
How two men survived a prison where 12,000 were killed - Libertatea
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33096971
======
cuongvt101
Without the help from China at that time, no way Polpot could get that far.
After Vietnamese troops helped capture Phnom Penh (and gave back to Kampuchean
United Front), China decided to invaded the Vietnam-China border in order to
"punish" Vietnam. Yet so far, only Cambodia publicly supports China in their
claim of almost the whole East Sea. Disclaimer: I am Vietnamese!

~~~
yufeng66
This post is somewhat misleading. China invaded Vietnam (1979) AFTER Vietnam
invaded Cambodia (1978). The genocide was pretty much done by that point.
Polpot was on friendly term with North Vietnam during the Vietnam war, so it
is unfair to blame China for the raise of polpot on China and make Vietnam the
good guy in the whole mass.

------
bcgraham
> An estimated 90% of artists, intellectuals and teachers were killed

This is having the longest-lasting reverberation through the country - Pol Pot
all but eliminated the local human capital.

50% of Cambodians are under 22 years old. There aren't enough teachers for
this population boom. Kids go to school part-time in shifts - half in the
morning, half in the afternoon. There are no jobs waiting for them after their
schooling is completed. They have a wave of people getting older who they
can't educate and can't employ.

------
jeroen94704
I visited Tuol Sleng in 2007. It was very disquieting to walk past row after
row and room after room filled with boards holding thousands upon thousands of
pictures, and realize that every single one of those people was murdered right
there, in that building.

------
trhway
it is interesting that when such things happen, the society at the time thinks
it is ok, while later it comes to understanding that it was evil. Which begs
the question - which things happening today will be considered evil tomorrow,
and we or our descendants will be appalled at our implicit or explicit
approval of those things today.

~~~
infogulch
My guesses in the US: the war on drugs. The incarceration rate. Discriminatory
profiling by authority figures (by race, class, etc). Lack of universal health
care. Lobbying/the ruling that corporations have the same rights as people.

~~~
benologist
The treatment of illegal immigrants/refugees by EU, AU, USA etc.

Ignoring genocide and slavery.

~~~
happyscrappy
Or any private property at all. I mean why does someone have the right to say
I can or can't go somewhere.

~~~
kleer001
Because on the whole we (culture/country/city) all agree that it's more
important to keep strangers and unwanted people/property out of our private
areas (and back it up with the righteous use of the state's monopoly on
violence) than it is to give everyone free reign. It's a matter of sovereignty
and community and fear really. It would be great if everyone could be trusted
to have good intentions, but we've had to learn the hard way that that
strategy doesn't pan out when you have hundreds of millions of people all
crammed together.

~~~
noselasd
In my home country, which isn't cram packed with hundreds of millions people
though, everyone has the right to go/travel/camp anywhere on private property
as long as that area is designated as wilderness (meaning pretty much anywhere
that isn't a developed or agriculture area). -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam)

~~~
kleer001
While that sounds lovely, it will never fly in a Protestant flavored
bureaucracy, sadly... Too much need for an expectation of control and
submission. Too much uncomfortable feelings around uncertainty and leisure.

