Sweden and the Khmer Rouge: The Unspoken History

The SKFA was an extreme subgroup. They weren't representative of the broader Swedish left. A Norwegian viewer mentioned a former Norwegian communist who sent money to the Khmer Rouge and today runs an online casino ”renowned for not paying out”. Quite exceptional.

[@janseger1693]

Sad chapter in the 1970´s history. Fy fan.

[@BackSeatHump]

Hur slår man på videon då?

[@willemventer3935]

Can they sleep a night? All those deaths on them .🎉😢

[@janseger1693]

@@BackSeatHump vad menar du? kan du utveckla dina tankar?

[@HVS-gk7oo]

Every Swede under 60 knows English. No subtitles needed. 🥹

[@ayacachotinemi4974]

It wasn't just Sweden, there were Khmer Rouge apologists across the West. In fact the Khmer Rouge arguably originated with French left-wing intellectuals. Also, Noam Chomsky was a vocal Cambodian genocide denier while it was happening, and then when the evidence became irrefutable he just quietly dropped it without ever offering an apology.

[@TransoceanicOutreach]

Regarding Chomsky, when I was in university my gf gave me some of his little booklets to read, about the evil US actions in latin america. I was shocked at what he described. Children being tortured and beheaded in front of their parents, things like that. Then after the internet came about I did some research and discovered there is zero evidence for almost anything he wrote in those books. It is all 'from a source'. A source he never reveals. Interesting, that.

[@erikkz]

He was also supporting the genocidal Nicaraguan regime (Sandinistas). Politically speaking he is just stupid.

[@freemanol]

this is the issue with good v evil narrative. it makes people root for the evil enemy's enemy, assuming they must be good

[@nelus7276]

There wasn't an evil enemy. There were just evil socialists doing and defending evil things to everybody else. If Chomsky and his ilk ever had the opportunity, they would have done the exact same in the West.

[@davejones5745]

Noam has a checkered history for sure. He's been touting the doomsday clock for decades now; I stopped listening to him.....

[@jve89]

We had these idiots in the Netherlands too. 1 of them is now the director of one of the biggest pension funds in the country. It's totally insane!

[@Treblaine]

The entryism is relentless, it's putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop.

[@grumbeard]

Paul Rosenmuller of Groenlinks was one of those insane apologists. He is sitting comfortably in the 1e kamer. Damn that man is superfluous to this world.

[@Eric.T.Cartman]

Which fund?

[@nicazzo]

I think Noam Chomsky might the most famous case. That guy supported Pol Pot and was denying what was happening until much later.

[@markgobrien9791]

@@nicazzo You want to cite a Noam Chomsky quote where he supported Pol Pot? Please do!

[@cadicamo8720]

The politician denying what Cambodian people told him on the grounds that it was similar to Reader's digest material is a perfect example of the state of mind of this people.

[@barneydenstad2148]

It probably didnt even dawned to him, if they were prisoners, they had hardly access to Readers Digest... RD was surely rare even among free kambodians...

Good catch. It seems unlikely that the Cambodian population had access to Reader’s Digest. Now that you mention it, the statement appears even more ludicrous.

[@augusthoglund6053]

@@barneydenstad2148 Exactly

[@flagger2020]

These people are everywhere in the west, just as then, they were journalists and politicians [and professors].. just as today, the same people that lie to us all still, but worse they have taught two generations more to also disbelieve their own eyes and ears, and only see everything though a "progressive" lens. Journalists are supposed to see objective reality and are even trained on how to remove their own biases to prevent news becoming subjective opinion. Politicians should be the experts at listening to the people, how else can they then represent them.. but like many [intellectual or professional] elites they always know better.

[@SirIdot]

He meant that the refugees had been paid off to tout the same propaganda that was in Reader's Digest, not that they read it.

[@nielspedersen2579]

"Perhaps it was never about other people's suffering to begin with." Exactly, it is about narcissistic self glorification.

[@karlscher5170]

Like today

[@drivenmad7676]

The chosen, creating chaos everywhere they go.

[@yajbeats3613]

This is like all the pro palestine kids in the west lol they protest and make a ruckus here with no knowledge how brutal hamas and the palestinian people are.

[@dwork9451]

Yep, and the majority of these people are Democrats.

[@burnerturner7749]

​@@yajbeats3613 the same can be said to Zionists

[@HaurakiVet]

When travelling with my Vietnamese wife near the Cambodian border not long after the fall of Pol Pot we vame to what had been a village, now a memorial. There was a structure, rougjly circular, with glass pannelled sides inside which were hundreds of himan bones, skulls at the front, long bones stacked above. Each side was labelled "females under 12", males "20 to 40" or somilar. These were the remains of the villagers, killed by the Khmer Rouge who had crossed the border and massacred everyone. The bulk of killing took place in the bhudist pagoda where the people had run for refuge. The attackers simply threw grenades into the building and when all were dead threw their bodies into a resevoir. The walls inside the pagoda are stained with blood to nearly a metre above the floor. It was the most sobering experience of my life, and this is what these zelots were defending.

[@cobalt616]

Ba Chúc is the name of the village. There were several incursions and massacres by the Khmer Rouge into Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge attempted a full-scale invasion of Vietnam on 23 Dec 1978. Vietnam counter-attacked on Dec 25 1978 and occupied the majority of Cambodia within 2 weeks. Khmer Rouge were driven into mountainous areas and refugee camps in Thailand. They continued to receive support, from Swedish groups and other nations. The Khmer Rouge were dissolved in 1998.

[@marktwaine9344]

humans need to learn, 'Gods' offer no protection against bullets...

[@noorgonzalez1076]

💎💎💎💎💎💎 Revelation 12:12 Isaiah 65:21 Isaiah 45:18

[@Teutathis]

@@cobalt616 Quite possibly the dumbest idea there is to decide to invade the country that just fought off the French, Americans, and Chinese in short succession. Play stupid games, and win stupid prizes, I guess. Vietnam also received support from Swedish groups, and more importantly, they received open support from the Swedish government during the war with the US. I believe at the time Sweden was the only Western nation that openly condemned the war, and Olof Palmes' genocide speech when he was talking about the bombing of Hanoi is legendary.

[@dj1NM3]

That's horrific.

[@Hoangsa74]

While the killing field was going on, and the world turned a blink eye as if nothing ever happened, only the Vietnamese came to stop the madness, and whether you like the Vietnamese or not, they did ended the killing and save the Cambodian.

[@jytte-hilden]

Everyone likes the Vietnamese. Even the Americans. :)

[@cinnamonroll29]

The Vietnamese ousted the Khmer Rouge because of Pol Pot's close relations with China, whom the Vietnamese hated despite being communists themselves.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

... they did end* the killing and save the Cambodians*.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

@@cinnamonroll29 Vietnamese hate(d) the Chinese, because China had occupied Vietnam for hundreds of years and made it into a puppet state, to the extend that in the 15th and 16th Century, not Vietnamese but Chinese was spoken at the King's court in Vietnam.

[@DTD110865]

@@einundsiebenziger5488 And yet they carried out similar campaigns on a lesser scale.

[@lilting729]

As a Swede I am utterly ashamed of what STUPID politicians had to say about Cambodia!! The socialdemocrats and not only the communists were celebrating. This is today a non- topic in my country. Thank you for bringing the truth about swedish self- anointed politicians!!

[@oliverschulte9659]

still today a similar phenomenon in Sweden: Leftists adopting anti-semitic positions in the light of the ongoing war in the Middle East. Denying atrocities committed by Hamas and Hezbollah and unilaterally accusing Israel of genocide etc.

[@RolfLunheim]

It was the same in Norway.

[@henrikg1388]

I fully agree. A spotlight should be shed on all those who was a part of this. They're no better than Nazi holocaust deniers. I remember it well.

