François Ponchaud, « Malheur aux vaincus » ("Woe to the vanquished"), in Cambodge année zéro (Personal collection of François Ponchaud, n. d.).

KNOWLEDGE ADRIFT

How the Indochinese crisis of 1978 led French intellectuals to rethink postcolonial knowledge

YANKO KALEM

February 2021

In the early 1970s, discontent with colonialist and imperialist systems was culminating in the western world. No less in France, which had recently withdrawn from the morass of Indochina and Algeria. Notably, French intellectuals realized that they had helped to perpetuate a colonialist bias by excluding indigenous sources of knowledge. They resolved to rectify this by putting more emphasis on indigenous voices from abroad. However, the new tendency was challenged as early as 1976. News of the Cambodian genocide and the subsequent Vietnamese occupation led many of these intellectuals to re-evaluate their esteem for indigenous sources. Once they recognized that both western and indigenous sources could be biased, French intellectuals found themselves adrift.

In 1975, many French intellectuals hailed the assumption of power by communists in Cambodia and in Vietnam. For some, these events represented triumphant revolutions against an imperialist West. However, five years later, the Indochinese refugee crisis and the rumors of a genocide in Cambodia brought many intellectuals to rethink this perception. How and why did numerous French intellectuals shift from praise to criticism of Cambodian and Vietnamese communism? 

A number of works have addressed the humanitarian activism of French intellectuals during the crisis in Indochina.1 Other research has highlighted how this involvement represented an ideological rupture for French socialism.2 Yet this crisis also confronted French intellectuals with a scientific debate. In fact, most of these intellectuals had abandoned a Eurocentric approach since the Algerian War. However, the political and humanitarian crisis in the former French Indochina in 1979 lead them to realize that their new postcolonial approach could also be biased.

A Postcolonial Tendency

In the wake of World War Two, the French empire unraveled violently. Paris was embroiled in armed conflicts in Indochina, and then in Algeria. However, President Charles De Gaulle completely changed his approach regarding the empire’s colonies by negotiating Algeria’s independence in 1962. He did so diplomatically, which served the purpose of freeing France from an American tutelage.3 In 1966, the General gave a speech in Phnom Penh in which he affirmed the right of former colonies to exercise self-determination.4 This new diplomatic position brought some French intellectuals, in turn, to rethink the way in which production of knowledge had reinforced and perpetuated colonial power in the past. 

Just as it was no longer acceptable to impose oneself militarily on a colony, it was no longer possible to base knowledge on an exclusively Western comprehension of events taking place abroad. After the Algerian War, this reversal on the question of colonies had matured over ten years among French intellectuals. Henceforth, many them had celebrated an “Algerian liberation” from the colonial French empire.5 This political independence had implications for their future scientific approach. In fact, for these intellectuals, only Algerians “could express the real meaning” of their liberation.6 Without considering their perspective, the French could hardly claim to understand the full reality.7 Therefore, French intellectuals sought to compensate their colonial bias by paying unprecedented attention to indigenous voices and, for some, by adopting a Third-Worldist view.8

Certain French intellectuals applied this new approach in the case of Indochina. Just like their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, these intellectuals denounced Western intervention in the affairs of the Third World and tended to idealize indigenous perspectives.9 Jean Lacouture, a journalist from the daily Le Monde, said in retrospect about the Indochinese liberation movements: “Colonization was no longer possible. And we saw, in the face of this colonization, honorable men and prestigious men and brave men who were fighting.”10 Thus, the Vietnamese and Cambodian communists’ takeover marked the culmination of success for Indochinese nationalism in the face of French colonialism and American imperialism.

These successes were firstly promising for political reasons. Georges Boudarel, a French communist and passionate Vietminh militant, wondered: “Will South Vietnam reveal a method for simultaneously building socialism and democracy? No such model exists. None existed for defeating America either.”11 The French communist thus highlighted the pioneering nature of this regime. Likewise, according to the historian Jean-Marie Domenach, a leftist less partisan than Boudarel in respect to Asian communism, it was “thanks [to Marxism] that the forces which eventually prevailed in Indochina were mobilized”.12 The case of Vietnam and Cambodia represented a new source of inspiration for the French Left.13 Since the Sino-Soviet split, then with the publication of The Gulag Archipelago in 1974, the communist world experienced a crisis of identity.14 The French Left continually searched for a new socialist model.

