Mo’Ney Williams
April,18,2016
Period 6th
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The Causes of the Cambodian Genocide
The Cambodian Genocide started in 1975 and ended in 1979. During that period of time the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. About 1.7 million people died out of a total population of seven to eight million. People died of starvation, disease, overwork and or execution. Unlike in other genocides or conflicts, no one was immune from being branded an enemy of the country. Even if someone was on the right side that could change the next day. The Khmer Rouge attempted to socially engineer a classless peasant society. The Khmer Rouge targeted certain groups. People the leader of the Khmer Rouge Lon Nol thought was weak and different. The Khmer Rouge had a lot to do with what happened in Cambodia. The Cambodian Genocide was based of the Khmer Rouge and how they took over cambodia in 1975. The Khmer Rouge saw cities as the heart of capitalism and therefore they had to be eliminated. 1.7 million people died during the cambodian genocide. The Khmer rouge targeted certain people of class to pray on such as people of education, different race, ethnicity, and even people who wore glasses. The Khmer Rouge planned to create a form of agrarian socialism meaning they wanted them to be more of farmers and have more agriculture instead of a society where
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In 1978 Vietnamese soldiers fought their way into Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge fled to the west. The Khmer Rouge was very difficult. When pol pot was the leader it wasn't as complicated because he had certain rules about how he want to take over Cambodia and how he wanted it done. When pol pot leavt it got complicated and everything went downhill from there. In 1977 Pol Pot did a radio show and talk for over five hours. He talked about how Cambodia was now run by a communist government. Pol Pot had Vietnam and China helping him at the Time which made the Cambodian genocide
Ever since the actions in Cambodia occurred, it has been debated whether it was an actual genocide. The general definition of genocide is the purposeful and methodical execution of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia demonstrated that a government can be guilty of genocide against its own nation. The radical communist party led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. After 1979, the Khmer Rouge left a traumatized Cambodian culture that continues to undergo the repercussions of the genocide. People over the age of forty in Cambodia have stories to tell of fear, cruelty, hunger and the loss of family members. However, the Cambodian government is not making an effort to recognize the negative occurrences that have posed itself in the history of their culture.
Later that same year, Pot and the Khmer Rouge took control over Cambodia. Pot wasted no time in starting his mission to reconstruct Cambodia. He thought that all the educated people needed to be killed (Melicharova). Also he thought that all noncommunist aspects of Cambodia needed to be wiped out. All rights you had were now gone. Religion was banned and if you were any kind of leader among the Buddhist monks, you were killed instantly (Melicharova). All kids were taken away and sent to work in the fields (Melicharova). If anyone was currently working and had a job, they were immediately killed along with their family members. It got so bad that you could be killed for just laughing, crying, and knowing another language. The Khmer Rouge motto was “To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss” (Melicharova). If you were lucky enough to escape death, you were put into the fields working usually from 4am to 10pm unpaid (“Pol”). From lack of food and sleep, people often became very ill which sadly led to death.
The Cambodian Genocide initially started during the vietnam war. Cambodia was practically in the middle of it working neutral. They still got bombed many times though, mostly from the US and communism eventually began trying to change something but what really happened was the Cambodian Genocide of the 20th century. The genocide ended with over 2,000,000 deaths. (P.P.I.C.)
Cambodian Genocide During the Cambodian Genocide, more than a million people were brutally slaughtered by labor, starvation, torture, and execution (“Khmer Rouge”). The Khmer Rouge party was the communist group during the Cambodian Genocide (“Khmer Rouge”). The Nazi Party to the Holocaust, is how the Khmer Rouge was to the Cambodian Genocide (“Khmer Rouge”).
The genocide of Cambodia started on the year of 1975 and ended on 1979. This is considered the Khmer Pogue period, where Pol Pot , Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, Khieu Samphan and the Khmer Rouge Communist party took over
The Cambodian Genocide took place from 1975 to 1979 in the Southeastern Asian country of Cambodia. The genocide was a brutal massacre that killed 1.4 to 2.2 million people, about 21% of Cambodia’s population. This essay, will discuss the history of the Cambodian genocide, specifically, what happened, the victims and the perpetrators and the world’s response to the genocide.
One that separated loved ones from each other and killed millions. One that led the entire nation back to extreme poverty and malnutrition. All because of the cruel regime enforced and determined by Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot. Pol Pot was inspired by “Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution of communist China and attempted to build his own agrarian utopia in Cambodia” ("Cambodian Genocide: The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot's Regime"). Therefore, he stated that it was necessary to Isolate the nation from every other country in order to go back to a self-sufficient economy of peasants in which there would be “no class divisions, no money, no books, no schools and no hospitals” (Rennie, Dan).