[@Khemarite]

Also you guys recently shut down the embassy as well here in Cambodia. 😅

[@Booklover32]

I'm an American but...maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, you guys messed up baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! I'm just glad it wasn't us this time.

[@jesperwall839]

I have a friend who escaped the genocide in Cambodia. It makes me sick watching these ignorant people celebrate what was about to happen.

[@MissEldira]

I am not convinced that most of them are ignorant. I seen the hatred and I heard what they say about their "enemies" and what they wish to do to them. And I heard them dismiss crimes as just because it happens to the right people. Downplaying or dismissing crimes by comparing it to capitalism on which they lay all the blame for the evil in the world. They act with glee when people they dislike are killed and hurt. The informants, torturers, the new police force etc, -did not come from nowhere. They are among us and ready to use the new regime to their advantage or to gain an outlet for their most wicked feelings. I think this is what draws them to this. Not because they are good people but because it appeals to the darker side in them. It gives them justification and an outlet and an other way to compete. But that is just like my speculative opinion. While it is backed up with some research it is hardly something I can prove. Or what do you think, how do you see them?

[@Yourmumsrectum]

You might want to blame the french to be honest and he yanks but ignore all the history before this that should make you sick. Was a direct consequence of those actions

[@redwater4778]

Cities like Phnom Penh had doubled in size with refugees due to USA carpet bombing . Pol Pot emptied the cities as there was no food and he didn't want the people killing and eating each other. Both the UN and UNICEF denied them food aid. 6 months went by before they got use of a twin engine cargo plane to deliver food.

[@stevenjohnson7086]

Except they weren’t ignorant. They simply refused to listen to anything that might upset their beliefs.

[@MissEldira]

I want youtube to tell me what was wrong with my comment, so that it needed to be removed. I was talking about what I hear these people wish upon other people, and how the ideology appeals to our worst nature not our best and how I am reluctant to say it is ignorance. I think they want an outlet for their worst side. How the people that did bad things in those countries did not come from nowhere. they are always with us and given the chance they'd advocate for and use a system that gives them power, an advantage or an outlet for those emotions. There is never anything controversial or bad in my comments and the words I have to avoid now is so huge it makes it impossible to write anything over half of them are currently removed. Yet i see people use those words and say truly bad things.

[@sedoff1948]

Those Swedish Khmer Rouge supporters are now pensioners. Myrdal dead, thankfully. What an appalling human he was, physically and ideologically. And to think I studied Gunnar Myrdal at the University of Michigan in 1968. Redistribute the wealth he cried. As usual, none were held accountable.

[@BobHooker]

Well as for being held accountable, as evil as saying nice things about Pol Pot in Sweden was, I doubt it broke any Swedish laws.

[@Fronverjl]

They never do

[@l.h.3586]

Gunnar was Jan's father. Gunnar was a very important figure when it came to macroeconomics.

[@jasmorris1286]

As per normal, rich kids playing revolution socialist

[@swimmad456]

How Gunnar Myrdal won the Nobel Prize for Economics is beyond comprehension.

[@Skantezz]

We aren't talking about a lack of condemnation, we are talking about complicity through active denial of information that was coming out about this at the time.

[@nelus7276]

They were just waiting for a chance to do the same here.

[@davejones5745]

Sounds very relevant today in the U.S.

[@jomansson5742]

It's shocking how relevant to today this is

[@Porook]

It’s easy to say this in retrospect, but why is a reasonable evaluation of the evidence suddenly evil because it turned out to be wrong? Most of what the western media reported about its enemies was a lie, but we’re only remembering when it said the truth.

[@RodrickColbert]

I ran a Freethinkers club in college some years ago. In the group was a guy self-described himself as a Marxist. However, also, in the club was a student whose family was from Cambodia and whose aunt was a fairly-well known author about the Khmer Rouge genocide. When the Marxist student started to state that some of the atrocities of Pol Pot were exaggerated, something he only knew academically, I had to speak up that we had a club member whose family could provide a different perspective.

[@ORLY911]

i would ask if the marxist cooled down on his stance but I get the suspicion he doubled down instead.

[@scapegoat762]

@@ORLY911 They always do.

[@ruedigernassauer]

Exaggerated. That was the what "brother number 2", Khieu Samphan, had said. He commented slaying anyone wearing glasses as "intellectual" by saying: "Maybe we had exaggerated." The Khmer Rouge era was marked by killings, forced work, nonexistant health care and severe shortings in food as the staple rice was exported to buy arms. It ended as the Khmer Rouge started to attack Vietnam. -- Back in 1993 out of curiosity I attended an information event of our German communist party where they met with North Korean embassy personnel. German communist: "How many unemployed people do you have?" North Korean, smiling: "None." German communist: "A happy country!"

[@scapegoat762]

@@ORLY911 They always do.

[@scapegoat762]

@@ORLY911 They always do.

[@usakousa]

Reminds me of British intelligentsia who visited USSR during Stalin era and only reported good things about communism.

[@nelus7276]

It was those idiots that gave the nuclear bomb to the Soviets too.

[@JustPeasant]

@@nelus7276 The tool that smuggled blueprints to Soviets was a Dr. (or professor) Rosenberg. Scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project. If he didn't escaped Russia, the Bolsheviks would had his head. He became communist sympathizer in the USA after WWII. You cannot made this stuff up...

[@redwater4778]

When the war ended and the USA had to leave, both the UN and UNICEF denied Cambodia food aid.

[@JackHaveman52]

@@redwater4778 I knew that someone would try to deflect the blame onto someone else. I'm sure those Swedish Khmer Rouge supporters would have sent food....food that would NEVER enter the mouths of those who were really suffering. It would satiate the appetites of the Khmer soldiers, though, who needed their strength in order to do their horrific work quickly and efficiently. There is only one group to blame. Pol Pot and his minions are the guilty ones. Their supporters, outside of Cambodia, have to take a lot of the responsibility as well.

[@renemagritte8237]

Actually not a lot has changed since then. The same kind of people look desperately for a reason to blame "Western imperialists" for Russian invasion of Ukraine and glorify Russian "achievements" on occupied and annexed territories.

[@wetl2628]

Had a coworker who escaped this horror. He was recruited as a child soldier, was shot in the troath (had the scars to show) and was saved by a belgian family. Super sweet guy, but when you started asking quetions you saw the pain in his eyes.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

As an actual swede I actually understand the lyrics in the songs played. Absolutely horrific lyrics.

[@andrewprindiville119]

a swedish person can understand swedish what a shocker.... youtube comments are so pointless

[@davidyocham7579]

Hej, veta du låtar i videon?

[@dropleaf8296]

@@andrewprindiville119 There is something actually wrong with you. This is what you call a "comment section" where you make a comment on what you just saw. It is not to write a multi-paragraph essay to personally enrich you: Andrew Prendiville. Not only is your comment pointless because it has nothing to do with what we just saw, but you also managed to act like a jerk and total loser to a random person you've never met. This is a video about genocide and war crime denial.

[@malapertfourohfour2112]

​@@andrewprindiville119anybody who leads a thought with having to justify it via identitarianism probably doesn't do much thinking for themselves, brother. We should try to remember that lack of exercise is turning their brains plasticy smooth, and we should gently encourage them to start exercising their brains again. 👌

[@midloran]

Are you proud of being a Swede?

[@rasmuswittsell10]

Sweden was highly polarized in these matters. Not a single person I knew would celebrate these scumbags. The ultra-left in Sweden were loud, strange and generally regarded with contempt.

[@stevenjohnson7086]

The ultra-left are STILL obnoxious

[@Skantezz]

Wasn't just the "ultra-left".

[@mikaelgillberg7555]

I'd say it's still as polarized today but with new "heroes" that haven't done anything wrong. History repeats itself.