Furthermore, the success of these regimes could confirm the validity of a new approach of knowledge. As was the case for Algeria, one could not understand the situation in Indochina without accepting the existence of a distinct South-East Asian reality.15 Distinct, because the environment was entirely different from the West and, as a result, difficult to understand for Westerners. Nothing illustrated this better than Vietnam’s military victory against France in 1954, and then against the United States in 1975. In 1975, Domenach explained that previously colonized countries could not prosper before the West had been completely removed.16 In Vietnam, political independence was more urgent than a Western-style modernization.

The situation in Cambodia allowed a similar reasoning. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, replacing a regime supported by the United States. Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge launched a Maoist agrarian revolution and removed all that was considered Western. This included the evacuation of cities, forced collective labor, the departure of refugees, as well as the expulsion of journalists and of foreign diplomats.17 Despite this violence, some intellectuals did not believe that there were any reasons to worry. “The revolutionary Khmers will undoubtedly apply a flexible and patient Maoist strategy, very close to the realities of the people.”18 Jean Lacouture expressed similar optimism that the Khmer Rouge could create a “better Cambodia”.19 However, this lack of alarmism did not last. Over the following months, troubling information on the Cambodian revolution reached France. This information could tarnish the political significance of the Indochinese revolutions. Above all, it threatened to call into question the scientific validity of an exclusively indigenous approach of knowledge.

Cambodia: Year Zero

As early as February 1976, the publication of disturbing revelations in Le Monde suggested that the situation in Indochina was very serious. François Ponchaud, a French Catholic priest, had lived in Cambodia for ten years and observed the situation at first hand. According to two articles he penned, the Khmer Rouge revolution was claiming many victims. In particular, the Father condemned summary executions of former regime officials, forced labor imposed on intellectuals, food shortages, and massacres of civilian workers.20 This news contradicted a glorified view of Cambodia. For some, the assumption of power by the Khmer Rouge represented a victory against Western imperialism. It was to be welcomed as “a resistance movement against a government created by the Americans”, as Lacouture had said.21 Yet the bearer of the news was a priest whose only mission was, by definition, to convert indigenous populations to a Western religion. Moreover, he was only a single isolated voice. In the absence of other convincing sources, French journalists and intellectuals did not feel comfortable commenting on the violence committed in Cambodia.

Cambodge année zéro
Cover of the French version of François Ponchaud's book, Cambodia: Year Zero.

In the same year, French television news broadcast the testimonies of several refugees. In addition, the communist reforms in Cambodia and in Vietnam had caused the departure of many people from their country, which damaged the regimes’ image. Despite this, the testimonies were received with some reservation. Journalists were still not certain of how representative these people were, nor of the authenticity of their experience. Soon after the assumption of power by the Khmer Rouge, a French television report noted contradictions between the testimonies of French doctors who had returned from Phnom Penh.22 Such cases fueled doubts about Ponchaud’s revelations. Other reports questioned the extent of violence and repression. They wondered “whether this is a dramatic exception” and sought other “testimonies about the massacres that could have taken place”.23

For Ponchaud, the testimonies he had collected were not only reliable, but also representative of reality. They deserved to be documented more fully. He therefore published a book in 1977, Cambodia: Year Zero. In his book, Ponchaud described the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime, including the evacuation of Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge forced inhabitants to quickly leave the city, regardless of their age, state of health, or family grouping. The measures they undertook were a “purge” in order to attain an agrarian society.24 The indiscriminate violence of the Khmer revolution was aimed at “building a bright future” for Cambodia.25 It was necessary to “build the economic infrastructure of the country with one’s own flesh and blood.”26 For the Khmer Rouge, this violence was useful as a means to purge society. Cambodia: Year Zero therefore served a documentary purpose; each page includes a number of long quotations that illustrated the seriousness of the situation. For Ponchaud, these were “absolutely certain sources”.27

François Ponchaud is interviewed on TV news. ‘Réfugié cambodgien’, (Antenne 2 Le Journal de 20H, 17 avril 1977), http://www.ina.fr/video/CAB7700581701.

