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Cambodia Genocide Essay

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Cambodian Genocide
Throughout the Cold War, Cambodia was a hotspot of internal rivalry, chaos, and tragedy. Genocide almost always coincides with war, this is seen in many cases, including the Cambodian genocide. Although Cambodia’s intentions were to remain neutral throughout the Vietnam War, the country struggled to find a peaceful balance between the ideologies of capitalism and communism. Due to this internal struggle, more than 21 percent of Cambodian’s population was ruthlessly maltreated and murdered by the Khmer Rouge.
Pol Pot’s four-year plan, announced on April 21, 1976, was to create a state where socialism controlled every aspect of the country including; agriculture, industry, health, and education. Pol Pot’s philosophy was the same as many communist leaders. He desired to see a society where there was no bourgeoisie and no classes. Similar to many communist leaders, Pol Pot wished to see the country cultivated by and for the peasants, not the urban population. Pol Pot desired to see a world where there was …show more content…

The citizens who lived in Pheon Phen had grown up with the niceties such as running water, and indoor plumbing. However, the citizens who has grown up in the farms and villages of Cambodia did not have these luxuries. Although the rebels were given orders not to loot or kill without proper cause, the members of the Khmer Rouge were greatly tempted. However, they were not tempted by monetary possessions, but with vehicles and motor-bikes. The Khmer Rouge however, lacked knowledge on how to operate these machines so they repetitively crashed the cars into trees. After they crashed the car, they would steal the tires off of them to make shoes. This illustrates the cultural differences between the urban and rural citizens of Cambodia. The rural citizens are much simpler and are much more interested in necessities, compared to the urban

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The Khmer Rouge has taken over Cambodia. This is much like what is happening in the Soviet Union. It may look different but the mass murdering and cruelty has lead both countries into a state which is not looked at kindly. Each country was in the same situation from the standpoint of the citizens. Rights were taken away, torture and cruel deaths occurred, and the death of many was looked at by the powerful as a worthy cause to the country as a whole.

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Causes of the Cambodian Genocide The Cambodian genocide took place from 1975 to 1979; it is estimated that some two million Cambodians were systematically murdered by the Khmer Rouge and its followers (Power 90). In Alexander Hinton’s article, “A Head for an Eye” he recounts in details the experience of Gen, a survivor of the Cambodian Genocide. After the Lon Nol government was overthrown by the Khmer Rouge, the Communists began their witch-hunt in an attempt to identify and kill anyone who was associated with the former regime, as well as the educated, the Vietnamese, the Muslim Cham, the Buddhist monks, and other “bourgeois elements” (Power 101). During the investigation, it was revealed that Gen’s father was a teacher–this fact alone was

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Similarly, the Cambodians and Jews have both stood witness to the executions of one race. During the Cambodian Genocide, Pol Pot the leader, wiped out millions of educated Cambodians who were doctors, teachers, lawyers, bilingual, etc. His overall goal was to make the Kingdom of “Cambodia” a utopian society where everyone was equal and he reigned as king. In fact, the Khmer Rouge rounded up and separated family members to work in different villages in Cambodia. In addition, older men and young boys were sent to fight in the war.

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Throughout the 196, the Khmer Rouge operated as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the name, the party used for Cambodia (“Khmer Rouge”). The group mainly operated in remote jungles and the mountain area, near the Vietnam Border. the Khmer Rouge did not have popular support across Cambodia, particularly in the cities, including the capital Phnom Penh (History.com). The Regime started to gain more support in 1970 when a military coup led to the expulsion of Cambodia’s monarch at the time; The Khmer Rouge took this opportunity and joined forces with the former leader in an effort to gain control of the country once again. The

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The Khmer Rouge had an well thought out

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Loung Ung’s First They Killed My Father is a vivid, detailed memoir of a young girl’s experiences in Cambodia throughout the Khmer Rouge era. It records in expressive detail the horrors suffered by the Ung and her family while living under the oppressive rule of the insane Khmer Rouge. Meanwhile, First They Killed Her Sister by Soneath Hor, Sody Lay and Grantham Quinn is a lengthy criticism in direct opposition to the aforementioned memoir. Although the authors of First They Killed Her Sister made some excellent points throughout their assessment of First They Killed my Father such as showing how Ung having misrepresented some aspects of Khmer culture and history, they completely and utterly failed in their attempt to discredit her based on the claims that she perpetuated racial tension and distorted what really happened in 1970s Cambodia, which breaks down the few good points they did have. The critics correctly assert and prove that Ung misrepresented certain aspects of Khmer culture and history, showing that at times, Ung’s description of what had happened was distorted or partially fabricated.

