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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| In 1978, Scottish journalist Malcolm Caldwell dies in Cambodia |
| 2025-10-25 |
| From the Facebook page of Clarice Feldman by Historyfeels In 1978, Scottish journalist Malcolm Caldwell (right), an ardent defender of the Khmer Rouge, traveled to Cambodia for an audience with communist dictator Pol Pot, (not pictured) of whom he was an admirer. Caldwell was found murdered only a few hours after their meeting. Malcolm Caldwell was a Marxist scholar and lecturer at the University of London who spent much of his career criticizing Western imperialism and supporting leftist revolutions across Asia. His sympathy for revolutionary movements led him to defend the Khmer Rouge, despite reports of mass executions and starvation in Cambodia. Caldwell viewed Pol Pot’s regime as a model of anti-capitalist independence, dismissing Western accounts of atrocities as propaganda. In December 1978, he joined two other Western visitors invited by the Khmer Rouge to tour the country. The trip was heavily staged, with villages and cooperatives prepared in advance to show prosperity and order. Caldwell met Pol Pot personally, becoming one of the few foreigners ever to do so. Hours after returning from the meeting, gunfire broke out in the guesthouse where the group was staying. Caldwell was found dead from a single gunshot wound. The motive for his killing has never been proven. Some historians suggest he was murdered by Khmer Rouge members as internal chaos grew before the Vietnamese invasion. Others believe it was meant to send a political message to the outside world. His death came only days before the fall of the regime he had so strongly defended. Added fact: When Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh just weeks later, they uncovered evidence of the genocide Caldwell had publicly denied, including torture centers like Tuol Sleng where more than 14,000 people were executed. Historydictionary: Khmer Rouge: The communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 under Pol Pot, responsible for the deaths of nearly 1.7 million people. Tuol Sleng: A former high school turned into an interrogation and execution center by the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh. From local commenter Kathleen Tyner: A prisoner of his own ideology. We have the same among some in our own country. I think despite his loyalty, they wanted to take no chances of him reporting something that was truthfully unflattering. I had Cambodian neighbors who told me some hair-raising stories. I go to church with someone who survived Cambodia. His brother did not. They were all tired of starving and his brother set off to try and get across the border and they never saw him again. Dr. Hang S. Ngor won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal in "The Killing Fields" who said he trained in the Khmer Rouge school of acting. His autobiography is a chillingly accurate account of surviving the takeover of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot and the destruction of Cambodia. They hated it if you were educated. But, one of the things that floored him the most before the fall of his society was the constant pushing of socialist and marxist ideology on the part of the press and the academics. He said it was relentless. Sound familiar? And guess who were the first to be lined up against a wall and shot? Or sent to "re-education camps". The press and the academics. Useful idiots indeed. One of his professors survived by pretending to be a peasant. This professor had been an enthusiastic supporter of socialism and communism. Ngor spotted him outside a hut one day walking down a country road. He knew if he outed him he would be executed. The man recognized Ngor and there was fear in his eyes. Dr. Ngor understood this and decided there had been enough killing despite despising what that man had helped to do to their country. Dr. Ngor walked by while giving him the coldest mile long stare he could muster. We still have too many of these useful idiots among us and we should point out these stories to point out them and what can happen with the dangerous ideologies they support. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 |
| Posted by: EMS Artifact 2025-10-25 19:03 |