[@rajaamirul3208]

People like that always making loudest noise but in reality is they the most minority in the country.....

[@candide1065]

Love it that when leftist are doing anything wrong (and people acutally call it out for once), they're just called "uLTrA LefTIsTS".

[@lazzzZaruZ]

Myrdal: "I did not see any genocide" How could four well-educated Swedes, specializing in Southeast Asia, travel through one of the 20th century's most extensive mass murders without seeing anything?" Invited to Kampuchea as a guest of Pol Pot's government, Myrdal wrote positively of the experience and said he had seen "no horror stories". His defense of the Khmer Rouge and his dismissal of the reports of a genocide drew criticism in Sweden.This would remain a subject of controversy for the remainder of his life; he never recanted his pro-Khmer Rouge views. In the early 1980s, Myrdal helped found a Swedish solidarity movement with the Afghan resistance against Soviet occupation. With the book by Gunnar and Alva Myrdal "crisis in the population issue" they paved the way for abortion and by that the body part business. Also racial hygene that led to RSFL/RSFU with Elise Ottesen-Jensen and Margret Sanger then to Planned Parenthood... From contraceptive to body part business. Now paint me surprised that the actual illigal organ trade is located in Cambodia......

[@KimKhan]

They were given a guided tour through a Potemkin Village, and were perfectly happy to not question it. It is truly disturbing how far gullibility goes.

[@mpireone]

It's nothing to do with being educated... it's about Ideology.

[@jeffk5142]

Westerners “specializing” in Southeast Asia, therein lies the problem. I grew up in Southeast Asia and even we do not consider ourselves as specialists and experts.

[@steve3131]

Myrdal would say "I saw no genocide" if he visited Auschwitz.

[@Coach_Dar]

He didn't see Phnom Penh was evacuated?

[@fetus2280]

I had a classmate in the early 80s who was a refugee from Cambodia. His family, partially, escaped to Vietnam and came to Canada. One of, what was called at the time, The Boat People. He told me a few tales about his family and the fight/struggle to survive in the jungles to get to safety. I cant imagine going through what he did. Him, his mother and Brother were the only ones left, Father and Grandparents were deleted because they couldnt keep up and were caught during the escape. He told me they hid in the bush and unfortunately witnessed it all. No details, thankfully, and I didnt pry. Just that was plenty for my young mind to deal with. Unlike other so called "Genocides" this was Real. No doubts about this period in History. None.

[@thecarlob_007]

Name a few of these “so-called genocides”….

[@majermike]

@@thecarlob_007 are you a bot?

[@eyeballjellyforbreakfast]

@@thecarlob_007 Palestine..

[@inttubu1]

The genocide in Cambodia was the worst ever because it was committed by not only Cambodians themselves but Cambodian children. It was a wave of insane jealousy against all that is good: wealth, education, skill, technology and love.

[@ngoma]

They remind me of Trump supporters.

[@voxpopuli7910]

​@@ngoma"said it again award" Literally the 5 comment i see in a analisis on communist/facist actions.

[@wubuck79]

@@ngomalmao sure thing, the most far-left of revolutionaries remind you of the American center-right. Ok, doofus.

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@ngoma Wait Donald John Trump is far-left? I am so confused.

[@DioTheGreatOne]

​@@ngoma >see bad thing >compare it to orange man >refuse to elaborate further >leave

[@peterenevoldsen7199]

In Denmark politicians and journalists were much more concerned about Pinochet in Chile. Because he was right wing.

[@johnsmith-ht3sy]

Same today in England, Government say fear the Right wing thugs, our PM called them that.

[@donlucchese7280]

Far too extremist politics from both sides of spectrum are terrible. Pinochet was just as monster as Pol Pot was, there is no doubt about it. Their ultra extremist policies causes horrible deaths and torture of completely innocent people who had any affiliations with anybody.

[@kgnsc]

He was also a murderer...

[@officialmasqq_594]

​@@johnsmith-ht3syit doesn't matter if they're left or right wing, Thatcher still actively supported the Pinochet regime in Chile and campaigned for his release from prison when he was arrested for human rights violations. Don't cry hypocrisy just because you have a clear agenda

[@richardque4952]

​@@donlucchese7280without pinochet,chile no doubt end up like venezuela or cuba.sure he was ruthless,but it was neccesary evil.

[@rullangaar]

Pol Pot’s identity was kept secret until a couple years into the dictatorship so the journalist who claims they celebrated Pol Pot when the Khmer Rouge took Phnom Penh is wrong or was misquoted. Myrdal mentioned in the video was a hardcore Maoist who also idolized Mao. He got a lot of airplay on Swedish public service back in the day. A very intelligent and very twisted man. Both his parents were Nobel Laureates and he spent a large part of his childhood in New York.

[@napoleonfeanor]

His identity yes but he was known as comrade number 1

[@yevgeni10]

Pol Pot was a French agent to remove the monarchy in Cambodia.

[@clipsssviral]

That still doesn’t disprove anything? They never knew who Comrade number 1 was. So saying they celebrated Pol Pot when the city was taken over is still wrong.

[@thomastruong8382]

Even his own brother one day learnt that Pol Pot was his own sibling by looking randomly at his portrait.

[@Marc-l6h1j]

Thank you for this.....I was unaware. Subscribed.

[@mryouben]

Noam chomsky wad one of them.

[@lauraly2712]

So was fellow leftist and America hater Jane Fonda.

[@DrCruel]

Noam Chomsky is still one of them. He got rich by being one of them.

[@seanwatts8342]

Chomsky has always been an oxygen thief.

[@tacob0]

@@lauraly2712 Apologizing for Pol Pot was the pro american position at that time. Chomsky is and always was controlled oppostion, his job is to keep the far left from doing anything to radical. thats why he supports the neoliberals every election. Why he was friends with Epstein ect. Pol Pot was working in american interests, was helped to power by the US, who had just finished killing similair numbers of Cambodians he did, And provided him populair support in Cambodia and devastating all his rival factions. Pol pot also fought the vietnamese like uncle sam wanted. And there is a long list of evidence of him having been a direct CIA asset.

[@richardque4952]

He show no remorse .

[@lavrentivs9891]

On the topic of political ideology, it should be noted that what stopped the genocide was an invasion by communist Vietnam (supported by the USSR). At which point the USA, UK and China began to support the Khmer Rouge. So it's not as simple as "communism=bad, capitalism=good".

[@robinhazell6019]

Excellent comment. Thailand also supported the Khmer Rouge right up to the very end. I was living in Thailand from 1992, and at that time, The Thai Military openly supported the KR and Thailand was the gateway for Hardwood and Gems which provided an income for the Khmer Rouge.

[@jurgschupbach3059]

Similar to Split Personalities

[@pmgear]

no it is only communism bad, happened everywhere, and yet it is doing better than ever in Sweden

[@thisdrinkinglife]

yes it is - Vietnam today has developed thanks to capitalism - but you still cant criticize the government or you will be thrown into prison

[@ebutuoY_kcuF]

So Pol Pot was nothing but a psychopathic conman who used Communism to gratify himself, because when faced against other rival Communists, he welcomed Capitalists' support. Shize!!! 🤪😝

[@fribersson]

Always interesting to apply the psychopath filter to political activists. The overlap is often disturbing. Such as people being unable, or unwilling, to admit they were wrong. Doesn't mean they are psychopaths, but it means they act like psychopaths on that specific topic. Great video, well done!

[@changedNameSorry]

Interesting take.

[@lima4-2angel]

I wonder if selective psychopathy is a thing.

[@foobarf8766]

Yep it's psychopathy. Not even a left vs right thing to me, more like horseshoe theory. The Khmer rouge had a communist aesthetic so people are right to call communists out but in practice was another ethno nationalist social darwinism movement. And we have that today in MAGA. Hard to say what's worse, left or right.

