Genocide In Cambodia

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.

    After all of this terror occurred during the regime, the population of Cambodia shrunk and dropped in age for a long period of time, the country struggled to function, and many leaders of the Khmer Rouge were brought to justice while Pol Pot and others were never put to justice. When the regime’s reign concluded, Cambodia found themselves in a state of disarray. For one,  the government struggled greatly due to a lack of a forceful ruler and party in place.. Also, the entire country was left hungry after shipping a significant amount of food away to China under the Khmer Rouge.  As a result of this rough time period, people attempted to flee and become refugees elsewhere since Cambodia clearly wasn’t moving in the right direction (The Cambodian Genocide). Without the Khmer Rouge in power, the country was probably divided with various opinions surrounding who should rule next. Due to a lack of food and other resources, a large amount of people couldn’t bear to continue living in Cambodia, thus resulting in the flux of Cambodian refugees. Certainly, it was a difficult time to be living in Cambodia as the country

The Cambodian Genocide, similar to every other genocide during the 20th century, occurred because of a government’s desire to equalize the citizens under their rule. Executed by the Khmer Rogue, the genocide involved the classification, displacement, and eventual extermination of around 25% of Cambodia’s population. In their pursuit of a utopian society, the Khmer Rouge capitalized on Cambodia’s fear of war to not only rise to power, but also rationalize their actions during the genocide. Despite hoping for peace after the civil war, the Cambodian people instead faced four years of genocide under the Khmer Rouge, where no citizen was safe from persecution.

To start, the Khmer Rouge rose to power during a turbulent time in Cambodia, and their policies were founded on false promises. Cambodia had been a French colony for years until 1953, when they finally received independence. Norodom Sihanouk soon took over the government, but Lon Nol, his general, later secured Cambodia in a military coup (Krkljes). The country’s tumultuous political history would allow the Khmer Rouge to establish control. Pol Pot, the leading figure of the Khmer Rouge, was a member of the Kampuchean

The Khmer Rouge rose through their ability to convey their ideology in a way that struck many citizens. A communist party, they were able to form alliances with other factions such as the Viet Cong and the Pathet Lao during the Vietnam War. As such, they garnered a large following and initiated the steps to overthrow the government in Cambodia. The tide essentially turned when the United States bombed the Khmer Rouge militants, attempting to aid Lon Nol’s forces, and killed many civilians. That led to new recruits in the Khmer Rouge, bent on destroying anything anti-communist. When their power was cemented in Cambodia, their conveyance toward the public turned into a life-or-death option. Intellectuals were massacred, women and children forced

The Khmer Rouge is a tragic event of torture, separation and death for all who had resided in Cambodia at the time, during the Khmer Rouge lives of millions, has been lost through many different horrible ways. This is all due for the sake of “equality” where communism has risen in the area and took control, king overthrown, has now begun the start of a revolution of classlessness. The Khmer Rouge was the rising of the infamous dictator Pol Pot, and his primitive ways. Pot did anything to make his goal finalized, even if it meant killing his own people everyone had to be equal no matter what the cause was. (http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-history/khmer-rouge-history/)

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

While analyzing The Rise and Demise of Democratic Kampuchea, the section called “Open Conflict Between Socialist Nations”, revealed many components that led to a mandatory invasion of Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge strived to reconquer the Mekong Delta, the region bordering Cambodia in the present day, of Vietnam. It turns out that Cambodia used to exert authority over the region, but throughout many decades, sovereignty transferred to the Vietnamese. In 1952, “the radical faction of the Khmer Students’ association in Paris-including ‘Pol Pot,’ Ieng

Cambodia is a South East Asian country formerly known as Kampuchea, it shares borders with Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. In Cambodia during 1975-1979 a political regime known as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country. During this time it is estimated that around 2 million people perished, over a quarter of the population, from torture and execution or from starvation and untreated illness (Fawthrop & Jarvis, 2005). Although the regime ended with defeat by the Vietnamese over 30 years ago, the effects from this reign of terror continues to have an impact on Cambodia. The countries social coexistence, peace building process and the aftermath of the annihilation of so many of its people has affected the current population make up in

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.

One major factor that led to Khmer Rouge’s control over Cambodia was America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and in particular, their bombings on Cambodia. As the Khmer Rouge began to pose a real threat to the Nol government in 1971, the U.S. motive for the bombings shifted from wanting to eliminate North Vietnamese bases to wanting to eliminate Nol’s internal opposition: Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Ironically and unfortunately, The U.S. bombings that were intended to destroy the Red Khmers, directly led to their rise to power, as the bombings not only drove ordinary citizens into the hands of the brutal Khmer Rouge, but also drove North Vietnamese troops deeper into Cambodia, into closer contact with Cambodian civilians. There, the North Vietnamese troops most likely shared their anti-American opinions and influenced Cambodians to join Pol Pot. Before the bombings, the Khmer Rouge was barely a legitimate political group, and as Pol Pot himself stated, they were, “fewer than five thousand poorly armed guerrillas…scattered across the Cambodian landscape, uncertain about their strategy, tactics, loyalty, and leaders.” But as the bombs continued to fall, Pot and the Khmer Rouge used the opportunity to use the American bombing as a source of propaganda to recruit new members, thereby imitating their control over the

The Cambodian Civil War took place from 1970-1975, however, the violence in the country was to only get worse. Immediately following the war, the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia from 1975-1979. Khmer Rouge was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge committed crimes against humanity and killed over one million people. Pol Pot and the members of the Khmer Rouge who are responsible for over a million deaths in the Cambodian Killing Fields, and 20,000 mass graves, are being brought to justice 30 years later, but the families of those who suffered will never forget their cruel and unthinkable acts against humanity.

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

Cambodia became one huge labor camp under the Khmer Rouge. After deposing Lon Nol on 1975, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot began one of the most brutal regimes in human history. This not only changed the Cambodian society but also ultimately destroyed it. This was due to the extreme vision of communism, which Pol Pot wanted to implement for a perfect and a peaceful society.

“There is no doctor who can heal me. But I know that a man like Pol Pot, he is even sicker than I am. He is crazy in the head because he believed in killing people. He believed in starving children. We both have the horror in our heads."-- Upon the death of Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, in 1998, quoted in The Times. The Cambodian genocide is the greatest injustice. Between the years of 1975-1979, complete annihilation happened inside the nation of Cambodia. A socialist named Pol Pot had assumed control over the administration with his armed force, Khmer Rouge, and was persuaded that transforming Cambodia into an entirely comrade nation was crucial. The reason to sort out a socialist gathering was to acquire influence, however to acquire