Pol Pot Part 1: Tyrant in the Shadows

Real Dictators

NOISER

History, Fiction, Drama

4.8 • 8.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Cambodia today is many people’s idea of heaven on earth. But in the 1970s it was a netherworld of death and despair. Under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, in just four years around a quarter of the population perished. Pol Pot was a uniquely anonymous dictator - a man who preferred to operate in the shadows. So who was he? And how did he come to lead such a staggeringly bloody regime? A Noiser production, written by Dan Smith. This is Part 1 of 4. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's just after dawn on April 17th 1975, where in Penon Pen, capital of the South East Asian
0:09.8	state of Cambodia, all across the city crowds of young men dressed in all black swarmed
0:17.2	through the streets.
0:18.2	They have a steely look in their eyes and AK-47s slung over their shoulders.
0:28.5	These men are rebel fighters.
0:30.8	For years operating out of their jungle bases, they've battled to overthrow the government.
0:37.0	But now their enemy has finally succumbed.
0:40.6	The Prime Minister, Lon Nal, has fled the country for Hawaii.
0:45.9	Government troops have thrown down their guns and raised white flags of surrender.
0:51.4	Until recently, Penon Pen was a thriving commercial city.
0:55.2	What have laid?
0:56.5	Life has been desperate.
0:58.4	At the heights of the war between the rebels and Lon Nal's government, weeks of shelling
1:03.5	destroyed whole neighborhoods, many of them slum districts.
1:08.5	Food has been in pitifully short supply.
1:11.0	The hospitals have largely ceased to function.
1:14.7	The arrival of these black clad soldiers brings an unearthly calm, a sense of hope.
1:20.8	And this really be the merciful end of eight bloody years of conflict.
1:27.9	Entering the city centre, the rebel troops head straight to the headquarters of the local
1:31.3	radio station and for the Ministry of Information.
1:36.2	From now on, there will be new faces in charge of dictating the narrative.
1:42.0	They proceed to broadcast the news that everybody already knows.
	...

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