The response to the Cambodian genocide did not result in the assistance of ending the horror but rather was not dealt with. Some foreign journalist wrote about the atrocities of what was occurring in the beginning. This led the Khmer Rouge to seal off Cambodia from the rest of the world, although some of the terror was still being revealed. People who interview refugees in Thailand were able to get shine light into the situation with stories of starvation, disease, and mass executions. Eventually, the United States denounced all the things that the Khmer Rouge was doing. Many people in the south of Asia, however, did not believe all of what the United States said the Khmer Rouge was doing and thought they were trying to dramatize the situation.
The Cambodian Genocide was the result of imperialism, ethnic supremacy, ultra-nationalism, anti-colonialism, a power grab, and religion. It began with the Cambodian people struggling against French colonization and grew in inspiration from Vietnam (end genocide). The French believed that Cambodia was a gateway into China to expand their trade with Southeast Asia. The French occupied southern Vietnam and wanted to expand their territory. There were many civil wars and invasions in Cambodia fought between the Vietnamese and Thai, and it greatly affected Cambodia. While the French did help Cambodia become independent and grew their infrastructure, while exploiting Cambodian labor, they failed to educate Cambodian people and establish a solid and effective judiciary system (Cambodia tribunal). Thus began their feelings of anti-colonialism. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. used Cambodia as a base to regroup, but also bombed the country to kill suspected Viet Cong targets. This began their feelings of imperialism and ultra-nationalism. The Khmer Rouge began feeling great animosity towards the West for their influenced corruption to Cambodian land and its people. Between January and August of 1973, 300,000 Cambodians were killed by American bombers that had joined forces with Lon Nol, head of the Khmer Republic.
The United States was a bystander because supporting the Khmer Rouge was a safer option for their country. The United States was currently in the Vietnam and Cold Wars, so they were trying to balance power away from Vietnam and the USSR (Springer 2006). The United States was in a right vs. right ethical dilemma. It was right for them to protect their citizens by doing whatever necessary
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.
It’s hard to imagine that people would support and act upon plans to kill millions of innocent human beings. The Holocaust and Cambodian genocide were two of the most horrific genocides in the history of civilization. The Holocaust and Cambodian genocide has not only similarities but also differences. How they treated their victims, USA involvement, and that they both killed millions of people are some things they share. Differences they include are the people they targeted, how the two leaders took office and lastly where these to genocides took place.
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
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 .
No matter how many times history repeats itself, people still have the tendency to not learn from their mistakes. This statement is relevant when discussing the topic of genocide. When a person hears the word genocide they think of the Holocaust. But really there are multiple genocides with at least an equal to greater impact on the world today. Most people don't even know what the most devastating genocide wads. It was the Native American Genocide. Another example of deadly genocides is the Cambodian Genocide. This was an attempt to form an utopian society. More so it was a ethnic cleansing of the entire Cambodian population. This essay will compare and Contrast the Native American Genocide to the deadly Cambodian Genocide.
The definition of genocide, according to the United Nations, was the attempt to destroy “a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group” by killing members, causing mental or bodily harm, harsh living conditions, prevention of births, and separating children from their families. There are four patterns of genocide, which do not always occur in every genocide since they’re not all the same. The four patterns include persecution, which is hostility and ill-treatment, especially toward a specific race, political, or religious belief done by the ruler or government. Next is displacement or when a group of people is forced to leave their native country. Continuing, public humiliation is another pattern that freely shows off a group of people being tortured or persecuted in plain sight. Finally when selective groups of people face at terrible fate while another group is spared the same fate as them is selective murder. Those were the four, very cruel and unfair, patterns of genocide.
Throughout the course of history, mankind has had a desire to become rich and powerful. Infamously, men have tried nearly every tactic to acquire such goals. Concentration camps, massacres, and famines are just simply some of the tactics used. As seen in both the Cambodian, and Rwandan Genocides, manual labor, along with malnutrition were primarily the cause of death amongst the captives.
On the other hand, in the Cambodian genocide the targets weren’t assassinated on site by the soldiers. They had a similar death of those in the Jewish Holocaust. They were sent into the Killing Fields where a great quantity of Cambodians were brutally assassinated and buried at a rough estimation of 1.7 to 2.5 million. The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. You would be arrested for having any type of connection with anyone outside the country. The Khmer Rouge’s polices were guided by its belief that the citizens of Cambodia had been tainted and corrupted by exposure to outside ideas, especially those from the capitalist West. The Khmer Rouge persecuted those who were educated, such as doctors and lawyers, and those who were or had been in the military or police force all which would later be assassinated. [ii] Its goal was to create a society in which no one competed against another and all people worked for the common good. This was accomplished through placing people in collective living arrangements, or communes. A commune was where various families were put together and had to work
The angered Prince Sihanouk formed a small movement called the Khmer Rouge that plotted to overthrow Lon Nol who was now our leader. Thankfully; after a few years of derelict, the Khmer rouge began to lose political power; But, that changed with the rise of Pol Pot, who is formally educated in radio technology. Pol Pot revitalized the fading Khmer Rouge and the group began regaining popularity as a Marxism-Leninism group which attracted the support from other communist countries such as China; but the Khmer rouge even received extensive military aid from the U.S and Britain. Even today as I am forced to work twelve hours a day at hard labor I think to myself if the genocide would all be possible without the "help" of the U.S, Britan, and
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.
When I was young I remember moving cities and I thought it was going to be the end of the world for me. One of the thoughts that always went through my mind was what if I do not fit in? or will I be able to make any friends? Luckily for me I was able to speak English and I knew I could communicate with people if I had to. This was not the case for Cambodian refugees when they moved to the United States because the Khmer Rouge was attacking Cambodia. Thousands of people moved to the United States and many of these people were kids who did not have a saying whether they wanted to stay or come with their parents because they could not take care of themselves. Many of these kids are now suffering because they fell into the wrong crowds and committed a crime when they were young and due to the antiterrorism and death penalty act they are now being deported back to Cambodia, which they know nothing about, and some of them do not even know how to speak the language. I will be talking about the Cambodian kids that were affected by their parents moving to the United States and how the antiterrorism and death penalty act has affected some of them.
Located in Southeast Asia between Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia was home to one of the bloodiest political regimes to exist in the 20th century. In a country, in which American government reports in 1959 documented, was full of “ ‘docile and passive people…[who] could not be counted on to act in any positive way for the benefit of US aims and policies’”, the United States conflict in neighboring Vietnam brought about incredible changes to an unsuspecting people (qted. in Dunlop 70). The countryside was bombed by the United States in order to uproot suspected North Vietnamese holdouts and supply routes starting in 1969. These bombing raids, which devastated
There are many genocides that people are not aware of. One of them is the attempted genocide carried out by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was able to gain power and remain in control of Cambodia for years without interference because they isolated the country from any foreign influence. Other countries had no idea what was happening inside Cambodia until years later. The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, wanted to create their own ideal communist society. So how did The Khmer Rouge gain so much power and control? Some argue that Pol Pot was the only one responsible for the power and control gained by the Khmer Rouge. On the other hand, others say that the notion of social hierarchy was