The Khmer Rouge attempted to build a self sufficient, agrarian, communist society. In doing so they did horrible things to completely innocent men, women and children. They tried to reach their “perfect society” by taking everything away from the people. No religion, no ownership, no sense of self. Communism has never been effectively practiced in the course of human history, this instance in Cambodia was no
Defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, the term genocide is “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group” [1]. The tragic events that occurred in the nation of Cambodia in 1975 is an example of genocide due to the mass killings that took place. Khmer Rouge, an authoritative organization, was the main source towards the genocide that occurred due to their opinions on mass production, which led to the deaths of thousands of Cambodian citizens. The passion between Khmer Rouges ideas behind mass production was very resilient which led to controlled actions and intentions causing the genocide to take place. Scared Sacred by Velcrow Ripper stated that the Khmer Rouge group directed the younger generations to partake in the involvement of mass killings. Furthermore, Ripper also said that any refusal of these killings would lead to an immediate execution [2]. These acts by the Khemer Rouge are exemplified in Extraordinary Evil written by Barbara Coloroso, as she said that the “bully chooses the target because of the targets real or perceived race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or ethnicity, and which, when legitimized, institutionalized, and politicized, can progress to Genocide”[3]. This statement by Coloroso is related to the Khmer Rouge because as stated previously, the Khmere Rouge
Empirically, the Khmer Rouge regime, from its conception in 1975 to its fall in 1979, supremely, holistically, and irreversibly overthrew Cambodian society. As a hard line communist movement defined by fundamentalist socialism the Khmer Rouge, under leader Pol Pot, attempted total social reconstruction and evolution. Envisaging a Cambodia without inequality and equal distribution of wealth, the Khmer Rouge implemented its aims of isolation and departure from Western capitalism through oppressive technique; in seeking a better nation, the movement indeed destroyed the ideological and philosophical integrity of Cambodia’s political system, economic structure, and social fabric.
The Cambodian Genocide happened between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge, a guerrilla group, over threw the government and started a regime to bring Cambodia back to year zero . The Khmer Rouge called this the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea . Their aim was to purify society from the influence of the west, and to create a communist country . The Khmer Rouge started this by destroying what was left of the old society and executing the wealthy, educated and military people. They banned all outside languages and religion. An estimated figure of 1.7 million Cambodians where killed during this period by the Khmer Rouge .
In the late 70’s, nearly 2 million Cambodians died of overwork, starvation, torture, and execution in what became known as the Cambodian genocide. A group known as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country in April 1975. Over the course of
Once Sihanouk and the Khmer Rouge gained back control over Cambodia, “they set up policies that disregarded human life and produced repression and massacres on a massive scale” (“Khmer Rouge History”). Sihanouk once antagonized the Khmer, but now he decided to now create an alliance between them. He did this because he was furious about being overthrown and craved revenge. With the Khmer Rouge, they slowly were able to capture different pieces of land. Soon enough, the rebels were able to gain almost full control of Cambodia, despite the United States bombing that tried to prevent another regime change; this time from the Khmer Rouge. As the United States decided to halt to bombing the Khmer rebels were able to start obliterating certain parts of the country that were crucial to the political piece of the Cambodian government. All of this damage led to lack of food for the Cambodians and loss of their property since it was destroyed in the bombing. Surely enough, the Khmer Rouge was able to put an end to Lol Nol's rule and finally gained full control of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge wanted to “transform Cambodia into a rural, classless society in which there were no rich people, no poor people, and no exploitation” (“Khmer Rouge History”). After the violent overthrow from the Khmer Rouge to kick Lol Nol out of leadership, Sihanouk and the
The Khmer Rouge was the name given to the people of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, in Cambodia. It was formed in 1968 and was also known as the "Vietnam People 's Army". It was the ruling party of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, It was lead by a ruler named pol pot who was ruthless and did not care what the people said. Some of Pol pots comrade 's icluded, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, and Khieu, These men worked together to help rule Cambodia.Its offical name was called the Democratic Kampuchua. Through there ruling the Khmer Rouge made freinds with North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and Pathet Lao during the Vietnam War against the anti-Communist.(www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian.../khmer-rouge-history/) This political party had been responisble for what is now known as the Cambodian Genocide. This was a result of its social engineering and policies. Cambodia had failed at trying to reform its agricultural stability it once had but it never succeeded, This failed attempt led to the widespread hunger in Cambodia . Cambodia had a supply of medicine and they miscalculated the amount of medicine a person needs and the medicine supply was not enough to supply all of cambodia leading to millions dying from diesese. A random act of executions and torture had been put on the innocent people of Cambodia. The party 's aim was to establish a classless state based on rural agricultural
The Cambodian Genocide was a mass murder carried out by the Khmer Rouge and its leader Pol Pot, which was to make Cambodia an agrarian utopia. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge got control of Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh, and kicked out then prime minister Lon Nol’s government. Then they immediately began emptying the city’s population into labor camps in the countryside. After forcing the Cambodians to the labor camps, they began implementing this horrific and terrible regime against the people of Cambodia. This new regime did not allow them to resist. The perpetrators broke down the victim’s resistance by killing them if they were not capable of heavy labor, taking away their civil and political rights, and starving them to death.