[@lllordllloyd]

Plenty of examples on the right. Many American/British right wing intellectuals idolised Pinochet, for just one example. One became President and one Prime Minister.

[@duitseles9687]

I think political power attracts psychopaths. Normal people wouldn't want to have power over others.

[@mikaelleskinen1349]

This was the mentality in the seventees in sweden.Cheering communism and left wing movements.Nowadays i suggest left wing activist that they should move to North Korea and find out for themselves what a wonderful system communism is.

[@notaseriousbeaver]

if you think leftist activists today want communism you are as braindead as these people mentioned in the video. Stop being a braindead tribalist.

[@BurtReynolds-qp1jk]

North Korea isn't communist. If you're so against the left wing, why don't you try and resurrect Hitler's Germany? (See how daft your argument is?)

[@marklittle8805]

They still do it. Lefties in the US and Canada still make excuses for what goes on in Venezuela and Cuba

[@oliverschulte9659]

still today a similar phenomenon in Sweden: Leftists adopting anti-semitic positions in the light of the ongoing war in the Middle East. Denying atrocities committed by Hamas and Hezbollah and unilaterally accusing Israel of genocide etc.

[@SwedishDrunkard5963]

short defenition of Communism: Stateless, Classless and Moneyless society in which the means of production and distribution are owned in common, this system is supposed to come after a period of Socialism in which conditions created by Capitalism are developed into a economic system that does not need the state or money. The thing is that Cambodia, North Korea (well early North Korea did but that was quickly destroyed by Soviet and US imperialism into Korea) and many other such states did not do any of this. Centralized state socialism is a incredibly hard thing to manuver, its important to know that even a state which calls itself socialist can be corrupted and try to hamper the growth of the socialist movment, The dictatorship of the proletariat meant the total control of the state by Proletarians and not by a tiny beurocratic class in the name of the proletariand, after all thats why Lenin said "all power to the soviets" which meant that the democratic councils in which the people could directly control the state and economy should have all power and not a monarchy or a corrupt liberal "democracy" Mao while having serious flaws which lead to him not being willing to leave the spot light was a staunch beliver in communism who understood that if China where to become socialist they had to avoid the soviet style socialism so he activly told his people to revolt against the socialist state and take over for themself in communes, worker co-ops and independant news papers (Cultural Revolution) but he also used it to stay in the spot light once again. Being class counciouse meant one understood that unless Class, the State and things protectibg class is abolished such things like in Cambodia, Nazi Germany, Belgian Congo, Apartheid South Africa, Socialist Romania, North Korea, Fascist Italy, Chilean military Junta will always repeat in history.

[@harryf1ashman]

I remember when I visited Sweden, my friend, and host (a Swedish patriot) was at great pains to point out how the Swedish government had played a very active role in the fight against apartheid and how this very righteous stance may have been a factor in the assassination of Olof Palme. I could have pointed out to him that having a pop at the South African regime during that era was hardly sticking your neck out but during WW2 , when it really mattered, the Swedish government was only interested in saving its neck. I guess for some in West Sweden represents some sort of socialist 'progressive' egalitarian anti-nationalist utopia but believe me it is anything but. The Swedes/Scandinavians are just as clueless as everybody else when it comes to buying into political dogma despite their supposedly renowned education system and social egalitarianism.

[@bernarddavis1050]

Well put, and very astute observation re the so-called progressive Scandinavians. Sweden's so-called neutrality in WW2 does not bear close scrutiny.

[@kjensen7819]

Denmark/Norway/Finland : Please do not compare us to Sweden......

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@kjensen7819 Well Finland joined World War II (1939-1945).

[@johnnotrealname8168]

If you want to know something, having looked it up, Francoist Spain took in more jewish refugees than neutral and democratic Sweden or Switzerland (I believe Sweden did try to take more but they failed to be fair to them.) and this is excluding individual diplomatic endeavours of the Spanish. Spain by the way gets constantly blamed about not taking in enough jews (Partly because Francisco Franco Bahamonde exaggerated the number he helped so not entirely unjustified.).

[@Merecir]

@@kjensen7819 The ONLY difference is that Sweden has a strong enough defensive position that it never got invaded.

[@aaofheartsthefaultydeck3805]

sounds alot like whats Syria is going through now. "Libiration" and celebration. We will see what happens.

[@lightsinthedarkness]

The thing with Syria is it that it has many paths for it's future. Cambodia didn't when the Khmer Rouge came.

[@alihenderson5910]

Brutal islamic fundamentalism and chaos.

[@laarbioufkir4956]

If you just keep your western hypocrisy shit out of the syrian affairs things will be good.

[@JackHaveman52]

@@lightsinthedarkness If the rebels take over in Syria, things will not get any better. The US should never have supported the Arab Spring. It killed untold thousands of people. The effects of it will last decades.

[@janer0ikdegard955]

The new islamist regime is based on Al quada

[@issigonis975]

This binary view of the world has not gone away. The complexities of the situation in Cambodia before those extremists ideologues took over was a great pick and mix for these gullible idiots to choose from to help reinforce their stupidity. Extremists like a simple world where the other side is the enemy so anyone who is against their enemy must be 'morally' good as they think of themselves. This lot were guilty not just because they promoted the Khmer Rouge but they were enablers by going to that country at that time to show support. The fool who dismissed evidence because it was consistent and was told by real people who escaped the country wins the prize for me. These types have not gone away and there are 'hobbyists' still backing unpleasant groups in parts of the world with zero understanding or care about the lives of the people living under these new extremists.

[@yl9154]

Generations after generation of them are raised in the universities and the academic corps replenish itself from them.

[@Marcusinthemix]

Detta sjuka fenomen upprepas idag

[@randomcomment1105]

Ja, tyvärr på båda sidor av det politiska spektrat, och i ett flertal länder. Detta fenomen har ju nämligen egentligen inte med politik att göra, det är istället psykologiska faktorer/fällor som i samverkan gör att det med tiden kan gå såhär snett. Ingen börjar i den här änden, men många hamnar där med tiden. De som i förnekelse vägrar att rannsaka sig själva kan fastna där för evigt. Titta t.ex. på Tyskland idag, där många inom både den socialdemokratiska falangen och ytterhögern vurmar för Ryssland - samtidigt. Trots att de på papperet egentligen ska stå på helt skilda politiska sidor.

[@DudeDudi]

Hur?

[@richardque4952]

Agree,just look at the pro hamas mob

[@antrimlottick1324]

​@@richardque4952or the pro IDF crowd. Both sides are murderers

[@Swede1523]

​@@DudeDudi Situationen i Syrien och Palestina.

[@DanielLiebert-i1p]

Let's not forget that exiled intellectual Pol Pot planned all this over cafe tables on the Paris Left Bank.

[@ruedigernassauer]

Pol Pot, real name allegedly Saroth Sar, studied at the Sorbonne university in Paris.

[@ruedigernassauer]

I´d like to add: "Brother Number 2", Khieu Samphan, studied together with Pol Pot at the Sorbonne university.

[@revivlerech9020]

As did Lenin in his time.

[@DioTheGreatOne]

Why is France always involved in the worst things about the left?

[@freefall146]

Really well presented piece of terrifying history of the unfortunate Cambodian people and well drawn conclusions. Thank you!

[@MrHasse74]

Ännu en gång man får skämmas för Sverige 😢

[@gurra63able]

Nej det är den akademiska sekteliten som ska skämmas dom har bestämt allt inom samhället i nationen sen 1950 talet och även om det är flera läger av galet sektbestämmande så är det ändå den akademiska sekten som står för det i sin helhet och så är det i större delen av världen speciellt i västvärlden.

