide. Between 1.5 and 3 million people (out of a population of about 7 million) died of hunger or exhaustion in the Killing Fields, or were murdered. But far from being a liberation, the Vietnamese action quickly took on the nature of an occupation. The influence of communist Moscow on satellite states was at its height and Vietnam, affiliated with the Eastern bloc, infiltrated Cambodia's politics and administrative structure. On the heels of destruction and invasion came famine, and its immediate effect was to uproot the population. Many fled towards the border with Thailand, ending up in refugee camps (more than 215,000 alone in the Site 2 camp). The divisions of the Cold War and a succession of violent regimes in those uncertain years left the Khmer people disoriented. Since the signing of the Paris peace accords in 1991, the country has tentatively experimented with ideas like respect for human rights, a market economy and international policy standards. The traumatized Khmer people today lack references and models and are moving slowly down the road to social, educational, cultural and economic reconstruction. Things are adrift; the smiles no more than a facade. Everything remains to be rebuilt. |
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