Moreover, the book made an appeal to the French media and criticized the supporters of the revolution. On the subject of testimonies, Ponchaud asked in April 1977: “How can you not believe them?”28 The priest condemned the inaction of French intellectuals: that “so few voices have been raised to oppose the assassination of a people, nothing is less justifiable.”29 Ponchaud’s message was therefore clear. The positive representation of the communist regimes was hiding a humanitarian crisis. The Western world had to intervene to defend this people.

Would relying on unverifiable testimonies documented by Ponchaud be to reproduce strictly Eurocentric knowledge? Cambodia: Year Zero sparked a number of debates as soon as its French edition was published, especially because of questions on the reliability of the information coming from Cambodia.30 In this context, Ponchaud went on television to insist on the gravity of the crisis, saying that it amounted to genocide, comparable to the Holocaust.31 Several voices supported Ponchaud’s appeal, notably those who recognized that the Khmer revolution had dehumanized labor rather than emancipating the people.32 Jacques Julliard, a historian and columnist, argued that “the absence of information […] does not constitute a presumption of innocence, but one of guilt”.33 Similarly, Jean Lacouture praised Ponchaud’s book in Le Nouvel Observateur. However, according to Hourmant, Lacouture’s “speaking out is meant as a means of action”, rather than a rigorous publication.34 In fact, Lacouture still maintained that it was Western ideologues who “sow death in the name of a green paradise to come” in Cambodia.35 Nonetheless, he noted that the abundance of testimonies alone was enough to recognize the reality of the crisis.36

A New Image

The humanitarian crisis in Southeast Asia deepened even further. In November 1978, the Hai Hong incident made headlines in the West.37 A cargo ship transporting refugees was unable to land in the region. Public opinion was moved by the fate of these boat people and became increasingly concerned about the situation in Cambodia and Vietnam. A month after this incident, Vietnam began its invasion of Cambodia and remained there for nearly ten years. From then on, the media had no doubt about the seriousness of the situation. But these new circumstances raised a true paradox for the French intellectuals who had invested so much hope in the revolution.

Julien Besançon shows a map of mainland South-East Asia. ‘L’invasion du Cambodge’, (L’événement, 11 janvier 1979), http://www.ina.fr/video/CAA7900168701.
"The Vietnamese government affirms that it was the Cambodians who first attacked the Vietnamese positions." 'Interview ambassadeur Vietnam', (Le Journal A2 20H, 3 janvier 1978), https:///www.ina.fr/video/CAB7800024001/interview-ambassadeur-vietnam-video.html.
Patrick Poivre d'Arvor describes a Vietnamese military map "that shows the penetration points of the Cambodian troops", about 100 km East of Phnom Penh and 60 km North-West of Ho Chi Minh City. 'Interview ambassadeur Vietnam'.
A Vietnamese military map "that shows the penetration points of the Cambodian troops", about 75 km South of Phnom Penh and 175 km West of Ho Chi Minh City. 'Interview ambassadeur Vietnam'.

The revelations of atrocities committed against Cambodians tarnished the image of the Khmer Rouge. Likewise, the military invasion revealed a negative image of Vietnam. Phnom Penh and Hanoi no longer represented nationalist movements victorious over foreign interference, but oppressive regimes in and of themselves. By 1978, the Vietnamese media frequently reported on Cambodian atrocities described by refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge.38 This time, French intellectuals criticized Hanoi. According to them, Vietnam took advantage from the humanitarian crisis by using refugees “for ideological propaganda purposes”.39 Moreover, Hanoi installed a friendly government in Phnom Penh. Vietnam presented itself as the savior of Cambodia and claimed that it had no aspiration to influence Cambodia.40 But in reality, after a thousand years of fighting with Cambodia, Vietnam was still its “irreducible enemy”.41 Criticism of the Vietnamese regime began to mount. Thus, the new circumstances led to a change in perceptions, once again leading French intellectuals to greater disillusionment with communism in Indochina.  

