Happy Day of Hatred ...
Imagine my joy when I pulled up my favorite Wiki site today and checked on birthdays and holidays for May 20th . . . plenty of both, to be sure. I mean, what's a boring Thursday without the awareness that Sadaharu Oh and Busta Rhymes share a birthday, and that crazed Quebeckers tried to separate from Canada back in 1980. Those Frenchies must have KNOWN that Reagan was months away from being elected . . .
But I had never heard of Cambodia and Kampuchea declaring May 20 a national "Day of Hatred" . . . or more properly translated, "Day of Prolonged Rage" . . . thanks for that second clarification, by the way. Hatred seemed so impersonal, but prolonged rage gives me a warm fuzzy sensation . . .
I will admit that I do not understand the Asian mindset. I respect SE Asian culture and I empathize with their sufferings under colonial abuse and communistic demagoguery. But a Day of Hatred? Are you kidding me? I'm Irish Catholic and I get being pissed off. I want to set fire to the British Union Jack every time I look at it. But 24 hours just to loathe Pol Pot? A full day to hate American imperialism, or focus detestation on Japanese expansion?
In case you doubt the veracity of my entry, here are some spurious sources ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_of_Hatred
AND
http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/southeastasia/outreach/resources/cambodiawebunit/culture.html
So, wherever you are, go out tonight after work and hate you some honky, or chuck a rock at that team photo of the Khmer Rouge you keep in your parlor. Because it is Hatred Day . . . and judas priest, why not feel the rage, huh?
Finski
This guy has some issues; I guess he couldn't wait until may 20th ...
Finski,
I am living in Thailand, not Cambodia, and I am no expert on the subject, but here is my perspective on the matter. Cambodia became embroiled in international conflict during the Vietnam War. The US, while trying to defeat North Vietnam and stem the rise of the Communist movement in Cambodia, started the secret Cambodian Campaign.
Believing that the communist movement originated in the countryside, the US followed a strategy of destroying the rural areas of Cambodia in order to force the population into the cities, where they would supposedly not foment a communist insurgency. This strategy caused the mass migration of the rural population into urban areas. Phnom Penh's population increased from 375,000 to 1.5 to 2.5 million. This lead to widespread famine, killing perhaps 1.5 million people from 1970-1979. The counter-insurgency strategy also increased anti-American sentiment and lead to the rise of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
In 1970, the Cambodian population was estimated to be 7 million. The deaths from invasion by American and South Vietnamese troops from 1970-75 were estimated by the CIA to be 600,000. The number of deaths during the reign of the Khmer Rouge are estimated to be between 750,000 and 2.5 million. When the Khmer Rouge fell from power and a Vietnamese-backed government was installed in 1979, another 600,000 people died. If a third of the population of your country was killed over the course of 10 years, you would probably feel some hatred and anger too.
That being said, I don't think this "Day of Hatred" came from a grassroots movement. In 1979, Vietnam established a Communist government in Cambodia, the People's Republic of Kampuchea, which ruled until the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Pol Pot fled to the Thai border, where the Khmer Rouge received substantial monetary aid and the rights to Cambodia's UN seat from the US and China. Although I can't find a source to back this claim, in 1984, the PRK was an enemy of Pol Pot and probably established holiday as a propaganda tool to direct anger of citizens toward Pol Pot and away from current government.
So please do not take this "Day of Hatred" as an indictment of Southeast Asian or Cambodian culture, but rather as a result of the brutality of war and the perhaps the motivation of the Communist Vietnamese government in 1984.
Sources
Understanding Power, Chapter 3, Footnotes 60-65
http://www.understandingpower.com/Chapter3.htm#f60
http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr70/fcambodia1970.htm
Ong ... thanks for your take on that.
I knew most of, but not all, of your posted info on the history of aggression in that region. As an American, it is true that my sense of rage cannot be compared to anything a Cambodian or Vietnamese citizen experienced on account of various conflagrations betwixt 1950 and 1980. As I stated though, I am Irish Catholic, so I do get the aspect of WANTING to hate my enemy...
And in the 17th Century, the Irish were the most savagely oppressed persons on the planet, with even African slaves having a higher survival rate per total population than the residents of the Emerald Isle. The Irish were starved, deported, raped, burnt, impressed into military service, and had their population sliced by over 1/4 during the 1600s and early 1700s by British rule. And that doesn't count the starvation under British authority wrough in the 1840s by the potato famine . . . that took 1/3 of the nation. And still, the Irish have no "Day of Hatred" to celebrate their feelings of antipathy towards the British bastards. The Irish just drink to forget that rage . . . and then we kill each other. Come to think of it, maybe we could use of Day of Hatred towards Britain? I know I'd like to kill me some royals somedays ...
I get your point, however. You should also appreciate my sense of 'tongue in cheek' as I do yours. I mean, this isn't DailyKos here . . . it's SkyNet, for goodness sake ... we're talking hodgepodges and stuff on here, yes?
Anyway, one day, I hope to travel East, but not like some thick-headed American with a digicam and a loud teeshirt. I'd like to spend some time in SE Asia and really appreciate the ancient history and culture of that region. Perhaps our paths will cross one day, there or here.
Take care, Ong...
Finski
Hey Finski,
Yea, no hard feelings. I knew some about the oppression of the Irish, but not that much. You don't really learn about it in high school. It seems like the British either committed ethnic cleansing and took over the land entirely (as in the US, Canada and Australia) or ruined the countries they colonized (Middle East, Africa, India, Ireland, etc.). I think India was doing pretty well until the British colonized it.
But yea, I think a big part of this Day of Hatred is the Communist Vietnamese-supported government. Totalitarian governments have to mobilize the population to hate someone, and Pol Pot and the Americans were a good target.
People are generally pretty chill here, so you should come check it out. There are lots of temples and a lot of the old culture has been preserved.
Have a good one,
Ong
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