Monday, October 21, 2013

Of Historical Dialectics and Invasive Species




Image reproduced





by School of Vice


It is an age old adage of liberationist thought around the world, and one that resonates time and again in humankind’s struggles against organised repression throughout history that oppression always breeds resistance even if sometimes the crushing weight of such oppression in the end overwhelms even the best of mobilised effort and sacrifice directed to reversing it. This fact, indeed, proves to have been the case with the vanquished and ancient nation of Champa, the various indigenous races [Les Montagnards] scattered all over the highlands of central and northern Vietnam, and, of course, the Khmers of Kampuchea Krom or the Mekong Delta. ‘Vanquished’ is the right term one may use to describe the tragic fate and plight of these communities – victims or collaterals of what Karl Marx might have termed ‘historical dialectics’.

In the natural or animal world researchers and naturalists have identified certain characteristics inbred or inherent in some species which render them particularly inimical to the stability, regeneration and physical survival of their ill prepared rivals, and or other species in their own native habitats and climates.  Naturalists call these predatory creatures ‘invasive species’ owing to their tendency and instinct to rest their breeding and growth upon the annihilation and subjugation of ‘lesser’ able or equipped species by virtue of the latter’s own climatic conditioning and adapting limitations. 

Nowhere in the human universe and perhaps in human history has there been witnessed man’s competition for survival and inter-state warring on the scale and intensity as had been recorded and witnessed in the history of the ‘Middle Kingdom’ where tribalism, the cause of good and evil, as well as internecine violence and clashing ambitions would have been put to a sterner test and to the greater limits and endurance of man. Even Marco Polo had allowed himself to note the ironic, benign twist in this human drama when he touched upon the idea [romanticised at best] that the rest of mankind would have to endure what would have been unimaginable punishment and suffering had the ‘Chinese race’ not been as peaceful by nature. By this we think he meant that unlike the Mongolian hordes that terrorised and subdued more than half of the medieval world’s nations, the Chinese and their rulers had, on the other hand, confined their ambitions and warlike tendency to within the already immense boundaries or confines of their Empire. Even the notion of such a kingdom, like the ancient Hebrews’ belief and conviction that they alone of all humanity had been elected as God’s ‘Chosen people’ implies [divine] closeness to and special relationship with the Heavens; and if the Chinese had not looked to add to their empire all those races of “barbarians” existing outside or on the fringes of this Middle Kingdom, it is perhaps, because they had not thought it worth their bother and time civilising races they inherently believed to have been exempt from this heavenly mandate and thus beyond redemption anyway. 


Brute strength and violence combined with stealth and cunning are some of the main characteristics of any invasive species - School of Vice

 
The Chinese had their great sages and philosophers too, whose cerebral impact, like that of ancient India, had reached further afield and had been welcome and assimilated into the enquiring minds and annals of learning of contemporary western societies than would have been the march of their army. The earliest inventions of paper and gun power, as is the science of astronomy, are likewise attributed to these rich – if violent – cultural milieus. After all, it is impossible to imagine the utility of gun power in a nation veered wholeheartedly towards peace – as some think Marco Polo might have implied through his famous account of China. Marco Polo had also brought a great deal more to his native home of Venice than a collection of ideas on how to make spaghetti and macaroni!  


But more pertinent here for our present purpose and discussion we ask: what has Vietnam as a nation and state brought out of this violent and unforgiving caldron that was the Middle Kingdom where the Vietnamese had been bonded and enslaved for over two thousand years, and as it has resolved to move south and westward across lands that would have been better described as ‘peaceful’ in character and inclination? Well, one immediate reason appears to be that the Vietnamese have brought with them this warlike tenacity and relentless predatory mindset of the former slaves with impossible wounds to heal; a merciless vision and impulse to impersonate and equal – if not exceed - their former captors and tormentors, and a will to destiny of the most clinical and inhuman in nature, as well as an account to settle. Sadly, it has not been their former enslavers or adversaries, but rather the wholesale communities lying well outside of the immediate reaches of the Middle Kingdom who have been - and are being - made to pay for these two thousand years of injuries and injustices.