With this new understanding, the issue of genocide in Cambodia became more relevant. In 1977, Ponchaud estimated a strict minimum of one million deaths on the basis of the testimonies he had collected, which was controversial.42 At the time Cambodia: Year Zero was published, Ponchaud had been called a “reactionary priest”.43 But after the Hai Hong incident and the invasion by Vietnam, the French media generally accepted that about three million people had been killed.44 On French television, the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge were portrayed as self-evident.45 This was a contrast to the attitude of previous years.

The Vietnamese occupation involved several different issues, including its association with Khmer Rouge affairs.46 To a certain extent, it confirmed and compounded the Cambodian genocide. Indeed, the genocide was not only about the wrongs suffered by the Cambodian population. It also concerned the justification of the occupation. “If there was a conflict over the recognition of genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime, this conflict was quickly linked to the situation Cambodia was experiencing under Vietnamese occupation.”47 According to Ponchaud, the occupation was a second element of the genocide.48 For this reason, the priest refused to publish a second edition of his book: Vietnam was likely to use it as propaganda in its favor.49 On the other hand, Jean Lacouture asked “whether there could really be, currently, a systematic desire for organized genocide on the part of the Vietnamese.”50 Nonetheless, the violence of the Khmer Rouge regime and of the Vietnamese invasion was now obvious. It was no more excusable than the violence of the imperial powers. Ultimately, Vietnam and Cambodia, in their quest for regional domination, were not so different from a colonialist and imperialist West. The postcolonial tendency that had produced an overly idealistic vision now risked strengthening Vietnam’s interests. By trying to compensate for the colonial bias, French intellectuals had gone too far. Once again, they had missed the reality in Indochina.

Conclusion

Couverture du livre L'île de lumière par Bernard Kouchner.

The Indochinese crisis led to a change in perceptions among French intellectuals between 1976 and 1980. Three conclusions emerge from this analysis. Firstly, these intellectuals were responding to a scientific dilemma related to the choice of sources and their interpretation. Contrary to the idea that the crisis had only divided the Left for political reasons, this event also confronted experts in the humanities. Once they had recognized a bias within Indigenous sources, French intellectuals found themselves adrift.

For a long time, a left-wing discourse denounced American imperialism. The communist victories in Cambodia and Vietnam had been used to support this argument.51 However, it seemed clear that an ideological orientation among some French intellectuals guided their choice and interpretation of sources. French intellectuals realized that they had inherited “an ideological era in which fact, reality and the field were disdained.”52 After 1979, this impasse was translated into activism favoring humanitarian aid.53 Bernard Kouchner, among others, urged intellectuals and politicians to take concrete action.54

It is also important to compare the intellectual path of this French Left with that of the Anglo-Saxon world. The Anglo-Saxon intellectual world also condemned the colonial bias of sources and of knowledge.55 In the United States, an orthodox interpretation of the Vietnam War, according to which it was a serious mistake, prevailed in the 1970s.56 It seemed evident that there was a certain amount of skepticism within the orthodox current regarding media coverage of Cambodia.57 With the exception of a few summary reviews, there was very little discussion of Ponchaud’s book in the United States.58 In contrast, Cambodia: Year Zero was the source of several debates in France. The Indochinese crisis had confronted French intellectuals with a new paradox, representing a profound “crise de conscience”.59 French intellectuals first challenged a colonial bias, and then a postcolonial bias. No Western or Indigenous source should be exempt from criticism.

