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{ Monthly Archives } January 2010

National Anthem of Democratic Kampuchea

Dap Prampi Mesa Chokchey
Glorious April 17
(Non-versified translation)
Bright red blood, which covers the towns and plains
Of Kampuchea, our motherland,
Sublime blood of workers and peasants,
Sublime blood of revolutionary men and women fighters!
The blood changes into unrelenting hatred
And resolute struggle,
For on April 17, under the flag of revolution
It frees us from slavery!
Long live, long live glorious April [...]

Encirclement of Phnom Penh

The slow death of a shrinking republic.
From the 15th of August 1973 forward, both foreign and Khmer observers witnessed the growing war between the Khmer themselves, that is between the FANK of the Khmer Republic and the forces of the Khmer Communists. The land, the high seas, the rivers and lakes, the skies clear [...]

Revising History

One of us must kill thirty Vietnamese … So far, we have succeeded in implementing this slogan of one against thirty … We need only two million troops to crush the fifty million Vietnamese, and we would still have six million people left.

Radio Phnom Penh broadcast, 10 May 1978
Well, the DK government’s confidence was severely [...]

Cambodia’s Economy and Industrial Development

One day he took me out to eat. When we got to the market, he told me to order anything I liked. I ordered duck. When I finished eating it, he asked me, “Was it good?” And I said, “Yes, very good,” His face darkened and he levelled a finger at me. “You ought to [...]

Tedium in Death: Kampuchea and Mao’s Funeral

This is just a bit of filler until new and hopefully better posts appear in this New Year. Being the nerd that I am, I own several old copies of publications which some might say border on the kitsch, although unintentionally. Below are snippets taken from the second of three September 1976 editions [...]