The Khmer Rouge: The Cambodian Genocide

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What is a genocide? The mass extermination of a very large group of people because of their race, nationality, or religion. The Khmer Rouge, which were Communist guerillas, took the role of the aggressors. The Khmer Rouge fostered the notion of a "we vs. them" mentality within society and, in turn, enabled the citizens of the dominant society to justify the violence/actions of the Cambodian genocide. Cambodia is a country in South East Asia, less than half the size of California and more than twice the size of Scotland. In 1960, Cambodia was under the rule of the monarch Prince Sihanouk. As a traditionalist, Prince Sihanouk tended to favor the Vietnamese rather often and offered them land to build base camps in Cambodia. This angered many…show more content…
The Khmer Rouge’s sole purpose was to seize power. They believed that the population must be made to work as laborers in one huge alliance of collective farms. Anyone in opposition - and all intellectuals and educated people were assumed to be - must be eliminated, together with all non-Communist aspects of traditional Cambodian society. (www.ppu.org.uk 2) Victims of the Khmer Rouge racism included ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai, and also Cambodians with Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai ancestry. Under the threat of death, residents were forced to leave their towns and cities. Regardless of their physical condition, the ill, disabled, old and very young were evacuated as well. There were no exceptions. People who refused to leave were killed including were those who did not leave fast enough, who would not obey orders. (www.ppu.org.uk 3) All political and civil rights were abolished. Children were separated from their parents and taken to different forced labor camps. Factories, hospitals, universities, schools were all shut down. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers and other fields of profession were all murdered, including the army. Religion was banned, all leading Buddhist monks were killed and…show more content…
They slept and ate in uncomfortable communes, deliberately chosen to be as far as possible from their old homes. As an effect of the genocide, many personal relationships were discouraged. Laborers became ill from overwork and starvation for which there was no other treatment except death. In 1978 Vietnam invaded Kampuchea and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. The guerillas were driven into the western jungles and beyond to Thailand (www.ppu.org.uk 3). Vietnam set up a puppet government composed of mainly defectors from the Khmer Rouge. This new socialist government was favorable but hard to organize. Pol Pot’s policies ruined the economy, and there was little foreign aid since the entire professional field had been murdered. As of today, Cambodia is a Constitutional Monarchy. The reigning monarch is King Norodom Sihamoni (www.mekong.net 1) During the Cambodian Genocide, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died from execution, forced labor, disease and starvation. "The Khmer revolution was perhaps the most pernicious in history; reversing class order, destroying all markets, banning private property and money. It is one worth studying for the ages, not for what it accomplished, but for what it destroyed." (Sophal Ear, UC

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