CE QUI SUIT

Jump to a list of links and references for further reading

Read Key Documents Related to the Crisis

References

  1. François Hourmant, ‘Sous Le Signe Des Droits de l’homme et de La Démocratie’, in Le Désenchantement Des Clercs : Figures de l’intellectuel Dans l’après-Mai 68, New edition [online] (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 1997), 169–99, http://books.openedition.org/pur/24609. See Bernard Kouchner’s book, which describes the implementation of his humanitarian project: Bernard Kouchner, L’île de lumière (Paris: Ramsay, 1980). See also: Phi-Vân Nguyen, ‘L’Incident Du Hai Hong’, Histoire Des Boat People, 2020, https://boatpeoplehistory.com/fr/rssfr/chronologie/hai-hong/.
  2. According to François Hourmant, the discourses relating to Vietnam and Cambodia were part of an evolution of the French Left: Hourmant, ‘Sous Le Signe Des Droits de l’homme et de La Démocratie’. See also John Broucke, who highlights the hostility towards Western intervention: John Broucke, ‘Une Rencontre Transatlantique : Les Viêt-Nam Nés Du Mouvement Anti-Guerre En France et Aux États-Unis’ (Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal, 2015), https://archipel.uqam.ca/7714/1/M13911.pdf.
  3. Matthew Connelly, A Diplomatic Revolution: Algeria’s Fight for Independence and the Origins of the Post-Cold War Era (USA - OSO: Oxford University Press, 2002). 277. Pierre Journoud, De Gaulle et le Vietnam (1945-1969) (Paris: Tallandier, 2011), https://www.cairn.info/de-gaulle-et-le-vietnam--9782847345698.htm. 227. Frédéric Turpin, ‘La France et ses colonies’, Pouvoirs 174, no. 3 (2020): 39–51, https://doi.org/10.3917/pouv.174.0039.
  4. Christopher E. Goscha, ‘Le discours de Phnom Penh’, in L’histoire de France vue d’ailleurs, ed. Jean Noël Jeanneney and Jeanne Guérout (Paris: Les Arènes, 2016), 556–69.
  5. Robert Bonnaud et al., ‘Retour Sur La Guerre d’Algérie’, Esprit 10, no. 417 (October 1972). 409.
  6. Bonnaud et al., ‘Retour Sur La Guerre d’Algérie’. 409.
  7. Bonnaud et al., ‘Retour Sur La Guerre d’Algérie’. 409.
  8. Claude Liauzu, “Le Tiersmondisme Des Intellectuels En Accusation : Le Sens d’une Trajectoire,” Vingtième Siècle : Revue d’histoire 12 (1986): 73–80.
  9. See Frances FitzGerald and Phillip Catton: Frances FitzGerald, Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972). Phillip E. Catton, ‘Refighting Vietnam in the History Books: The Historiography of the War’, OAH Magazine of History 18, no. 5 (October 2004): 7–11.
  10. Jacques Chancel and Jean Lacouture, Jean Lacouture, Radioscopie (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, 1980), https://madelen.ina.fr/programme/jean-lacouture.
  11. Georges Boudarel, ‘Vietnam: Les Conditions Politiques d’une Victoire Militaire’, Esprit, no. 448 (7/8) (1975). 133. See also: Edwards M. Kathryn, ‘Traître Au Colonialisme? The Georges Boudarel Affair and the Memory of the Indochina War’, French Colonial History, Michigan State University Press, 11 (2010): 193–209.
  12. Jean-Marie Domenach, ‘Idéologie et Marxisme’, Esprit 9, no. 449 (September 1975). 197.
  13. Hourmant, ‘Sous Le Signe Des Droits de l’homme et de La Démocratie’.
  14. Alexandre Soljenitsyne, L’Archipel Du Goulag (Seuil, 1974).
  15. Jean-Marie Domenach, ‘Indochine : Fin et Commencement’, Esprit 6, no. 447 (June 1975). 1015.
  16. Domenach, ‘Indochine : Fin et Commencement’. 1015.
  17. See David Chandler and Ben Kiernan: David P. Chandler, A History of Cambodia, 4th ed. (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 2008). Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79 (Yale University Press, 1996).
