Thread by @GJosephRoche

On the banning of the Cham language during the Cambodian genocide. 1/n

Krauchhmar. 1975. "...many local Chams... rebelled when they learned of the DK plan to ban their religion and language, to make them eat pork, and to break up Cham communities." 2/n

Tbaung Khmum. 1975. "It was also expressly forbidden to speak Cham: 'We were not allowed to use the [Cham] words yas [mother] or chik [father] to address our parents. We had to use the [Khmer] words me and pak.'" 3/n

Peareang. 1976. "...in 1976 Khmer Rouge pressure on ordinary Chams began. Religion was banned, as was the Cham language. 'They said to us: Chams who eat pork, and are prepared to raise and slaughter pigs, will be spared.'" 4/n

Koh Thom. 1976. "The Khmer Rouge closed the mosques, banned Islam, and prohibited Cham as a 'foreign language.'" 5/n

Takeo. "In 1977, the Cham language was banned. Nao Gha recalls that Khmer Rouge cadres said that now only the Khmer language was allowed: 'There are no Vietnamese, Chinese, Javanese—only the Khmer race. Everyone is the same.' Nao Gha claims that the Khmer Rouge 'hated' Chams" 6/n

Pursat & Battambang. 1976. "...the Khmer /rouge called a meeting and the cooperative chief Hâm announced that only the Khmer language would be tolerated from then on. Hosan adds: 'Not only Cham but any language, e.g. Chinese or Lao, was forbidden.'" 7/n

"You could not speak Cham secretly at home, either. If they heard you, you would disappear. Even at night militia would come by the houses and listen... Some Chams were killed for speaking Cham." 8/n

From 'Orphans of Genocide' by Ben Kiernan. 9/n

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

To this, @AlexLHinton adds in his book 'Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide'... 10/n

@AlexLHinton "All Chams were expected to stop using their 'foreign' language and renounce their religion." The effort to destroy Cham identity was based on the idea that they could not develop a "proper revolutionary consciousness" due to their identity attachment. 11/n

@AlexLHinton Therefore, the regime "responded with a policy of forced assimilation and outright murder... Overall, approximately 90,000 of Cambodia's 250,000 Chams—over a third of the Cham population... perished." /fin

ucpress.edu/book/978052024…