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During the span of 4 years the Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 1.7 and 2 million Cambodians. With little to no outcry from the international community. “The Khmer Rouge took control of the Cambodian government in 1975, with the goal of turning the country into a communist agrarian utopia. In reality, they emptied the cities and evacuated millions of people to labor camps where they were starved and abused” (The Cambodian Genocide). Doctors, teachers and other educated people, as well as monks, the rich, and anyone who did not accept there ways were killed.

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They also shut down factories, schools, universities, hospitals, and all other private institutions because the Khmer Rouge considered it western advances. The Khmer Rouge also killed different The Khmer Rouge killed approximately one and a half to three million Cambodians lost their lives at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.   On July 25, 1983, the Research Committee on Pol Pot’s Genocidal Regime issued its final report, including detailed province-by-province data.   The data showed that the number of deaths was 3,314,768.   About 25 percent of the population died because of the Khmer Rouge idea of relocating the people to

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Ousting the Lon Nol government. “Khmer immediately began to empty the city and country's population into labor camps.” Cambodia’s Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality. Sihanouk ousted in 1970 by his own general Lon Nol. “Khmers government constitutes “genocide” began shortly after their seizure of power from the government of Lon Nol in 1975.”

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Both of the genocides mainly involved similarities between people and society. In both genocides the people were starved almost to death they were extremely skinny and very weak. “Once the Khmer Rouge took power, they instituted a radical reorganization of Cambodian society. This meant the forced removal of city dwellers into the countryside, where they would be forced to work as farmers, digging canals and tending to crops. Gross mismanagement of the country’s economy led to shortages of food and medicine, and untold numbers of people succumbed to disease and starvation.

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Clashes with Vietnam broke out in 1977 and on January 7, 1979 Vietnam invaded Cambodia, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge and installing a socialist regime comprised of Khmer Rouge defectors. The rest of the party fled west into the jungles along the Thai border, carrying out guerilla attacks against the Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge was removed from power when communist Vietnam invaded and established a pro-Vietnamese regime in Cambodia. Many survivors fled to refugee camps in Thailand; of these, many went on to immigrate to the United States. Pol Pot led the Khmer Rouge as an insurgency until 1997

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While in power, the Khmer Rouge

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Most of us have probably heard about the Cambodian Genocide which took place during the Cold War. Cambodia is a small country located in Southeast Asia. Norodom Sihanouk, the leader of Cambodia was in a middle of a civil war when he was being overthrown by Lon Nol, the leader of the Khmer Republic. In order to regain power, Sihanouk joined forces with a communist organization called the Khmer Rouge. The leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, who strongly believed in a communist society where everyone was equal and

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"If you have a disease of the old society, take a dose of Lenin as medication." , a common saying the Khmer Rouge ruled by during the course of the Cambodian genocide. (Mai) Genocide’s are often fueled by intolerant intergroup relations, the lack of tolerance approaches to intergroup relations have the potential to be as severe as the genocide, specifically Cambodian genocide. This genocide that occurred between 1975 to 1979 was a harrowing event that resulted to the murder of millions and resulted to a fragile nation. When Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, their policies and ideals sparked the occurrence of the genocide that lead to a treacherous period of time especially for individuals who were deemed enemies and peasants of the nation..

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Doctors, lawyers and military and police were targeted.  Factories, schools, hospitals, and other private institutions were shut down.   The previous owners and employees of these businesses were killed on site along with their extended families.  Some of the intellectuals, soldiers and even members working for Khmer Rouge were put in jail.

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