What had the ancient kingdom of Champa committed in the worldly affairs of ancient China to have merited such a cruel, brutal fate of having been first courted through the most devious schemes and treachery and second, dismembered violently into nonentities, subsequently banished into stateless exile and humiliation those fortunate enough to have escaped organised enslavement and slaughter? Even the kingdom’s name of ‘Champa’ - deriving from that most fragrant and exotic of flowers in what is now central Vietnam - tells us something of the aesthetic and harmonious character of its rulers and indigenous inhabitants. I know detractors would love to remind me of the intermittent warring between the Khmer kingdoms and Champa. Yet, these inter-state conflicts and violence had not on the whole been waged with the conscious purpose of exterminating one another as an entity and people and, more specifically, with the ultimate goal of seizing territories and arable lands as living space and stepping stones to further territorial expansion.  This would not seem to be the distinct trait or characteristic of a kingdom that described itself as ‘Champa’ or ‘Sovannaphoum’ [Golden Land] – and would more fittingly describe a sub-Sino culture or state, be it literally translates as ‘overpass...’, ‘southward-bound’ or ‘westward-bound’ as its preferred self-definition.

Why had these smaller kingdoms been so easily swept aside by Vietnamese expansion and aggression? The clue to the question would be found in these nations’ respective modes of survival and adaptation. Nothing in their temperament or world view had prepared them for the seemingly sudden and rapacious invasion of a hostile foreign species – and that’s where our analogy begins. History has witnessed the destruction of the Montagnards, the Chams, and the Khmers of Kampuchea Krom in systematic planned stages, and if any of us are alive and breathing at this moment in time, their past horrors and miseries are being re-enacted upon the people of Cambodia before our very eyes today.  

It had taken the Vietnamese two thousand years to escape Chinese repression and bondage. The Vietnamese state, however, has not needed or does not appear to require that long a time to subjugate and annihilate peoples and states whose plundered lands and liberties had ironically been a central contributing factor in its historical emancipation from Chinese hegemonic rule not that long ago.  

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

...the Chams, and the Khmers of Kampuchea Krom in systematic planned stages, and if any of us are alive and breathing at this moment in time, their past horrors and miseries are being re-enacted upon the people of Cambodia before our very eyes today.

And the Cham of Jandhamuni in a very colorfully disguised manner will save all Khmer [Kandal] from the evil Viet, eh School of Vice?

I'll appreciate your reply Ms. School of Vice, Thanks.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Youn in Cambodia will be like yhose fish history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLmJjRqXDCo

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

GREAT, IMPRESSIVE!

Anonymous said...

Okay 'Kayla' aka 'School of Vice',

Why do you keep deleting those comments you don't like?



Jendhamuni said...


Dear School of Vice,

I want to say that I like this post, but afraid haters will follow me to your post again ;)

~Jendhamuni

School of Vice said...


Dear Jendha,

That could be the price you pay for being so popular?

Actually, they follow me too, even though I'm hardly popular like you!

Jendhamuni said...


Dear School of Vice,

I'm glad you don't hate me ;)
I doubt it has anything to do with popularity. I am not a celebrity. The hatred has more to do with kindness, because kindness is the big enemy of a devil....

It's normal to be attacked by outsiders, such as Yuon or Youn's puppets, but it's sad to be attacked by insider, by one of us.... I'm sure you know what I am trying to say....

With Respect,
Jendhamuni

Anonymous said...

I'm kind of new to KI media, but I'm wondering if "School of vice" is female or male. The way he or she writes english is similar to that of Theary Seng.

Thank you,

Curious reader.

School of Vice said...


Just playing, as usual about the popularity thing!

There is a saying that 'you can't keep a good man down', so I seriously doubt if these haters can keep a woman such as yourself down no matter where they happen to be stationed.

I know only too well what you mean.

You have worked extremely hard for the cause you believe in and, no one who knows right from wrong can fault you on that front. I think these haters fear the impact of your industry, energy and dedication more than anything else. To them such human values as kindness and compassion are either insignificant or irrelevant altogether perhaps, because these values are foreign to them in the first place. And we suspect this also because their mannerism and language testify to that effect.


Take care,


Karl [Kalonh] Chuck said...

9:46AM,

I'll smooch her big time, if School of Vice [were] is a woman...That's a promise...lolz!!!

P.s. SOV, pls forgive me for being your imaginary bf okay? roflmao (j/k)!!!

Jen, if you ever read this, don't be jealous okay?

School of Vice said...


Dear Curious reader,


Unfortunately for everyone's sake I can only confirm that those two names you mentioned are not the same person.

If this detail disappoints you in any way, I can only offer you as respected reader my sincere sympathy!

Jendhamuni said...


Dear Kalonh Chuck,

LOL!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Dear School of Vice,

Thank you for your clarification and I enjoy reading your materials which is sometime so hilarious.