  18. Domenach, ‘Indochine : Fin et Commencement’. 1017.
  19. Raphaëlle Bacqué, “Le Jour Où... « Le Monde » Salue l’arrivée Des Khmers Rouges,” Le Monde, July 24, 2014, https://www.lemonde.fr/festival/article/2014/07/24/le-jour-ou-le-monde-salue-l-arrivee-des-khmers-rouges_4461932_4415198.html.
  20. François Ponchaud, ‘I. - Un travail gigantesque’, Le Monde.fr, 17 February 1976, https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1976/02/17/i-un-travail-gigantesque_2959927_1819218.html.; François Ponchaud, ‘II. - Un nouveau type d’homme’, Le Monde.fr, 18 February 1976, https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1976/02/18/ii-un-nouveau-type-d-homme_2960344_1819218.html.
  21. Bacqué, “Le Jour Où... « Le Monde » Salue l’arrivée Des Khmers Rouges.”
  22. Patrick Clément, ‘Médecins français revenant du Cambodge’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Satellite, 15 May 1975), http://www.ina.fr/video/CAA85102844.
  23. Michel Badaire, ‘Photos Cambodge’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (TF1 Actualités 20H, 19 April 1976), http://www.ina.fr/video/CAA7600653601. Jean François Chauvel, ‘Cambodge’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Le Journal A2 20H, 1 June 1976), http://www.ina.fr/video/CAB7600737001.
  24. Ponchaud, ‘I. - Un travail gigantesque’.
  25. Ponchaud, ‘I. - Un travail gigantesque’.
  26. François Ponchaud, Cambodge année zéro (Paris: Julliard, 1977). 97. Ponchaud’s book first appeared in French in 1977. An English edition was published in 1978: François Ponchaud, Cambodia: Year Zero (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978).
  27. Serge Misrai, ‘Réfugié cambodgien’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Antenne 2 Le Journal de 20H, 17 April 1977), http://www.ina.fr/video/CAB7700581701.
  28. Misrai, ‘Réfugié cambodgien’.
  29. Ponchaud, Cambodge année zéro. 230.
  30. Hourmant, ‘Sous Le Signe Des Droits de l’homme et de La Démocratie’.
  31. Misrai, ‘Réfugié cambodgien’. Jacques Chancel and François Ponchaud, ‘François Ponchaud’, Radioscopie (Radio France, 16 June 1977), https://madelen.ina.fr/programme/francois-ponchaud.
  32. Jacques Poitevin, ‘Voir Le Cambodge’, Esprit, no. 18 (6) (1978). 110.
  33. Jacques Julliard, ‘Un an Avant’, Esprit 2, no. 2 (February 1977). 182.
  34. This is explained by the fact that the article was based on inaccurate quotes, which Lacouture later had to correct. Hourmant, ‘Sous Le Signe Des Droits de l’homme et de La Démocratie’. See also Jean Lacouture, “Cambodia: Corrections,” The New York Review of Books, May 26, 1977, https://www-nybooks-com.uml.idm.oclc.org/articles/1977/05/26/cambodia-corrections/?printpage=true. But according to Paul Thibaud, the details are less important, because “the victims are a little bit pressed for time”. Paul Thibaud, “Le Cambodge, Les Droits de l’homme et l’opinion Internationale,” Esprit 9, no. 45 (September 1980): 112–23. See also Serge Thion, who revisits the article by Jean Lacouture published in 1977: Serge Thion, “Le Cambodge, La Presse et Ses Bêtes Noires,” Esprit 9, no. 45 (September 1980): 95–111.
  35. Jean Lacouture, ‘La Démence Cambodgienne’, Le Nouvel Observateur, no. 14 (February 1977). 29.
  36. Jean Lacouture, Survive Le Peuple Cambodgien ! (Paris: Seuil, 1978). Even if Cambodia was internationally isolated: Marie-Gabrielle Guérard, ‘Cambodge-Chili : Une Nouvelle Forme d’information Télévisée’, Esprit 6, no. 18 (1978). 108.
  37. Nguyen, ‘L’Incident Du Hai Hong’.