[@stefanselen2565]

Pol Pot's friends were a small sect within the crazy left.

[@simonfarre4907]

Lugna ner dig. Det fanns *ingen* som brydde sig om Kambodja. Att vi i Sverige trodde Pol Pot skulle vara bättre för Kambodja var naivt men inte blåst. Jämför med Vietnam där hela världen satt tyst, men där vi var de enda som sa något. Där dog det 4 miljoner människor, civila som militär, och enbart pga USA stöttade (och deltog i mördandet).

[@shikochin4962]

Det kommer komma mer snart om Sverige. ...

[@randersson3672]

Sweden = A marxist dictatorship, but swedes dont get that fact....a "democrasy"that no matter how you vote keep the same marxist leadership, only different faces.

[@andrewwong1146]

Not just Sweden. In fact during the genocide, the Chinese CCP foreign minister landed in Phom Phenn and lauded the Khmer Rogue revolution as the showcase of all civilization.

[@fizkallnyeilsem]

Im really dumbfounded as to how these Politicians laud Khmer Cambodia as if theyre the gift from God, when neither the Swed or Chinese simps have not checked every nook and crany every stain in the carpet of Cambodia. Fire and forget. I cnat believe these are the same ppl who we listen for answers of truth for. Sweden was wealthy even this time, and to give thumbs up to an oppressed highly impoverish Cambodia is fu&ked up. Its like saying to them "wow, you so had it better, stay poor okay?" While the swedes live in AC hotels n the Cambodians run for their lives to escape the Khmer. Bat shit crazy previliged white leftists

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

Khmar Rouge basically just did what Mao was doing and did but on steroids

[@johnnotrealname8168]

@@Nathan-jh1ho Oh Jesus that is putting it in stark terms.

[@frankschaeffer8153]

It's no coincidence that national socialism and fascism that effectively ended as policitally significant movements in 1945 get all the attention while communism, which is older and the official ideology of the most populous country of the world and many others to this day, is treated as some misunderstood ideal that is good in principle but people made mistakes.

[@SwedishDrunkard5963]

There are several inacurties here. 1, China's offical ideology is Socialism with chinese characteristics and not Communism. 2, If you where to read the works of Marx and Engels and Lenin you would realise what they where talking about was widley diffrent from what the Khmer Rouge did. 3, Its not treated like that by anyone who seriously belive in it nor people sympathetic to it, while yes there where mistakes there are no person more critical of former atempts at socialism than communists, ask a Trotskyite about the USSR and they will give you atleast 100 points why it was shit, as a Vietnamese communist about the Khmer rouge and they will explain how it was a abomination they are happy that they ended with their invasion of Cambodia, or ask a Left-communist about China and oh god they will go of about how its a bourgeoide state parading as "socialist". Id also like to add that Pol Pot himself admited he knew fuck all about Marxism in a interview after he was deposed, and it shows clearly if you look at their policies which where just pure red fascism

Thanks for the summary, SwedishDrunkard. Are you familiar with any non-academic literature on communism in Sweden? Something a regular reader might find interesting? Preferably by an author with communist views.

[@SwedishDrunkard5963]

I dont know much about that, I aint the most well read Marxist, mostly since I dont have enough time on my hands, tho I have read some works of Lenin, a few of Engels and Marx while also gone on teaching leasons about socialism from the 1995 Swedish Communist Party (tho I was always a bitt sketched out by Stalins texts when they brought them upp) And well most texts about communism which most communist finds are a good explanation will always be the god awfully hard and slow to read Das Kapital. Tho SKP's "Riktpunkt" probably have a few (biased) articals, know they have a critique of K (mmmh... leftist infighting) Tho like I said, aint the most knowlagable about communism in Sweden specificly

[@originalnackster3743]

@SwedishDrunkard5963 3. You're just proving Frank's point. The "that wasn't real socialism" excuse is getting real old. It's insane that it isn't viewed the same as national socialism. Countless attempts and as many failures, it's time to bin the idea of socialism for good.

[@SwedishDrunkard5963]

@@originalnackster3743 No, whats happening here is that you anti-socialists label what is not socialism as socialism, then you are geting angry when mf points out its indeed not socialism.

[@mixmashandtinker3266]

Not a proud time for Sweden. I remember the demonstrations and the crap they conveyed… Still makes me sick, how (presumably) intelligent people can be so wrong and so deep in denial…

[@LordOfSweden]

LOL im very proud actuallly - these people have nothing to do with me.

[@railandroadfan6437]

presumably intelligent people like Assad and Karadzic for example? Both were graduated Doctors and became mass murderer

[@_loss_]

Why? What you're looking at is a loud minority of socialists. They don't represent the entirety of the country in the slightest. That's like saying you can't be proud of your country because there's a small group of nazis in it.

[@Zion_z1488]

​@@LordOfSweden As you should. Do not be ashamed because of some commietards. This is exactly what they want. Weaken a country by making it ashamed of itself, lowering the morale and sense of union of it's people.

[@Intel-i7-9700k]

Intelligence is only a tool to intensify one's mental processes Intelligence is not, in any way, related to being right or wrong, or being good or evil. Case in point, many lower-class uneducated folks have a better understanding of the world, of humankind, and of good/bad policies than many university-educated folks in our governments.

[@danv1324]

Westerners love to ignore who stopped the Khmer Rouge

[@rmdomainer9042]

No, we know it was the Vietnamese, if we are of the classes that actually read. Do not expect the tik tok generation to care though.

[@jasmorris1286]

As always, rich or middle class kids playing revolution socialist.

[@richardque4952]

See same thing in the west specially in the campus.

[@jasmorris1286]

@@richardque4952 yep

[@Trgn]

You left out the part where, while the Western left supported Khmer Rouge with only songs. The right and the entire West supported genocidal Khmer Rouge with official diplomatic backing, international recognition at the UN and financial funding. British SAS even trained Khmer Rouge. The very resources, tools and recognition, Khmer Rouge used to conduct its genocide.

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

Where do you have sources about SAS support the KR as or before they were committing the genocide? What British tools, except the ones captured from Lon Nol's government, was used for the genocide? The PRC was the only country that provided them financial and military aid. The SAS supported anti-Communists groups after the KR was toppled. Those groups opposed both the KR and the Vietnamese puppet government. But they probably did make temp alliances with the KR Also, the said diplomatic support was after they were toppled. Recognition of a "coalition government" the PRC created with the former monarch, who was friendeneimes with the KR. As opposed to the puppet government.

[@Buckoux]

"...one [Swedish] journalist cried for joy." and "... about one's own political ideology turned into a personal hobby." That's all I need to know...so much suffering due to the deliberate indifference of ignorance.

[@haber70a]

It wasn’t Sweden as a nation. It was a group of Swedish extreme left activists

[@alejandromaldonado6159]

Who had much control over the nation

[@seanwatts8342]

It was half the Swedish government.

[@LuzMaLopez-uq6xl]

And that group was basically the political elite

[@richardque4952]

Like olaf palme

[@igormarins1227]

a loud group

[@_john_doe_]

Glad they learned from history so it didn't happen again...

[@shikochin4962]

Yeah...but the cognitive dissonance is still unbearably strong still ....

[@getlost3346]

The same people were highly educated, endocrinated by the best minds from the nation's university.

[@banzay123]

Great video essay. I had never heard of Swedens involvement in Cambodian genocide. Important point at the end.

[@EduardoRodrigues-ce4dh]

I’m not surprised this kind of people existed in the 1970s, but how many of their type live among us now. Some of them in leadership positions.

[@nickhanlon9331]

The kid is walking on Monivong Boulevard in Phnom Penh near one of the big markets. Now the footpaths have been narrowed and there is a dividing wall that runs down the middle of the street. 3/4of the buildings have been refurbished or dsemolished and turned into glass and steel buildings.