Sincerely,

Curious reader.

School of Vice said...


I don't know why Mr Kalonh Chuck somehow just disappeared and reappeared out of the blue like Haley's Comet!

Had he been kidnapped by aliens lately? And if so, what had they done to him during his captivity? Is this the same Mr KC or has he been altered in any way?

We need to know...

Jendhamuni said...


Dear School of Vice,

I'm so glad you raised this wonderful question. I too, ask myself the same exact question about Kalonh Chuck's attendance.

Could he be an angel???
Only Kalonh Chuck himself knew ;)

~Jendhamuni

Karl [Kalonh] Chuck said...

First let me re-assure the 'Curious reader' above that I am single and I will go after 'School of Vice' if she is [ever] a woman [single or otherwise], and again, that's a promise okay? lolzzzzzzz!!!!!

Now, you guys [Jen and SOV], I am and will always be you guys's fan here on KI-Media. I can run but cannot hide from you guys...what you see is what you get [as far as 'Kalonh Chuck' is concerned]...I'll be around...but promise me one thing - don't ever put me on the main page again, okay, please? Thx a million guys. Portez-vous bien!!!

Gros bisous!
Kal (khmerarea.blogspot.com)

Jendhamuni said...


Dear Kalonh Chuck,

That is so funny!

As far as not putting you on our main page is very simple for me, as long as you promise to show up regularly or more often :))) I don't know about School of Vice ;)

~Jendhamuni

Jendhamuni said...


Dear School of Vice,

Thank you so much for your understanding. As a human, I will always try my best to be a kind person and will always put nation and my kind religion before myself. I can say I am one human on earth who has already got rid of 95 percent of my personal belongings and live my life very similar to Lord Buddha and his disciples. I have everything and I never need anything from anyone. I was born just to serve people, not just Khmers...

My parents and all my masters know me just too well,that no one can ever change Jendhamuni. People have been treated me this way not just now, but over 20 years already... Sometimes I fell down, but always got up and moved forward. I never walk backward...

Respectfully,
Jendhamuni

Anonymous said...

well it's all about me. what is it in khmer culture that megalomania strikes root at the first opportunity

Anonymous said...

Kalonh Chuck,

Honestly, I will never blame you for having such a good taste because I can tell SoV is such a classy and romantic individual(if she is a female).
BTW, your French is not bad though.

Cheer,

Curious reader.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kalonh Cheuek !

Take it from me, SOV is all mannnnnnn !
I was once his husband.
Oh la la !!!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, really 2:27PM? C'est pas possible - can you tell more, please?

Anonymous said...



SUGGESTION TO THE CNRP:

Now that a new demonstration is approaching, I would like to give some suggestions to the CNRP:

1- Strengthening the people morale by reiterating that this demonstration is the last resort, the only choice that we have left to find justice for people – to catch and prosecute the thief who stole Khmer people’s vote.

2- Remind people that Vietnam has controlled Cambodia since 1979. Vietnam is not going to give up Cambodia without a big fight.
The CNRP needs to inform the people about an approximate number of the people that we have to sacrifice before we can get the victory.
We should have at least 100,000 people who are willing to sacrifice to save Cambodia. By knowing in advance about our loss, we will not be panic when the actual events happened. We can compare 100,000 to a 10 solid defense lines – at 10,000 each line. We will not back down after we lost 2 or 3 defense lines (20 or 30,000 people).
Realistically, by the time we lost about 30,000 people, the international community will intervene and punish the real Khmer killers -Vietnam - and its puppet Hun Sen. That‘s why I called 100,000 is the psychological winning number. It makes our people mentally stronger, readily to absorb pain.

3- Do not think that 100,000 are too many for people to sacrifice to save Cambodia.
We should think this way: how many million Khmer people have died in vain since 1970 and now Cambodia is under Vietnam’s control?

We should ask ourselves this question: Are 100,000 sacrifice people enough to save Cambodia at this time? I say yes FOR THIS TIME, because the international community is eagerly waiting to help us, but we must help ourselves first.

Decades later, maybe 30 to 50 years from now, even if we sacrifice a few millions more, we would not be able to save Cambodia because this evil Vietnam’s grip is getting tighter and tighter as time goes by.

Therefore, making sacrifice at the right time is critical for our survival. And this is the RIGHT TIME, the CNRP must not screw it. The CNRP cannot pass this fight (demonstration) to the next generation, it will not work for the next generation.

