Cambodia 's Dominant Textiles Today

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.

Cambodia officially once known as the Khmer Empire is a country located in the southern section of peninsula in the Southeast Asia. It is bordered by the neighboring countries like Thailand to northwest and Vietnam to the east, with a current population of 15 Million +, making the 69th on the most populous country in the world. The current most practiced religion is Buddhism conceiving 95 percent of the population. The capital and largest city of Cambodia is Phnom Penh, the political, economic, and cultural center of this country occur. Most decisions regarding political and economic factors occur in this capital. Its governing methods make it questionable factor for this nation, where the current head of government Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving non-royal leader in South East Asian and has governed and obstructed this country for 25 years. Its extensive history and background of this nation has poverties it for its people and its current individual economical service, forcing some individual to resolute into trafficking and disruption of its younger generation to other nations by illegal means. By demonstrating the current and previous events that have transcended this nation and its people into using illegal means of disruption of humans for economic value, we can analyze current and future means of stopping this disgusting act constantly occurring in this area. This analysis focuses on the globalization context of this event and through the demands,

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 Khmer Rouge forces took over Cambodia, and evacuated the nation's cities. They emptied schools, hospitals, factories and abolished all forms of money and wages. Religion, popular culture, and all forms of self expression were forbidden. They were forced into the countryside to do forced labor, and got less than 90 grams of rice a day. Where most people died from fatigue, disease, execution, and starvation. Now people of Cambodia are exchanging this terrible genocide for healing. Trying to find peace and a resolution for all those who have lost loved ones, or encountered this terrible genocide

During times of trouble it is the structure of families which bring stability and fuel resilience. Families often support each other to survive a trauma because they are support systems. The Cambodian genocide led by the Khmer Rouge regime attempted to tear apart families and exploit their special bond. The Khmer Rouge soldiers took towns captive or burned them, and recruited youths to join their cause (Pran IX). From 1975 to 1979, all Cambodians were forced to live in labor camps and were forced to work fourteen to eighteen hours a day with only a single bowl of rice to eat. Family members were separated from one another purposefully to lower morale. During this period an estimated one-third of Cambodian’s population died due to malnutrition, illness, and execution (Pran X). Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors compiled by Dith Pran is important because it confirms the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime, explains how the Khmer Rouge gained power, and how the Khmer Rouge attempted to indoctrinate young children against their parents.

This paper investigates and distinguishes, through my opinion, the impacts that Khmer Rouge’s also known as the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) had on a global scale. First, by addressing the impacts to the immediate country, Cambodia and the tactics used by this abhorrent organization. Furthermore, the ideologies used by said organization, to instill fear and distrust in the population; which lead to there early demise, but not after 1.7 million people lost or sacrificed there lives for their country, per se. The lesson to be learned from this is, no matter who you are or what power you have, eventually you will have to answer to the international community if you commit such egregious acts of violence.

I have chosen this topic because I have always been interested in learning more about “The Killing Fields.” The Killing Fields of Cambodia refers to the genocide which took place in Cambodia after the takeover of power by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime. They were in power for four years until 1979 when the Vietnamese, who were engaged in an often violent border dispute with the Khmer Rouge, finally invaded in force and seized power from the Khmer Rouge.

Cambodia holds an affluent and alluring history. Throughout this paper the writer will discuss different topics impacting Cambodia’s history, positive and negative impact of colonization, economic, political, cultural and social legacies, and to answer if western countries or colonizer are responsible to help solve some of the lasting problems of colonization.

In Cambodia in the 1960s The Khmer Rouge Regime rose to power, which lead to the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. Pol Pot, the leader of this group, believed in a new country without evils. He describes evils such as money and religion as the cause for the corrupt and terrible world he lives in. Pol Pot's goal was to bring Cambodia back to the middle ages. Pol Pot dreamed of a ‘perfect’ Cambodia in which the society “build a prosperous and happy Cambodian society in which all enjoy equality, happiness and a society free from all class or individual forms of exploitation, in which everyone strives to increase production and to defend the country (pg 415)”. He began enforcing communal farming as a new way of living. Pol pot states “When we have rice, we can have everything” is their ‘slogan’ (Journal of Contemporary Asia pg 414). Pol Pot along with the rest of the Khmer Rouge Regime believed strongly in the perks that come out of farming. They