[@ActiveAussie2024]

I m curious about who would have taken that footage, it's quite incredible.

[@daniellabra4186]

These swedish Pol Pot apologists sound just like present day palestinian apologists...

[@jujuba5487]

Not at all. Palestinians have been put down for decades in their own land.

[@josefraguas5190]

It sounds more like the Zionism apologist

[@richardjohnston-bell476]

That was the first thing I thought of watching the video. Even the language is similar but instead of "resisting the Imperialists" it is "resisting the colonialists". The Westernerns blindly supporting "Free Palestine from the river to the sea" would most certainly have been pro Khmer Rouge.

[@anthonymanderson7671]

Should have said hamas apologists Not all free palestinian supporters are like this.

[@SwedishDrunkard5963]

@@daniellabra4186 It does not, you cannot compare two diffrent situations with widley diffrent causes and conditions as it will just get a false comparison

[@winstonllaque]

This is so common. When Shinning Path and RMTA were waging a terror war against the population, friendship clubs were open in some of the main universities, this has happened before, still happens now.

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

And after those groups failed, and their brutalities were exposed. The same people just pretend they never supported those groups, in fact, they "weren't real socialists/communists"

[@johnnotrealname8168]

Where did this happen?

[@junacebedo888]

In the movie " The killing Fields " it forgot to show the Swedish angle

[@jancrosby6960]

I know what was then a young man who witnessed his parents being bashed to death with a shovel . He is still traumatised.

[@ef2718]

7th of October videos show similar events.

[@lardo_uber]

In school, when we were learning about genocides, we learned about the Cambodian genocide and watched a short documentary revolving around it and how it had been perceived by Swedes. For context, I'm Swedish. In said short documentary the producers interviewed, who I think was, Jan Myrdal. Either way this Swedish person had been to Cambodia during the genocide and had according to himself walked on the abandoned streets of Phnom Penh. He himself said that he had seen nothing wrong with the entire city being abandoned, it had raised not one single concern in his mind. That I share a common nationality with such ideologically blinded individuals, who I consider no better than the Nazis, sicken me. Truly abhorrent individuals.

[@grapesofwrath1984]

The same left-wing mindset still persists today.

[@Sevenlilies]

Why is this video titled “Sweden and the Khmer Rouge” when it wasn’t the Swedish government or even the majority of the Swedish public but a small minority of left wing activists?

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Then again, this is the same country that supported North Vietnam out of spite against the US...

[@OmmerSyssel]

Why are you all calling these leftist fanatics "activists"? They were extremists, just like in our time where dangerous religious fanatics are supported

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

Because that "small minority" managed to browbeat the rest of the country to either believing their lies or just not questioning it.

[@downbad_gamerz5136]

@@theotherohlourdespadua1131well North Vietnam was in the right

[@twotidoce]

​@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 meh the US should never have been there. So scared of communism they prop up dictators and deathsquads all over the world.

[@TipMag]

Sweden also despicably ended South Africa, Namibia as well as Rhodesia.

[@angkorkhmerempire6079]

As a child survivor from the secret American bombing Cambodia in the early 1970s and more than 150,000 innocent civilian deaths, and the survivor through the atrocious of Khmer Rouge regime. Every time i see videos like these, broke out with tears and shaking my bones to the core. I have lost dozen of relatives, including my father, brother and two sisters. Former president Richard Nixon and Henry Kissenger were not hold accountable for the crimes and among other westerners were involved. They knew what was going on, they did not stop the Khmer Rouge atrocities but supported them with financial and ammunitions. This video is a reminder of the modern history of one ambitious individual ideology that killed millions of their own people, to make awareness that these slaughtered crimes should never happen again.

[@terjemyller6573]

Were plenty of left-wing deniers in Norway, too. In fact some of them, old now, still deny.

[@christopherboyd7972]

This is extremely well put together.

[@MarlinWilliams-ts5ul]

This is very similar to Western journalists providing cover for the Holodomor 1931-1933, and US Vice President Henry Wallace visiting the Kolyma extermination camp in 1944 ... and pronouncing it a pretty good place.

[@chrismiller5198]

4:00 - Marxist utopia? Does the word "oxymoron" ring a bell?

[@cstevenson5256]

No, moores utopia has long been associated with Marxiat thought. That which was to come out of marxism leading Communism is Utopia; the absence of governance, Communism is Utopia. That is the idea and utopia is the delusion. Now a Communiat government is am oxymoron bwcause Communism is the absence of governance.

[@Ocinneade345]

Hitler also used socialism in his rhetoric to cynical ends. An actual Marxist utopia is a phrase used by idiots who don't understand Marxism or the horrors of capitalism.

[@TylerSmith-ld3lt]

What is it with journalists and the desire for global communism

[@breadandpeace447]

It's their personal opinion, that doesn't prove that communism is faulty. One comment here is striking, Communist Vietnam intervened in Cambodia and as a result Khmer Rouge fell apart. It took a communist country to do the job. And it is known that USA, yes USA, were involved with Khmer Rouge to work with them to expel Vietnamese out of the country. Those journalists were delusional, that's for sure and all serious communists condemn Khmer Rouge and its supporters

[@LuzMaLopez-uq6xl]

Most journalists are political activists, and Most political activists are leftists, because the religion of atheist leftists are politics itself

[@deepaksinha8063]

Communism seems to require that everyone sign on so that there can be no dissent. It seems Islam requires something similar. Christianity requires to but they have changed their methods for compliance. They try to secretly convert people without making waves.

[@blackbird7679]

Parallels to Western supporters of Hamas come to mind.

[@zuesadam7143]

The westerners are the one supporting Israel while denying there's no genocide in Gaza

[@scapegoat762]

Exactly. A social club posing as a learned politically expert think tank providing cover for sociopaths thousands of miles away because to not do so would end the social club. It's so cool to "stand" for a cause with all your new friends, who would never take your lunch money like used to happen every day back in school.

[@Jebediah1999]

You are branding people who don't support zionist brutality as supporters of hamas. Propaganda is the art of not controlling what you think, it is controlling what you think other people think.

[@Porook]

Israel has killed more than 30x as many people as Hamas has over the past several decades. If your people were being subjected to occupation, apartheid, and genocide, and you had only one large group attempting to violently contest the perpetrators, I think you’d feel very differently than you do as someone to whom all these things are just ideas instead of dead family members and homes turned to rubble.

[@ef2718]

Both ideologies promise an ideal future that will come after a vicious war against a demonized enemy, in a somehow never ending war that the leaders class has to continue leading. That is why they both can cooperate even though their ideologies hold deep contradictions.

[@HinDoongEe]

If you think this is bad, the US during this time actually backed the KR at the UN just to spite Vietnam. Latest season of Blowback is all about this

[@makslargu5799]

Yes this video certainly seems to be framing the reality of this period in an unusual way

[@joshklaver47]

Please do a video about Turkey and Armenian Genocide denial. That denial still continues to this day. The Turkish middle class was build from property and wealth stolen from murdered Armenians.

[@tolgarupture]

As a Turk I entirely agree with everything you’ve just said about the Armenian genocide and I utterly abhor anyone who still denies the horrors inflicted on the Armenian nation. I am, however, slightly perplexed as to why you would think anything good could possibly come from lurking in these right wing social media platforms. You may wish to choose your friends more wisely.

[@Lucidarius]

First testimony came from Yugoslav newspaper journalist team , from Zagreb and Belgrade. The world didn't know about the issue not one thing. Complete darkness

[@Lucidarius]

If you need a radio podcast, if you have someone to translate, it was a first hand interview with one of them newly done. Just translator is what you need

[@johnbatinovic6593]

Tito was a guiding light to these murderous thugs. The 3rd way? non-aligned movement?

