Bjork said Penn Nouth, the titular Prime Minister, was reluctant to put any ideological label on Cambodia:
“He described Cambodia as being one large family working together”
FM Ieng Sary meanwhile said to Bjork that a monetary system “might be introduced later.”
8/8
Bjork: “The Khmer Rouge are pursuing a massive social revolution that is neither communist nor capitalist and more radical than the policies of the Soviet Union or China.”
“While they quote Marx, there is no ideologue which the new revolutionists claim to follow”. 7/8
He said the Khmer Rouge told him that the Vietnamese were either unwilling or unable to join Cambodian cooperatives. Therefore 600,000 were sent to Vietnam.
KR: “They were only in Cambodia in the first place because French imperialists had imported them as labourers”. 6/8
“I couldn’t walk freely in PhnomPenh as heavily armed soldiers guarded major intersections & denied me entry into some districts.
“You are immediately struck by the empty streets; every shop is closed; flats look empty. But there is some life, especially in the outskirts” 5/8
“Around Phnom Penh you could see youngsters marching, all of them with a hoe and a spade, some of them also carrying a gun, I got the very strong impression that the regime has active support from this kind of young person.”
4/8
On the suffering of city dwellers, unused to agricultural labor:
“Yes, they make people work in the fields with a hoe and a spade, but you do not get the impression that they are working very hard all the time. People often take a pause. There are people sitting around.” 3/8
Björk said there still is considerable suffering, but that he had seen no signs of starvation. He admitted he did not ask about executions. He said no telephones worked and that the KR use radio broadcasts to advise the people, with loudspeakers mounted even in fields. 2/8
Upon his return, Kaj Björk, Swedish ambassador to Peking, talks to @dagensnyheter about his impressions of Cambodia:
“It an experience one can never forget. Khmer Rouge troops were everywhere, but I did not get the impression of people working with guns at their backs.” 1/8 https://t.co/0pkgdQ0Oyp