“The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed” ~Buddha. Out of the abounding religions in the world the 6th most practiced of all the religion is Buddhism, or the worship of the god Buddha. Buddhism has had a colossal effect on the Asian culture and it has had an effect on the way that we (as American citizens) view the Asian culture and the beliefs of Asian men and women. This paper is about into how the culture of Asia has been changed because of the Buddhists believes. Also how their temples have shaped the way that we as Americans view Asian architecture or the kind of things that are in Asia that are because of Buddhism. Many different

There exists a country in Southern Asia, known as Cambodia. This is a small and poor country that experienced dramatic changes in the past century. The Cambodian, or Khmer, society was a very capitalistic country consisted a small population of the rich and a large majority of the poor. The wealth gap between the rich and the poor proved to be fatal. This unreliable economic system soon became the cause of the Khmer Civil War in 1967. This civil war was started by the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), who later renamed themselves to Khmer Rouge. Led by Pol Pot, this Kampuchea party was made up of mainly the lower and middle class who greatly despised the rich, who they believed shared a narcissistic view and an extreme corruption. The Khmer Rouge was able to defeat the Khmer Republic and took over

Their struggles were a theme in their writing, and allows the reader to see that they went through war and daily struggles in the modern world. The essay “Cambodia: Back to Sierra Leone” by Robert D. Kaplan is written about how the war is affecting Cambodia. They had gone through a war with Khmer Rouge. “Between 1 and 1.5 million Cambodians out of a population 8 million were shot, [beaten with clubs], starved, worked to death, died of disease” (Kaplan 236). The author references wars that had already happened, for example the French Revolution and wars that were happening at the same time such as World War II. “The image of tens of thousands of people jammed upright into trucks and slow-moving freight cars...an uncertain but ominous future, hauntingly echoes the Jewish experience in world war II” (Kaplan 240). That quote is one example of how the war was making the future appear to the everyone around. The quote “[t]he method of execution bore all the hallmarks of a classic “Killing Fields” -style murder- a blow from a hoe to the back of the head” (Kaplan 242) shows the extreme fighting style of the Khmer Rouge. The theme of war also reveals irony. They are aiming for a utopian society, but instead it's the complete opposite. “[C]olonialism and anticolonialism, and the utopian ideals” (Kaplan 236) The society wasn’t perfect, they were in a war and going corrupt. Another example of irony is that Cambodia

The Hmong people are well known for their survival antics from their silent war with China and their migration from the Vietnam War. Hmong is a term many have never even heard of but their culture it is known as "free people." Hmong textiles has survived just like their whole culture. The attractive handcrafted designs have been in their history for over two centuries, and their embroideries are popular among the Asian countries as well as the United States. Hmong textiles includes a variety of embroideries on their Flower cloths, story cloths, and their New Year dress. All fabrics have powerful importance in their customs to bring prosperity and good fortunes. Needlework is a substantial skill in their community that can not be forgotten,

This article by Colin Hancock and Heenali Patel, discusses how two women, Jose Hendo, Juliana Nasasira, and Isabella Asiimwe, are trying to change Uganda’s fashion industry by using tree bark as a role in their clothing making. These two women have used a fabric called bark cloth, which came from Uganda’s trees from over 600 years ago. Jose Hendo, upcoming designer, thought this was a great idea for her because she aimed to help in bringing back this ancient material trend from many years ago. Although what these ladies are crafting are very beautiful fashion pieces, business is going to be very harsh for them. Uganda is known as one of the poorest countries in the world. Therefore, people won’t be very too excited of buying clothing

Music has long been an integral part of Cambodian society, initially often created as an accompaniment to court dance. Classical Khmer music also utilized traditional instruments unique to southeast Asia, including the sralai (quadruple-reed oboe) or chapey (bass banjo), for religious beliefs or cultural rituals such as weddings or funerals (Ling and Allan 109). Then, after Cambodia peacefully gained independence from France in 1953 and became the Kingdom of Kampuchea, the music became much more experimental in sound and instrumentation (Jacobson). This new popular music flourished as a result of the musical liberty the government encouraged; however, the rise of the Khmer Rouge, a group of militant agrarians, completely reshaped Cambodia’s culture. After the radical communist government seized power, many of the nation’s