[@geezerbutler4582]

I remember the lUK TV Channel BBC2 had a Newsnight program back in the 1970s. They ran a report about Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge takeover. The gist of the report was a trickle of refugees were telling a nightmarish story of labour camps and mass executions. But they were unable to verify as the country had closed its borders. They screened some images of Thai border crossings with no traffic. And then nothing more until the Vietnamese had enough of murderous incursions across their border. Then the awful truth was revealed.

[@nikolatims8916]

​@@Lucidarius Where can we find that report?

[@freetibet1000]

This actually went beyond the fate of just the Kambodian people (even though it was bad enough for them). Partly the same people in Sweden and Europe also denied the atrocities and actually supported the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese red army, and the subsequent destruction of its cultural heritage during the cultural revolution. In the propaganda the Chinese choose to call it a “liberating campaign” for its fellow brothers and sisters of the Tibetan plateau although the Tibetan people never asked for it or was ruled by oppressors or another colonial power at the time of the invasion. No, the sole purpose of the Chinese invasion of Tibet was for geopolitical reason alone. Today we see how China is expanding its influences across the entire region. China is playing the long game and slowly it is taking control over other countries whenever they stumble or run into troubles. It is China that will determine when the war in Ukraine will end. It is China that decides how the conflict on the Korean Peninsula develops. It is not the leaders in Islamabad that the people of Pakistan listens to to day. No, it is the party in Beijing that determines what happens with Pakistan. The same is true for the people of Shri Lanka. If we look at the broader picture we see that the leftist movement in Europe, at that time, saw the all too obvious atrocities produced by European colonialism in the east and formed a strong opposition against it. But what many with revolutionary ideas often misses to understand is the dangers that arises when a temporary vacuum emerges and some other equally ruthless and ideologically driven power moves in to take advantage of the situation. Today we know that both the Chinese party and the Khmer Rouge was only driven by one thing; -gaining supremacy over a territory and a culture and had no intention of bringing true benefit to the population at large. Both regimes are infamous for unprecedented levels of control and propaganda, brutality and centralised structures of power. In the case of Kambodia, they were a people suffering under ruthless European oppression (French) before the Khmer took over. Their fate went from bad to worse, but actually have now reached a much better situation today than what the Tibetan people are still forced to endure under Chinese supremacy and cultural apartheid. It is also worth mentioning that the socialist movement in Kambodia was not an isolated occurrence. Rather, it was a broad trend throughout Indochina and the people of Vietnam actually managed to throw out, first the French and then the Americans that was hellbent on preventing the spread of socialism in the region, and beyond. Totalitarianism is brutal in whatever form or ideology it comes in. The cultural imperialism that we saw from western powers then has now changed its outer appearances and have infiltrated almost all cultures across the globe through a massive propaganda apparatus, media, trade and commerce. It was a fight for supremacy back then, and it is still the same fight going on today. The world suffers under unprecedented levels of oppression, greed and ruthlessness by the military mighty. Whenever opposition arise the brutality from these powers arise as a direct response. That was true back then, and that is still true today. Make no mistake, when the west is really challenged to its core it will unleash a level of brutal retaliation on the world that seeks freedom that humanity has never witnessed before. -All in the name of righteous indignation, benevolent intentions, democracy and freedom. All part and parcel of the same propaganda that rallied the population against the nazis during WWII. By studying the history of Europe we cannot fail to recognise the unprecedented levels of brutal & totalitarian ideologies, deceitful politic tactics, ingenious manipulative inventions, tactical propaganda, etc that have arisen out of that soup of historic human deprivation that we call Europe today. The global threats we struggle with today have all their origins in European philosophy, religion and political dogma formed by ruthless leaders and thinkers of the past. The North American continent is culturally, financially, politically and ideologically a European continent. But the west is not satisfied with that but wants more. Much more! I don’t particularly believe in socialism, but it is obvious how western propaganda is constantly trying to make international conflicts rotate around either socialism vs capitalism or Christianity vs any other religion. It is the same age-old European recipe of divide and conquer that we have seen over and over again in the past. Smaller nations around the globe are only left alone if they adhere to the western paradigm of trade and culture dictated by the west. They will then be rewarded with the epithet “ally” and will enjoy the status of protection. Leaders in these nations are all being schooled into the “values” of the western culture military complex and thus guarantees that they will remain in the fold of western influence indefinitely. People of the east are no fools, they know what’s going on and they’re not going to be so easily led by the west as we might think. The Chinese expansion of influence is a sure sign of this drive from the east to not be blindly lead by the west. If China and India (the sleeping giant) manage to form a strong coalition there’s no telling how much damage they will be able to achieve against the western hegemony? Make no mistake, people from the east can become a formidable opponent, if sufficiently provoked. The people of Vietnam have shown the world what determination and intelligence can achieve. Even against bombers, nerve-gas, attack-choppers and rocket artillery.

[@Treblaine]

The only argument that it wasn't genocide is that it was worse, it wasn't against any particular group but everyone.

[@sunayakong8537]

It seems a lot of people know someone who survived this atrocity. My friend in college recounted the story of her family’s escape from Cambodia. It was horrific and hair raising. The close calls of almost getting caught.

[@sebbe617]

Detta är inget man får lära sig i skolan på Historia lektionerna. Det är ett som är säkert!

[@michaelpettersson4919]

Inte ett ord om detta men en massa kritik om Israels beteende. Inte kunde väl palestinierna göra något dumt Inte...

[@Macsalleh]

​@@michaelpettersson4919land grab by zionise

[@johndohe990]

Med tanke på att förlaget Natur&Kultur och UR stod för folkbildningen i Sverige under lång tid. med starkt inflytande från Östtyskland så är det inte så konstigt. Tala aldrig om för folket det du inte vill dom ska veta🤷🏼‍♂️

[@barneydenstad2148]

Nu är ju detta inte pga något slags censur, utan helt enkelt stoffträngsel, och att en genomsnittlig elev har en begränsad förmåga att ta in... Så det gäller att sovra... Men det är sant, man tar upp nazismens ondska och WW2 ganska ordentligt, men finns knappt med tid att nämna något om kommunismen. Tex Sovjets göranden å låtanden.

[@Hachiii85]

Vi hade en hel lektion om folkmordet i Kambodja. Det var även diskussion om vänsterns stöd till kommunistiska diktaturer. Det är ju inte precis förbjudet att lära ut detta i svensk skola. Trodde också det var allmänbildning att veta hur vänstern och sossarna förr stödde kommunism runt om i världen... men det är väll skillnad på skola och skola.

[@shen7256]

Considering they never condemned the atrocity even when the facts were presented irrefutably, confirms they considered it unfortunate but necessary.

[@menghorbunn2503]

As a Cambodian and a history learner myself as well as the fact that my family suffered an unspeakable loss during the regime, I feel deeply ashamed with myself that I'm "today" old to know about this story, this was never discussed or taught in Cambodia. Thank you for bringing this up and opening my eyes.

[@JonFrumTheFirst]

A side note: my grandparents were from Sweden, and settled in the Boston area. My mother spoke a little Swedish, and her mother lived with us in her old age. My father was Irish American, but got interested in Sweden, and bought a short wave radio to get news from Sweden. in the 1970s, around the time this was happening, he told me that he was frustrated, because Swedish radio just wanted to talk all day about Africa, and other Third World areas. No news from Sweden on Swedish international radio.

[@JP-oe4ry]

Sounds like things aint changed much...

[@Merecir]

Swedish state radio is notoriously extreme left wing.

[@truvakaplanoriginalmusic8493]

Cambodia 1975-79 was the worst time and place of my entire lifetime. Worse than the Cultural Revolution, ISIS, Assad, Saddam, Taliban, North Korea, Gaza, Hohxa, Idi Amin, or Macias Nguema!

