Cambodians Observe "Day of Anger"
Published May 20, 2009 @ 06:06PM PT
Cambodians marked the annual "Day of Anger" today, in remembrance of the 1.7 million victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. An estimated 2,000 people gathered at the Choeung Ek "killing field" just south of the capital, Phnom Penh, to watch a group of students re-enact scenes of torture and execution.
Copies of a new textbook --- the first to detail the history of the genocide in Cambodia --- were also handed out at the ceremony, and distributed to schools throughout the country:
Youk Chhang, the head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said the government-approved book, "A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)," was reviewed by Cambodian and foreign scholars and includes lessons from genocides in Nazi Germany, Rwanda and elsewhere.
Survivors criticized the slow-as-molasses turning of the wheels of justice for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge, as the first of five defendants is only now finally on trial in a UN-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh:
"Why is the court taking so long to prosecute these leaders?" asked Tat Seang Lay, 47, whose two brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge. "I want to see justice. I wish the court could end its trial process within the next few months."
[Photo from Reuters: Cambodians take part in a performance based on the Khmer Rouge regime during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Choeung Ek, a "Killing Fields" site located 17km (11 miles) south of Phnom Penh, May 20, 2009. Cambodians and monks gathered at the site to remember those who perished during the communist group's 1975-79 regime. ]
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Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.
