Thinking about people over the age of 50

In genocide studies scholars talk about people as being perpetrators, victims, rescuers, and bystanders. Any one person can cross into different categories as their situation and their response to events shift.

In the genocide of the 1970s, just about everyone in Cambodia was either a perpetrator or a victim or both. Kids as young as ten were used by the Khmer Rouge as informants, camp guards, soldiers, and even executioners.

The vast majority of Cambodia was born after the genocide. High birth and death rates and the genocide itself has led to a very steep age pyramid here.

The government of post-genocide Cambodia has used a great many Khmer Rouge officials in order to run their offices and such. They really had little choice since those who were even just literate were massacred. General amnesty was granted to just about everyone associated with the genocide. Just a handful of the highest officials are on trial for crimes against humanity right now as I am on my travels.

So when I see a group of older men wearing government uniforms taking a break from their official duties, I wonder what they were doing during the 1970s.

I must say that being in a country in which so much atrocity has occurred relatively recently is getting to be quite creepy. Reminders of the violence are everywhere.

Below is a painting showing both the beauty and the violence of Cambodia.