[@michaellivingston4912]

This was very common. Not only Sweden. Happened all over.

[@backyardprojects9945]

'Sweden, the World's Humanitarian Superpower '. This country had medalled in the affairs of not only Cambodia but Rhodesia and South Africa. Olaf Palme was assassinated in 1986. He was PM also in the early 70s. There are four theories on who was responsible, no convictions.

[@Unit8200-rl8ev]

The US Government was a major supporter of the Khmer Rouge, supplying weapons and equipment.

[@thatall1145]

And why would they do that. The Khmer Rouge was a communist movement and America in that era were fighting communism so it doesn’t make sense to give weapons to the thing you swear to contain.

[@paulb8118]

Not really. They provided some support but very little.

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

No they did not, capturing US supplied equipment to Lon Nol, which the Khmar Rouge toppled, isn't "US supporting the Khamr Rouge" that would be like saying the US is supporting the Taliban

[@NgocTran-v7w]

China provided financial and military support to the Khmer Rouge, with US backing behind it.

[@jaykaufman9782]

The far left goes from one horrific cause to another. The Khmer Rouge and Cambodia then, Hamas and Palestine today. Lenin and Stalin in the 1920s to Fifties, Castro, Ho, Arafat and Mao in the 1960s and Seventies, and Hugo Chavez in the 1990s and 2000s.

[@richardque4952]

Lev kopelev late dissedent writer witness the horror of stalin terror famine,,yet he manage to suppress it,tragedy today will pave way for utopian future," J believe I wanted to believe "

[@Merecir]

And in Sweden itself they sterilized 63,000 'unwanted' people...

[@nathan9523]

nu händer samma sak med palestinavänstern

[@stevenjohnson7086]

Yes! You are correct. This film makes a very important distinction of human thinking. How ideological behavior overwhelms basic evidence. Human ego is very powerful and people don’t like to be wrong. It’s strange bedfellows that Western leftists support Hamas. But when they are offered a plane ticket to Gaza, they decline. It’s the same cycle, over and over.

[@rumble1925]

Och Israelkramarna

[@Macsalleh]

​@@stevenjohnson7086Palestian R fighting for their homeland

[@gamersforge]

precis

[@ramieskola7845]

Explain. What is palestinavänstern doing wtr Palestine (Gaza, West Bank)?

[@jonathsnparrish4040]

I seem to remember that some left wing Swedes were against Abba in the '70's.

[@bunnystrasse]

Why?

[@johnhatchel9681]

Blasphemous!

[@Merecir]

@@bunnystrasse Way too commercial. Singing about love and relationships instead of left-wing political struggles. The Swedish state radio refused to play their music.

[@chrishenniker5944]

The Swedish equivalent of The Workers Revolutionary Party saw Abba as Bourgeois, I remember reading that.

[@elforeigner3260]

Ask fan number one of the Khmer Rouge: Noam Chomsky

[@johngeiger3770]

It's always the ones who live far away in ivory towers who have the strongest opinions about horrors that I wish they never get to experience.

[@yl9154]

A particularly timely reminder that history repeats itself. The same types of blind "intellectuals" and academics still exists today, they just fly a different flag.

[@Sibl3o]

I've just moved to Phnom Penh. Learning more about the past. Let's hope the healing continues in further generations and understand that we all have no involvement or bare no responsibility of our forefathers no matter what race or ideology.

[@justinw867]

Pol Pot learned it all in France

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

The "Pol Pot" name comes from "Political Potential" in French

[@changedNameSorry]

The story is incomplete though, if it is not told that Western powers recognized the Khmer Rouge as the only "legitimate" government of Cambodia for over a decade AFTER the regime was toppled by Vietnam, in hope of hurting both Vietnam and the Soviet Union. Not only ideology but also naked power politics can lead to unexcusable behavior.

[@rntablette9388]

French newspaper LE MONDE was also publishing ” the liberation of Phnom Penh by the Khmers Rouges " ... and LE MONDE denied Simon LEYS on Mao's terror ... and LE MONDE pretends not to be extreme left ...

[@GorrilazWarfare]

The us and the west supported pol pot well after he was overthrown due to his position against the USSR, China even invaded Vietnam while we were capitalizing on the sino-soviet split and made China our biggest ally.

[@MrTorcida1976]

History repeated itself with left wing zealots (including Chomsky) who denied Serbian aggression in Croatia , Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosova all because Slododan Milosevic was a "socialist".

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

It's such a dumb thing especially when it could be easily spun into "nationalism bad" which leftist would agree. People like Chomsky say they denounce the USSR, while viciously attacking and slandering anyone else opposed to the USSR, probably felt like they can support non-Soviet alinged "alt" socialist states as examples of "propper" Socialism. Becuase USSR "wasn't real". Hence his extra desire he defend these states

[@kimsamvongsa5921]

thank you for sharing more information about Cambodian's most painful experience. That era has caused us many great people who could been alive today and improved our society 😢

[@rnou5388]

Believe it or not America also supported the Khmer Rouge back then.

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

Nixon became warm to the PRC. As the enemy's enemy. After the KR was toppled by Vietnam. The PRC created an "coalition government" of the KR and former monarch which was the KR's friendenemy. The US recongized this as opposed to Vietnam's puppet government.

[@patx_game4318]

Great short documentary. I'm a Swede who been living in Cambodia since 2015 and here it's not we'll know about the support from Sweden.

[@websurfer5772]

That's interesting.

[@patx_game4318]

@@websurfer5772 There is a sign in Toul sleng where the Swedish government admit the mistake but among the Cambodian population in general most people don't even know what Sweden is.

[@deserthunter73]

5:12 Sounds familiar.

[@franknada8235]

There is much condensed into that one sentence.

[@rickardstrom9305]

Activists? Have everyone forgotten Birgitta Dahl,, a Social Democrat and a member of the Swedish parliament from 1969 to 2002 holding positions such as Minister for Energy, Minister for the Environment as well as the Speaker of the Parliament. By no means any fringe activist but a well established Social Democat.

[@TPTnny]

Amazing. We still do this (Swedes).

[@shikochin4962]

Yes i know.

[@augusthoglund6053]

It's disturbingly popular in the U.S. too, with Noam Chomsky & all. I found a stack of newspapers once at my Church that claimed that's Hamas wasn't responsible for the Oct. 7 massacres, in a pretty slimy "just asking questions" kind of way. They were gone by the next Sunday but I still got cold feet.

[@np5687]

This is why learning History is so important

[@tomparatube6506]

PM Olof Palme, Noam Chomsky, Swedish ambassador to Beijing Kaj Björk, Swedish ambassador to North Vietnam & ALgiers & Poland Jean-Christophe Öberg, Jan Myhrdal and a bunch of other Swede govt officials & academics.

[@MichaelCairns-fv2vi]

Im 69 New Zealander..as a adolesant it shocked me..more for the fact that it went on so long before it was "discovered" by the Vietnamese army

[@stevenrichardson1843]

That poor little boy on the street was haunting, almost made the voice over superfluous.

[@everyday775]

When an english accent tells me a narrative i learn a lot. In this case, it actually confirms most of my knowledge on the topic. Just by taking the opposite way, thanks a lot.

[@inttubu1]

Read The Killing Fields. But dont visit S21. You’ll never get over it!

[@thatswhatshesaid.literally737]

“It’s not a mere act of ignorance but a conscious decision by some to protect their ideological commitments at the expense of truth. It highlights the dangers of blind loyalty to political movements and the cost of turning a blind eye to human suffering when it conflicts with one’s beliefs.” This rings true when you look at most instances in our world’s past of incredibly heinous crimes against groups of individuals. It could have been stopped had people spoken up for what was true and right versus what their ideology stated. Yikes…