Did the KR every actually use the term "Year Zero"
Did the KR every actually use the term "Year Zero"
Is there any speech or documentation from any of the KR leadership that actually declared Year Zero? I see articles saying the KR declared Year Zero, but never any documentation when and where and whop said it.
It's commonly stated the KR used it when they emptied PP. Fr. Ponchaud probably has documentary evidence. Although it's feasible there are no surviving written records (e.g. Pol Pot/Saloth Sar was invisible to the public at this point), I'd accept the overwhelming oral testimony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero ... al_notion)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero ... al_notion)
- Lucky Lucan
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I think the term was just invented by Francois Ponchaud.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
Highly likely I would say. After all didn't they also come up with the term Khmer Rouge? Or was that just Sihanouk?Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 1:08 pmI think the term was just invented by Francois Ponchaud.
I do know they restarted all this obsessiveness about Angkor Watt and
Khmer hegemony.
I think you're right. I can't find any quote from anyone from DK leadership.Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 1:08 pmI think the term was just invented by Francois Ponchaud.
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I've always looked out for it, never seen anything from the CPK referencing it. Closest was Khieu Samphan saying that the victory heralded the end of 2000 years of Khmer history, but no 'year zero'.
As others have pointed out, Ponchaud seems to be the originator here, and naturally his book being one of the very first popular works about the regime it's title went a long way in establishing the phrase as synonymous with the Pol Pot period. Given Ponchaud's French education one might guess that a heavy dose of the French Revolution might have influenced his choosing this title... not just because it is catchy, or how it might metaphorically describe some of the CPK policies, but because the phrase itself came out of the French Revolution and using the republican calendar that started with 'year one'.
I for one find its over-use a little frustrating... it suggests to the lay person that the Khmer Rouge simply wished to live in the stone age forever... when in reality the reasons for many of their policies were to produce a 'super great leap forward' and fund light industry, then heavy industry... then get to full socialism/communism in record time... the focus on the agrarian economy was more or less because that was what Cambodia's primary economy was anyway... the decision to empty the cities borne out of a desire to cleanse the populace of potential enemies of the regime, put them to work and 'proletarianise them'.
As others have pointed out, Ponchaud seems to be the originator here, and naturally his book being one of the very first popular works about the regime it's title went a long way in establishing the phrase as synonymous with the Pol Pot period. Given Ponchaud's French education one might guess that a heavy dose of the French Revolution might have influenced his choosing this title... not just because it is catchy, or how it might metaphorically describe some of the CPK policies, but because the phrase itself came out of the French Revolution and using the republican calendar that started with 'year one'.
I for one find its over-use a little frustrating... it suggests to the lay person that the Khmer Rouge simply wished to live in the stone age forever... when in reality the reasons for many of their policies were to produce a 'super great leap forward' and fund light industry, then heavy industry... then get to full socialism/communism in record time... the focus on the agrarian economy was more or less because that was what Cambodia's primary economy was anyway... the decision to empty the cities borne out of a desire to cleanse the populace of potential enemies of the regime, put them to work and 'proletarianise them'.
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