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Mar

30

Dith Pran, survivor of Khmer Rouge, photojournalist who saved lives of others, RIP


I loved the movie, The Killing Fields.  I also thought Sam Waterston was sexy.  But that’s another story.

Do you know who Pol Pot was? Do you know what the Khmer Rouge was? Do you have any idea why you should know either one? If not, it’s unlikely you knew who Dith Pran or Sydney Schanberg was either.

Even though The Killing Fields is only a movie that grew from an NYT magazine article by Schanberg called “The Death and Life of Dith Pran” (and later turned into a book; the article is only available as a pdf to subscribers though I only received a small piece of it – no energy at the moment to look further for it) -  you should start with either one, immediately, if you aren’t familiar with any of those names.

I have a few specific memories of political discussions and events from my growing up years, and hearing my father and the broadcast news talk about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot in the 1970s was one of them.  What I remember knowing? There was a lot of death, a lot of violation of human rights and an anger that we weren’t doing enough to stop it.  I was in my tween and teens, and this kind of memory always makes me wonder what my kids will remember about what they hear re: Iraq and beyond.

Here’s the New York Times obit for Pran. RIP.

Hattip Shaun.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:16 pm March 30th, 2008 in Announcements, Foreign Affairs, Media, RIP 

Comments

5 Responses to “Dith Pran, survivor of Khmer Rouge, photojournalist who saved lives of others, RIP”

  1. 1 Jason Rowsey on March 30th, 2008 7:52 pm

    I read about this earlier. I’d say that unfortunately there are so many people in our country that have no idea about the Khmer Rouge. It’s very sad how uninformed so many people are.

  2. 2 muley on March 30th, 2008 8:07 pm

    …..a great movie and even “greater” story. So sad that after all Dith Pran had gone through in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge, he succumbs to pancreatic cancer. R.I.P. Pran.

  3. 3 Joseph on March 30th, 2008 9:48 pm

    Wait… did you say Sam Waterston is sexy?

    Must be the eyebrows, right?

    ;)

  4. 4 Oengus on March 31st, 2008 12:24 am

    Here is a link to another journalist that who is American…. Bernard Krisher

    http://vannara.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/81/

    “Bernard Krisher, a small 75-year-old American, is little known to Cambodian people while he has actually done so much for the country.”

  5. 5 Cambodia on April 27th, 2009 12:46 am

    As a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, I can’t say I’m too enthusiastic about the current tribunal. Trying a handful of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders is unlikely to deliver neither justice nor closure for Cambodians. After all, Pot Pol and many top leaders have already died peacefully in their sleeps. Not on trial are the countless lower level KR cadres who were “just following orders”.

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