Hey everyone, I am waiting for the next Carlin series like the rest of you. I've seen a lot of people talking about a historical period they wish the master would cover, and quite often the Khmer Rouge will come up and someone will joke that it might take hours and hours for Dan to complete...
Well, inspired by Hardcore History, a few years ago I decided I would do exactly that... covering the history that I have spent a significant amount of my life researching.
'In the Shadows of Utopia' is my attempt to bring the history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge to a historically minded, general audience... In Carlin-fashion it goes deep, but with suitable entertainment/relatability, as well as the respect that the topic deserves. If you've read a book or two, or seen a movie... you might think you know the story, but there is much much more.
I am currently about 20 episodes in, probably more than 30 hours (with a few interviews with prominent historians chucked in) and we have covered the basic introduction to the topic, ancient Cambodia and Angkor, the middle period, colonialism, nationalist movements, communism, the influence from Vietnam, the first and second Indochina wars, Maoism... and the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the eventual leaders of the movement into the late 1950s.
People seem to like it, a lot of good reviews and getting to a good listener count.. I know it gets shared here from time to time which is great, but if you are looking for something new maybe these Dan down-times are a good opportunity !
https://www.shadowsofutopia.com/
stitcher / spotify / apple podcasts / youtube
joined in part because I appreciated the critiques of art and modern culture, however reading the countless comments about how everything remotely enjoyable is 'cringe' and all you losers pretending to enjoy some french art house film about a guy smoking a cigarette gayly for 2 hours has encouraged me to support forcibly evacuating the coastal cities and liquidating everyone who even thought of applying to a liberal arts college
It seems there should be a plan.
The Chinese invaded Vietnam after Deng took power right? Seems weird that he would do so to prop up a Communist revolution.
Is there any good reading anyone could recommend?
Thanks!
I was reading up on the history of North Vietnam and came across the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam's defensive invasion of Cambodia that resulted in the ousting of Pol Pot and his regime. Why did China support the Khmer Rouge and go so far as to send troops into North Vietnam?
If I've understood this right, from the time he became leader of the Khmer Rouge / Communist Party of Kampuchea in 1963 until he publically came out as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea in 1976, no one except Pol Pot's inner circle knew who the leader of the Khmer Rouge / CPK / Ankar was. While most authoritarian regimes follow narcissistic egomaniacs, for thirteen years the vast majority of the Khmer Rouge supporters (or anyone else) had no idea who was actually running things.
In Philip Short's Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare, on the announcement of Pol Pot becoming Prime Minister, he says:
"When the first photographs of him appeared, old friends from his student days, like Nghet Chhopininto, to say nothing of his own brothers, working as peasants in Kompong Thom, were amazed to discover that their new leader was the self-effacing Saloth SΓ’r."
Short, unfortunately, doesn't expand on that or give sources.
I'm curious about just how much the public, especially regular Cambodians, knew about the leadership of the Khmer Rouge during that time and how odd it seemed not having a figurehead given the circumstances. And, since Pol Pot was such an unassuming, quiet and friendly person to those that knew him, I'd be fascinated to know if there are any first or even second-hand accounts of his old friend's or family's reaction when he revealed himself.
