Asia
Cambodia
Siem Reap
After a session of meditation (Basia) and exercise (Oski), we headed to the Cambodia War Museum.
"Hadda be Playin' on the Jukebox" is a poem written by Allen Ginsberg in 1975 that refers to events in the World during the 60's and 70's (performed by Rage Against The Machine in the bootleg album "Live & Rare"). Even if there is a mention to "bombing Cambodia", it just refers to the beginning of the 3-part civil war that shocked Cambodia for 30 years (1970-1999)… the suffering was long and cruel… so long and cruel that even now, 15 years after the end of the conflict, there are at least 1 new victim/week suffering injuries or death for exploding land mines.
Both sides on the civil war mined territory; most of the metallic mines have been removed, but the plastic ones can be detected only by trained dogs and it is estimated 3,000,000 are left (at least another decade of cleaning). Atrocious.
Another slow killer is radiation: cancer rates are high among those exposed to uranium-depleted artillery shells like the ones below (that I briefly watched a a distance)
Besides many pictures of maimed men, wen and children (mostly civilian), we also saw destroyed tanks and other military equipment.
(As Basia shows on the three pictures above, life will grow and continue while the horror will rust, decay an disappear)
We went back home saddened. So much suffering… for what? There is no reasonable justification.
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