4- The CNRP must let people know about their top 50 rankings. Now we know Sam Rainsy is first, Kem Sokha is second. Who is the 3rd, who is the 10th, etc…. In case that the evil Vietnam and Hun Sen kill Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, the next ones in the top ranking will carry this task automatically. There is no time to lose.
Try envisioning this upcoming events and prepare to have the solution in place, and stay away from Preah Reach Damress Sdach Ting Moung Sihamoni.

5- To counter Hun Sen’s fake love of the King or Kingdom, just bring back Hun Sen’s voice in 2005 to the people when he was threatening the King. Hun Sen said if the King did not sign the supplemental treaty, he will change the regime.
Just let people hear Hun Sen’s voice. It will work impeccably to reveal Hun Sen’s true love toward the King.

Bun Thoeun

Anonymous said...

yes, if you care about nature and its preservation, you should care about khmer race. since the fall of angkor civilization, khmer nation had fall prey to these neighboring "invasive species" who stake claim to the former khmer territories such as mekong river delta, koh tral island, and khmer leu indigenous people of certain parts of thailand and laos were all former khmer territories. now khmer race are instill in them to preserve their own race from those invasive species. of course, that say, the rule of law will insure harmony among all. and it is ok to mix race as all nations in the world had mixed races. just don't become too extremist or nationistic when it comes to name of preservation of khmer race. look around the world, especially in europe and america, mix race is an essential ingredients of life and ironically the preservation of khmer race depends on the harmony of all mix racist without so much bigotry of national origin. all become khmer citizens and help contribute to the building of cambodia is more important than we think. think about it. it's ok to think outside of the box for the sake of democracy, peace, harmony, cooperation and nationa building of cambodia. i say make them all become khmer citizens so cambodia can benefit and everybody in cambodia will benefit as well. no racism is allowed in cambodia, instead live by the rule of law is a lot better. never be too extreme nor too passionate. the old chinese saying, taking the middle path instead, it'll be good for all. help preserve khmer language, some culture and some tradition. culture and tradition should be amended to adjust with time, space and changes. all is good for all.

Anonymous said...

I would have to say, 99% of Khmer readers here, including myself, are stupid. I am thankful for your wonderful contribution Mr. School Of Vice. You always seem to think of the big picture, and has the ability to put the thoughts into words that describe the reality that as a nation we are facing, the menacing enemies from east, west, north, and south. When faced with such adversaries that deem impossible to surmount, we need someone like you, Mr. School Of Vice, to give us the perspective and through a clear understanding of the situations, and hopefully we extract the wisdom through your analysis. I really like your words which are greater than any of the political parties that resort to racism, calling Youns and such to look down on a people worthy of great adversary, who are we to call them Youns right? We have a lot to learn from them,we have to observe their predatory behaviors, and counter strike them most effectively. Unlike Bun Thoeun who asked from people to sacrafice themselves, how can he be so sure that the end result will be like what he suggested. It's one thing to call for 100,000 people to sacrifice, it's another thing to put yourself in the death mode. Is Bun Thoeun willing to die? If he got the guts to die, I would volunteer to die too. I am afraid he's just a big mouth, and a coward working behind the scene to be instrument of Hun Sen's tricks.

Anonymous said...

PEOPLE SAID, I'VE TO OR GOT TO DIE IS A MOVIE! GOD IS SACRIFIED!

School of Vice said...


Dear Sir/Madam @ 2:14 AM

Thank you so much for your great comment and eloquent expression. Your kind and wise words are humbling for me to read.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment and share your noble thoughts with our readers.


Kindest,

Anonymous said...

No comment here but just one question: where do you live SOV?
In the chinese sin city ?

Jendhamuni said...


Hmmmmmm....

I found a safe place to hide now ;) Less swearing in School of Vice classroom than my place. But, the alligator is kind of scary ;) And no history lesson for me please. I don't want to learn anything, just want to hide happily ever after ;)

School of Vice said...


I don't think you can hide for too long any where from your fans and followers. They follow you like shadow!!

Jendhamuni said...


Don't scare me ;)

School of Vice said...


...some of whom could be more scary than the crocodile in the picture above...

Jendhamuni said...


That I agree ;)

Hmmm.... if I replace this profile picture of me with a very mean looking one, maybe people will stop cursing or swearing at me, I think!

PS: That is crocodile, not alligator? Sorry!

Anonymous said...

THE GREAT WHITE SHARK!!!

I saw it on T.V. in Cambodia it very dangerous to mankind. My parents told me not to say any word at all or you end up dead like rotten animal.