  38. Roland-Pierre Paringaux, ‘Près de Deux Cent Mille Cambodgiens Se Seraient Réfugiés Au Vietnam’, Le Monde, 31 March 1978, https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1978/03/31/pres-de-deux-cent-mille-cambodgiens-se-seraient-refugies-au-vietnam_2982948_1819218.html.
  39. Roland-Pierre Paringaux, ‘Le Sud-Est Asiatique Malade de Ses Réfugiés’, Le Monde, 17 June 1978, https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1978/06/17/le-sud-est-asiatique-malade-de-ses-refugies_2974382_1819218.html.
  40. Paul Nahon, ‘Interview ambassadeur Vietnam’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Le Journal A2 20H, 3 January 1978), https://www.ina.fr/video/CAB7800024001/interview-ambassadeur-vietnam-video.html.
  41. Pierre Mari, ‘Vive Le Viêtnam Génocide’, Esprit 12, no. 36 (December 1979): 163–64.
  42. Chancel and Ponchaud, ‘François Ponchaud’.
  43. Jacques Bureau et al., ‘Tiers-Monde et Informations’, Esprit 1, no. 37 (January 1980). 88.
  44. Patrick Lecocq, Paul Nahon, and Jean Rey, ‘Le Cambodge’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Antenne 2 Midi, 28 May 1979), https://www.ina.fr/video/CAB7900629201/le-cambodge-video.html. André Fontaine, ‘Le Troisième Génocide Du Siècle’, Le Monde, 6 July 1979, https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1979/07/06/le-troisieme-genocide-du-siecle_2781681_1819218.html.
  45. Edouard Lor, ‘Cambodge’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (A2 Le Journal 20H, 11 October 1979), https://www.ina.fr/video/CAB7901775601/cambodge-video.html.
  46. Jean Loup Demigneux, ‘Dossier Cambodge’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (TF1 Actualités 20H, 6 July 1979), https://www.ina.fr/video/CAA7901164201/dossier-cambodge-video.html.
  47. Clémentine Besnardeau, ‘Mouvements Des Corps Entre Questions Migratoires et Questions Humanitaires’ (Paris, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, 2008). 22.
  48. Paul Nahon et al., ‘1975 : Le Khmers Rouges et le Vietnam’, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Antenne 2 - Les dossiers de l’écran, 27 November 1979), https://youtu.be/pOrygJYdmt8.
  49. Catherine Coq, Guy Coq, and François Ponchaud, ‘Le Génocide Dans l’histoire Khmère : Entretien Avec François Ponchaud’, Esprit 1, no. 281 (January 2002). 42.
  50. Joseph Pasteur, “Le Khmers Rouges et Le Vietnam,” Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (Les Dossiers de l’écran - Antenne 2, November 27, 1979), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOrygJYdmt8&ab_channel=INAHistoire.
  51. Hourmant, ‘Sous Le Signe Des Droits de l’homme et de La Démocratie’.
  52. Bureau et al., ‘Tiers-Monde et Informations’. 87.
  53. Hourmant, ‘Sous Le Signe Des Droits de l’homme et de La Démocratie’.
  54. Kouchner, L’île de lumière.
  55. Orientalism, by Edward Said, was a significant articulation of this: Edward Wadie Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon Books, 1978).
  56. Catton, ‘Refighting Vietnam in the History Books: The Historiography of the War’. 8.
  57. Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, After the Cataclysm: Postwar Indochina and the Reconstruction of Imperial Ideology (Montréal: Black Rose Books, 1979).
  58. Donald S. Zagoria, ‘Cambodia Year Zero by François Ponchaud’, Foreign Affairs 57, no. 2 (1978): 427. Joseph J. Zasloff, ‘Cambodge Année Zéro: Document’, The American Political Science Review 73, no. 2 (1979): 654–55.
  59. Mark Lilla, ‘The Other Velvet Revolution: Continental Liberalism and Its Discontents’, Daedalus 123, no. 2 (1994). 149.