1) Your points on the conviction of Comrade Duch and widespread prosecution are well taken; I applaud them. I even mostly agree. So let me clarify my views as not to get lost in the “euphoria” of the Extraordinary Chambers’ verdict. Realistically, as you mentioned, there can never be, nor should there be, a comprehensive prosecution of former Khmer Rouge sympathizers and low-level members. As in most all-enveloping conflicts, society in whole trends toward the ruling regime; whether because of fear, true conviction or something else. So in relation to the lowest rungs of the the Khmer Rouge and their sympathizers, prosecution would not be well founded for a plethora of reasons. I would argue, however, prosecution of the elite – or leaders – should be pursued without abandon. The fact that it is 27 years removed and with seemingly petty sentences makes the court seem symbolic. That may be true but it is a symbolism that is necessary in holding something or someone accountable for crimes past.

2) I disagree with your assessment of post genocide Rwanda and President Kagame. Yes, President Kagame deserves a round of applause for keeping Rwanda mostly violence free since 1994. But at what cost? Have we even seen the worst of that metaphorical price-tag yet? Elections due in August will undoubtedly lead to another stolen election for President Kagame. Mr. Kagame has been in power since 1994, pushing ethnic divides below the surface, inevitably not letting them vacate the society they ravaged. Where does repression get a society with such underlying divisions? I can’t answer that question.

Anyway, here is some reading on the topic:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE7DD113DF932A35756C0A9669D8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3182933.stm (A 2003 article, but still relevant.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/world/africa/17rwanda.html

3) Finally, I have to also disagree with this statement: “Honestly I would be more worried about the rise of neo-Nazis in Eastern Germany than the possibility of Tutsi-Hutu clash in Rwanda.” Yes, there has been a growth in the neo-Nazi/far-right movements in Germany; I won’t dispute that fact. Unfortunately, however, this is not a trend that is unique to Germany, you can see it across Europe in the past five years. In 2009 elections, far-right political groups gained 29% of the vote in Austrian polls. Last month, Geert Wilders (of Muslim-bashing fame) came in second in the Netherlands’ European Parliament elections. My point is this: far-left and far-right politics are often born out of mitigating circumstances such as economic conditions, fear-mongering and national identity. So just because the Nazi Party is part of German history does make far-right politics a uniquely German problem.

Those are my thoughts. Thank you again for the comment and I hope you have more contentions down the road!

Reconciliation is an uneasy prospect in the aftermath of any genocide for the sheer magnitude of the toll it takes on the social psyche for generations. And I don’t think a systematic prosecution (Let’s face it, more than half of Cambodians were once Khmer Rouge sympathizers and probably a good portion of them were involved in genocide) would do any good to the tricky social fabric that Cambodian society has hung on to – successfully I must say – since the genocide. Again, I offer no sympathy to the perpetrators of an ugly genocide as such but I will be very careful about the seemingly celebratory ruling which could send waves of uneasiness to a large segment of Cambodian pupulation. Justice is not black and white afterall. And I am also not sure if it was not more of an external pressure (like the UN) than the actual willingness of the Cambodian government and its people.

I also disagree with the blogger on the exemplification of Germany and Rwanda as the opposite cases of post-genocidal recovery. I think that is very unfair to the tremendous progress Rwanda has made in both negating the immediate possibilities of ethnic aftershocks and more importantly establishing the country as some sort of economic and political model in Africa. Honestly I would be more worried about the rise of neo-Nazis in Eastern Germany than the possibility of Tutsi-Hutu clash in Rwanda.

Further reading –
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n05/mahmood-mamdani/the-politics-of-naming-genocide-civil-war-insurgency

Again though, great job with the post. I like me some controversies…

going to have to make a trip to the theater for this one I suppose.