flags at one end of the porch. When the journalist asked me about the flags, I replied offhandedly that my hobby was collecting flags from different countries. He commented dryly that my collection was probably the largest in East Asia.
In Every Village
Oudone and I spent most of our time on trips to the various provinces, setting up CUBS chapters. During these visits, I tried to stay in the background, although in a Cham village it was impossible for me to “blend in” or keep a low profile.
Oudone’s routine rarely varied. He would begin by presenting the village chief with a petit pistolet, a 38-caliber “Saturday night special” that was the best rapport builder in our civic action kit. The village chief would then assemble the villagers so Oudone could make a speech about the CUBS. His speeches met with blank stares until he presented the village with a community radio set, which he immediately tuned to Radio Viensiang and a popular song program. He would then offer a medical kit to the village shaman, a box of school supplies for the local teacher, and CUBS pins, the Station having ordered fifty thousand CUBS pins from an enterprising tinsmith in Bangkok. The pins were worn as earrings, breechclout fasteners, or as hair ornaments.
The finale was the presentation of the flag, which the village chief would raise up the newly erected village flagpole. In the evening, there would be a CUBS-sponsored roast pig barbecue. Following the inauguration of each new CUBS chapter, Henry would add another pin to his map.
The Moh Lam
Another political action vehicle was the Moh Lam team, a Cham creation that was very effective. The Moh Lam were itinerant actors and troubadours who traveled through the villages in remote mountainous regions.
The Moh Lam team would enter one of these isolated villages and distribute balloons, trinkets, and rice balls while performing juggling acts and magic tricks. They would put on puppet shows for the children in the afternoon while awaiting the return of the villagers working in the rice fields. In the evening, the Moh Lam would put on a play, one usually casting the Pathet Cham as villains and evil predators raiding hamlets and carrying off the village chief’s daughter. The play climaxed with the CUB warriors dramatically coming to her rescue.
The Moh Lam teams were popular with both Cham and montagnard audiences, but their success was short-lived. The Pathet Cham began retaliating against villages that had welcomed the Moh Lam teams, burning huts, carrying off livestock, taking hostages, and in several cases, executing Moh Lam team leaders.
Without security, the teams were forced to limit their performances to secure areas where they were less needed as a propaganda weapon. The teams were eventually disbanded.
The Rally
The walk-about was a dance where folks stood around in a semi-circle . . . and dance, dance the human-being story, however that story was, however that story felt and however you wanted to dance it, while everybody else watched.
—T. SPANBAUER, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon
The Pathet Cham retaliated, not only against the Moh Lam teams but also against the villages where the CUBS had set up chapters. They burned flags, smashed village radio sets, and ripped off CUBS pins in areas where the there was little security and no Cham army presence.
The escalation of Pathet Cham attacks in areas where the CUBS had apparently been making inroads caused some concern in Washington. Something hadto be done to reinvigorate the political action program. Headquarters suggested a CUBS political rally.
Henry resisted the idea at first, contending that rallies and demonstrations were not in the Cham tradition and the foreign hand would show. Henry changed his mind, however, when one of his case officers suggested that if the rally was tied into the popular fertility festival, it would have a good chance of success.
The solstice fertility festival was the most popular
In Every Village
Oudone and I spent most of our time on trips to the various provinces, setting up CUBS chapters. During these visits, I tried to stay in the background, although in a Cham village it was impossible for me to “blend in” or keep a low profile.
Oudone’s routine rarely varied. He would begin by presenting the village chief with a petit pistolet, a 38-caliber “Saturday night special” that was the best rapport builder in our civic action kit. The village chief would then assemble the villagers so Oudone could make a speech about the CUBS. His speeches met with blank stares until he presented the village with a community radio set, which he immediately tuned to Radio Viensiang and a popular song program. He would then offer a medical kit to the village shaman, a box of school supplies for the local teacher, and CUBS pins, the Station having ordered fifty thousand CUBS pins from an enterprising tinsmith in Bangkok. The pins were worn as earrings, breechclout fasteners, or as hair ornaments.
The finale was the presentation of the flag, which the village chief would raise up the newly erected village flagpole. In the evening, there would be a CUBS-sponsored roast pig barbecue. Following the inauguration of each new CUBS chapter, Henry would add another pin to his map.
The Moh Lam
Another political action vehicle was the Moh Lam team, a Cham creation that was very effective. The Moh Lam were itinerant actors and troubadours who traveled through the villages in remote mountainous regions.
The Moh Lam team would enter one of these isolated villages and distribute balloons, trinkets, and rice balls while performing juggling acts and magic tricks. They would put on puppet shows for the children in the afternoon while awaiting the return of the villagers working in the rice fields. In the evening, the Moh Lam would put on a play, one usually casting the Pathet Cham as villains and evil predators raiding hamlets and carrying off the village chief’s daughter. The play climaxed with the CUB warriors dramatically coming to her rescue.
The Moh Lam teams were popular with both Cham and montagnard audiences, but their success was short-lived. The Pathet Cham began retaliating against villages that had welcomed the Moh Lam teams, burning huts, carrying off livestock, taking hostages, and in several cases, executing Moh Lam team leaders.
Without security, the teams were forced to limit their performances to secure areas where they were less needed as a propaganda weapon. The teams were eventually disbanded.
The Rally
The walk-about was a dance where folks stood around in a semi-circle . . . and dance, dance the human-being story, however that story was, however that story felt and however you wanted to dance it, while everybody else watched.
—T. SPANBAUER, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon
The Pathet Cham retaliated, not only against the Moh Lam teams but also against the villages where the CUBS had set up chapters. They burned flags, smashed village radio sets, and ripped off CUBS pins in areas where the there was little security and no Cham army presence.
The escalation of Pathet Cham attacks in areas where the CUBS had apparently been making inroads caused some concern in Washington. Something hadto be done to reinvigorate the political action program. Headquarters suggested a CUBS political rally.
Henry resisted the idea at first, contending that rallies and demonstrations were not in the Cham tradition and the foreign hand would show. Henry changed his mind, however, when one of his case officers suggested that if the rally was tied into the popular fertility festival, it would have a good chance of success.
The solstice fertility festival was the most popular
Similar Books
